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It was sad because they think Harris and the Democrats in Congress care more about the hostages and the security of Israel than the do about making sure the hamas wing of the party turns out and votes for them.

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Too little too late, Mamala. And I'm not taken in by your canned "Israel's security." vs so called Palestinian self determination. What did you do on behalf of the Kurds, or Tibet or East Turkmenistan or the racist apartheid faux statelet Turkey created on occupied Cyprus?

AS for Fetterman's Carrie Adams and nuance of her generation....Pa leez gurl.....I'm way older than even Senator Fetterman and I watched the nuance of the police in 1968 and all the nuance since the JFK assassination....Despite all the trashing my "not the greatest" generation" has come in for even from some revisionist boomers.....this generation has got to be the most uneducated and arrogant one.....I mean a lot of the boomer were arrogant but they did know the world.....this one is watching their device....tuned into really wretched song with the n word or the b word as every other word.....don't get me started, ms or mr carrie adams....you know nothing......SHAME. I grew up with Street Fighting Man , what's your anthem....free free palestine? fck that shyte.

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The Polin’s are Bay Area progressives. They did not mind being used as window dressing for an anti-Semitic party

If Democrats valued Jews, Shapiro would have received the VP nomination.

If democrats valued Jews they would exorcise the group of anti-Semitic extremists that includes Omar and Tlaib. They would not include them in their caucus. They would not give them committee assignments. They would not give them leadership roles on committees and sub-committees. They would PUBICALLLY disown these hateful people.

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well said

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founding

i truly feel for these parents, I cannot imagine their agony. But like it or not, their son has become a political symbol.

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What is interesting to me is that when Iran held our hostages back in 1979 to 1981 the main stream media was a constant drum beat, bring our hostages home. Now crickets. Why?

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cause he's an American Jew whose parents made aliyah ....I guess you didn't really need an answer.

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That’s a complete lie! He is a self hating anti semite

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The Free Press banned me from commenting on this platform for 30days on July 24. In their explanation for the ban, they highlighted a comment where I accused all Democrats of believing that they are better than others and I accused the Democratic Party of being a crude cult. I also inserted the letter “K” in place of all “hard-Cs” in the text because I have often referred to the Democratic Party as the party of the Ku Klux Klan. For this reason, the Free Press saw fit to suspend my commenting privileges for an entire month.

I have written to the Free Press multiple times to ask for more clarification and have received nothing but smug, dismissive, silence. Nothing in my remark constitutes an ad-hominem attack because Democrats are neither a race, nor a creed, nor an ethnic group – they are idealogues. I likewise did not use any profanity in that comment.

Bari Weiss and the editorial team at the Free Press do not promote freedom of speech. They disdain criticism, abhor anyone who questions their obvious and odious biases and make no effort to support their own readership with meaningful explanations for which content is permissible and which is not. There is NOTHING in my remark that violated their “community guidelines”. My remarks are innocuous rejections of their preening, liberal weltanschauung.

Furthermore, the readership of the Free Press is not a “community” at all. It is a large mass of people from many different lifestyles and beliefs who expect to be treated with a certain measure of fairness when they subscribe to the publication. Part of that fairness should include a proper explanation for why commenting privileges have been removed for a 30day period with the prospect of appeal. But there is NO avenue to appeal their censorious decision.

This publication is a thinly veiled effort at rehabilitating the Democratic Party by outing its worst, fringe actors and ideas, while gaslighting its readership into believing that the editors are a group of rationally minded truth seekers looking for some form of “common sense”. They are not. The Free Press is a clique of wealthy, overly credentialed wordsmiths who shadow-ban and silence their critics without recourse to any form of appeal or explanation. And their decisions to ban subscribers from commenting on their site reflects their own level of paranoia, bad-faith, caprice and malevolence.

I live and work in the People’s Republic of China. I have done so for nearly 30years. I know this culture and political system intimately and well. I know what banning innocuous commentary leads to, and I know what hard authoritarianism looks like. I do not have the credentials or capital resources of many who read the Free Press in exotic locales or from the decks of private boats or stunning vacation homes and I have never been invited to give a TED Talk like Bari Weiss. My attacks against the Democratic Party and its apologists promote nothing more than open hatred for their insidious beliefs and ideas. Hatred for an idea is allowable in a free society.

Through the arbitrary and politically motivated enforcement of their policies, The Free Press has silenced many voices on their site in the guise of enforcing civility. They are wrong. They are deliberately empowering the worst impulse imaginable in humanity – the power of the powerful to decide who can, and cannot be seen, or heard.

The Democratic Party Rehabilitation Project… DELENDA EST!

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It might be because you sound like a jackass.

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Goodness. If you disagree, then engage his ideas. If you don't think it's worth your trouble, then ignore him. But please keep it civil.

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Up yours, Brett.

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Lol, LMAO even

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You seem to have violated those simple rules: "Use common sense here: disagree, debate, but don't be a jerk." by your patent lies about the democratic party. If you want to spread hate and lies, I am sure you will find enough platforms that don't mind.

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Alas... anyone who can defend the party of the Confederacy, the KKK, Jim Crow and Japanese internment camps is worthy of little attention from me.

Be on your merry way, Steffen. You have nothing to offer.

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Maybe they just banned you because you're a rambling bore

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Should I try to be obsequious and insipid like you, Paul?

Maybe in another life. When I am reincarnated into your herd of sheep. Until then...

Obsequious toadies... DELENDA EST!

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good grief man, get over yourself.

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No.

You are welcome to whatever unctuous, servile pandering to your "betters" makes you feel like you're part of the "cool kids"...

You don't interest me at all.

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I think you take quite some time to comment for someone who isn't interested. ;-)

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I keep my own counsel on my replies, Steffen.

In most cases I am opposed to abortion. But in yours, I am happy to make an exception...

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See, that's the kind of comment you make yourself unpopular. Bye, troll.

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We have a blue water navy because President Thomas Jefferson decided the Muslim Barbary Pirates must cease and desist pirating US merchant ships and enslaving their crews. Repeating myself (from an earlier post), if the Biden-Harris administration actually cared about our kidnapped citizens they would have publicly announced to Israel, essentially: "We stand with you in your existential obligation to exterminate the rabid antisemitic Hamas and rescue your and our hostages. All necessary armaments will be sold to you as purchased. Also, we will provide as many combat (infantry) brigades as you deem necessary, however, we will insist on our forces abide by the following rules of engagement (ROE). Because Hamas is embedded in the Gazan population, and 80+% of this population supports Hamas, all adults will be offered unconditional surrender. Those who do not surrender and submit to de-radicalization / de-Islamism will be killed. The killing will stop when all hostages, alive and dead, are returned, no further questions asked.

The world must understand that kidnapping, as a means to a political end will not be tolerated and treated as a national capital offense.

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The hostage situation (an internationally known "Crime Against Humanity") is horrific for all involved, especially the families, of course.

BUT ... We must not forget the most horrific consequences TODAY of what happened in 2006 when ONE soldier, Gilad Shalit, was captured by Palestinian militants & taken to Gaza in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border.

Hamas learned a great deal and was emboldened from this event, believed in Israel's and the world's weakness so carried out the Oct 7 attack as a consequence of those beliefs, all because Shalit's release negotiations include the release of 1,027 Hamas and Palestinian prisoners by Israel.

MORE importantly is to realise that among those release by Israel in 2006 was YAHYA SINWAR – the planner of the October 7 terror attack on Israel – AND now the new head of Hamas!

Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas now have the leverage they believe by taking hostages ... They have taken hostages for decades and been given what they wanted in return. When and how will that be stopped?

Giving in to terrorists only encourage more attacks and will continue to be so very much more deadly to stop now and in future .... as we see every day in Gaza since Oct. 7.

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And our dancing queen picked an anti semitic former Kerry teammate to be the liaison to the Jewish Community, Ilan Goldenberg??? UNBELIEVABLE????

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everything I've read about him is horrible....so much for his nuance.

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A HORRIBLE AND UNAPOLOGETIC ANTI-SEMITE!

ANYONE DEFENDING HIM KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT THIS PERSON! This is the norm right

now, it’s time for a change!!

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Not sure, where you got your news from.

Ilan Goldenberg is widely regarded as pro-Israel in his professional orientation, reflecting a strong commitment to Israel’s security and its relationship with the United States. His stance is nuanced and reflective of a broader perspective on Middle East policy, including advocacy for a balanced and pragmatic approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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I just love that word, ‘nuanced’. It allows you to justify whatever BS one cares to shovel.

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If you do your homework you’d know more

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And it looks like he is an Iran appeaser.

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Democrats, or at least the Biden/Harris administration are the ones who have tied Israel's hands (as they have tied Ukraine's) making them fight their existential battle with TIED hands and not able to end the wars more quickly and decisively ... giving the advantage to Putin and Hamas... Biden actually keeps going after Israel ... but NOT Iran or Hamas ... to stop fighting !!!! For what? The votes in Dearborn and rioting campuses?

Imagine if the US President had demanded the Nazis or Japanese NOT be attacked on their own territory after starting and spending the most horrific war to other countries.

