Ann's Mega Dub: 5/19/24

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Daddy pretends his nepo baby achieved something finally

The disgraced Will Smith is out praising nepo Willow. Her new album. A rock album. It's not a hit. Three singles and none charted. She made it onto the jazz chart with the rock album which means somebody got paid off. Outside the US, it has charted in no country. Inside the US? It didn't chart on the top 200 album chart, on the US Alt Rock Chart, on the US Indie chart or on the US Rock chart. At the age of 24, it's probably time for her to start looking for a real job. Maybe she can get that grill fixed when she's pulling down a nine to five?

Hugh McIntyre (Forbes) notes:

This week, Smith’s latest album has become a win on some very unexpected charts. At the same time, it’s also a bit of a disappointment, as the title didn’t manage to perform quite as well as some of her past works on other, more closely-watched tallies.

Smith’s new project Empathogen debuts in a pair of Billboard rankings this week. The set is new at No. 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, which ranks, as its title suggests, the top-consumed jazz full-lengths from the “contemporary” era.

[. . .]

While Empathogen may be a quick win on two of Billboard’s jazz-only lists, it didn’t reach other, more competitive tallies. The set fails to crack either the Billboard 200 or Top Album Sales charts, which are usually considered the most important rosters for full-lengths in the U.S.

Get a real job, you spoiled brat.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, May 23, 2024. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sports contempt for the American people, the Israeli government continues attacking hospitals and healthcare workers, students continue protesting around the world, and much more.

Friday morning Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted:

In other Supreme Court news, The New York Times is reporting an upside-down U.S. flag, which is a symbol used by Trump supporters and election deniers, hung outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021, just days before Biden’s inauguration. The revelations are expected to reignite calls for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the January 6 insurrection, including Trump’s attempt to claim immunity from election subversion charges.

Alito is corrupt and not fit to serve. Ruth covered this topic on Saturday "Like Thomas, Alito must recuse himself from all Jan. 6th cases" and she asked me for a comment (I wrote about it Friday in the gina & krista round-robin):

There are a number of issues here and multiple red flags. Alito should recuse himself from any January 6th cases. Alito states that his wife hung the flag upside down. He states that it was done in relation to some other protest and has nothing to do with the January 6th attempted insurrection. He is asking the American people to believe him on that. That's too big of an ask. There is the appearance of a conflict of interest and he may very well be lying. I'm texting you a link to add to what I'm about to say. Lying? While attempting to be confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2006, he told Senator Ted Kennedy that ROE V WADE was settled law. Then came his voting to overturn ROE. That decision eroded confidence in the Court across the country. He really is in no place to beg the American people to believe him. Did his wife do the flag? He was a judge before he got on the Supreme Court. His wife knows the rules. And if she did do it, that actually raises more concerns. His work colleague is Clarence. Ginni Thomas was part of the January 6th attempted insurrection. Was Martha-Ann Alito also part of that insurrection attempt? Do we need to be concerned as a country over just how deep that insurrection attempt actually was? These and other questions immediately follow. So there is the appearance of a conflict of interest. That requires Alito to step aside on all January 6th cases. His job is not just to rule. His job is to rule and to ensure trust in the Court. Refusing to recuse himself would be failing at his job. And the integrity of the Court is as important as any ruling it issues. As a member of the Court, Alito has to maintain the integrity of the Court and he can't do that without recusing himself from all January 6th cases.

That was me to Ruth on Saturday. Alito's a liar. That's no longer opinion, there's a new story.

From the new NEW YORK TIMES report by Jodi Kantor, Aric Toler and Julie Tate:

Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs.
This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms.
Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google Street View image from late August also shows the flag.

I don't know where to start.

Caught last week, he insists that it was his wife and it was about some other issue. As I said last week,

"He is asking the American people to believe him. That is too big of an ask."

They shouldn't believe him, he's a liar.

That's what really gets me here. Last week, when he lied? He knew there was a chance he could be exposed as the liar he is. He knew a neighbor might have seen the flag just being reported now. In fact, that's why he did it. He put the flag out for it to be seen.

But his contempt for the American people was so great that he just lied without caring. Grasp that.

He's not fit for the Court.

And Chief Justice John Roberts is not leaving behind a legacy or building the trust of the American people.

Alito cannot sit on any January 6th cases. He is clearly part of that movement and he is clearly unable to be truthful. Neither of those flags should have flown. Alito is spitting on democracy and showing contempt for the American people. If he had any ethics at all, he would announce his immediate resignation.

I doubt he will. And if the Democrats are in power after the 2024 election, they better remove Alito or be prepared to be called out by everyone because there is nothing more corrupt than what Alito and Clarence Thomas have been doing.

It's time for an immediate end to lifetime Supreme Court appointments. It's time for Congress to put in term limits for Supreme Court justices.

Thomas and Alito's abuses demonstrate how little oversight and accountability the Supreme Court justices have had to face.

Turning to Gaza where the ongoing slaughter continues. The Israeli government has refused moves towards a pause in the fighting, let alone a cease-fire for months now. Today, THE WASHINGTON POST reports, "Israel’s war cabinet has instructed negotiators to resume talks on a deal to release hostages held in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said early Thursday. The statement came after the families of five female Israeli soldiers released footage of their capture by Hamas on Oct. 7, in hopes it would push authorities to restart stalled negotiations." Hamza Hendawi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Egypt has threatened to withdraw from mediating a Gaza ceasefire, saying attempts to question its integrity in handling the negotiations reflected a desire to punish Cairo for standing by Palestinian rights.
Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, spoke late on Wednesday in response to a CNN report that Cairo's intelligence officials quietly changed the terms of a recent proposal and scuttled a deal for a Gaza truce and prisoner and hostage swap between Israel and Hamas.
“Attempts to cast doubt and offend Egypt's mediation efforts … will only lead to further complications of the situation in Gaza and the entire region and may push Egypt to completely withdraw from its mediation in the current conflict,” Mr Rashwan said.
In a thinly veiled reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government, he said “specific parties” were avoiding making decisions so as to protect personal interests or to deal with “massive domestic political crisis” they are facing.
Egypt, he said, was engaged in Gaza mediation at the insistence of Israel and the US.

The CNN report published on Tuesday, citing three sources, said Egyptian intelligence officials changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had agreed to earlier in May, without consulting fellow mediators Qatar and the US.

When Hamas announced on May 6 that it had accepted the truce agreement, it was not the proposal that the US and Qatar thought was submitted to Hamas for review, according to CNN.
The changes caused anger among US, Israeli and Qatari officials and led to an impasse in the talks, CNN said.
Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The National on Thursday that Egypt's mediators worked closely with their Qatari and US partners throughout the process.
“Everything in the draft proposals was agreed upon in advance by all the mediators,” said one source.
Mr Rashwan said the CNN report amounted to an attempt to punish Egypt for its unwavering support for Palestinian rights and its decision last week to intervene in support of South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice that accuses Israel of genocide.

Genocide? The deniers continue to pretend otherwise but more and more people are commenting on reality. Shona Murray (EURONEWS) reports:

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris answered Euronews' questions in an exclusive interview, discussing the Israel-Hamas conflict and offering justification for Ireland's decision to recognise Palestine as a state.
Europe is on the wrong side of history for failing to do enough to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, according to Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris.
“There will be a moment in the future where your children and your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will ask, what did you do? What did you do? And did you do enough? And that should keep every single one of us awake at night, because there are children in Gaza, there are children in Rafah, who go to sleep at night not knowing if they'll wake," he told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
In coordinated announcements, the Irish government on Wednesday announced it will recognise Palestine alongside Spain and Norway, with Slovenia and potentially Belgium likely to follow suit.

The corrupt government of War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has killed as easily -- and repeatedly -- as it has lie. UNWRA is a terrorist organization! Remember that reckless charge that the Israeli government made in their efforts to starve the Palestinian people? ALJAZEERA reports:

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has lauded an initiative by the Slovenian Permanent Mission to the UN to support UNRWA‘s vital role in providing assistance to generations of Palestinian refugees.

In a post on X, he also stated that all EU donors have now resumed funding of the UN agency.
Earlier this year, Israel claimed that 12 UNRWA members participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel.
The claims against UNRWA led to a massive funding deficit as several donor countries announced cuts.

A review headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna later revealed that Israel had failed to support its claims about the UNRWA staff.

Netanyahu and his corrupt government have lied repeatedly. Remember the claim that they didn't attack hospitals? ALZAZEERA notes:

A doctor forced out of northern Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital, which is currently besieged by Israeli forces, has given Al Jazeera an update on the situation inside the facility, where 14 patients and several staff remain.

“Today, the Israeli military forced nearly all of us from the hospital,” Dr Marwan Fwaihi told Al Jazeera. “The patients remained inside, with four medical staff and two paramedics to care for them.

“All of us have been ordered to leave the hospital and keep walking towards west [Gaza City]. We are walking until we reach a safe area and to find shelter.”

Fwaihi emphasised that he has repeatedly called on international organisations to help protect the patients and staff trapped in the besieged facility, but has so far seen no progress.
“I appeal to all international organisations and all medical-related officials, especially the [World Health Organization], to intervene to protect what remains of the hospitals, the patients in the hospital, and the medical staff who refuse to leave,” he said.

Yesterday, Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted, "In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided the northern city of Jenin early Tuesday morning, killing at least eight Palestinians, including a doctor shot dead on his way to work and a teenager riding his bicycle. About a dozen others were injured, including a journalist." There have been so many attacks on hospitals, so many murdered healthcare workers that the Israeli government doesn't even try to lie most of the time these days. At HAARETZ, Michael Sfard writes, "Let the reporters and editors explain how their professional ethics fit with the shameful decision to keep from Israelis what we're inflicting on the people of Gaza."

