Nearly half of all Democrats in the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to cut off US military aid to Israel, a move that underscored a dramatic shift away from the US support the Mideast ally has enjoyed for nearly 60 years.
While House lawmakers ultimately rejected Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) amendment to a national security spending bill that would have eliminated the $3.3 billion in annual foreign military financing provided to Israel’s military, the details of the vote were viewed as an encouraging sign by defenders of Palestine and the rule of law.
Massie and 103 Democrats voted for the measure, while 215 Republicans and 98 Democrats rejected it. The overall tally was 104 for, 314 against, and 10 “present” votes, with 9 absences.
The aid was still approved. Not quite seismic yet. Save that for when something is actually accomplished.
And all it took were democrats throwing a presidential election and getting ousted in primaries by progressives to get there.
And it proves what many have been saying. The primaries are the time for you to cast your protest vote, not the generals.
Sorry citizen, your time for self expression and democracy, as materialized by a single vote for one preset option you had no voice towards, in an election rigged by the party brass, has passed. Please go back to being an obedient worker drone. See you in two years, which is plenty often enough for a satisfactory democracy!
You (general you, not you personally) can and should express your opinion in other ways as well. It’s just the price / collateral damage that’s far higher in the general election. You’ll express frustration at some issues and sacrifice others in the process, without achieving much.
You won’t tear down that pyramid by ripping the golden cover off the top. Attack the base, shatter the bricks holding up the corrupt tip, and the whole thing will start shaking.
Notice that the party brass didn’t throw as much of a tantrum about the lost presidency as they did about the slew of progressives unseating “safe” candidates in primaries. That’s where they actually start to worry.
Votes need to be a tool for establishing public consensus, but that doesn’t mean they have to be the only tool.
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
Some tools can be appropriated, and some tools will be needed to build a new house. Don’t discard them all.
Voting alone may not be enough, but it’s a useful way to communicate public opinion. Establishing the consensus that enough people are behind you encourages participation in direct action, and building democratic legitimacy helps make your changes stick.
You probably need more than votes to achieve change, but you’ll need them to make it last.
Hard to vote in primaries when they coronate candidates.
Like I’ve told others like you. That literally only happened once.
Hey can I borrow money from you once
Too many times
Furthering the need to improve the system even more.
Having the Ranked Choice voting system that NYC, Maine, and Alaska have would make it so primaries and even general elections are won by the people that are most representative of their constituents, rather than just corporate backed donors.
Every state can vote in some form of alternative voting system. It’s such an important change factor that red states have been actively trying to ban Ranked Choice voting.
Voting for who you want in the primary is not “protest voting.” It’s simply voting for who you want.
If the establishment doesn’t wan’t to be democratic about the primary, then that’s on them.
I’ll vote for their shitty centrist pick as soon as Schumer apologises for not endorsing or even acknowledging Mamdani after he won the democatic nomination.
Vote blue no matter who is a two way street buckaroo.
Fuck you, you dumb piece of shit.
Please don’t ignore the nearly invisible work from countless activists nationwide pushing and promoting antizionist candidates. they don’t just come out of nowhere.
I am really proud of my friends who worked so hard on that. from canvassing to calls to so much work.
And people Latinos getting murdered on the streets by ICE.
They’ll only do a brave move when they can be sure it has no chance of ever passing.
Democratic No votes:
Adams, Alma S. [D-NC] Democratic North Carolina No Aguilar, Pete [D-CA] Democratic California No Beatty, Joyce [D-OH] Democratic Ohio No Bell, Wesley [D-MO] Democratic Missouri No Bishop, Sanford D. [D-GA] Democratic Georgia No Boyle, Brendan F. [D-PA] Democratic Pennsylvania No Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL] Democratic Illinois No Case, Ed [D-HI] Democratic Hawaii No Casten, Sean [D-IL] Democratic Illinois No Castor, Kathy [D-FL] Democratic Florida No Cisneros, Gilbert Ray [D-CA] Democratic California No Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Cleaver, Emanuel [D-MO] Democratic Missouri No Clyburn, James E. [D-SC] Democratic South Carolina No Cohen, Steve [D-TN] Democratic Tennessee No Conaway, Herbert C. [D-NJ] Democratic New Jersey No Correa, J. Luis [D-CA] Democratic California No Costa, Jim [D-CA] Democratic California No Courtney, Joe [D-CT] Democratic Connecticut No Craig, Angie [D-MN] Democratic Minnesota No Cuellar, Henry [D-TX] Democratic Texas No Davids, Sharice [D-KS] Democratic Kansas No DeLauro, Rosa L. [D-CT] Democratic Connecticut No DelBene, Suzan K. [D-WA] Democratic Washington No Espaillat, Adriano [D-NY] Democratic New York No Fields, Cleo [D-LA] Democratic Louisiana No Figures, Shomari [D-AL] Democratic Alabama No Fletcher, Lizzie [D-TX] Democratic Texas No Foster, Bill [D-IL] Democratic Illinois No Frankel, Lois [D-FL] Democratic Florida No Gillen, Laura [D-NY] Democratic New York No Golden, Jared F. [D-ME] Democratic Maine No Goldman, Daniel S. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Gomez, Jimmy [D-CA] Democratic California No Gonzalez, Vicente [D-TX] Democratic Texas No Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ] Democratic New Jersey No Gray, Adam [D-CA] Democratic California No Himes, James A. [D-CT] Democratic Connecticut No Hoyer, Steny H. [D-MD] Democratic Maryland No Jeffries, Hakeem S. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH] Democratic Ohio No Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-IL] Democratic Illinois No Landsman, Greg [D-OH] Democratic Ohio No Larsen, Rick [D-WA] Democratic Washington No Larson, John B. [D-CT] Democratic Connecticut No Latimer, George [D-NY] Democratic New York No Lee, Susie [D-NV] Democratic Nevada No Levin, Mike [D-CA] Democratic California No Liccardo, Sam T. [D-CA] Democratic California No Lieu, Ted [D-CA] Democratic California No McBath, Lucy [D-GA] Democratic Georgia No McClain Delaney, April [D-MD] Democratic Maryland No McClellan, Jennifer L. [D-VA] Democratic Virginia No McDonald Rivet, Kristen [D-MI] Democratic Michigan No Meeks, Gregory W. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Menendez, Robert [D-NJ] Democratic New Jersey No Meng, Grace [D-NY] Democratic New York No Mfume, Kweisi [D-MD] Democratic Maryland No Morelle, Joseph D. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Moskowitz, Jared [D-FL] Democratic Florida No Mrvan, Frank J. [D-IN] Democratic Indiana No Norcross, Donald [D-NJ] Democratic New Jersey No Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC] Democratic District of Columbia No Olszewski, Johnny [D-MD] Democratic Maryland No Pallone, Frank [D-NJ] Democratic New Jersey No Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA] Democratic California No Perez, Marie Gluesenkamp [D-WA] Democratic Washington No Peters, Scott H. [D-CA] Democratic California No Pou, Nellie [D-NJ] Democratic New Jersey No Riley, Josh [D-NY] Democratic New York No Rivas, Luz M. [D-CA] Democratic California No Ruiz, Raul [D-CA] Democratic California No Schneider, Bradley Scott [D-IL] Democratic Illinois No Scholten, Hillary J. [D-MI] Democratic Michigan No Schrier, Kim [D-WA] Democratic Washington No Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL] Democratic Alabama No Sherman, Brad [D-CA] Democratic California No Sorensen, Eric [D-IL] Democratic Illinois No Soto, Darren [D-FL] Democratic Florida No Stanton, Greg [D-AZ] Democratic Arizona No Stevens, Haley M. [D-MI] Democratic Michigan No Strickland, Marilyn [D-WA] Democratic Washington No Subramanyam, Suhas [D-VA] Democratic Virginia No Suozzi, Thomas R. [D-NY] Democratic New York No Sykes, Emilia Strong [D-OH] Democratic Ohio No Thanedar, Shri [D-MI] Democratic Michigan No Titus, Dina [D-NV] Democratic Nevada No Torres, Norma J. [D-CA] Democratic California No Torres, Ritchie [D-NY] Democratic New York No Vargas, Juan [D-CA] Democratic California No Veasey, Marc A. [D-TX] Democratic Texas No Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA] Democratic Virginia No Walkinshaw, James R. [D-VA] Democratic Virginia No Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL] Democratic Florida No Whitesides, George [D-CA] Democratic California No Williams, Nikema [D-GA] Democratic Georgia No Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL] Democratic Florida NoThanks for the list. Just called my rep.
Thanks for the list, they should all be replaced.
Sad to see my rep in the no’s. Guess we’ll be looking for a change in the next primary.
Same 🫤
All it took was the complete genocide of Palestinians and the destruction of their culture.
Well, what do you know. Democrats finally discovered the primaries.
ABOUT FUCKING TIME.
would have eliminated the $3.3 billion in annual foreign military financing provided to Israel’s military
That’s fucking insane.
Anyone who voted in support of this funding has blood on their hands
Now they need to provide iron dome to Palestinians
Now sanctions.
Excellent
Off topic, but can someone explain when the US has started calling the Middle East “Mideast”? I’ve seen it a few times, never said yet though. Is it just laziness? Because when I think “mideast” I think corn/bible/tornado states east of the Mississippi but west of the Appalachians - y’know, kinda like Midwest but the east of it, below the rust belt, as that would make sense as a name for a US region.
I think I usually see it used as an adjective more than a noun,
same, i’ve heard Mideastern food for example but “the Mideast” sounds strange
First I’ve seen it. I’m gonna guess laziness.
Growing up in baptist churches in the south, I grew up hearing “near east” for Israel and surrounding, and middle east for basically everything else that wasn’t “the orient”
Mideast is newish to me, and the other two terms I haven’t really heard since I was a kid in the 90s/00s.
I wondered the same, and I was thinking maybe it was influence from outside English, maybe by way of AI. However, I found this Reddit thread that pointed to dictionary.com citing it from 1940-1945 and The New York Times using it in headlines. So, it looks like it’s a legit synonym, in particular in headlines.
Well, didn’t bibi say that Israel didn’t need the US anymore? Works for me.
Clearly they’ve been told that they are “allowed” to do this since the militaries are getting merged or whatever bullshit is happening next.
Because the next step is intertwining the U.S. military with the IOF. So they are inextricably linked. At that point they will receive american military tax dollars, and it will only be labeled as such not “IOF funds”.
The democrats are bloodthirsty too, do not forget this. They are pulling the wool over your eyes.
Fuck off tankie scum. Go lick the boots of your rapist invaders.
Oh shit you really addressed and dismantled the content of my comment! Look at you go little fella!
Pfffffffft pot calling the kettle black much, imperialist nation’s soldiers (such as America) will rape and pillage your country and then make a movie/write a book on how sad and traumatized it made them bombing/shooting/maiming school children.
The true bootlicker here is you, if you think the democrats will save you you are so fucking naive I don’t even know where to begin. You only want what is best for the imperial core, my heart goes beyond that. Liberals truly believe the “if kamala won we’d be out at brunch”, their care begins and ends with Americans. Not even that, only wealthy americans.
Please inform me on how Kamala would have saved the Palestinians. How she would have stopped the harvesting of valuable resources from countries the U.S. has impoverished. How she would have halted the unethical Cuban embargo. How the U.S. goverments constant rifling and pillaging of the middle east for itself and Israel would have stopped at her.
At the very least inform yourself on the very treatlerite boot you gnaw and suckle on before accusing others (this is only a fraction of a fraction of the ferocious behavior from the west):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuFNHOQ9Oqw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse
