There’s a distinction between war and terrorism. Terrorism is done by non state actors, wars are done by states. For example, there’s a very big difference between the democratic government of the Philippines voting to fight ISIS in their southern islands, and some random ISIS terrorist trying to kill the Filipino president to intimidate non muslim candidates from running for president.

It’s true lmao

https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/26/23889956/microsoft-next-generation-nuclear-energy-smr-job-hiring

no, but nothing is so black and white. do you perhaps think that bullies should always be acquiesced to? that defending yourself from attackers is inherently and unilaterally immoral?

You tell a teacher or parent on a bully and they’ll punish them accordingly, or if you’re an adult you report them to your HR department or whereever. You don’t go and fucking shoot dead a bully. That’s not a sane solution to anything.

they’re the ones constantly (publicly) cheering for me and my kind to be dragged out of our homes and shot for virtue of being born either non-white or non-straight (depending on flavor of republican, maybe both).

I understand they’re discriminatory bigots, but Jesus are you overexaggerating. Like who is advocating for this? I want specific names and sources if you don’t mind, bonus points if they’re from prominent politicians.

the reason violence is no longer acceptable as a mechanism for political change is that we built a system to address grievances without it: our representative democracy. we rose above the need by using the law to ensure everyone can be heard

Exactly, that’s the point, we have a functioning system, so why are you trying to justify terrorism?

they’ve already thoroughly corrupted the highest courts in our country to do so. they intend to continue to close all reasonable avenues of political resolution specifically for the purpose of being able to call any resistance to their rule “terrorism”, as you just have. this itself is an act of political violence.

Assassinations aren’t resistance, what in the fuck are you talking about? Do you seriously not see the problem with self righteous assholes going on terrorism crusades killing political candidates they don’t like? That’s how we move from a stable democracy and into a failed state.

if I corner you in an alley with a gun so you have nowhere to run and tell you to give me your wallet, but I haven’t shot at you or even aimed it at you yet, does this make me non-violent? is it acceptable? would you fight back, or capitulate? how about if I then tell you to leave but not your partner?

What? These situations aren’t even remotely comparable. You’re trying so hard to justify terrorism that you’re not even being logically coherent. No, somebody shooting someone who’s directly threatening them in person as an act of self defense is vastly different from some rando shooting political candidates they don’t like.

the police won’t help you, they don’t help your kind, and you probably brought it upon yourself in their eyes.

Idk what alternative reality you live in, but here in the real world, terrorism is condemned and legitimate peaceful avenues are pursued. Trump should be prevented from becoming president again, but this is done by defeating him in the election, not by fucking killing him and turning him into a martyr. Trump should be brought to justice via the criminal justice system, which has already found him guilty of a crime, not by some self righteous rando shooting.

You take him down either by defeating him through the election or by taking to trial via the justice system, preferably both. Assassinations are not a fucking legitimate means of achieving political goals in democracy. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills for even having to explain something this simple.

I believe he lost fairly to Biden in 2020, but the DNC 100% screwed him in 2016 to favor Hillary.

A more accurate comp would be some American trying to assassinate George Washington because he didn’t like him.

Wtf are you even talking about? There’s a very big difference from bad policies and what this is. For example, Obama involved the US in the Saudi Arabia led coalition against the Houthis in Yemen, and this one policy led to the deaths of tens of thousands. Does that justify somebody trying to assassinate Obama? No, of course not. Bush started two wars, does that justify somebody trying assassinate him? No, it doesn’t. Biden, is helping Ukraine defend itself from Russia which has also led tens of thousands to die, does that justify assassinating him? Again, no.

If you want to bring any of them to face justice, that’s fine, but it has to be been done through our justice system where they go through trial… like we did with Trump. We can’t start a precedent inside the country that legitimatizes and normalizes political violence to achieve political violence at the cost of our democracy. That is the reason why everybody was in uproar over Trump’s Jan 6th insurrection. The democratic process has to be maintained, the peaceful transfer of power has to be preserved, and civil society has to be protected. We can’t have self righteous assholes going around on terrorism crusades killing anybody they don’t like. This is common sense, it’s insane that I have to even defend such a position.

Oh ffs, this is such a terminally online take. You’re not the equivalent of a Jew during the Holocaust nor is Trump Hitler and MAGA Nazis. Don’t get me wrong, Trump is vile person to his core. He has no redeemable qualities and his policies have done a lot of harm. His supporters are also brain dead morons who operate like a cult. I’m with you there, BUT despite that, we have to operate within the context of our reality.

The reality is that Trump and MAGA aren’t the equivalent of the Nazis, not everything you don’t like is Nazi equitable. This is the problem with modern discourse, our education system is rotten that people literally cannot comprehend history outside of WWII. History did not stop and end there, and the vast majority that happens in the world is not comparable to those specific time period. There are a lot of other wannabe dictators in history like Orban or Modi or Erdogan or Yeltsin or Haftar or whatever. Worst case scenario is that Trump does become a dictator, however, 99.99% of dictators of History aren’t like Hitler, he was uniquely evil.

With that being said, Trump isn’t a dictator now, and we have a very real chance of defeating him democratically. We have a very large and powerful coalition against him, we have all the dirt against him, we are using the national due process, and we are using legitimate means to achieve power in this country. All that political violence would do is give Trump and his supporters the rationale to justify that they are right, that Trump is a martyr, and that it is okay for them to use even more violence. We can’t stoop down to their level and become like them. We have to shut down that type of behavior, not normalize it.

Do you know why? It’s because we want to live in a civil society where peaceful democratic power transfers is the one and only legitimate means of gaining power. We can’t go on self righteous moral crusades where we use violence on people we don’t like to achieve political goals. Do you know why? Because that’s terrorism by definition, and to use something you’re familiar with, it’s what the Nazis did. Political violence is wrong on principle. It’s wrong when Trump and his cult do it, it’s wrong when we do it, it’s wrong when anybody does it.

It’s wrong when they do it, it’s wrong we do it, it’s wrong when anybody does it. That’s because political violence is wrong on principle. I’m not exactly sure what you’re goal is here, do you think two wrong would make a right? Do you perhaps think an eye for an eye is a good concept to live by? Stop trying to justify violence as a legitimate means of achieving political goals, that’s literally terrorism.

This literally applies to any US president, or rather any political leader anywhere. Stop trying to justify violence.

You’re probably the type of person who would end up being a shooter if this is your mentality.

This is political violence. Going around trying to assassinate people you don’t like is not self defense. Your presumption of violence is NOT a justification of using violence. Two wrongs don’t make a right, you’re still in the wrong. This mentality that violence is a just mean to achieve political goals is quite literally what terrorism is. This is the exact line of logic that Hamas used to justify the Oct 7th attack against civilians or what the Turks used to justify the Armenian genocide or what Hitler used to justify the Holocaust. You have to be some type of soulless ghoul to think this type of behavior is acceptable in a civil society. The majority of Americans already don’t support what Trump spews from liberals to independents to the apolitical to even some conservatives. If you criticize Trump and MAGA of being pro violence then you have to stick by your principles and be anti violence.

Bernie’s response is without a doubt the correct one. Not only is condemning the violence morally correct, but it shows that he stand by his principles and his condemnation helps remove fuel from the fire by not encouraging more violence. Bernie is right, be like Bernie.

Even though I disagree with Bernie on a lot, he is a class act. This is absolutely the correct response. It shows that he has moral integrity and stands by his principles

Biden is bad objectively, I don’t how you can look at him and say “wow, that’s a good president”. Despite his glaring flaws, he still preformed better than I expected, and he’s leagues above his opponent who also has glaring flaws, but 100x worse. It’s pretty sad that we’re in a position we’re these are options.

In my opinion, MAGA officially crossed the line from being a fringe political movement and into a genuine cult after 2020. It was pretty bad starting all the way back during his first campaign in 2015 and it got gradually worse over the years. However, during 2020 MAGA turned into an actual national security threat, not once, but twice. First, during the anti-vaxx shit were they literally denying the existence of the virus, or even worse, they were actively mocking the people who died, and then again after they lost the election and attempted the coup.

Any sane conservative who didn’t nope out pretty early on in his term distanced themselves after Jan 6th. The only people who still supported Trump after what he did were the ones that worshipped him. Since Jan 6, 2021 Trump’s MAGA consist of people who will follow him no matter what, will listen to whatever he says no matter how false or dangerous, and will unironically want him as a dictator. I think the cult thing became most apparent when supporters were wearing diapers in a show of support for him… that’s so batshit crazy that it leaves me speechless.

No, I agree. I think for all his flaws, Biden has been a better president than expected. I’m just pointing out that there IS a lot to criticize Biden and the Democrats for. From running Biden a second time to not better executing the withdrawal from Afghanistan to placing restriction on how Ukraine could defend itself when Putin first invaded to not focusing on rebuilding their image in states like Florida or Ohio to not going at Republicans harder to a lot of Democratic politicians participating in insider trading… they’re not great. In fact they’re pretty bad. Are they as bad as the Republicans? No, of course not. But the statement that both parties in the country are bad does hold some truth to it.

They don’t happen during election years, they happen every year. That’s the thing with a two party system, a lot of people will disenfranchised from both parties. People who don’t support either candidate or either party are forced to pick between the lesser of two evils, and therefore will end up voting for a candidate that’s neither good or aligns with values.

Biden, or the left at large, isn’t immune to criticism just because Trump, or the right at large, is worse. Biden, the DNC, and the American left are pretty bad right now and deserve criticism even if Trump, the GOP, and the right are much worse. Saying both sides are bad doesn’t necessarily mean they’re equally bad.

Hillary is pretty divisive herself, and there was bound to be another Trump like candidate in the next election who would makes waves. Trump is a symptom, not the source

Most people agree with here because her stance on this is, for the most part, objectively true. This is reflected by the ever increasing number of sport organizations banning trans women from competing in women’s sports. This is the default opinion in society and the world at large. The only people who think otherwise are secluded online echo chambers.

Following this logic, the Gaza protestors theocratic terrorists because they were praised by jihadist terrorist groups