Meanwhile, students around the world continue protesting the ongoing genocide. From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

We now look at the ongoing crackdown on student-led protests in solidarity with Palestine across U.S. college campuses. An encampment at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is the latest to be violently dismantled by police, and President Santa Ono claimed the peaceful action had become a threat to public safety. Dozens of officers dressed in riot gear, wielding batons, raided the encampment before dawn Tuesday, pepper-spraying and pushing students to the ground as they tore down the camp.

PROTESTERS: [shouting] Move, cops! Get out the way! Move, cops! Get out the way! We know you’re Israel-trained! We know you’re Israel-trained! Move, cops! Get out the way! Go!

AMY GOODMAN: At least four people were arrested Tuesday, while two others were hospitalized after being pepper-sprayed by police. Student protesters set up the encampment about a month ago, demanding the University of Michigan’s endowment divest from companies with ties to Israel. This comes as the school’s president, Santa Ono, is slated to appear before Congress tomorrow alongside the presidents of UCLA and Yale to testify about their responses to the student-led protests and how they’re addressing reports of antisemitism on campus.

For more, we’re joined by Salma Hamamy, Palestinian American student at the University of Michigan, who just graduated earlier this month. Salma is the president of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at the University of Michigan. On Tuesday morning, she was pepper-sprayed and beaten by police who raided the university pro-Palestine encampment, joining us from Southfield, Michigan.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Salma. Can you describe what happened yesterday? And just to be clear, this has all happened after graduation at Mich?

SALMA HAMAMY: Hi. Yes, it did all happen after graduation. Students at the encampment have been holding down the encampment long after, even after graduation.

And at approximately 5:40 a.m., police came in full riot gear, actually while we were having a church service on the Diag, moving them out and essentially giving us a 10-minute warning, saying that we must be cleared off of the encampment. However, that 10 minutes, surprisingly, turned into five minutes, and they immediately began to charge at the protesters and at the students with their batons and pepper spray. Nearly every step forward that they took, chemicals were being sprayed in every direction. As students were falling to the floor in agony and in pain, they continued to push forward, beating students with batons. And us, standing, we were trying to, you know, hold up onto the students who have fallen down and lift them and take them over to safety. Yet they even began to arrest students in that very moment. So, it was very difficult to keep track of who’s being arrested, because, you know, we unfortunately could not see in those moments due to the chemical attacks directly sprayed onto our eyes. And they constantly pushed us further and further back. It took them about half an hour to entirely remove us from the encampment, as we tried our absolute hardest to remain strong and remain standing at the encampment. However, as we were pushed further and further back, students, unfortunately, were unable to remain standing due to the pepper spray and due to the intense beating with the batons, as well. Students’ phones were even confiscated as we were recording them.

I, personally, myself, was holding a megaphone, and kept a reasonable distance from the cops, as well, as I was chanting, specifically emphasizing why I was there and why I was protesting at the encampment. I repeatedly said that my family has been killed, and that is why I’m here. And as I was saying that through the megaphone, police officers snatched the megaphone out from my hand and threw it behind them.

So, not only was it an attack on the encampment, but it was an attack on us as students protesting entirely. And it was quite a traumatic experience, to say the least, but, unfortunately, not one that was surprising at all given the response that the university has taken against student protesters within the last eight months. This is not the first time that the university has unleashed violent police against students. And currently, as you mentioned, four are now facing felony charges. Three were actually hospitalized. And, you know, due to the inhaling of the pepper spray, several of us are unable to properly breathe at the moment due to the tactics that they deployed.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Salma, I wanted to ask you — you mentioned that this repression didn’t just start with the encampment. Many universities, for months now, have been cracking down on even the most minor protests occurring on their campuses. What’s been happening in Michigan over the past eight months?

SALMA HAMAMY: Over the past eight months, we have seen police brutally beat students to the floor, rip their hijabs off in the process, causing several students to have been hospitalized over the course of eight months. We currently now have eight total students facing felony charges and dozens more facing disciplinary repercussions by the university themselves. Even within the smallest protests of us marching into buildings during public, open hours, we have been met with police violence. Us protesting outside, we have been met with police violence.

It seems that as though wherever we stand, the university refuses to engage in dialogue with us to discuss divestment, as we have been demanding for the last eight months. And instead of meeting with us at the table and meeting with us at the encampment, they decided to meet us with violent force and chemical attacks.

AMY GOODMAN: Where do you go from here, Salma? You just graduated. You also helped to organize the protest at the University of Michigan graduation.

SALMA HAMAMY: Yeah. So, one of the reasons that the university decides to attack our encampment is because it is a physical display of our commitment, of our dedication and of our motivation entirely. So, by them thinking that they could take down the encampment, it is in no way ever going to take down our movement or our commitment, because that lies within the people and that lies within ourselves. And we are still standing. So, regardless if we happen to have the tents laid up or we have an encampment or we have various forms of protest, it is always going to remain strong, and it is going to remain stronger than ever, every single time the police try to oppress us, and especially when it is caused by our university.

So, graduates, alumni, staff members, faculty members, broader community members are all remaining united and are remaining united for the Palestinian cause and for the people of Gaza. And we are going to continue to fight back, and especially against these charges that have been placed against these students for protesting a genocide and for protesting our university’s funding of a genocide. So, we will remain strong, and we will remain wherever it is that the movement lies, because it lies within ourselves.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think part of the dismantling of the encampment had to do with President Ono, president of the University of Michigan, having to testify before Congress tomorrow?

SALMA HAMAMY: Absolutely. I think it is a tactic that they are trying to uphold to protect themselves. However, one thing that is going to be made evidently clear, as it has made evidently clear with every single other raid at the encampment, is that it is not a good look for the university to come in and send police in riot gear. Of course, it is a fear tactic that Congress is trying to put against these university presidents. However, again, it’s not going to deter students away. And it is not a coincidence that around this time President Ono is sending police officers to not only physically danger and harm students, but also having dozens of students be faced with disciplinary charges from the university themselves and also eight felony charges from the prosecutor’s office.

AMY GOODMAN: Salma Hamamy, we want to thank you for being with his, Palestinian American student at University of Michigan, who just graduated earlier this month, and one of the organizers of the protest at the graduation.

Amy Goodman also noted yesterday:

Meanwhile, academic workers at the University of California at Santa Cruz began a strike on Monday to protest the crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protesters. The strike comes days after the UAW local, which represents 48,000 workers in the UC system, voted to authorize a systemwide strike.
In other education news, the faculty at Dartmouth has voted to censure the school’s president, Sian Beilock, for calling in the police to shut down a peaceful student protest in solidarity with Palestine. Meanwhile, the Faculty Senate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has voted no confidence in the school’s chancellor, Javier Reyes, after police arrested more than 130 at a student encampment earlier this month.

Australia's 9 NEWS:

Pro-Palestine protesters occupying the University of Melbourne's Arts building have agreed to leave after a week-long sit-in.
UniMelb 4 Palestine representatives said they reached a deal with the university last night.
It comes just days after the university warned protesters would face expulsion if they didn't pack up and leave.

At COMMON DREAMS, Maura Stephens and Alessandra Pomarico write:

Like others around the world, we’ve been watching as neoliberal and corporate-controlled universities repress, silence, and violate peaceful protesters who are answering calls of conscience. As educators working in our various locales to break free from the structural chains of assembly-line school systems, we’re moved to unequivocally condemn those who order and undertake the beating and arresting of students, faculty, and supporters.

These are the very actions, as well as turning staff against the communities they serve and keeping students from reaching their beds, food, and medications—making campuses “unsafe” and not, as administrators claim, peaceful campus teach-ins and sit-ins.

We applaud and support students and others who are risking vilification, attacks by police and by right-wing extremists, arrest, and expulsion from their universities in defense of human rights and a swift end to the genocidal assault on Palestinians.

What kind of schooling violently subjugates those who lawfully express peace-oriented dissent?

We’re encouraged by this growing movement, which reveals an awakening among students of anti-colonial awareness and worldwide solidarity. On the other hand, the horrific repressive reactions of their institutions starkly reveal the oligarchic infrastructure on which Western formal education is built.

Let’s Reflect on the Purpose of Education

What is this modeling of violence in their own lives impressing on students? Such imperialist brutality is amplified to a much greater degree on the people whose lives and freedom they’re upholding.

What is education for, if it silences discourse on justice, freedom, and equity? What kind of schooling violently subjugates those who lawfully express peace-oriented dissent?

Universities should be spaces for intellectual and compassionate debate. Yet we are witnessing extensive censorship, abuse of power, the squelching of critical thinking, student suspensions, and arrests and firing of faculty members who support peaceful protest.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 230 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 notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 35,709, with 79,990 wounded ." 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:

On bodies trapped under rubble, ALJAZEERA notes this morning:

We’re talking about a three-storey building that housed not only residents but also dozens of other displaced Palestinians in Rafah that made it to Nuseirat three days ago.

I met the neighbours. I met the family. I met one of the relatives of people still trapped under the rubble earlier today. They were telling me heartbreaking things.

Imagine escaping the air strikes in Rafah, looking for a safe space but being killed after three days of evacuating – not only being killed but being trapped where the Civil Defence teams do not have any equipment to remove or pull these people from under the rubble.

I saw Civil Defence teams doing their best to pull people from under the rubble. They were digging with their bare hands, with very basic tools. This was not the first time we have seen this scene. We have been seeing this for more than seven months now.

Unfortunately, it may come to a point where the Civil Defence teams will give up on this house because there are more people being targeted every single hour across the Gaza Strip.

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."

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Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Those awful Grahams

At Newsweek, Rev. Nathan Empsall writes:

Certainly, while beloved by many, the late Billy Graham is a complicated figure. On the one hand, the antisemitism and the anti-Catholic views that marked his early career were horrific and have no place in American society. Full stop. And it is also true that the famed Baptist evangelist was able to grow beyond many of those views, preached at integrated venues as early as 1953, and built bridges between conflicting groups. Polls repeatedly showed him to be one of the most admired and influential Americans of his time.

Franklin, however, is a far less complicated figure. Distorting his father's legacy rather than safeguarding it, the younger Graham has twisted his father's name as much as he's twisted Christ's—and all in the pursuit of the proximity to "hard right" political power that his father repeatedly said he came to abhor. Despite Billy's beloved reputation and Franklin's presence on Capitol Hill for the statue unveiling, lawmakers and reporters should remember that Franklin is not his father, and that he does not speak for most Christians in the United States.

To be clear, while I do have significant concerns about the implications for the separation of church and state of putting a preacher's statue in the Capitol—even a preacher I can somewhat admire—the biggest issue is not the statue. It's the use of Billy Graham's legacy as sheep's clothing to disguise wolves like Franklin, Speaker Johnson, and their allies.

Because when Franklin is allowed to misrepresent his father's legacy unchecked, especially in front of an audience as influential as at the statue unveiling, we risk allowing his anti-democratic, hate-filled, pro-former President DonaldTrump, Christian-nationalist agenda to become more palatable and seem more mainstream than it really is.

If we are to take Billy Graham at his word, he likely would not approve of his son's actions. Indeed, the elder Graham told Parade magazine that he had urged Jerry Falwell, Sr. to avoid politics: "It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it."

Yet, the boundaries between evangelism and activism for which Billy Graham's later years became well-known are now blatantly ignored, dismissed, and defenestrated by Franklin and his friends. Franklin's initial support for Trump's Big Lie, his dismissal of the Capitol Riot of Jan. 6, 2021, as a false flag by "antifa," and his claim that Trump is "one of the great presidents" have surely left his father rolling over in his grave. It's small wonder that he, like Speaker Johnson, is a leading member of Faithful America's False Prophets hall of fame. (Disclosure: I am the executive director of Faithful America, which represents approximately 200,000 grassroots Christians.)

While it is true that Franklin Graham is much worse than his father, Billy Graham was not a kind and loving Christian.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, May 22, 2024. The distribution of aid has ceased operations in Gaza, AP's equipment was seized by Israel, calls for Palestinian statehood increase, and much more.

Last night, AP reported, "The United Nations suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation caused by Israel’s expanding military operation. The U.N. warned that humanitarian operations across the territory were nearing collapse." Frances Vinall (WASHINGTON POST) quotes UNRWA's Juliette Touma stating, "We have no supplies. So we have nothing to distribute." THE NATIONAL notes:

The International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians warned that people in Gaza are surviving on as little as three percent of the minimum daily water needs, leading to severe public health risks at a time of decreasing aid deliveries.

“While Israel’s offensive inside Rafah continues accelerating Gaza’s humanitarian need, our recent assessment found that some Palestinians are surviving on just 3 per cent of the internationally-recognized minimum standard for daily water intake,” both NGOs said.

With Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing, limited fully functioning hospitals, and more than 800,000 people displaced in just the last week, they said they are deeply concerned about the sanitation and health impact for people inside Gaza.

Wait! Wait! Wait! There's Joe Biden's Pier To Nowhere! It's finally built! Long after it was promised! The Pier To Nowhere will save the day!!!

Uh. No.

Lauren Irwin (THE HILL) reports:

None of the aid that has passed through the pier built by the United States in Gaza has been distributed to Palestinians yet, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

According to Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense, 569 metric tons of aid from many countries had made it across the temporary pier and there is “more aid on the way.”

Amanda Goh (BUSINESS INSIDER) adds:

Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said on Tuesday that the goods unloaded on the temporary pier that the US built off the coast of Gaza haven't reached those in need, per CNN.

And this entire project may eventually be a failure if Israel doesn't create conditions for aid groups to carry out their operations safely, the UN World Food Program said on Tuesday, per the Associated Press.

This is not a surprise outcome. For months, various United Nations officials have warned against thi, various aid organizations, Cindy McCain, in her role as the executive director of The World Food Program has repeatedly warned of this.

Transcript:

CINDY MCCAIN (Executive Director, World Food Programme): Well, thank you for having me.

First of all, the - the bottom line here is that we need to get more aid in, as – as has been said. We are looking at possible – possibly being on the brink of famine in this region. This is something that's not only terrific, but it will spread. And - and with that comes disease and - and everything else that you can imagine.

Bottom line, we need more trucks in, we need more aid in, we need to be able to have more access to be able to distribute the aid. And - and, you know, hopefully maybe a longer time to do that, not just four days. We look forward to - to making sure that we can work with all of our partners on the ground and in the area to make sure that this can happen. And I want to thank the Egyptians for being so helpful in all of this.

MARGARET BRENNAN: UNICEF also said approximately 30,000 children under the age of five in Gaza had stunted growth. And this was even before the war began.

CINDY MCCAIN: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Why?

CINDY MCCAIN: Well, I – the access for aid, again, prior to the war and then, of course, since the war has been an issue all along. And the ability to make sure that these children get the proper nutrients, not just food, but the proper nutrients in this. It's a terrific situation. It's a - it's - it is - it is a massive, catastrophic event that is occurring, and it will cross regions as it happens. We have got to be able to get in there. And not only that, we have to make sure that we can safely have access to be able to feed the people that we need to feed.

And while you nod at that CBS FACE THE NATION segment, grasp that Cindy's been on that program more than once. She's been on all the morning programs and various other news programs. But the one above? It's from November 26th of last year. That's how much time Joe Biden's had to address this.

At the end of last week, Cindy was again sounding the alarms.

Cindy McCain spoke about the crisis to SKY NEWS.

Starving children and adults in Gaza are dying after being reduced to the "size of a skeleton", according to the World Food Programme boss.

Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN agency, said her staff describe it as "a complete disaster" and there are serious problems getting trucks in safely and in sufficient numbers.

Israel's offensive following the Hamas attack on 7 October has displaced much of Gaza's population, many of whom are fleeing again as Israel escalates attacks in the southern city of Rafah.

Hundreds of thousands are starving and desperate, and Mrs McCain told Sky News the reality is devastating.

She told Yalda Hakim: "Imagine a child wasting into the size of a skeleton - and of course passing from it - and an adult doing the same thing. That's what we're seeing on the ground.

"If we could get in now we might be able to fend off a hardcore famine, but we're not there yet and we're not getting in."

The title for this site comes from the late political theorist Judith N. Shklar -- see her BETWEEN UTOPIA AND REALISM. She's also known for THE FACES OF INJUSTICE in which she explains there is a difference between a tragedy and an injustice -- an injustice could have been prevented.

And this lack of aid right now? It could have been prevented. It is an injustice and therefore a legal crime.

Meanwhile, Frances Vinall (WASHINGTON POST) reports:

An American doctor who refused to evacuate Gaza without his colleagues and called on President Biden to ensure medical workers’ safety announced late Tuesday that he has safely left the Strip alongside the rest of his 16-person team.

Adam Hamawy, who lives in New Jersey, wrote on Instagram that he and his team had been evacuated to Amman, Jordan, and credited Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) for assisting with their safe passage.

“Since I entered Gaza I was bound by two commitments: first that I would leave on May 13 with the entire team I entered with and that our team would be replaced with another to serve patients,” said Hamawy, a reconstructive plastic surgeon.

“Today we received word that the entire [team] was to be evacuated to Jordan and that our administration is committed to facilitating alternative medical teams to offer relief in Gaza.

THE GUARDIAN notes, "According to AFP, the World Health Organization has said northern Gaza’s last two functioning hospitals, al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, were besieged by Israeli forces, with more than 200 patients trapped inside."

In other news, THE WASHINGTON POST reports, "Norway, Ireland and Spain announced plans Wednesday to recognize a Palestinian state. While the move is symbolic, the countries expressed hope that it will press Israelis, Palestinians and the international community toward a two-state solution. In response, Israel -- whose government rejects a two-state solution -- ordered the return of its ambassadors from the three countries." THE NATIONAL notes the Israeli government's response, "Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has ordered Israel’s ambassadors from Ireland and Norway to immediately return home, as Norway said it would recognise a Palestinian state and Ireland was expected to do the same."

Let's drop back to yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: On May 15th, Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff at the Department of the Interior and a political appointee of President Biden, resigned from her position in protest of the administration’s policies in Gaza. In doing so, she became the first known Jewish appointee to resign from the Biden administration over Gaza.

In a four-page letter of resignation she released publicly, Greenberg Call wrote, quote, “I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration amidst President Biden’s disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” unquote.

Lily Greenberg Call chose May 15th as the date of her resignation because it marked the anniversary of the Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,” when up to 900,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and displaced in 1948 during the founding of Israel. In her resignation letter, she wrote, quote, “Nakba and Shoah, the Hebrew word for Holocaust, mean the same thing: catastrophe. I reject the premise that one people’s salvation must come at another’s destruction. I am committed to creating a world where this does not happen — and this cannot be done from within the Biden administration,” she wrote.

Lily Greenberg Call joins us today in our New York studio.

Lily, welcome to Democracy Now! Thanks so much for joining us. If you can talk about the significance of the date you chose and why you have decided to resign?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: Thanks for having me, Amy.

So, as I said in my resignation letter, you know, “Nakba” and “Shoah” mean the same thing. I was raised with a fairy tale about the Nakba. The Nakba was something that I was not really told about. And if anything, it was minimized and trivialized. Was raised with this idea that Israel was a land without a people for a people without a land. And, you know, so if there’s no Palestinian society, if there’s nothing to be destroyed, then there’s nothing to mourn. So I felt, as a Jewish person, that it was particularly important for me to acknowledge the significance of the Nakba, and the Nakba that has never really ended, that continues to this day.

And, you know, as I mentioned, there’s something devastating about the parallels between the same word, “Nakba” and “Shoah,” and the idea that what Jews see as our — what many Jews see as our salvation in the formation of the state of Israel came at the expense of Palestinian freedom. And so I want us to reject that premise, the idea that Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom are at odds with each other, and understand that any system that requires that, you know, requires the oppression of one people for another, is inherently unsafe.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you tell us: How did your Jewish faith lead you to make this decision?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: Yeah. So, I mean, I was raised very much steeped in Jewish community. I went to Jewish day school. I have like 20 years of Jewish education. I did, you know, traditional Jewish text study in high school. And a lot of the values that I learned in that, I internalized some really beautiful values, right? There’s this idea of pikuach nefesh in Judaism, which means “saving a life,” and it supercedes any other commandment. You are allowed to break any commandment if it means saving a life. We also say, “To save a life is to save the whole world.” There’s this idea of b’tselem elohim, that every person is made in the image of God. And so, those values, in addition to the fact that Judaism is really steeped in a justice-oriented ethos, that we fight against authority — you know, Jews have been the victims of injustice, of legal injustice, of violence, of persecution, of displacement throughout our history, right? So, I feel that I am really living in my Jewishness, in the essence of what I was raised with, by standing up for Palestinians and by demanding their freedom.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And your views on the Israeli state have evolved over the years. In 2019, as a college student at UC Berkeley, you served as president of Bears for Israel, which is affiliated with AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Could you talk about the evolution of your views?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: Yeah, of course. So, you know, as I mentioned, I was raised in a very — I was raised deeply involved in Jewish community. And within that community, it was very pro-Israel. There was no daylight between being Jewish and support for the state of Israel in the community I was raised in. And I also — you know, I believed in Israel as, like I said, the sort of salvation of the Jewish people, the way to protect Jews from antisemitism. And I grew up experiencing antisemitism from non-Jewish people in my life and in communities, and so it was really powerful for me to advocate for Israel.

But I would say, you know, as I got a little older, over the past eight years or so, two things started to happen at once, or at the same time. So, the first was that my world started to expand. I was able to get to know Palestinians, Palestinian Americans. I worked with some Syrian Palestinian refugees in Greece. I saw for myself some of the injustices that Palestinians face in Israel-Palestine — the checkpoints, you know, the system of apartheid — and started to — you know, they didn’t feel in alignment with my values — right? — and with the kind of country that — you know, the kind of world that I want to live in. So, that was happening. I also studied Arabic and just had all this exposure to Palestinian culture and life.

And at the same time, the coalition of people that I was advocating for Israel with through AIPAC started to move to the right, as Trump came to power, as the Israeli government shifted to the right. And I started to see these people who I had spent years doing pro-Israel advocacy with, in particular, you know, the evangelical Christians, support Trump and support right-wing fascists here in the United States and people who were aligning themselves with white supremacists and antisemites, right? And so, I started to realize, OK, maybe these people aren’t here because they’re invested in Jews and Jewish safety, you know, that there wasn’t — they couldn’t be — they couldn’t care about us if they were aligning with people who were so clearly antisemitic and harmful to my communities.

And so, both of those things together led me to this realization that I had been told a lie — right? — and that the status quo is untenable, and that not only is it devastating for Palestinians — right? — but I think October 7th made it very, very clear that it also doesn’t keep Israelis safe, and that if we wanted to actually create of thriving future for Israelis, for Palestinians, for Jews, for the communities that we care about here in America, something has to change.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play some of what President Biden had to say earlier this month at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Driven by ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people — babies, parents, grandparents — slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted.

AMY GOODMAN: President Biden made those comments in April. In December, he spoke at a Hanukkah holiday reception at the White House.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people and the security of Israel and its right to exist is independent — as an independent Jewish state is unshakable. Folks, were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world who was safe — were there no Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: Lily Greenberg Call, your response?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: I don’t think Jews are safe right now. And I don’t think it’s — you know, I think that part of that is the status quo in Israel. And what makes Jews less safe is these comments from President Biden. I think, you know, continually using this message of Jewish safety as a smokescreen for Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians makes Jews less safe. It enables antisemitism.

And I just want to say that, of course, what Hamas did on October 7th is atrocious. There were people in my community among those people that he’s speaking about. But it’s very clear that the Israeli government is not prioritizing bringing the hostages home. You know, if they cared about that, they would not be bombing the densely populated area that they’re in.

And, you know, again, I am so angry at the president that he is using my community as justification for the slaughter, making us the face of the American war machine. I don’t think that makes us safe. And if he really cared about Jewish safety, he wouldn’t be doing that.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you what the reaction has been among your former colleagues in the Biden administration. You worked both for Kamala Harris and for President Biden. What’s your sense of the people within the bureaucracy of government, how they’re feeling about the continuing American support for Israel’s war in Gaza?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: There’s widespread sentiment within all levels of the administration and all agencies that the president’s continued support for Israel’s assault on Gaza is disastrous. It’s disastrous for American foreign policy, for sentiment towards Americans abroad. It’s disastrous here at home. And it’s very devastating that the leadership of the administration is not only not listening to their colleagues, but to the majority of the American people, who want a ceasefire, who are horrified by what’s happening in Gaza, and who have made their voices very clear.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the power of AIPAC right now. And do you think it’s diminishing, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee? And also, do you feel that the consensus, the Democratic establishment consensus, is breaking at this point? On the one hand, you have these massive protests across the country, President Biden saying, no, he’s not listening to them. Then he says he’s halting 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. But then, within a few days, he announces a billion dollars’ worth of weapons to Israel.

LILY GREENBERG CALL: Yeah, you know, I think the Democratic Party, in particular, has to make a choice. They have to decide if they’re going to align themselves with a group like AIPAC, that supports and funds and enables insurrectionists and white supremacists, and take money from the same people who fund the NRA and Big Oil, you know, people — those groups are completely blacklisted from the Democratic Party. So, are we going to align ourselves with those people and take money from them? Or are we going to choose to uplift and support progressive champions who are fighting for a multiracial democracy and the type of country that we know that we deserve and that we want? And yeah, I do think the consensus is starting to shift a little bit. I think AIPAC realizes that their power is diminishing in particular within the Democratic Party, which is why they are making this kind of shift to the right. And I think, yeah, again, the Democratic Party has to make a choice.

AMY GOODMAN: And your journey from AIPAC and CAMERA — if you can explain what that is — to where you are now? And if you’re finding more and more of your friends back then are actually shifting?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: I think so, yeah. Again, I think it is very challenging and hard to — you know, when you grow up in the communities that I’m from, it’s very hard to change. And also, you know, a lot of Jewish people, unfortunately, we have internalized this message that Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom are at odds with each other — right? — and that to ensure the safety of the Jewish people, this is unfortunately the — we have to be OK with the status quo and with what Israel is doing. And I understand that. I understand our fear of annihilation after the Holocaust. I understand the fear of antisemitism. I feel it in myself. But we cannot let that fear blind us and trick us into somehow thinking — you know, into accepting the slaughter of Palestinians. And I really urge people in my community to think about what it means for us to accept that and to be the face of that.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, the response within the Interior Department? I mean, the secretary of interior is the first Native American cabinet member, first Indigenous cabinet member, the former New Mexico congressmember, Deb Haaland. Her response?

LILY GREENBERG CALL: Yeah, I mean, a lot of folks that I know across the administration have been supportive and understanding. You know, like I said, there is widespread dissent and sentiment within the administration that what the president is doing is disastrous. And, you know, I’ll say that I may no longer be in the federal government right now, I might not be in this administration, but I do feel that I am here upholding my oath that I took to serve the American people, to listen to them. And I’m fighting for a country that we deserve, for a shared future for Israelis and Palestinians and for our communities here in America. And I don’t see that the president is doing that.

AMY GOODMAN: Lily Greenberg Call, thanks so much for being with us, the first known Jewish political appointee to resign over President Biden’s policies on Gaza. She had been working as special assistant to the chief of staff at the Interior Department. She also worked for Biden’s election, as well as Kamala Harris’s.

Coming up, President Biden condemns the International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense minister. We’ll speak with war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody and the renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappé. Stay with us.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government continues to pretend it is acting in a humane and democratic manner. What's more humane and democratic than attacks on press freedom, after all? Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

The White House and press freedom advocates were among those who on Tuesday criticized the Israeli government's shutdown of The Associated Press' live video shot of northern Gaza for violating a new media law by providing access to the banned Al Jazeera network.

The APsaid Israeli authorities confiscated its camera and broadcasting equipment from a home in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. The live shot was broadcast from a balcony on the home.

"The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our long-standing live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment," said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the New York-based news organization.

"The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country's new foreign broadcaster law," Easton added. "We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world."

CNN offers this update, "Israel returns AP gear: Israel said it would return camera equipment to the Associated Press after shutting down its live feed showing Gaza and seizing its gear. The reversal came after the White House, Israel’s opposition leader and press groups expressed concerns."

Gaza remains under assault. Day 229 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 notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 35,562, with 79,652 wounded." 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:

On bodies trapped under rubble, ALJAZEERA notes this morning:

We’re talking about a three-storey building that housed not only residents but also dozens of other displaced Palestinians in Rafah that made it to Nuseirat three days ago.

I met the neighbours. I met the family. I met one of the relatives of people still trapped under the rubble earlier today. They were telling me heartbreaking things.

Unfortunately, it may come to a point where the Civil Defence teams will give up on this house because there are more people being targeted every single hour across the Gaza Strip.

The following sites updated: