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.
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
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.
First I’ve seen it. I’m gonna guess laziness.