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In reality, it had been Trump (or his minions in Congress) who delayed the passing of the Ukraine and Israel aid (that finally passed in April) for months, costing the lives of many Ukrainians (and encouraging Hamas to continue fighting). He has been the one with a weird admiration for dictators like Putin and would likely stop Ukrainian aid like J.D. Vance requested since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

Yes, Biden could and should allow Ukraine to use ATACMS to target Russian airports used for attacks on Ukrainian cities and deliver enough weapons to de-occupy all of Ukraine. Still, Trump would likely be much worse for Ukraine than Biden or Harris.

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Can we remember that, as always, legislation is never free of partisan add-ons that cause blockages?

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What Trump and his minions have done (the monthslong delay of aid for Israel and Ukraine) was unexcusable. Weakening our democratic allies solely to support the re-election of Trump. It shows that Trump has no values and is willing to throw allies under board when he things it would help him personally.

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The great bulk of Democrats are sympathetic to the plight of the Jews murdered and raped and taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but they are not sympathetic to the ones who are living but in danger of being murdered, raped, and taken hostage due to their preferred way of dealing with conflict. Nobody did a better job of explaining this than Dara Horn in her book People Love Dead Jews. We are not interested in sympathy for those murdered, raped, and taken hostage. We are interested in those who don't want anyone murdered, raped, and taken hostage in the future, and today's Democratic Party falls short.

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At the Edinburgh otherwise anti Israel anti Jew Fringe Festival....a piece about the Warsaw ghetto 's orphanage leader who chose to be murdered with his charges.....so many crocodile tears even from a "Palestinian" ...people love dead Jews.

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I don't see any evidence for that claim.

Instead, Kamala Harris and nearly all leading democrats made clear that they strongly support Israeli security, making sure that another Oct 7 attack won't happen.

Listening to her speech at the DNC convention and hearing thousands of democrats shouting for minutes, “Bring them home! Bring them home!” after the speech of Hersh's parents should make this clear to everyone.

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Meeting with Hamas supporters on the side belies "strongly support Israeli security" and we know negotiations for Dearborn votes are the reason. No transparency on those talks/meetings makes for doubt of the former position.

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founding

IMO, all Harris did at the DNC was to play the game of realpolitik, speak out of both sides of her mouth at the same time in order to try to appeal to both sides. She is unwilling or afraid of directly criticizing Hamas, Gaza, the supportive Arab/Muslim base. It is so much easier to criticize the usual scapegoat, Israel.

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These people are massive hypocrites. The hostages -- even the Americans -- have been invisible in the media since they were taken. During the Iran hostage crisis, photos of the hostages were prominent in the media over the the 400+ days of their captivity. We knew their names, and we knew their faces. Our government attempted to carry out a rescue mission which ended badly. Anyone who might have attempted to tear their photos down from a public space would have been shamed.

The media has all but obliterated the fact that American hostages are still held in captivity, and that our government has done nothing to try to free them except jibber-jabbering in an obsequious fashion with their captors. I saw one editorial in the Wall Street Journal about this silence; apart from that everyone seems to be fine with it. Now that it comes up at the convention see them weep ostentatiously. They are disgusting.

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This is honestly the most curious aspect of the entire present conflict to me. So many of those who are protesting Israel's military action & US AID seem to completely ignore WHY this began in the first place. (And I don't mean the entire thousand-year conflict I mean the current military undertaking post Oct 7th)

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Why is everyone in that building acting like they have not also been sympathetic to Hamas and denied their extremism. It seems everyone has forgotten who has been running the White House since Oct 7th.

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Neither Biden nor Kamala nor any other leading democrat has been sympathetic to Hamas or denied their extremism. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States since 1997.

Anti-Israel democrats like Cori Bush or Jamaal Bowman lost their primary elections, showing that the majority of Democrats, even in their districts, are standing with Israel.

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What a farce. The White House has done NOTHING to get our hostages home. Nothing. Shame, shame, shame.

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Bari you should address this!

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Aug 22·edited Aug 22

Has Israel been mentioned at the DNC before this speech? I heard Gaza mentioned, but I believe the term 'Israel' was first used during the Goldberg-Polin speech.

It's ironic that the message from Biden, Harris, and others is to 1) call for an immediate ceasefire and 2) release 'some' hostages from Gaza—fewer than 30, some dead, none of the American hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The deal requires Israel to 1) release over 1,000 terrorists and 2) withdraw from the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors.

Meanwhile, Qatar, which harbors Hamas leaders and funds their operations, and Egypt, complicit in weapons smuggling through Rafah, are the mediators. No wonder this deal is so one-sided.

While I commend the DNC for highlighting Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents, this isn’t about bringing their son home but securing liberal Jewish voters who are concerned about rising antisemitism on campuses and in our streets.

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well said......securing the loyalty of Democratic Jews like myself....except they are not fooling me....yes Israel is the unmentionable. ...SHAME.

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