*The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday in favor of a resolution calling for the nullification of President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
Passing by a margin of 128 to 9 (with 35 abstentions), the resolution was voted on during a special emergency session that was called after Trump decided on December 6 to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem — disputed territory that is subject to negotiation between Israel and Palestine — as the Israeli capital.
… All of the other 14 member states at the U.N. Security Council on Monday voted to nullify Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.
Indeed, citing “the current geopolitical context,” the head of the United Nations human rights body, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, on Wednesday sent an email to his staff, according to Politico, saying that he would not seek a second term once his mandate was done in 2018.
Zeid said he was worried that staying on “might involve bending a knee in supplication".*
It might sound nuts, but I think that’s what the nationalists want - the destruction of the current geopolitical order. That won’t mean the end of American involvement in global politics; it just means that America won’t have to play by rules anymore. So if they want to just invade and bomb the shit out of Iran or North Korea or someone else, they won’t have to worry about pesky little UN resolutions of condemnation. There’s definitely more involved here than just America’s position on Israel. It gives this administration a freer hand to do as it pleases, at home and abroad. Remember: Trump and the authoritarian GOP want more power. They need a national emergency to exploit.
[hijack, having nothing specifically to do with Trump admin, as this has been going on a long time]
That may not be the case in California. I’ve had a few ER visits over the years. They don’t ask about finances or insurance, but the DO require you to sign a 500-page document all in 2-point type in which you promise to pay whatever they might bill you, and pledge your financial resources even unto the 7th generation.
They explained that under California law, they are forbidden to make care decisions based on the patient’s ability to pay or presence of insurance, and they can’t even ask about it prior to giving care. Since I had to promise to pay whatever they later billed, I asked how much this might cost. They refused to discuss that too, saying that was part of the forbidden topic.
So the patient is not even given the opportunity to make any treatment decisions based on cost.
What they CAN do, and DO do, is provide the bare minimum treatment to stabilize the patient so you don’t die on the spot, then kick you out the door to the curb. There are occasional well-publicized horror stories about this, including that famous incident that made it into Michael Moore’s 2007 movie Sicko! in which a somewhat-demented old lady got discharged wearing nothing but that obscene hospital gown, placed in a taxi, and dropped off in Los Angeles horrific skid row area.
There are others? And you know them? Huh, I’ve never met any.
I don’t agree. This sounds right in theory, but it conflicts with the facts: his very public feuding with the NFL commissioner; his exhortations to boycott NFL games; and his glee about their declining TV ratings. You think that stuff helps the billionaire owners?
That’s interesting, but I still think people are reluctant to take measures even that extreme. If you own your house, you can’t easily move; and most people put more importance on legal marriage than it deserves IMO. (I tried to get a friend to marry me my sophomore year of college so we could both get good financial aid, as we both had parents who had decent incomes but stingy pocketbooks; she just wouldn’t do it, even though no one we knew socially had to know.)
Yes, I’ve read many similar accounts–and not just unverifiable ones like here, but in reputable media sources, the kind Trump would call “fake news” but which we would not. It’s pretty scary, and that alone is good reason not to play this game.
LOL! ISWYDT. But s/he’s right: Pence is definitely waiting to pounce, and whispering sweet nothings in Trump’s ear in the meantime. (Although he’s the only guy in the administration who can’t be fired, not by Trump at least.)
That’s how we like to see the soft side of US hegemony displayed, standing there with the little guys.
Most of them being distinctly vulnerable to sinking into the Pacific with global warming so they are simply being pragmatic in ensuring their citizens have viable US green card options, or sufficient US T-bonds to buy life rafts.
