Ann's Mega Dub: NPR's continued bad music coverage just got a lot worse (Kat)

Friday, July 5, 2024

NPR's continued bad music coverage just got a lot worse (Kat)

Those are Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Clarence Takes Another Dump" and "He Eats Dog" which went up on the Fourth. Kat here filling in for Ann I did two album reviews on the Fourth: "Kat's Korner: The late Melanie releases a live album" and "Kat's Korner: Judy Garland, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!"

Now let's talk NPR. I wasn't planning on slamming NPR. I saw the headline to a music story and thought, "I don't really cover Broadway," so I thought I should grab it. And I was familiar with the artist they were covering. So win-win, right?

Wrong.

Bob Mondello writes:

You may not know the name Leslie Bricusse (pronounced Brick’-us), but you very likely hum some of the songs he’s written: “Pure Imagination,” “What Kind of Fool Am I?,” "Talk to the Animals,” Superman’s theme “Can You Read My Mind,” “Goldfinger.”

And remarkably, some 60 years after his heyday, the composer-lyricist is having a moment.

Already I have a problem. Because those are co-written songs. Bob continues his blather:

In A Quiet Place: Day One, a woman who may be the last human survivor on a Manhattan infested with aliens checks her iPod and pulls up Nina Simone singing “Feeling Good.” She needs a song to express defiance and how, as her world lies in ruins, she exults in being alive. Sentiments Bricusse put to music six decades ago seem perfect.

That same song popped up on the premiere of the Netflix series Obliterated to help a bomb defuser steady his hand. And family audiences spent last Christmas singing along with “Pure Imagination,” crooned by Timothée Chalamet’s Willy Wonka to tie him firmly with the Gene Wilder original.

See a problem? First off, how about the fact that OBLITERATED came out in November so maybe mention that and maybe put it after a film released in December. Or, Bob, did you write an article without doing the appropriate research.

Next problem: Anthony Newley. The songs mentioned above? The melodies, the music were all written by Anthony Newley.

And Anthony Newley is the only reason Leslie is known today. There are many lyricists from that time period and the bulk are forgotten. Why Leslie got attention to begin with is Anthony.

He was considered attractive. He was married to Joan Collins when he came to US fame.

By the early 1960s, he was known in the UK for film and television and for having multiple hits as a singer. He married Joan Collins in 1963 and the marriage would last for seven years. Joan was considered a very sexy woman and whenever a sexy woman gets with a man we might not otherwise notice, we tend to take a second look and wonder, "What's he got?"

STOP THE WORLD -- I WANT TO GET OFF. A huge musical on the London stage that he co-wrote with Leslie and that he (Anthony) starred in. His performance earned a Tony nomination when the show was moved to Broadway. Which is how he ended up starring in the original DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1967). There were many other films. The one that has to be noted is CAN HEIRONYMUS MERKIN EVER FORGET MERCY HUMPPE AND FIND TRUE HAPPINESS? -- a musical he starred in (Joan Collins was the female lead), co-produced, co-wrote the script, co-wrote the music (not with Leslie) and directed. It was a hit film in the UK and around the world making four times its budget in film rentals. ("Film rentals"? Consider that the portion of your money that you pay for a ticket that the studio gets -- they don't get 100% of what you pay for a ticket.)

Why would you do that? Why would you write the garbage that Bob Mondello did? Leslie was basically a lyricist He won one Grammy -- for a song he co-wrote with Anthony. He won two Academy Awards -- one for a song he co-wrote with Anthony.

Without Anthony? I'd argue his work was forgettable. Some would disagree. For example, he wrote "Life In A Looking Glass" with Henry Mancini for the film THAT'S LIFE. Some don't consider that song forgettable, some consider it one of the worst songs ever written which is why it was nominated for a Golden Raspberry.

Ann needed a weekend off. She plans to be back Monday. At my site, this weekend (hopefully tonight) I'll be doing a book review.

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ADDED 7/6/24, I forgot to do one thing Ann asked me to, she wanted to note Dona's "I Know This Much Is True: We Are Cheese (Dona)" about cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. I told her I would and then I completely forgot.

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Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, July 5, 2024. As the slaughter in Gaza continues, the official death toll has passed the 38,000 mark, 'progressive' David Sirota is pimping a candidate to replace Joe Biden and David doesn't want you to get how he's tricking you again (Israel loves David's choice -- environmental activists, First Amendment supporters, and opponents to genocide aren't crazy for Josh Shapiro), Joe Biden will be on ABC tonight with an interview while he tries to assure Democrats that he's up to the task of running for the presidency, and much more.

Today, the European Union's Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Committee released the following:

High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, have issued the following statement:

"The European Union is deeply concerned about the Israeli army orders to evacuate civilians from the area of Khan Younis. Some 250,000 people are impacted by the evacuation orders. These orders also threaten the patients of the European Hospital, one of the few remaining partially functioning hospitals in southern Gaza.

Injured and sick patients from the European Hospital, including pregnant women and elderly people, were forced to relocate to other facilities, such as the Nasser Hospital. Staff also tried to save medical equipment. This evacuation decision is certain to worsen overcrowding, and cause severe shortages in the already overwhelmed remaining hospitals, at a time when access to emergency medical care is critical.

Forced evacuations are creating a humanitarian crisis within the crisis. They exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation, with nearly 1.9 million Gazans displaced within the Strip, as stated by UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag in the Security Council. There are no facilities to accommodate people, and humanitarian partners struggle to meet the immense needs of the newly displaced.

The European Union reiterates that for evacuations not to amount to prohibited forcible transfers, they must conform with International Humanitarian Law, guaranteeing safety in transit and proper accommodation in areas of refuge for Palestinians called on to evacuate. Israel is likewise responsible for guaranteeing that displaced persons are able to return to their homes, or areas of habitual residence, once hostilities end. Displaced people also need to have access to the necessary services and have their needs met.

Faced with the deteriorating situation, the European Union has mobilised all its crisis response and humanitarian tools to channel needed aid to Gaza. This includes medical supplies, drugs and medications, and a significant increase in EU funding to humanitarian partners.

A ceasefire is all the more important now, and would make possible a surge of humanitarian assistance to Gaza as well as the release of all hostages.

The European Union recalls the obligation to respect and implement the orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 26 January and 24 May 2024, which are legally binding. The EU gives its full support to the comprehensive roadmap presented by President Biden and calls for the immediate implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 2735, as well as the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions 2728, 2720 and 2712."

Also speaking out is the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. PRESS TV reports:

An international human rights organization says Israel is using water as another weapon of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by deliberately reducing the amount of water available to them, especially potable water sources.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a new press release issued on Thursday that the Tel Aviv regime is purposefully causing the death of over 2.3 million people as part of its genocide war.

The Euro-Med noted that its field team observed significant damage to a desalination plant in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, as a result of an Israeli strike. The attack claimed the life of a young man who was filling a gallon with water there and left several other individuals wounded.

The station, which provided services to at least 50,000 people in several nearby residential neighborhoods, sustained significant damage after being struck by an Israeli guided bomb that broke through multiple stories and detonated on the first floor.

Yet the US Congress has no such statement to make collectively? Nothing. However, US Senator Lindsey Graham has finally learned to breathe through his nose and did manage to speak while otherwise occupied. ALJAZEERA notes:

United States Senator Lindsey Graham has sparked anger after he responded to protests outside his home in Seneca, South Carolina, with anti-Palestinian remarks on social media.

“The Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalized population on the planet who are taught to hate Jews from birth. It will take years to fix this problem,” Graham said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“When I hear ‘from the river to the sea,’ it reminds me of ‘the Final Solution.’ The Hamas terrorists are the SS on steroids,” he added, drawing a comparison to a Nazi paramilitary organisation, the Schutzstaffel (SS).

As part of the post, Graham shared a video of a small line of protesters — about 20 in total — who held up a large Palestinian flag on the road outside his home and chanted, “Lindsey Graham, we’re not done. Intifada’s just begun.”

Lindsey went on in the deleted post, per ALJAZEERA, to apologize to his neighbors for the disturbance the protesters were causing. Couldn't he have just used the excuse he usually does on his neighbors? "They're my nephews."

Paul Rudnick Tweets:

ALJAZEERA notes:

In response to Thursday’s social media post, Claudia De la Cruz, the PSL’s presidential candidate, compared Graham to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It’s clear from Lindsey Graham’s comments that he considers the entire Palestinian population to be ‘the enemy’, making his genocidal intent as clear as Netanyahu’s. He should be held to account for aiding and abetting war crimes,” De la Cruz said in a statement posted online.

A majority of Americans likewise disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza: The survey agency Gallup found in March that 55 percent oppose the military offensive, and approval dropped to 36 percent.

And still the slaughter continues.

That's a video report from NBC so maybe it'll still visible in the snapshot five hours from now? I always wonder, when a person or outlet thinks they want to be noted here: Do they really? Do they not know that when it's spotted here, there's a good chance that it will be restricted when the Zionists start complaining and spamming YOUTUBE? I don't know. At COUNTERPUNCH, Vijay Prashad notes the children of Gaza:

Everyday Violence

June 14: One child was killed by Israeli airstrikes in Zeitoun (Gaza City).

June 22: Two children were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Shujaiya (Gaza City).

June 25: Two children were killed by Israeli fire on al-Wahda Street, near Al-Shifa Hospital (Gaza City).

June 25: Three children were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Maghazi refugee camp.

Each of these stories is about precious children, most of whom have not even reached the age of 10. Some of these children lived through the barbarous Israeli bombardment of 2014 when over 3,000 children had been killed. Sitting in the homes of families in Gaza City and Khan Younis in the aftermath of that war, I heard story after story about children killed and children maimed (Maha, paralyzed; Ahmed, blinded—my notebook a mess of loss and sorrow). As the bombs continued to fall in 2014, Pernille Ironside, then-chief of the Gaza office of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) saidthat 373,000 children needed “immediate psycho-social first aid.” There were simply not enough counselors to help the children, most of whom are now hardened because of the ugliness of occupation and war.

The violence that they experience has become a daily affair. But this kind of violence can never be mundane. “I am scared,” said Hind Rajab. I remember meeting a little boy who was playing with a football on the streets of al-Mughraqa. His father, who was showing me around, told me that the boy was not able to sleep, but would stay awake at night and cry. That was in 2014. That boy must now be in his early twenties. He might not be alive.

One or Two Legs

An Al Jazeera interactive website has the names of the children killed since October 2023, one killed every fifteen minutes; as I scrolled down the names, I felt ill, and then found this at the very end: “These are the names of only half of the children killed.” In early May, UNICEF director Catherine Russell said, “Nearly all of Gaza’s children have been exposed to the traumatic experiences of war, the consequences of which will last a lifetime.” In her statement, where she reported that 14,000 children have been killed, she said that “an estimated 17,000 children are unaccompanied or separated.” These numbers are estimates and are likely to be undercounts.

A new report from Save the Children suggests that over 20,000 children are missing in Gaza. They are either under the rubble, detained by the Israeli military, or buried in mass graves. During a detailed briefing on June 25, the Commissioner-General of the UN Palestine Agency (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini said something staggering: “And you take into consideration that basically, we have every 10 days children losing one leg or two legs on average. This gives you an idea of the scope of the type of childhood a child can have in Gaza.”

The story should not be real. It was the morning of December 19, 2023. Israeli tanks rumbled through the neighborhood of Rimal in Gaza City. Seventeen-year-old Ahed Bseiso was on the top floor of a six-floor building trying to call her father in Belgium to tell him that she was still alive. She heard a loud noise, fell, and called out for her sister Mona and her mother. Her family rushed up, carried her down, and laid her on the kitchen table where her mother had been making bread. Ahed’s uncle Hani Bseiso, an orthopedic doctor, looked at her leg and realized that he would have to either amputate it or she would die. He grabbed whatever supplies he could find and conducted the amputation without anesthesia. Ahed recited verses from the Quran to calm herself. Hani wept as he did the operation, which the family filmed and later posed on YouTube, which was reposted in many places.

These are the stories of Gaza.

These children are dead and dying and let's not pretend that those lucky enough to survive are not going to be haunted by their own childhood for the rest of their lives. Let's not also not forget the countries feeding this nightmare, making it continue. ANADOLU AGENCY (via MEMO) notes:

Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, now stretching into its 10th month, has been marked by severe civilian casualties and widespread destruction, significantly fuelled by Western arms.

Germany, as the second-largest arms supplier to Israel after the US, plays a major role in exacerbating the crisis.

Despite global condemnation and calls for an end to arms sales, Germany, alongside the US, Italy and the UK, continues to be the main supplier of military equipment that intensifies the violence and suffering in Gaza.

I've seen and done things I want to forget
I've seen soldiers fall like lumps of meat
Blown and shot out beyond belief
Arms and legs were in the trees

I've seen and done things I want to forget
Coming from an unearthly place
Longing to see a woman's face
Instead of the words that gather pace

The words that maketh murder
These, these, these are the words
The words that maketh murder
These, these, these are the words
The words that maketh murder
These, these, these are the words
The words that maketh murder
These, these, these are the words
Murder

These, these, these are the words
The words that maketh murder
These, these, these are the words
The words that maketh murder

-- "The Words That Maketh Murder," written by PJ Harvey, first appears on her LET ENGLAND SHAKE album

In the US, we're still caught in the will-he-or-won't-he. Joe Biden is the US president and the Democratic Party's presidential nominee for November. Could it change? It could. But those who think they're helping, those like professional idiots at THE VANGAURD? Zac and 'Cody', I didn't realize that they didn't even have college educations. I know they're idiots and I know they have no knowledge base and no core values. But just because you desire Joe gone, is that a reason to present your segments as Donald-is-a-truth-teller?

They're stupid and uninformed which is why any lengthy conversation they post needs to be fact checked. But they're just dumb blowhards.

I am not interested in liars.

Norman Solomon lied throughout 2008 in radio appearance after radio appearance, TV appearance after TV appearance. He had no dog in the fight, he insisted, but Barack was the best nominee. Those who read his printed opinion pieces at corporate news sites knew better -- and they saw something that you didn't see when he was reposted by COUNTERPUNCH or COMMON DREAMS or whomever: That he was a pledged delegate for Barack. He had to include that when he got actual payment from actual newspapers because if he didn't include it they could've gotten him for failing to disclose and that would have taken the whole syndicate his columns went through down. That's a liar.

We don't need liars in this debate. He elected to lie and we don't need him, can't trust him.

If you have whored yourself in the past, have lied to the American people and tried to trick them, you don't belong in this conversation. You are not to be trusted.

Tonight, on ABC's first hour of prime time, Joe will speak with George Stephanopoulos

Watch, make up your own mind. Also watch the way some try to spin it. Opinions are one thing and people can see the same thing and disagree but then there are whores.

David Sirota, come on down. The man who looks like a drunken doctor mangled his skull during birth with forceps has always been problematic. There was the moment when he attacked an Iraq War veterans mother and did so as though she didn't know what she was talking about. She knew what she was talking about and, sad for David, we knew why David was whoring -- she was rightly calling out US House Rep David Obey. Let's go back because David Sirota wants this forgotten. When we called him out in real time for attacking Tina, he sent us this most foul mouthed e-mail where he repeatedly stated he was going to sue. As I noted when he got an undeserved Academy Award nomination, I evened the score by printing up that e-mail and sharing it at every official Academy Award event I attended.

At any rate, Eve Conant (NEWSWEEK) in March of 2007 on Tina:

You might not know her name, but she's fast become a fresh face of the antiwar left. Missouri mom Tina Richards became an overnight YouTube sensation last week, when an encounter she had with Rep. David Obey in a Capitol Hill corridor went viral—just as Congress was debating a bid to rein in spending for President Bush's surge in Iraq. During the encounter, Richards approaches Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, to discuss her son, Marine Cpl. Cloy Richards—who suffers from undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries following two tours of duty in Iraq and a failure by the military health-care system to provide adequate treatment, his mother says. Obey responds patiently, at first, but the congressman grows agitated as the conversation continues, and he tells Richards that "liberal idiots" were pushing Congress to defund the war—which, Obey argues, would further hurt the cause of veterans whose health-care needs are already being shortchanged.

Richards, the CEO of Grassroots America, a nonprofit devoted to social-justice issues, has continued walking the halls of Congress since then, pushing members to end the war in Iraq. Cloy is due to be deployed to Iraq later this month despite his injuries, she says, and has threatened suicide if he is to be deployed again.

That's who David Sirota attacked in a piece that he later had taken down. In the piece, please note, he attacked her for not grasping how important David Obey was. As he relentlessly kissed David Obey's ass, he forgot to include that, woops, he had been paid by Obey for many years. That's what professionals call "disclosure." And that's why we called him out and he was furious and angry and then, a week later, while defending Obey yet again, he did manage to do the needed disclosure -- bare minimum.

His second attempt at the topic omitted Tina's name but did continue to lecture her and others because who knows better about war than David Sirota? Forget that Tina's son had served two tours in Iraq, David Sirota knew better than her. Knew better than everyone because, as he wrote, there are "idiot liberals" and they are wrong to "berate" David Obey or anyone like him.

Are you getting just what a piece of crap David Sirota is?

Why bring this up now?

David's been in the conversation regarding the nominee. David wants Joe Biden out. Okay, he's not alone on that. There are others who want the same. But David's also pimping a replacement: Josh Shapiro the governor of Pennsylvania who doesn't believe in mask mandates or addressing climate change. But for our focus here? Let's note this from ALJAZEERA:

While he may not have the national name recognition that his fellow governors Newsom and Whitmer enjoy, Shapiro is considered one of the top candidates to potentially replace Biden.

The governor, who previously served as Pennsylvania’s attorney general, comfortably won his election in the Mid-Atlantic swing state in 2022. Since taking office, he has had positive approval ratings.

With regards to the war in Gaza, Shapiro has been a staunch supporter of Israel.

“The whataboutism used by some to justify Hamas’s unprovoked actions is ignorant and wrong,” he said last year. “There is no moral equivalency here. Israel has a right to defend itself.”

Shapiro has also been outspoken in denouncing what he describes as anti-Semitism by protesters who oppose the war in Gaza.

In April, he likened pro-Palestinian student protesters to the Ku Klux Klan. The campus protests, however, have been largely peaceful, and student leaders say accusations of anti-Semitism misrepresent their aim: to encourage their universities to divest from Israeli companies linked to the country’s human rights abuses.

“We have to query whether or not we would tolerate this if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia making comments about people who are African American in our communities,” Shapiro told CNN.

And that's who David Sirota supports. David wants Joe Biden out and he wants Shapiro in. How exactly is David a progressive whatever it is that he calls himself these days? (I just call him an ass regardless.) Maybe David Sirota needs to sit his tired ass down and keep it down? (For the record, he never apologized to Tina.)

Some people are genuinely concerned that Joe is not going to win in November. They are in a panic and they might be right to be in a panic. It might be good to have a different nominee. But some people who are injecting themselves into this conversation are doing so for other reasons and are not being honest about it. We need to be sure, as the conversation continues, that the David Sirotas and Norman Solomons who have lied in the past to try to get you to vote for someone aren't part of this conversation. They aren't honest brokers and we shouldn't listen to them.

The ALZAZEERA article does a run down on a number of possibilities that a number of people are pushing. I've warned about Gretch The Wretch already so we won't quote from the article on her but you should look over the article and ponder why some people keep pimping a candidate that has so very little to offer? Well, I say they have nothing to offer and nothing that says American President -- I say that but maybe, like David Sirota, you're ideal President of the United States is a man who proposed to his wife in Jerusalem? What's more American than that, right?

Yesterday, the death toll in Gaza passed 38,000. So maybe not the best time to pimp Josh Shapiro -- who made a dozen trips to Israel before being elected governor and whose election as governor led to a front page story by THE TIMES OF ISRAEL insisting "Josh Shapiro's inauguration symbolizes a new age for Jewish politicians" -- an article that basically attacks Ed Rendell ("Josh shows up for us just by being so proudly Jewish and that is really something because Rendell, who I worked for and who I love, I mean, he never hid his Jewishness, but he didn’t wear it on his sleeve"). I know Ed, I've know him for years and this has been disclosed here repeatedly. One example of many, March 2012:

Trudy Rubin (Philadelphia Inquirer) admonishes Ed Rendell here. Trudy Rubin's one of the few journalists who doesn't forget Iraq so we note her columns. I don't think Ed's done anything wrong (as noted before, I know Ed). But we'll use that to note a few things about the MEK which has nothing to do with the US legal obligations to Camp Ashraf residents.

So Little Joshy -- whom THE TIMES OF ISRAEL dished was the best Jewish politician since Joe Lieberman!!! are your panties wet yet, girls? -- is just THE TIMES OF ISRAEL's cover boy and, I'm sure, nude centerfold.

He's clearly not who America needs and it's really past time that the left started holding David Sirota accountable or at least permanently tuning him out. Whether it's defending US politicians for prolonging the Iraq War or pimping a non-Green and pro-genocide man for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination or, for that matter, attacking the mother of an Iraq War veteran, David Sirota has shown us what he is and he's done so repeatedly.

I was going to include one of David Sirota's Tweets where he basically creams his shorts as he fantasizes about Joshua Shapiro but the person I'm dictating this too found something much more interesting.

I'm sorry, where above did I knock Emily Sirota for her husband's Zionist beliefs? I didn't. That Tweet is nothing but sexism. Jill Biden is the First Lady. I never held Laura Bush responsible for her War Criminal husband's actions. I don't understand why David needs to knock Jill or to tie her being on the cover of VOGUE -- a common thing for First Ladies -- to his desire to oust Joe Biden so he can get an Israeli loyalist nominated for president?

David Sirota is a piece of crap. You need to grasp that not everyone involved in the conversation on the issue of who the Democratic Party's presidential nominee should be is an honest broker. Some are in it to trick you and they will -- as they have repeatedly in the past -- lie to you and think they can manipulate you.

Regarding this topic -- following Wednesday's snapshot -- many e-mails came in to the public e-mail account (common_ills@yahoo.com) from people saying that here I was telling them to vote for whomever the Democratic Party's nominee was. I didn't do that. I'm sorry that I wasn't more clear but that was a huge, lengthy snapshot.

This does appear in the Wednesday snapshot:

So you're reality is Cornel West, Chase Oliver or a Democrat if you're voting for president in 2024. Donald's going to destroy Palestine even more. And his vile and disgusting comments in the debate received no pushback from Owen or Glynneth. Or anyone else.

If you're a Libertarian, Chase Oliver is a great choice. I can certainly understand someone wanting to vote for Cornel West -- since he's been on fire since rejecting a bunch of White 'leaders' trying to jerk him around. We've noted Laura Flanders' interview with his running mate earlier this morning but I will include it here in the snapshot as well.

In prior years, we covered everyone running for president -- whether they had a chance at the slot or not. In 2023, I noted here that I wasn't doing that. It's a lot of work and there are a lot of liars. When Howie Hawkins won the Green Party nomination for president, he won it. He did that by working his ass off. Dario and the other whores thought campaigning was Tweeting every other week. That's not a campaign. Then, filled with sour grapes, they tried to tank Howie by going around to various questionable platforms (CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX, to cite one) where hosts would not only air their lies but also encourage them. Dario didn't run a campaign. Howie did and that's how Howie got the nomination. The attacks, the smears on Kevin Zeese, all of that nonsense was repugnant.

And Jill Stein was a part of that. And Jill's a worthless candidate. If the Green Party gives her the nomination, it deserves all the ridicule it gets.

So I noted that we weren't covering every campaign. I said we'd cover what we could of real campaigns. Cornel came alive as a candidate during the combative interview with Jimmy Dore and I have no problem highlighting his campaign. I wish I had time to note Chase Oliver. But my time is limited.

That snapshot was directed to those people who were voting Democrat or planning to. I worded that very badly in the snapshot and the person I was dictating it to even asked me if I wanted to include a statement like that and I responded, "_____ no, just get the damn thing up already." A feeling I've got this morning because this snapshot has gone on way too long as well. Expect Monday's to be much shorter.

But, no, I'm not telling anyone that they have to vote for the Democrat. I am voting for the Democrat and I'm doing that because I am so worried what's going to happen to reproductive rights, to the LGBTQ+ community, to our basic rights, to our citizens -- that threat Donald made against Liz Cheney is not something minor.

But some people don't want to vote Democrat and I understand that. And when I'm talking about do we keep or replace Joe, I'm speaking to other Democrats. It's a difficult conversation to have because a lot of 'celebrities' on the left -- I'm referring to pundits -- pose as Democrats but they aren't Democrats. They're Socialists, or they're Democratic Socialists, or they're this or they're that. And they try to butt into this conversation and pretend to be Democrats. I find that dishonest, manipulative and disgusting.

You're a Socialist who wants Joe out? Say you're a Socialist. But if you're a liar, you don't admit it, you won't fess up because you know the minute you do, the natural response on the part of many Democrats is going to be, this is a decision for members of the Democratic Party only.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 273 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL noted yesterday, "More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since October, according to the latest figures from the enclave's health ministry. A total of 58 people were killed in the 24-hour reporting period, taking the overall toll to 38,011. Another 179 people were wounded, taking the total number of injured to 87,445. The majority of victims are women and children, according to the ministry." This number has not yet been updated on Friday. Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

As for the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second World War."

Yesterday, Kat's "Kat's Korner: The late Melanie releases a live album" and "Kat's Korner: Judy Garland, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!" and Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Clarence Takes Another Dump" and "He Eats Dog" went up. The following sites updated since the last snapshot: