tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68248125656178772892024-03-18T21:00:33.722-07:00Ann's Mega DubAnn Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.comBlogger3522125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-83261379347662351802024-03-18T21:00:00.000-07:002024-03-18T21:00:00.131-07:00Moms Who Lick Labia are back in the news<p><b><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/">BULLY BOY PRESS</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;">& </span><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="https://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/">CEDRIC'S BIG MIX</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> & <a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/">THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN</a> & <a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/">ANN'S MEGA DUB</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;"> & <a href="https://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS</a> &<span> </span><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/">THE COMMON ILLS</a> -- THE KOOL AID TABLE</span></b> </p><p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/moms-for-liberty-to-advise-librarians-on-book-removals-in-florida/ar-BB1jXOTC?cvid=a9841ba6fb734010d2220a3cdd4988c5&ei=86">DOO-DOO DESANTIS HAD POSITIONS TO FILL AND CHOSE TO UTILIZE MOMS FOR BIGOTRY: PRISCILLA WEST, JENNIFER PIPPIN AND JAMIE MERCHANT</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>THOSE OF YOU WHO REMEMBER THEIR GAL PAL BRIDGET ZIEGLER MAY ASSUME THAT THE MOMS WILL BE SCISSORING AND OTHER LESBIONIC THINGS TO ONE ANOTHER. BRIGET WAS A 'MARRIED MOM' LIKE THE OTHER GALS BUT WAS SWINGING IT IN BED WITH ANOTHER WOMAN WHICH IS NOW THE MOMS FOR BIGOTRY'S IMAGE -- SAD, DEPRESSED MARRIED WOMEN WHO SNEAK OFF WITH OTHER WOMEN TO BE "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kI7x2p6nF0">ENTANGLED IN EMBRACES THAT GOD WILL NEVER SEE</a>."</p><p><br /></p><p>REMEMBER, EVERY BOOK BANNING 'DISCUSSION' IS JUST ANOTHER COVER FOR THE MOMS TO LET THEIR HAIR DOWN WITH THE SHADES DRAWN WHILE THEY TASTE THE FLAVOR OF ONE ANOTHER'S EDIBLE PANTIES.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_01815138904.html">FROM THE TCI WIRE</a>:</p><div>As we noted last night, day 163 finds the Israeli government again breaking international law as they attack another hospital with their military. <span> </span><a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2024/03/18/live-israel-gaza-war-al-shifa/">THE NATIONAL reports</a><span> </span>on the attack of Al Shifa Hospital:</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><p><b>It said that around 30,000 displaced and wounded people and medical teams are still besieged inside the building.</b></p><p><b>It added that a fire has erupted at the gate of the hospital and there were cases of suffocation among displaced women and children at the facility and communications were cut off.</b></p><p><b>The government media office in Gaza has condemned the operation.</b></p><p><b>"The Israeli army's storming of Al Shifa Hospital with tanks, drones and weapons and shooting inside it is a war crime," it said.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/18/israels-war-on-gaza-live-ceasefire-push-as-rafah-invasion-looms">ALJAZEERA adds</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>A Palestinian journalist trapped inside al-Shifa Hospital has described the situation in the facility as “catastrophic” amid “intense clashes” and gunfire.</b></p><p><b>Wadea Abu Alsoud made the comments in a video posted to Instagram.</b></p><p><b>“This might be my last video,” he said. “We’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at. The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity. As you can hear now, there are intense clashes in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There are shrapnels falling over the hospital’s yard.”</b></p><p><b>He added: “We’re currently besieged. Pray for us to get out safely. These are clashes as you can hear… we don’t know what’s going on outside al-Shifa hospital, but the situation here is catastrophic.”</b></p></div><div>This morning,<span> </span><a href="https://thesun.my/world/gaza-health-ministry-calls-on-un-to-stop-israel-s-massacre-at-al-shifa-hospital-BC12230441#google_vignette">THE SUN notes</a>, "Gaza’s Health Ministry on Monday called on the United Nations (UN) and other international institutions to stop Israel’s ongoing operation in the area of Al-Shifa Hospital that has killed patients, refugees, and medical personnel." <span> </span><a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/03/18/israel-hamas-war-shifa-hospital-raid-gaza-aid-struggles-scholz-says-situation-desperate">EURO NEWS adds</a>, "The ministry says around 30,000 people are sheltering at the hospital, including patients, medical staff and people who have fled their homes seeking safety." <span> </span><a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-says-troops-raid-gazas-shifa-hospital">THE STRAITS TIMES explains</a>, "Al-Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, is now one of the only healthcare facilities that is even partially operational in the north of the territory, and is also housing hundreds of displaced civilians." <span> </span><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1342e91a-6af5-43a1-a1c8-9bed61a6fadb">Andrew England and Neri Zilber (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) remind</a>, "Israel previously raided al-Shifa in Gaza City in November, forcing thousands of people who had sought sanctuary at the hospital to flee. That raid drew widespread condemnation from aid agencies as Israel’s air, land and sea offensive pushed Gaza’s health system towards a state of collapse." That raid, remember, was based on the Israeli's claims that Hamas fighters were using the hospital. <span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/18/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Rachel Pannett and Hajar Harb (WASHINGTON POST) explain</a>, "A<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/21/al-shifa-hospital-gaza-hamas-israel/?itid=lk_inline_manual_12&itid=lk_inline_manual_25" target="_blank">Washington Post investigation</a><span> </span>in December into whether the civilian harm caused by the IDF’s campaign against the hospital complex was proportionate to the assessed threat found no immediate evidence of a command and control node. Rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by the IDF showed no immediate evidence of ongoing military use by Hamas and no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards." <span> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/18/middle-east-crisis-live-israel-gaza-palestine-al-shifa-live-updates">THE GUARDIAN notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces have arrested on of its journalists at al-Shifa hospital. Other local media have also reported that Ismail al-Ghoul has been detained.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Al Jazeera writes:</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>We’re getting reports that Israeli forces have arrested Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul from inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. According to Palestinian writer and journalist Imad Zaqqout and other witnesses, al-Ghoul was beaten severely by Israeli soldiers before he was arrested with dozens of men and women within the hospital.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>RECOMMENDED: "</p><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/angela-bassett-explains-viral-honorary.html">Angela Bassett Explains Viral Honorary Oscars Spee...</a></li><p>"</p><ul class="posts"><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/elaine-may-and-mike-nichols-reunite.html">Elaine May and Mike Nichols reunite during Jimmy C...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/cnn-reports-on-israels-starvation-of.html">CNN Reports On Israel’s Starvation Of Gaza</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/elon-musk-spreads-matt-walshs-anti.html">Elon Musk spreads Matt Walsh's Anti-Trans LIES and...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/netanyahu-humiliates-biden-again.html">Netanyahu Humiliates Biden AGAIN</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/debunked-top-seven-lies-about-gaza.html">Debunked! | Top Seven Lies About Gaza</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/republican-censured-for-daring-to-work.html">Republican CENSURED For Daring To Work With Biden ...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/mehdi-hasan-on-gaza-airdrops-rishi.html">Mehdi Hasan on Gaza Airdrops, Rishi Sunak, Biden v...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/onwards-marianne2024.html">Onwards #Marianne2024</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/andrew-tate-arrested-again-burn-it-down.html">Andrew Tate Arrested Again -- BURN IT DOWN WITH KI...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/ben-shapiro-unironically-comes-out.html">Ben Shapiro Unironically Comes Out Against Retirem...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/variety-magazine-distorts-oscar-winners.html">Variety Magazine Distorts Oscar Winner’s Gaza Speech</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/roland-blisters-joe-rogan-christopher.html">Roland BLISTERS Joe Rogan, Christopher Rufo For 'I...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/new-poll-finds-lgbtq-americans-are-more.html">New Poll Finds LGBTQ+ Americans Are More Likely To...</a></li><li><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/jewish-director-smeared-over-gaza.html">Jewish Director SMEARED Over Gaza - 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href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/03/dont-say-loser-say-desantis.html" target="_self">Don't say loser, say DeSantis</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/03/oh-miss-lindsey-graham.html" target="_self">Oh, Miss Lindsey Graham</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/03/cherry-trees-in-dc.html" target="_self">Cherry trees in DC</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/03/donald-strokes-his-inner-nazi.html" target="_self">Donald strokes his inner Nazi</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/03/liza-featherstone-makes-some-good-points.html" target="_self">Liza Featherstone makes some good points</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/03/he-just-gets-worse.html" target="_self">He just gets worse</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/03/donald-trump-stands-for-nothing.html" target="_self">Donald Trump stands for nothing</a>"</p><p>"<a 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disgusting people</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/03/that-idiot-trump.html" target="_self">That idiot Trump</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/why-is-sam-bankman-fried-still-alive.html">Why is Sam Bankman-Fried still alive?</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/idiots-cj-pearson-and-shady-menendez.html">Idiots CJ Pearson and Shady Menendez</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hate-merchant-gets-fired.html">A hate merchant gets fired</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/jizzy-pants-wants-out-of-prison.html">Jizzy Pants wants out of prison</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/mother-tucker.html">Mother Tucker</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-oscars.html">The Oscars</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/03/bernie-moreno-tries-to-pull-closet-door.html" target="_self">Bernie Moreno tries to pull the closet door closed</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/03/accountability-for-traitors.html" target="_self">Accountability for the traitors</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/03/diana-ross.html" target="_self">Diana Ross</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/03/gladys-bentley-keep-black-history-and.html" target="_self">Gladys Bentley -- Keep Black History and Women's History and LGBTQ+ History alive</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/03/crooked-clarence-and-broken-court.html" target="_self">Crooked Clarence and The Broken Court</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/03/tomato-mac-and-cheese-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Tomato Mac and Cheese in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/03/chicken-diane-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Chicken Diane in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/03/frico-ca-do-toast-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Frico CA-do Toast in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/03/cabbage-fried-and-rolls-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Cabbage (Fried and Rolls) in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/03/steamed-clams-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Steamed Clams in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/media-when-it-doesnt-add-up.html">Media: When It Doesn't Add Up</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/2024/03/crooked-clarence-rolls-around-in-his.html" target="_blank">Crooked Clarence rolls around in his own filth and in balnut</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/2024/03/this-just-in-crooked-clarence-thomas.html" target="_blank">THIS JUST IN! 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The crooked man who looks like a really ugly woman? If not, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried">this is from Wikipedia</a>:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> (born March 5, 1992), or SBF,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Turner_3-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-Turner-3">[3]</a></sup> is an American <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur" title="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</a> who was convicted of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud" title="Fraud">fraud</a> and related crimes in November 2023. Bankman-Fried founded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTX" title="FTX">FTX</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency_exchange" title="Cryptocurrency exchange">cryptocurrency exchange</a> and was celebrated as a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poster_child" title="Poster child">poster boy</a>" for crypto.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> At the peak of his success, he was ranked the 41st-richest American in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_400" title="Forbes 400"><i>Forbes</i> 400</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup></b>
</p><p><b>The public persona of Bankman-Fried masked significant problems
at FTX, and in November 2022 when evidence of potential fraud began to
surface, depositors quickly withdrew their assets, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_FTX" title="Bankruptcy of FTX">forcing the company into bankruptcy</a>. On December 12, 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bahamas" title="The Bahamas">the Bahamas</a> and extradited to the United States, where he was indicted on seven criminal charges including <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_fraud" title="Wire fraud">wire fraud</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodities_fraud" title="Commodities fraud">commodities fraud</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securities_fraud" title="Securities fraud">securities fraud</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering" title="Money laundering">money laundering</a>, and <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_law" title="Campaign finance law">campaign finance law</a> violations.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Betz_8-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-Betz-8">[8]</a></sup></b>
</p><p><b>On November 2, 2023, in the case of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Bankman-Fried" title="United States v. Bankman-Fried">United States v. Bankman-Fried</a></i>, he was convicted of all seven counts of fraud, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_conspiracy" title="Criminal conspiracy">conspiracy</a>, and money laundering.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup> His sentencing, where experts say he faces decades in prison,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Clifford_10-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-Clifford-10">[10]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Livni_11-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-Livni-11">[11]</a></sup> is scheduled for March 28, 2024.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-cnbc-guilty_12-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried#cite_note-cnbc-guilty-12">[12]</a></sup></b>
</p><p>So that's who we're talking about. Due to be sentenced 12 days.</p><p><br /></p><p>He stole hundreds of millions of dollars.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why do we keep tolerating this? Why are their two systems of justice? I don't believe in the death penalty but if we're going to have it, it's people like Sam Bankman-Fried who destroy millions of lives who should be executed. And maybe then the thugs behind the next Enron will think twice about screwing over '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOLNWF5QMxY">Grandma Millie.</a>'<br /></p><p> Until the Sam Bankman-Fried's are in front of a firing line or on the electric chair, don't talk to me about equal justice. <br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_0836310635.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
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Friday, March 15, 2024. Arun Gupta has a major piece debunking the
October 7th rape myths, another massacre of Palestinians attempting to
get food, Senator Chuck Schumer makes a needed call, and much more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Let's start with Arun Gupta who has <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/15/claims-of-mass-rape-by-hamas-unravel-upon-investigation/">an article COUNTERPUNCH published this morning</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks that <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/new-tally-puts-october-7-attack-dead-in-israel-at-1-163-78182279" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">resulted in at least 1,163 deaths</a>, rumors began circulating that Israeli women were experiencing horrific mass rape and sexual violence. Months later, a <a href="https://www.phr.org.il/en/gender-based-violence-eng/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">position paper</a> by Physicians for Human Rights Israel and a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><em>New York Times</em> investigation</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">convinced</a> <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">many</a> <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-official-in-israel-asks-victims-of-hamas-sexual-assault-to-break-silence/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">observers</a> that
Hamas used rape as a weapon of war. But an investigation by YES!
examining both reports, other media investigations, hundreds of news
articles, interviews with Israeli sources, and photo and video evidence
reveals a shocking conclusion: There is no evidence mass rape occurred.</b></p>
<p><b><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-hamas-used-sexual-violence-on-october-7th" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><em>The New Yorker</em></a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/opinion/hamas-violence-women-israel.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><em>New York Times</em></a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Associated Press</a>, and <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/feminists-hamas-rapes/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><em>The Nation</em></a> treat
PHRI’s paper as the gold standard for proof of Hamas’ rape and sexual
violence. But the paper is shockingly thin. It lacks original reporting
and is based on media reports that are dubious at best with no
corroboration—no forensic evidence, no survivor testimony, no video
evidence.</b></p>
<p><b>During a two-hour-long interview that was heated at times, Hadas Ziv, director of ethics and policy at <a href="https://www.phr.org.il/en/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Physicians for Human Rights Israel</a> (PHRI), acknowledged numerous problems with the position paper she co-authored, “<a href="https://www.phr.org.il/en/gender-based-violence-eng/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Sexual and Gender-Based Violence As a Weapon of War During the October 7, 2023 Hamas Attacks.</a>”</b></p>
<p><b>Ziv admitted credibility problems with sources and that she did not
review all available evidence. She was “unaware” numerous sources had
fabricated atrocity stories about Oct. 7. Ziv said, “Yeah, that’s a
problem,” about a soldier she quotes whose claim of rape was changed by
the government. She quoted volunteers from <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/27/zaka-october-7-israel-hamas-new-york-times/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zaka, a scandal-plagued organization</a> that
collected human remains after Oct. 7, but Ziv did not realize Zaka
openly talks of inventing stories. When discussing claims that women’s
sexual organs were deliberately mutilated, Ziv conceded, “OK, if there’s
alternative explanations you can’t say that.”</b></p>
<p><b>While admitting “I did not know all the stories that you speak about
that discredit those witnesses,” Ziv also lashed out: “I feel like I’m a
rape victim that’s being interrogated.” YES! responded, “Not every
interview is a friendly interview.”</b></p>
<p><b>Further, the PHRI paper is riddled with errors small and large. Names
are misspelled, quotes don’t match links, and an individual is
misidentified. Ziv was unaware that <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-start-building-oct-7-rape-cases-focusing-on-footage-and-testimonies/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">the Israeli government alleges</a> it has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/31/israel-attack-victims-forensic-identification/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">forensic evidence</a> of
rape, which it has not produced publicly. Most egregious, Ziv didn’t
realize her paper counted one alleged gang rape as two separate
incidents.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>My apologies. I didn't know about the article until COUNTERPUNCH published it. <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2024/03/05/israel-hamas-oct7-report-gaza">YES! published it on March 5th</a>.
We don't highlight YES! That's for good reason that goes back decades
and had to do with an employee (looking at the site, this employee --
that a British MP warned me about -- hasn't been involved with the
outlet in at least four years). We've noted Arun many times over the
years and I have no problem noting him. I also have no problem <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/video/israel-hamas-oct7-report">linking to this YES! interview Sonali Kohlhatkar did with Arun</a>.
I would embed it here if I could find it on YOUTUBE. I have no problem
with Sonali. And I might not have a problem now with YES! I would
recommend that you listen to the interview. And if I had heard it last
week, Ava and I would have referenced it in our piece for THIRD ("<a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/media-when-it-doesnt-add-up.html" target="_blank">Media: When It Doesn't Add Up</a>").</div><div><br /></div><div>Starvation
remains the playbook for the Israeli government as the assault on Gaza
continues. And in the news this morning is another attack, from
Thursday, on civilians trying to receive aid.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/15/palestinians-killed-wounded-idf-israel-forces-aid-gaza">Jason Burke (GUARDIAN) notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Gaza officials said the attack occurred as a crowd
gathered to receive aid from a truck at the Kuwait roundabout, a key
interchange used by humanitarian convoys carrying food into northern <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza">Gaza</a>. More than 150 people were wounded, they added.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The
latest incident came hours after eight people were killed in an
airstrike on an aid distribution centre at al-Nuseirat camp in central
Gaza, health officials said.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/15/massacre-israel-forces-attack-crowds-waiting-for-aid-in-gaza-killing-21">ALJAZEERA adds</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>At least 21 Palestinians have been killed
after Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of people waiting for aid
in Gaza City in the same area that was targeted hours earlier,
government officials said.</b></p>
<p><b>The Ministry of Health in Gaza described the late Thursday attack as a
“new, premeditated massacre” and said more than 150 people were
wounded.</b></p><p><b>t was the latest in a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2024/3/5/the-blood-was-everywhere-inside-israels-flour-massacre-in-gaza">string of assaults</a> on people desperately in need of food and other essential supplies as Israel continues to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/7/israels-blocking-of-aid-creating-apocalyptic-conditions-in-gaza">obstruct</a> and severely control the entry of aid into the enclave.</b></p><p><b>Earlier on Thursday, at the same food distribution point at the Kuwait Roundabout, Israeli forces had <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/14/death-trap-israeli-forces-kill-six-aid-seekers-in-gaza-city">shot dead</a> at least six Palestinians, as the death toll has risen to more than 400 people in such attacks.</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>Witnesses told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces
had used helicopters, tanks and drones to target thousands of people
waiting on food trucks.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/flour-massacre-northern-gaza">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) provides</a> context:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Thursday's bloodshed drew comparisons to the <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/idf-starving-gazans" target="_blank">February 29 attack</a>
in which Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of starving Gazans trying
to get their hands on bags of flour. The attack was later dubbed the
"flour massacre."</b></div><div><p><b>
The Israeli military <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-review-gaza-aid-convoy-deaths-finds-most-killed-stampede-2024-03-03/" target="_blank">claimed</a> that most of the deaths were caused by a stampede, but testimony from witnesses and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-03-01-2024-86ab114fc0036d0b4fa5a69ed21964c6" target="_blank">hospital officials</a> as well as <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/flour-massacre-bullets" target="_blank">bullets found at the scene</a> refuted that narrative.<br /></b></p><p><b>
"Our governments did nothing to hold Israel accountable last time it attacked desperate hungry people seeking aid in Gaza," <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/rohantalbot/status/1768394429918797900" target="_blank">said</a>
Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at Medical Aid for
Palestinians. "So why wouldn't it do the exact same thing again?"
</b></p><p><b>
Prior to Thursday's attack—described as "another flour massacre"—Gaza
authorities estimated that Israeli forces had killed at least 400 people
waiting for humanitarian aid deliveries. Between mid-January and the
end of February, the United Nations <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-un-human-rights-office-strongly-deplores-killing-least-112-palestinians-during-food-aid-distribution-gaza-city-enar" target="_blank">documented</a> at least 14 instances of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathered to receive humanitarian aid.</b> </p></div><div>On the topic of aid, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/15/middle-east-crisis-live-rows-over-hamas-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-israel">THE GUARDIAN notes</a> this morning, "The first aid vessel heading to the besieged <strong>Gaza Strip</strong> via a new maritime corridor was visible on Friday off the coast of the war-ravaged territory, an AFP journalist said." <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/15/open-arms-first-ship-carrying-aid-approaches-gaza-strip-as-israel-accused.html">Dalya al-Masri (NBC NEWS) adds</a>, "The ship == called Open Arms and run by a Spanish charity of the same
name -- carries around 200 metric tons of supplies including flour, rice
and water, from Larnaca port in Cyprus. Video footage from the AFP news
agency showed the ship visible off the shore of the Gaza Strip on Friday
morning London time." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/15/israels-war-on-gaza-list-of-key-events-day-161">ALJAZEERA explains</a>, "The aid ship <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/12/first-aid-ship-to-gaza-leaves-cyprus-port">departed from Cyprus</a>
on Tuesday, towing a barge containing about 200 tonnes of flour, rice
and protein." Also on aid, Australia has announced that it will be
restoring its funding to UNRWA -- the UN aid organization targeted with
smears by the Israeli government as part of the plan to starve Gaza. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2024/03/15/australia-unrwa-funding-gaza-palestine/">Mona Farag (THE NATIONAL) notes</a>, "Ireland pledged €20 million in additional support for the relief agency last week." Staying on Ireland for a moment more, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/15/middle-east-crisis-live-rows-over-hamas-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-israel">THE GUARDIAN reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Protests
have been held in Dublin and Belfast urging US president Joe Biden to
demand a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East, reports the Press
Association (PA).</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The Amnesty
International demonstrations took place to coincide with Irish premier
Leo Varadkar’s meeting with Biden at the White House as part of the
traditional St Patrick’s Day visit on Friday.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Activists
from Amnesty gathered at US diplomatic offices in Dublin and Belfast on
Friday morning holding banners that read: “President Biden, listen to
your Irish roots and demand a permanent ceasefire.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Another story developing since yesterday's snapshot, US Senator Chuck Schumer is calling for elections in Israel. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>ALJAZEERA terms Chuck's call "a political earthquake." <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/14/israel-elections-netanyahu-charles-schumer/?itid=lk_fullstory">Liz Goodwin and THE WASHINGTON POST describe</a> the speech as "scathing." Yesterday afternoon, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/14/politics/chuck-schumer-israel-election-comments/index.html"><span class="byline__name">Clare Foran (</span>CNN) reported</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="on" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cltrc27sk000j4wp423a173db@published"><b> Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday criticized
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, calling for new
elections in a speech on the Senate floor on the Israel-Hamas war.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cltrcy74a00003b6h1pi3gj0x@published"><b>
“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to
me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after
October 7. The world has changed, radically, since then, and the Israeli
people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck
in the past,” said Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official
in America.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cltrcykc200033b6h03dv5l9m@published"><b>
“Five months into this conflict, it is clear that Israelis
need to take stock of the situation and ask: must we change course?” he
continued. “At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the
only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about
the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their
confidence in the vision and direction of their government.”
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cltrezlx400003b6h3wpmkrho@published"><b>
The humanitarian crisis impacting Palestinian civilians in
Gaza has grown increasingly dire as Israel’s war against Hamas
continues, a situation that has increased pressure on Democratic party
officials, including President Joe Biden, to take a harder line against
Israel. Congressional aid to Israel has stalled after the Senate <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/senate-foreign-aid-bill-ukraine/index.html">passed a package</a> with aid for Israel and Ukraine that has not been taken up in the House.</b> </p></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-15-24/index.html">CNN offers</a>, "The Senate floor speech was also an unmistakable sign of increasing
frustration among top Democrats about Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in
Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed 1,200
people and his unwillingness to listen to US advice. It also reflects
political realities in the United States." </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Americans were already outraged and the outrage continues to grow. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/15/israel-hamas-war-voters-want-biden-to-act-poll/72944295007/">Michael Collins and Sudiksha Kochi (USA TODAY) report</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>Americans are growing more sympathetic to Palestinians and want President <a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/07/2024-state-of-the-union-live-updates/72841823007/">Joe Biden</a> to do more to improve <a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/israel-hamas/2024/03/07/israel-hamas-gaza-war-5-months-old/72845378007/">humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip</a> as death, hunger and disease spread through the region after five months of the Israel-Hamas war.</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>Nearly
half of American voters (45%) believe Biden should pressure Israel to
ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk
University poll shows.</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>“What is going on there
is deplorable,” said Jana Pender, 67, a retired casino housekeeping
worker from Detroit. “Children are dying.”</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>While young voters have long agreed that Biden should do whatever it takes to ensure a <a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2024/03/05/israel-hamas-war-gaza-live-updates/72852542007/">cease-fire</a>, the poll shows a growing consensus even among older Americans that Biden needs to do more.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Dropping back to <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/14/mehdi_hasan_gaza">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>: The death toll in Gaza has topped 31,300. At least five people were killed on Wednesday when Israel bombed an <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> aid distribution center in Rafah — one of the U.N. agency’s last remaining aid sites in Gaza. The head of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> called the attack a, quote, “blatant disregard to international humanitarian law.”</b></p>
<p><b>This comes as much of Gaza is on the brink of famine as Israel
continues to limit the amount of aid allowed into the besieged
territory. At least 27 Palestinians have died of starvation, including
23 children.</b></p>
<p><b>Meanwhile, Al Jazeera is reporting six Palestinians were killed in
Gaza City when Israeli forces opened fire again on crowds waiting for
food aid. Over 80 people were injured.</b></p>
<p><b>In other news from Gaza, <em>Politico</em> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/13/us-would-back-a-limited-military-campaign-in-rafah-00146827">reports</a>
the Biden administration has privately told Israel that the U.S. would
support Israel attacking Rafah as long as it did not carry out a
large-scale invasion.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Well, we begin today’s show looking at how the U.S. media is covering
Israel’s assault on Gaza with the acclaimed TV broadcaster Mehdi Hasan.
In January, he announced he was leaving <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>
after his shows were canceled. Mehdi was one of the most prominent
Muslim voices on American television. In October, the news outlet <em>Semafor</em> <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/10/13/2023/inside-msnbcs-middle-east-conflict">reported</a> <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>
had reduced the roles of Hasan and two other Muslim broadcasters on the
network, Ayman Mohyeldin and Ali Velshi, following the October 7th
Hamas attack on Israel. Then, in November, <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>
announced it was canceling Hasan’s show shortly after he conducted this
interview with Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. This is an excerpt.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
You say Hamas’s numbers — I should point out, just pull up on the
screen, in the last two major Gaza conflicts, 2009 and 2014, the Israeli
military’s death tolls matched Hamas’s Health Ministry death tolls, so
— and the U.N., human rights groups all agree that those numbers are
credible. But look, your wider point is true.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: Can I challenge that?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: We shouldn’t —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: Will you allow me —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: We shouldn’t —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: — to challenge that, please? Can I just challenge that?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Briefly, if you can.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: I’d like to challenge that.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Briefly.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>:
I’ll try to be as brief as you are, sir. Those numbers are provided by
Hamas. There’s no independent verification. And secondly, more
importantly, you have no idea how many of them are Hamas terrorists,
combatants, and how many are civilians. Hamas would have you believe
that they’re all civilians, that they’re all children.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>And here we have to say something that isn’t said enough. Hamas,
until now, we’re destroying their military machine, and with that, we’re
eroding their control. But up until now, they’ve been in control of the
Gaza Strip. And as a result, they control all the images coming out of
Gaza. Have you seen one picture of a single dead Hamas terrorist in the
fighting in Gaza? Not one.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Yeah, but I have —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: Is that by accident, or is that — </b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: But I have, Mark —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: — because Hamas can control — Hamas can control the information coming out of Gaza?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
Mark, but you asked me a question, and you said you would be brief. I
haven’t. You’re right. But I have seen lots of children with my own
lying eyes being pulled from the rubble. So —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: Now, because they’re the pictures Hamas wants you to see. Exactly my point, Mehdi.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: And also because they’re dead, Mark. Also —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: They’re the pictures Hamas wants — no.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: But they’re also people your government has killed. You accept that, right? You’ve killed children? Or do you deny that?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MARK</span> <span class="caps">REGEV</span>: No, I do not. I do not. I do not. First of all, you don’t know how those people died, those children.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Oh wow.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: “Oh wow,” Mehdi Hasan responded, interviewing Netanyahu adviser Mark Regev on <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>. Soon after, <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>
announced that he was losing his shows. Since leaving the network,
Mehdi Hasan has launched a new digital media company named Zeteo.</b></p>
<p><b>Mehdi, welcome back to <em>Democracy Now!</em> It’s great to have you
with us. I want to start with that interview you did with Regev. After,
you lost your two shows, soon after. Do you think that’s the reason
those shows were canceled? Interviews like that?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: You would have to ask <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>,
Amy. And, Amy and Nermeen, thank you for having me on. It’s great to be
back here after a few years away. Look, the advantage of not being at <span class="caps">MSNBC</span> anymore is I get to come on shows like this and talk to you all. You should get someone from <span class="caps">MSNBC</span> on and ask them why they canceled the shows, because I can’t answer that question. I wish I knew. But there we go.</b></p>
<p><b>The shows were canceled at the end of November. I quit at the
beginning of January, because I wanted to have a platform of my own. I
couldn’t really spend 2024, one of the most important news years of our
lives — genocide in Gaza, fascism at the door here in America with
elections — couldn’t really spend that being a guest anchor and a
political analyst, which is what I was offered at <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>
while I was staying there. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get my voice
back. And that’s why I launched my own media company, as you mentioned,
called Zeteo, which we’ve done a soft launch on and we’re going to
launch properly next month. But I’m excited about all the opportunities
ahead, the opportunity to do more interviews like the one I did with
Mark Regev.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
So, Mehdi, could you explain Zeteo? First of all, what does it mean?
And what is the gap in the U.S. media landscape that you hope to fill?
You’ve been extremely critical of the U.S. media’s coverage of Gaza,
saying, quite correctly, that the coverage has not been as consistent or
clear as the last time we saw an invasion of this kind, though far less
brutal, which was the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
Yeah, it’s a great question. So, on Zeteo, it’s an ancient Greek word,
going back to Socrates and Plato, which means to seek out, to search, to
inquire for the truth. And at a time when we live in a, some would say,
post-truth society — or people on the right are attempting to turn it
into a post-truth society — I thought that was an important endeavor to
embark upon as a journalist, to go back to our roots.</b></p>
<p><b>In terms of why I launch it and the media space, look, there is a gap
in the market, first of all, on the left for a company like this one.
Not many progressives have pulled off a for-profit, subscription-based
business, media business. We’ve seen it on the right, Nermeen, with, you
know, Ben Shapiro’s <em>Daily Wire</em> and Bari Weiss’s The Free
Press, and even Tucker Carlson has launched his own subscription-based
platform since leaving Fox. And on the progressive space, we haven’t
really done it. Now, of course, there are wonderful shows like <em>Democracy Now!</em>
which are doing important, invaluable journalism on subjects like Gaza,
on subjects like the climate. But across the media industry as a whole,
sadly, in the U.S., the massive gap is there are not enough — I don’t
know how to put it — bluntly, truth tellers, people who are willing to
say — and when I say “truth tellers,” I don’t just mean, you know, truth
in a conventional sense of saying what is true and what is false; I’m
saying the language in which we talk about what is happening in the
world today.</b></p>
<p><b>Too many of my colleagues in the media, unfortunately, hide behind
lazy euphemisms, a both-sides journalism, the idea that you can’t say
Donald Trump is racist because you don’t know what’s in his heart; you
can’t say the Republican Party is going full fascist, even as they
proclaim that they don’t believe in democracy as we conventionally
understand it; we can’t say there’s a genocide in Gaza, even though the
International Court of Justice says such a thing is plausible. You know,
we run away from very blunt terms which help us understand world. And I
want to treat American consumers of news, global consumers of news
— it’s a global news organization which I’m founding — with some
respect. Stop patronizing them. Tell them what is happening in the
world, in a blunt way.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
So, Mehdi, talk about this. I mean, in your criticism of the U.S.
media’s coverage, in particular, of Israel’s assault on Gaza — I mean,
of course, you have condemned what happened, the Hamas attack in Israel
on October 7th. You’ve also situated the attack in a broader historical
frame, and you’ve received criticism for doing that. And in response,
you’ve said, “Context is not causation,” and “Context is not
justification.” So, could you explain why you think context, history, is
so important, and the way in which this question is kind of elided in
U.S. media coverage, not just of the Gaza crisis, but especially so now?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
So, I did an interview with Piers Morgan this week. And if you watch
Piers Morgan’s shows, he always asks his pro-Palestinian guests or
anyone criticizing Israel, you know, “Condemn what happened on October
7th.” It’s all about October the 7th. And what happened on October 7th
was barbarism. It was a tragedy. It was a terror attack. Civilians were
killed. War crimes were carried out. Hostages were taken. And we should
condemn it. Of course we should, as human beings, if nothing else.</b></p>
<p><b>But the world did not begin on October the 7th. The idea that the
entire Middle East conflict, Israel-Palestine, the occupation,
apartheid, can be reduced to October 7th is madness. And it’s not just
me saying that. You talk to, you know, leading Israeli peace
campaigners, even some leading Israeli generals, people like Shlomo
Brom, who talk about having to understand the root causes of a people
under occupation fighting for freedom. And it’s absurd to me that in our
media industry people should try and run away from context. My former
colleagues Ali Velshi and Ayman Mohyeldin, who Amy mentioned in the
introduction, they were on air on October the 7th as news was coming in
of the attacks, and they provided context, because they’re two anchors
who really understand that part of the world. Ayman Mohyeldin is perhaps
the only U.S. anchor who’s ever lived in Gaza. And they came under
attack online from certain pro-Israel people for providing context. This
idea that we should be embarrassed or ashamed or apologetic as
journalists for providing context on one of the biggest stories in the
world is madness. You cannot understand what is happening in the world
unless we, unless you and I, unless journalists, broadcasters, are
explaining to our viewers and our listeners and our readers why things
are happening, where forces are coming from, why people are behaving the
way they do. And I know America is a country of amnesiacs, but we
cannot keep acting as if the world just began yesterday.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: I want to ask you about a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/03/01/cnn-christiane-amanpour-israel-gaza-coverage/">piece</a> in <em>The Intercept</em> — you also used to report for <em>The Intercept</em> — the headline, “In Internal Meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts <span class="caps">CNN</span>
Brass About 'Double Standards' on Israel Coverage.” It’s a really
interesting piece. They were confronting the executives, and “One issue
that came up,” says <em>The Intercept</em>, “repeatedly is CNN’s
longtime process for routing almost all coverage relating to Israel and
Palestine through the network’s Jerusalem bureau. As <em>The Intercept</em> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/01/04/cnn-israel-gaza-idf-reporting/">reported</a>
in January, the protocol — which has existed for years but was expanded
and rebranded as SecondEyes last summer — slows down reporting on Gaza
and filters news about the war through journalists in Jerusalem who
operate under the shadow of Israel’s military censor.” And then it
quotes Christiane Amanpour, identified in a recording of that meeting.
She said, “You’ve heard from me, you’ve heard my, you know, real
distress with SecondEyes — changing copy, double standards, and all the
rest,” Amanpour said. The significance of this and what we see, Mehdi?
You know, I’m not talking Fox right now. On <span class="caps">MSNBC</span> — </b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Yes.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: — and on <span class="caps">CNN</span>, you rarely see Palestinians interviewed in extended discussions.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
So, I think there’s a few issues there, Amy. Number one, first of all,
we should recognize that Christiane Amanpour has done some very
excellent coverage of Gaza for <span class="caps">CNN</span> in this
conflict. She’s had some very powerful interviews and very important
guests on. So, credit to Christiane during this conflict. Number two —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: International —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: — I think U.S. media organizations — </b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: — I just wanted to say, particularly on <span class="caps">CNN</span> International, which is often not seen —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Very good point.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: — on <span class="caps">CNN</span> domestic.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Very good — very good point, Amy. Touché.</b></p>
<p><b>The second point, I would say, is U.S. media organizations, as a
whole, are engaging in journalistic malpractice by not informing
viewers, listeners, readers that a lot of their coverage out of Israel
and the Occupied Territories is coming under the shadow of an Israeli
military censor. How many Americans understand or even know about the
Israeli military censor, about how much information is controlled? We
barely understand that Western journalists are kept out of Gaza, or if
when they go in, they’re embedded with Israeli military forces and
limited to what they can say and do. So I think we should talk about
that in a country which kind of prides itself on the First Amendment and
free speech and a free press. We should understand the way in which
information comes out of the Occupied Territories, in particular from
Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>And the third point, I would say, is, yeah, Palestinian voices not
being on American television or in American print is one of the biggest
problems when it comes to our coverage of this conflict. When we talk
about why the media is structurally biased towards one party in this
conflict, the more powerful party, the occupier, we have to remember
that this is one of the reasons. Why are Palestinians dehumanized in our
media? This is one of the reasons. We don’t let people speak. That’s
what leads to dehumanization. That’s what leads to bias.</b></p>
<p><b>We understand it at home when it comes to, for example, Black voices.
In recent years, media organizations have tried to take steps to
improve diversity on air, when it comes to on-air talent, when it comes
to on-air guests, when it comes to balancing panels. We get that we need
underrepresented communities to be able to speak. But when it comes to
foreign conflicts, we still don’t seem to have made that calculation.</b></p>
<p><b>There was a study done a few years ago of op-eds in <em>The New York Times</em> and <em>The Washington Post</em> on the subject of Israel-Palestine from 1970 to, I think it was, 2000-and-something, and it was like 2% of all op-eds in the <em>Times</em> and 1% in the <em>Post</em>
were written by Palestinians, which is a shocking statistic. We deny
these people a voice, and then we wonder why people don’t sympathize
with their plight or don’t — aren’t, you know, marching in the street
— well, they are marching in the streets — but in bigger numbers. Why
America is OK and kind of, you know, blind to the fact that we are
complicit in a genocide of these people? Because we don’t hear from
these people.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Well, Mehdi, I mean, explain why that’s especially relevant in this
instance, because journalists have not been permitted access to Gaza, so
there is no reporting going on on the ground that’s being shown here. I
mean, dozens and dozens of journalists have signed a letter asking
Israel and Egypt to allow journalists access into Gaza. So, if you could
talk about that, why it’s especially important to hear from Palestinian
voices here?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
Well, for a start, Nermeen, much of the imagery we see on our screens
here or in our newspapers are sanitized images. We don’t see the full
level of the destruction. And when we try and understand, well, why are
young people — why is there such a generational gap when it comes to the
polling on Gaza, on ceasefire, why are young people so much more
antiwar than their elder peers, part of the reason is that young people
are on TikTok or Instagram and seeing a much less sanitized version of
this war, of Israel’s bombardment. They are seeing babies being pulled
from the rubble, limbs missing. They are seeing hospitals being — you
know, hospitals carrying out procedures without anesthetic. They are
seeing just absolute brutality, the kind of stuff that U.N. humanitarian
chiefs are saying we haven’t seen in this world for 50 years.</b></p>
<p><b>And that’s the problem, right? If we’re sanitizing the coverage,
Americans aren’t being told, really, aren’t being informed, are, again,
missing context on what is happening on the ground. And, of course,
Israel, by keeping Western journalists out, makes it even easier for
those images to be blocked, and therefore you have Palestinian — brave
Palestinian journalists on the ground trying to film, trying to document
their own genocide, streaming it to our phones. And we’ve seen over a
hundred of them killed over the last five months. That is not an
accident. That is not a coincidence. Israel wants to stamp out
independent voices, stamp out any kind of coverage of its own genocidal
behavior.</b></p>
<p><b>And therefore, again, you’re able to have a debate in this country
where the political debate is completely disconnected to the public
debate, and the public debate is completely misinformed. I’m amazed,
Nermeen, when you look at the polling, that there’s a majority in favor
of a ceasefire, that half of all Democrats say this is a genocide.
Americans are saying that to pollsters despite not even getting the full
picture. Can you imagine what those numbers would look like if they
actually saw what was happening on the ground?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Well, I want to go to what is unfolding right now in Gaza. You said in a
recent interview that in the past Israel was, quote, “mowing the lawn,”
but now the Netanyahu government’s intention is to erase the population
of Gaza. So let’s go to what Prime Minister Netanyahu said about the
invasion of Rafah, saying it would go ahead and would last weeks, not
months. He was speaking to <em>Politico</em> on Sunday.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PRIME</span> <span class="caps">MINISTER</span> <span class="caps">BENJAMIN</span> <span class="caps">NETANYAHU</span>:
We’re not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know
what the red line is? That October 7th doesn’t happen again, never
happens again. And to do that, we have to complete the destruction of
the Hamas terrorist army. … We’re very close to victory. It’s close at
hand. We’ve destroyed three-quarters of Hamas fighting terrorist
battalions, and we’re close to finishing the last part in Rafah, and
we’re not going to give it up. … Once we begin the intense action of
eradicating the Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, it’s a matter of
weeks and not months.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
So, Mehdi, your response to what Netanyahu said and what the Israelis
have proposed as a safe place for Gazans to go — namely, humanitarian
islands?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
So, number one, when you hear Netanyahu speak, Nermeen, doesn’t it
remind you of George Bush in kind of 2002, 2003? It’s very — you know,
invoking 9/11 to justify every atrocity, claiming that you’re trying to
protect the country, when you, yourself, your idiocy and your
incompetency, is what led to the attacks. You know, George Bush was
unable to prevent 9/11, and then used 9/11 to justify every atrocity,
even though his incompetence helped allow 9/11 to happen. And I feel the
same way: Netanyahu allowed the worst terror attack, the worst massacre
in Israel to happen on his watch. Many of his own, you know, generals,
many of his own people blame him for this. And so, it’s rich to hear him
saying, “My aim is to stop this from happening again.” Well, you
couldn’t stop it from happening the first time, and now you’re killing
innocent Palestinians under the pretense that this is national security.</b></p>
<p><b>Number two, again George Bush-like, claiming that the war is nearly
done, mission is nearly accomplished, that’s nonsense. No serious
observer believes that Hamas is finished or that Israel has won some
total victory. A member of Netanyahu’s own war cabinet said recently,
“Anyone who says you can absolutely defeat Hamas is telling tall tales,
is lying.” That was a colleague of Netanyahu’s, in government, who said
that.</b></p>
<p><b>And number three, the red line on Rafah that Biden suppposedly set
down and that Netanyahu is now mocking, saying, “My own red line is to
do the opposite,” what on Earth is Joe Biden doing in allowing Benjamin
Netanyahu to humiliate him in this way with this invasion of Rafah, even
after he said he opposes it? I mean, it’s one thing to leak stuff —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Mehdi —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: — over a few months —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: — let’s go to Biden speaking on <span class="caps">MSNBC</span>.
He’s being interviewed by your former colleague Jonathan Capehart, as
he was being questioned about Benjamin Netanyahu and saying he’s hurting
Israel more than helping Israel.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PRESIDENT</span> <span class="caps">JOE</span> <span class="caps">BIDEN</span>:
He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas.
But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives
being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He’s hurting — in my
view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of
the world — it’s contrary to what Israel stands for. And I think it’s a
big mistake. So I want to see a ceasefire.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
And he talked about a, well, kind of a red line. If you can address
what Biden is saying and what he proposed in the State of the Union,
this pier, to get more aid in, and also the dropping — the airdropping
of food, which recently killed five Palestinians because it crushed them
to death, and the humanitarian groups, United Nations saying these
airdrops, the pier come nowhere near being able to provide the aid
that’s needed, at the same time, and the reason they’re doing all of
this, is because Israel is using U.S. bombs and artillery to attack the
Palestinians and these aid trucks?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
Yeah, it’s just so bizarre, the idea that you could drop bombs, on the
one hand, and then drop aid, on the other, and you’re paying for both,
and then your aid ends up killing people, too. It’s like some kind of
dark <em>Onion</em> headline. It’s just beyond parody. It’s beyond belief.</b></p>
<p><b>And as for the pier, as you say, it does not come anywhere near to
adequately addressing the needs of the Palestinian people, in terms of
the sheer scale of the suffering, half a million people on the brink of
famine, over a million people displaced. Four out of five of the
hungriest people in the world, according to the World Food Programme,
are in Gaza right now. The idea that this pier would, A, address the
scale of the suffering, and, B, in time — I mean, it’s going to take
time to do this. What happens to the Palestinians who literally starve
to death, including children, while this pier is being built? Finally, I
would say, there’s reporting in the Israeli press, Amy, that I’ve seen
that suggests that the pier idea comes from Netanyahu, that the Israeli
government are totally fine with this pier, because it allows them still
to control land and air access into Gaza, which is what they’ve always
controlled and which in this war they’ve monopolized.</b></p>
<p><b>The idea that the United States of America, the world’s only
superpower, cannot tell its ally, “You know what? We’re going to put aid
into Gaza because we want to, and you’re not going to stop us,
especially since we’re the ones arming you,” is bizarre. It’s something I
think Biden will never be able to get past or live down. It’s a stain
on his record, on America’s conscience. The idea that we’re arming a
country that’s engaged in a “plausible genocide,” to quote the <span class="caps">ICJ</span>,
is bad enough. That we can’t even get our own aid in, while they’re
bombing with our bombs, is just madness. And by the way, it’s also
illegal. Under U.S. law, you cannot provide weaponry to a country which
is blocking U.S. aid. And by the way, it’s not me saying they’re
blocking U.S. aid. U.S. government officials have said, “Yes, the
Israeli government blocked us from sending flour in,” for example.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
So, Mehdi, let’s go to the regional response to this assault on Gaza
that’s been unfolding with the kind of violence and tens of thousands of
deaths of Palestinians, as we’ve reported. Now, what has — how has the
Arab and Muslim world responded to what’s going on? Egypt, of course,
has repeatedly said that it does not want displaced Palestinians
crossing its border. The most powerful Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia,
Qatar and the Emirates, if you can talk about how they’ve responded? And
then the Axis — the so-called Axis of Resistance — Houthis, Hezbollah,
etc. — how they have been trying to disrupt this war, or at least make
the backers of Israel pay a price for it?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
So, I hear people saying, “Oh, we’re disappointed in the response from
the Arab countries.” The problem with the word “disappointment” is it
implies you had any expectations to begin with. I certainly didn’t. Arab
countries have never had the Palestinians’ backs. The Arab —
quote-unquote, “Arab street” has always been very pro-Palestinian. But
the autocratic, the despotic, the dictatorial rulers of much of the Arab
world have never really had the interests of the Palestinian people at
their heart, going back right to 1948, when, you know, Arab countries
attacked Israel to push it into the sea, but, actually, as we know from
historians like Avi Shlaim, were not doing that at all, and that some of
them, like Jordan, had done deals with Israel behind the scenes. So,
look, Arab countries have never really prioritized the Palestinian
people or their needs or their freedom. And so, when you see some of
these statements that come out of the Arab world at times like this, you
know, you have to take them with a shovel of salt, not just a grain.</b></p>
<p><b>Also, I would point out the hypocrisy here on all sides in the region. You have countries like Saudi Arabia and the <span class="caps">UAE</span>,
which were involved in a brutal assault on Yemen for many years,
carried out very similar acts to Israel in Gaza in terms of blockades,
starvation, malnourishment of the Yemeni children, in terms of bombing
of refugee camps and hospitals and kids and school buses. That all
happened in Yemen. Arab countries did that, let’s just be clear about
that, things that they criticize Israel for doing now. And, of course,
Iran, which sets itself up as a champion of the Palestinan people, when
Bashar al-Assad was killing many of his own people, including
Palestinian refugees, in places like the al-Yarmouk refugee camp, Iran
and Russia, by the way, were both perfectly happy to help arm and
support Assad as he did that. So, you know, spare me some of the
grandiose statements from Middle East countries, from Arab nations to
Iran, on all of it. There’s a lot of hypocrisy to go around.</b></p>
<p><b>Very few countries in the world, especially in that region, actually
have Palestinian interests at heart. If they did, we would have a very
different geopolitical scene. There is reporting, Nermeen, that a lot of
these governments, like Saudi Arabia, privately are telling Israel,
“Finish the job. Get rid of them. We don’t like Hamas, either. Get rid
of them,” and that Saudis actually want to do a deal with Israel once
this war is over, just as they were on course to do, apparently,
according to the Biden administration. We know that other Arab countries
already signed the, quote-unquote, “Abraham Accords” with Israel on
Trump’s watch.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
I wanted to ask you about the number of dead Palestinian journalists
and also the new U.N. investigation that just accused Israel of breaking
international law over the killing of the Reuters video journalist
Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon. On October 13th, an Israeli tank
opened fire on him and a group of other journalists. He had just set up a
live stream on the border in southern Lebanon, so that all his
colleagues at Reuters and others saw him blown up. The report stating,
quote, “The firing at civilians, in this instance clearly identifiable
journalists, constitutes a violation of … international law.” And it’s
not just Issam in southern Lebanon. Well over a hundred Palestinian
journalists in Gaza have died. We’ve never seen anything like the
concentration of numbers of journalists killed in any other conflict or
conflicts combined recently. Can you talk about the lack of outrage of
other major news organizations and what Israel is doing here? Do you
think they’re being directly targeted, one after another, wearing those
well-known “press” flak jackets? It looks like we just lost audio to
Mehdi Hasan.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: Amy, I can — I can hear you, Amy, very faintly.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Oh, OK. So —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>: I’m going to answer your question, if you can still hear me.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Great. We can hear you perfectly.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MEHDI</span> <span class="caps">HASAN</span>:
So, you’re very faint to me. So, while I speak, if someone want to fix
the volume in my ear. Let me answer your question about journalists.</b></p>
<p><b>It is an absolute tragedy and a scandal, what has happened to
journalists in Gaza, that we have seen so many deaths in Gaza. And the
real scandal, Amy, is that Western media, a lot of my colleagues here in
the U.S. media, have not sounded the alarm, have not called out Israel
for what it’s done. It’s outrageous that so many of our fellow
colleagues can be killed in Gaza while reporting, while at home, losing
family members, and yet there’s not a huge global outcry. When Wael
al-Dahdouh, who we just saw on the screen, from Al Jazeera, loses his
immediate family members and carries on reporting for Al Jazeera Arabic,
why is he not on every front page in the world? Why is he not a hero?
Why is he not sitting down with Oprah Winfrey? I feel like, you know,
when Evan Gershkovich from <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> is wrongly
imprisoned in Russia, we all campaign for Evan to be released. When
Ukrainian journalists are killed, we all speak out and are angry about
it. But when Palestinian journalists are killed on a level we’ve never
seen before, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, where is
the outcry here in the West over the killing of them? We claim to care
about a free press. We claim to oppose countries that crack down on a
free press, on journalism. We say journalism is not a crime. But then I
don’t hear the outrage from my colleagues here at this barbarism in
Gaza, where journalists are being killed in record numbers.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p>Gaza remains under assault. Day 161 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna143534">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "The death toll in Gaza since Oct. 7 has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war-death-toll-reaches-30000-palestinians-rcna140843" target="_blank">surpassed 31,000</a>
, according to the enclave's Health Ministry, which says more than
73,000 have been injured. The Israeli military said at least 247
soldiers have been killed since the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-rafah-gaza-ground-assault-palestinians-desperation-rcna138795" target="_blank">ground invasion of Gaza</a> began." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</p><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><li style="display: block;">
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</div></div></li></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-2300301235020061692024-03-14T21:58:00.000-07:002024-03-14T21:58:33.604-07:00Idiots CJ Pearson and Shady Menendez <div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I don't understand any fool of color supporting Trump. But I do like to laugh at the poor efforts Trump makes to reach them. <a class="yiv8934137580ydp51069706yiv9478212698" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republican-outreach-to-young-nonwhite-voters-just-fell-flat-in-georgia/ar-BB1jQ4ct?cvid=804443f2c2ce4789b0bf5d328509bac0&ei=77" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ja'han Jones (NBC News) reports</a> on CJ Pearson -- African-American MAGA fool -- who lost his race despite emphasizing his being tight with Trump:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Predictably, Pearson concluded his recent race in true, Trumpian fashion: by playing the victim and </span><a href="https://twitter.com/thecjpearson/status/1767907937685545352" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">complaining</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> about
internal forces in the GOP — namely Kemp — stifling him. And
pro-Pearson social media accounts known to spread disinformation have </span><a href="https://twitter.com/behizytweets/status/1767698501771628752?s=46&t=MOrgn1OciSYSUInllbgRZw" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lobbed conspiratorial claims</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> in an attempt to discredit his loss. </span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The
disappointment is understandable, to a degree. The MAGA movement’s
hopes of portraying itself (however dubiously) as inviting to young,
nonwhite people took another blow with Pearson’s defeat. And with that
defeat, we can also see how Trump has set an example for candidates who,
like Pearson, are made in his image: run deeply flawed campaigns and,
when voters respond accordingly, deflect blame.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When
you lose and you're an idiot, you invent conspiracies to excuse away
your own failures. Speaking of idiots, Shady Menendez. <a class="yiv8934137580ydp51069706yiv9478212698" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/indicted-sen-bob-menendez-might-run-for-reelection-as-independent-to-help-with-legal-bills/ar-BB1jTDUf?cvid=b31c7086bdb94afbcce4abb7ae948482&ei=58" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mediaite reports</a>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>S<span style="color: #2b2b2b;">enator </span><strong style="color: #2b2b2b;">Bob Menendez</strong><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> (D-NJ)
is considering an independent reelection campaign to help him pay for
his legal defense in a foreign bribery case being brought against him,
according to NBC News congressional correspondent </span><strong style="color: #2b2b2b;">Julie Tsirkin</strong><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">.</span></b></span></span><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a class="yiv8934137580ydp51069706yiv9478212698" href="https://www.mediaite.com/tag/bob-menendez/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Menendez</a> and his wife <strong>Nadine Menendez</strong> are
each facing 18 federal counts for allegedly accepting bribes in
exchange for influencing U.S. policy to benefit the Egyptian and Qatari
governments. He served as the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee from 2018 until a Department of Justice indictment
forced him to step down from that post last September.</b></span></span></div><div>Wait. Shady gets even more stupid. <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/judge-denies-new-jersey-sen-bob-menendez-request-to-drop-bribery-charges/ar-BB1jUEre">UPI reports</a>:<br /></div><p> <b>A judge refused
Thursday to dismiss bribery and other charges against New Jersey's Sen.
Bob Menendez, saying his alleged actions weren't protected because of
his job as a senator and former member of the Foreign Relations
Committee. </b></p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}"><b>Prosecutors have accused Menendez, a Democrat, of acting as an <a data-t="{"n":"destination","t":13,"b":1,"c.t":7}" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/nyregion/menendez-bribery-charges-congressional-immunity.html" target="_blank">unregistered agent of Egypt</a>, taking <a data-t="{"n":"destination","t":13,"b":1,"c.t":7}" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-declines-dismiss-charges-sen-bob-menendez-bribery/story?id=108131736" target="_blank">cash and other bribes</a> to help the government of Qatar, and exchanging political favors for financial gain.</b></p><p> </p><p>Yeah, Shady, you are innocent because you are in Congress. Sure. I think that's the First Amendment, right? All members of Congress are innocent of all crimes because they are members of Congress, that's the wording, right? <br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_01676269499.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
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Thursday, March 14, 2024. Starvation and famine continue in Gaza, a
child takes their own life in the US because of a climate of hate, and
much more.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There is nothing good about
the assault on Gaza. It's still surprising, however, just how rotten
everything about the assault is. <a href="https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/03/12/721749/explainer-how-israel-war-gaza-spawned-environment-climate-disaster">Maryam Qarehgozlou (PRESS TV) observes</a>, "Beyond the colossal human toll of the deadly war, an environmental
catastrophe is also unfolding across the blockaded territory, triggered
by indiscriminate bombings and a crippling siege for more than five
months." The Israeli government is consuming a huge amount of fossil fuels to assault Gaza. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/14/global-oil-industry-impact-israel-gaza-war">Nina Lakhani (GUARDIAN) reports</a>: </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Israeli jets and tanks bombarding Palestinians are
being fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel
companies – and US tax-payers, according to research.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Israel
relies on crude oil and refined products from overseas to run its large
fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The research, which was commissioned by the non-profit <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://priceofoil.org/?p=43555">Oil Change International</a>
and shared exclusively with the Guardian, examines this fuel supply
chain, which since the current conflict in Gaza began appears to have
relied heavily on fossil fuels from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia,
Brazil, Gabon and the US. The analysis by <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://datadesk.eco/">Data Desk</a>,
a UK-based tech consultancy firm investigating the fossil fuel
industry, suggests the major oil companies facilitating the fuel
supplies include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The analysis suggests that Israel has received
three US tankers of JP8 jet guel in the form of military aid since
October 2023. One left the US before the current assault on Gaza began,
departing from the Bill Greehey refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, on 22
September.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Vessels delivering oil and fuel
recently appear to have been turning off their automatic identification
system (AIS) signal before reaching Israel, possibly for security
reasons.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The other two departed after the
conflict was underway: one appears to have departed on 6 December 2023,
when more than 16,000 Palestinians had already been killed. The third
left Texas on 9 February 2024 – two weeks after the International Court
of Justice’s <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/un-court-orders-israel-to-ensure-acts-of-genocide-are-not-committed-in-gaza">interim ruling</a> that Israel <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/world-courts-interim-ruling-on-genocide-in-gaza-key-takeaways-icj-israel">could plausibly be committing genocide</a>
against 2.3m Palestinians in occupied Gaza. A satellite image appears
to show the tanker at Israel’s Ashkelon terminal on 6 March, when the
Palestinian death toll had risen to 30,000.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Israel’s
bombardment of Gaza has continued since the ICJ ordered the Israeli
government to prevent any genocidal act. The ICJ ruling has legal
implications for countries and corporations, which must ensure they are
not complicit in genocidal acts.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Last week, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/03/06/the-un-is-investigating-the-environmental-impact-of-the-war-in-gaza-heres-what-it-says-so-">EURO NEWS noted</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The United Nations is investigating the environmental impact of the
war in Gaza, which has caused a catastrophic spike in land, soil and
water pollution.</b></p><p><b>It is hard to know where to begin, since the
conflict has no end in sight. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been
killed by relentless Israeli strikes since 7 October, when Hamas-led
militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and took 250 people hostage.</b></p><p><b>[. . .]</b></p><p><b>In recent days, devastating reports have emerged of malnourished and dehydrated babies <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/03/05/children-in-northern-gaza-dying-of-starvation-says-who">dying</a>
in the Northern Gaza Strip. “These tragic and horrific deaths are
man-made, predictable and entirely preventable,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF
regional director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a
statement on 3 March. </b></p><p><b>Environmental concerns pale beside such
suffering. But they are also inseparable from the unfolding humanitarian
disaster. Water pollution from the bombardments, for example, means a
dearth in safe <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/01/18/half-of-bangladeshi-drinking-water-is-polluted-with-arsenic-and-climate-change-is-making-i">drinking water</a> and a rise in water-borne diseases.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>On
Monday, a number of US senators objected to US President Joe Biden
supplying the government of Israel with military equipment when the
Israeli government has continued to block aid to Gaza. This is a press
release on the letter from Senator Mazie Hirono's office:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><div class="js-press-release RawHTML mb-5">
<p><b>WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie
K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen
(D-MD), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN),
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), in sending a letter
to President Joe Biden urging him to enforce federal law by requiring
Netanyahu’s government to stop restricting humanitarian aid access to
Gaza or forfeit U.S. military aid to Israel.<br /><br />In the letter, the
senators make clear that Netanyahu’s interference in U.S. humanitarian
operations in Gaza violates Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961, also known as the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act. The law
states: “No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter or the Arms
Export Control Act to any country when it is made known to the
President that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise
restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United
States humanitarian assistance.”<br /><br />“According to public reporting
and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of
this law,” wrote the senators. “Given
this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government
that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access
and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious
consequences, as specified under existing U.S. law.”<br /><br />“The United
States should not provide military assistance to any country that
interferes with U.S. humanitarian assistance,” the senators continued.
“Federal law is clear, and, given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza,
and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address U.S.
concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a change
in policy by his government.”</b></p>
<p><strong>The full text of the letter is available <a href="https://www.hirono.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_president_biden_on_humanitarian_aid_access_to_gaza.pdf">here</a> and below.</strong></p>
<p><em><b>President Biden,</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>The severe humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is nearly unprecedented in modern history.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>As Vice President Harris said on March 3rd, “We have seen reports
of families eating leaves or animal feed, women giving birth to
malnourished babies with little or no medical care, and children dying
from malnutrition and dehydration.”</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>Your Administration has repeatedly stated, and the United Nations
and numerous aid organizations have confirmed, that Israel’s
restrictions on humanitarian access, both at the border and within Gaza,
are one of the primary causes of this humanitarian catastrophe.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>The Netanyahu government’s interference with humanitarian
operations has prevented U.S.- financed aid from reaching its intended
recipients in a safe and timely manner.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>In recent weeks, humanitarian access has seriously deteriorated.
That reality was underscored by your decision last week, which we
support, to begin air dropping supplies to desperate civilians in north
Gaza.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>The Netanyahu government’s interference in U.S. humanitarian
operations violates the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act — Section 620I of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 USC 2378-1). The law is clear:
“No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter or the Arms Export
Control Act to any country when it is made known to the President that
the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts,
directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States
humanitarian assistance.”</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>According to public reporting and your own statements, the
Netanyahu government is in violation of this law. Given this reality, we
urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to
immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate
safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences,
as specified under existing U.S. law.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>People are starving. As you have said, “We’re going to insist
that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more
people the help they need. No excuses. Because the truth is, aid flowing
to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough.”</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>The United States should not provide military assistance to any
country that interferes with U.S. humanitarian assistance. We note that
the language of the statute does not preclude U.S. assistance for
missile defense, such as the Iron Dome, or other defensive systems
provided to Israel pursuant to the provisions of the National Defense
Authorization Act.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>Federal law is clear, and, given the urgency of the crisis in
Gaza, and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address
U.S. concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a
change in policy by his government.</b></em></p>
<p><em><b>Sincerely,</b></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>###</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And it's not just that group of US senators calling for accountability. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/u-s-arms-sales-to-israel-2667506147">Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> More than two dozen human rights groups on Tuesday implored U.S.
President Joe Biden "urgently comply" with domestic law by suspending
arms sales to Israel and pressuring its far-right government to end its
genocidal policy of blocking aid to starving Palestinians in <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza.
</a></b></p><p><b>
In a<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/13/joint-letter-president-biden-continued-us-security-assistance-israel" target="_blank"> joint letter</a>
to Biden, the 25 organizations asserted that his administration's
"unconditional arms transfers and other security assistance" to Israel
apparently "violate Section 620I of the <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/22/2378-1" target="_blank">Foreign Assistance Act</a>
(22 U.S.C. § 2378-1), which prohibits the United States from providing
security assistance or arms sales to any country when the president is
made aware that the government 'prohibits or otherwise restricts,
directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States
humanitarian assistance.'"
</b></p><p><b>"U.S. weapons, security assistance, and blanket political support
have contributed to an unparalleled humanitarian crisis and possible
war crimes in Gaza," the groups wrote. "We demand that you urgently
comply with U.S. law, end U.S. support for catastrophic human suffering
in Gaza, and use your leverage to protect civilians and ensure the
impartial provision of humanitarian assistance."</b></p><p><br /></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://help.rescue.org/donate/evergreen-crisis-ME?ms=gs_ppc_fy24_gaza_mmus_mar&initialms=gs_ppc_fy24_gaza_mmus_mar&utm_campaign=fy24_gaza&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwMqvBhCtARIsAIXsZpbevjTiJ3imCwxnRAibclymMnZRq3f4dQm_fpOwZvQRoZ5YJ6pJiS0aAmyhEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds">The International Rescue Committee notes</a>, "Over half a million Palestinians are suffering from severe malnutrition,
and children are dying of starvation. Right now the IRC and its
partners are working to deliver urgently needed emergency food, medical
supplies and other crucial humanitarian aid to displaced families." <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/14/middle-east-crisis-live-updates-israel-gaza-khan-younis-tel-aviv">THE GUARDIAN notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><strong>A senior official at the European Commission has said there are already pockets of famine happening in <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza">Gaza</a>.</strong></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Reuters reports Janez Lenarčič,
the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management,
told the media that famine could spread to the whole of the region.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/14/death-trap-israeli-forces-kill-six-aid-seekers-in-gaza-city">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Israeli forces have shot dead at least six Palestinians and wounded
83 in Gaza City as they were waiting for food and humanitarian supplies
at the Kuwait Roundabout, an area where large groups of people gather
for arriving aid trucks.</b></p>
<p><b>The attack on Thursday took place hours after at least five people
were killed by an Israeli air strike on a food distribution centre in
Rafah, southern Gaza, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/1/what-is-unrwa-and-why-it-is-important-for-palestinians">UNRWA</a>), which is the main humanitarian agency in Gaza.</b></p></div><div><b>There has been an uptick in fatal assaults by Israeli troops on crowds of starving <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2024/3/5/the-blood-was-everywhere-inside-israels-flour-massacre-in-gaza">civilians lining up</a> for aid in recent weeks. On Monday night, Israeli forces killed 11 people waiting for food aid at the same roundabout.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Netanyahu's
attack on UNRWA has been non-stop. Yesterday, the agency released a
statement noting the attacks that have taken place:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>At least one UNRWA staff member was killed and another 22 were
injured when Israeli Forces hit a food distribution centre in the
eastern part of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.</b></p>
<p><b>“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution
centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger
is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine. Every day, we
share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with
parties to the conflict. The Israeli Army received the coordinates
including of this facility yesterday,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General
Philippe Lazzarini. </b></p>
<p><b>Since the war began five months ago, UNRWA has recorded an
unprecedented number of violations against its staff and facilities that
surpass any other conflict around the world. </b></p>
<p><b>· At least 165 UNRWA team members killed including while in the line of duty;</b></p>
<p><b>· More than 150 UNRWA facilities were hit, some totally destroyed, among them many schools;</b></p>
<p><b>· More than 400 people killed while seeking shelter under the UN flag;</b></p>
<p><b>· Tunnels have reportedly been found under UNRWA facilities and installations used for military activities;</b></p>
<p><b>· UNRWA staff have reportedly been mistreated and humiliated while in Israeli detention centres.</b></p>
<p><b>“The United Nations, its personnel, premises and assets must be
protected at all times. Since this war began, attacks against UN
facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace in blatant
disregard to international humanitarian law. I am calling once again for
an independent inquiry into these violations and the need for
accountability,” added Lazzarini. </b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Let's note <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/13/michelle_alexander_revolutionary_love">this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <em>Democracy Now!</em>, democracynow.org, <em>The War and Peace Report</em>. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.</b></p>
<p><b>Civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander has a new <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/mlk-vietnam-war-speech-gaza-democracy/">piece</a> in <em>The Nation</em>.
It’s headlined “Only Revolutionary Love Can Save Us Now.” Michelle
Alexander begins, “This moment feels different. Something new is in the
air. Of course, everything is always changing. Impermanence is the way
of life. Philosophers, theologians, and poets have reminded us for
centuries that the only constant is change.”</b></p>
<p><b>Michelle Alexander joins us now for more, the best-selling author of the book <em>The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness</em>.</b></p>
<p><b>It’s great to have you back with us, Michelle. If you can —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MICHELLE</span> <span class="caps">ALEXANDER</span>: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I’m always happy to be here.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
It’s great to see you. If you can talk about what gives you hope right
now, even as you write about what’s happening in Gaza, as you talk about
what’s happening with issues of police brutality and mass incarceration
through the United States? Talk about movements and your references to
Dr. King.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MICHELLE</span> <span class="caps">ALEXANDER</span>:
Well, what gives me hope right now is that, despite everything,
revolutionary love is bursting and blossoming in all kinds of places and
spaces. Years of relentless and patient organizing and deep learning
about each other’s histories and struggles have led to a moment when
Black activists are showing up at protests organized by Jewish students
who are raising their voices in solidarity with Palestinians who are
suffering occupation and annihilation in Gaza. And, you know, this is
due to connections that have been made over the course of years between
liberation struggles on the streets of Ferguson and those occurring in
Palestine. And these small acts of revolutionary love are leading to
movements, are building movements that just might help us change
everything.</b></p>
<p><b>And, you know, we see this in communities everywhere, where people
are connecting dots between climate change and racial and gender
injustice. We see it in the movement to stop Cop City in Atlanta. We see
it in movements for clean water and food. And we see that people are
making connections between liberation struggles here at home and those
occurring around the world, as well as connections between the violence
of policing and incarceration and the violence of militarism and the
relentless assault on Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>So, you know, people are turning towards really promising forms of
movement building, incredible acts of courage in this moment, speaking
unpopular truths. And that gives me hope, even in a time when there is
so much reason for fear and anxiety, that can be paralyzing.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Michelle, but you also raised in your <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/mlk-vietnam-war-speech-gaza-democracy/">article</a>
that all of this is happening right now in the midst of a presidential
election here in the United States. And what do you see as the impact of
the policy of the Biden administration in terms of — especially in
terms of Gaza and the genocide there, and what the impact may be on the
result of our election?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MICHELLE</span> <span class="caps">ALEXANDER</span>:
Well, you know, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza in
just a few months with our bombs — you know, mass murder funded by our
government, aided and abetted by our military, paid for, in large part,
by our tax dollars. And while we have been told by our government that
we are not witnessing genocide, you know, I and millions of people
around the world have watched. You know, as videos have traveled around
the globe, we’ve watched, you know, as mothers have pulled body parts of
their dead children out of rubble, as people have had their limbs
amputated, sawed off, without anesthesia because the hospitals have been
destroyed and there’s no medicine, including pain medication, to be
found. We’ve watched as people facing starvation have been shot at by
Israeli soldiers as they approach vehicles carrying aid.</b></p>
<p><b>And so, you know, the Biden administration seems to be surprised that
people who are not Palestinian care as deeply as we do. And I think if
the Democratic Party and the Biden administration is serious about
winning this next election, they must not only insist upon a ceasefire,
but end the aid for the military support and the bombs, and must invest
and ensure that the people who are starving and who are suffering there
get the aid that they need to survive. We must end the occupation of
Palestine and commit to the thriving of all of the people who have been
subjected to relentless war and occupation for decades now. And so,
yeah, I do think it’s an important issue in this election year.</b></p>
<p><b>And, you know, as I point out in the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/mlk-vietnam-war-speech-gaza-democracy/">piece</a>,
that there are many, many things that are weighing on the minds and the
hearts of the American people right now. It is the mass killing in
Gaza, you know, more than 10,000 children, and the destruction of
hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, universities, museums and nearly
all the basic infrastructure. It is the memories of the killings that
occurred on October 7th, memories that many continue to carry along with
deep grief and fear. But there’s also, you know, fears of the threats
to our democracy, to the very ideas of diversity and inclusion. And
there’s the threat of climate change. You know, 2023 was the hottest
year on record, and it seems we may have already passed a critical
tipping point, and yet the five biggest oil companies last year raked in
record profits, nearly $200 billion in profits, more than the economic
output of most countries. And, you know, if all that wasn’t enough, we
keep learning more and more that AI just might destroy humanity.</b></p>
<p><b>And, you know, I find that people often ask me, as I speak about
issues related to climate change and the war in Gaza and the threats
related to the rise in technology: What does any of this have to do with
mass incarceration or police violence, the issues and causes that have
been most pressing and most important to me for much of my life? And
what I always say is that these issues have everything to do with mass
incarceration. These are existential crises that we face because we have
persisted in treating people and all of creation as exploitable and
disposable, unworthy of our care and concern. We are lost in the
delusion that we can solve problems or do justice or achieve peace and
security simply by locking people up, throwing away the key, destroying
their lives and families, getting rid of them, declaring wars on them,
wars on drugs, wars on crime, wars on Gaza. And that’s why I keep
returning again and again to the speech that Martin Luther King gave
near the end of his life, the speech where he condemned the Vietnam War
and was immediately canceled. That’s what my <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/mlk-vietnam-war-speech-gaza-democracy/">piece</a> in <em>The Nation</em> is ultimately about.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Michelle, we want to end with and get your final comment on Dr. King’s
speech that he gave at New York’s Riverside Church opposing the War in
Vietnam a year to the day before he was assassinated. This is Dr. King
speaking about why he opposed the War in Vietnam.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">REV</span>. <span class="caps">MARTIN</span> <span class="caps">LUTHER</span> <span class="caps">KING</span> JR.:
As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men, I
have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their
problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while
maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully
through nonviolent action. But they ask, and rightly so, “What about
Vietnam?” And they ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of
violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted.
Their questions hit home. And I knew that I could never again raise my
voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without
having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the
world today: my own government.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Dr. King, after which, you point out in the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/mlk-vietnam-war-speech-gaza-democracy/">piece</a>, Michelle, that he was canceled, from the major papers, <em>The New York Times</em> to <em>The Washington Post</em>, attacked for his opposition to war.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MICHELLE</span> <span class="caps">ALEXANDER</span>:
Yes, that’s absolutely right. I mean, it’s difficult to overstate the
political risk that he was taking in that moment. Our nation had been at
war with Vietnam for two years. Ten thousand American troops had
already been killed. And the war had enthusiastic bipartisan support
within the political establishment. Anyone who dared to criticize the
war were often labeled communist and subjected to vicious forms of
retaliation and backlash. Many of his friends and his allies told him
not to speak out against the war, saying he’d jeopardize the very
fragile and brand-new gains of the civil rights movement.</b></p>
<p><b>And he said, you know, those people, those voices didn’t understand
the depth of his moral commitment, but they also had no real
understanding of the nature of the world in which they lived. And he
said basic morality demands that we speak for the weak, the voiceless,
the victims of our own nation, especially the children, including those
our nation calls enemy, for they are no less our brothers and sisters.
He condemned the moral bankruptcy of a nation that doesn’t hesitate to
invest in bombs and warfare around the world but can’t ever seem to find
the dollars to eradicate poverty at home.</b></p>
<p><b>But, for me, you know, what makes King’s speech essential in this
moment is that he was arguing in that speech that if we, as a nation, do
not awaken from our collective delusions, we are doomed. You know, he
said we must rapidly shift from a thing-oriented society to a
person-oriented society. You know, he said when machines and computers,
profit motives and property rights are considered more important than
people, you know, the giant triplet of racism, extreme materialism and
militarism will never be conquered. You know, if we fail to make this
turn, if we fail to awaken, we are doomed. And he was right. Whether
we’re talking about climate change, AI, mass deportation, mass
incarceration, the wars in Gaza or the wars on drugs, he’s right, that
if we don’t turn away from the corrupting forces of capitalism,
militarism and racism, and embrace a truly revolutionary love for all
people and all creation, we are doomed. Towards the end of that speech
at Riverside, he said there is such a thing as being too late. You know,
he said over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous
civilizations are written the pathetic words “too late.”</b></p>
<p><b>And yet his message wasn’t a hopeless one. He was calling us to
embrace a revolutionary movement, one that was grounded in an ethic of
love. Just as bell hooks once said, you know, as long as we refuse to
embrace love in our struggles for liberation, we will not be able to
create a culture of conversion where there’s a mass turning away from an
ethic of domination. And that, ultimately, is what revolutionary love
is all about and why I believe it is the only thing that can save us
now.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Michelle Alexander, thank you so much for joining us, civil rights advocate — </b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MICHELLE</span> <span class="caps">ALEXANDER</span>: Thank you.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: — author of the best-selling book <em>The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness</em>. We’ll link to your <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/mlk-vietnam-war-speech-gaza-democracy/">piece</a> in <em>The Nation</em>, headlined “Only Revolutionary Love Can Save Us Now.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><div><p>Gaza remains under assault. Day 160 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/14/middle-east-crisis-live-updates-israel-gaza-khan-younis-tel-aviv">THE GUARDIAN notes</a> "the total death toll since <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel">Israel</a> launched its military offensive in the Gaza Strip [is] 31,341. Additionally, 73,134 people have been wounded." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</p><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>In other news . . . </div><div><br /><br /></div></div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/13/headlines">Yesterday on DEMOCRACY NOW!, Amy Goodman noted</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="headline_body"><div class="headline_summary"><p><b>Florida’s
school teachers will be allowed to discuss sexual orientation and
gender identity — under the condition the topics are not a part of
formal classroom instruction. The clarification came as part of a
lawsuit settlement reached by Florida’s education officials and a group
of LGBTQ+ rights advocates and families. Opponents of Florida’s “Don’t
Say Gay” law had argued the measure’s vague language sparked fear and
confusion among educators and students, who were unsure if even sharing
personal details about their lives, such as drawing a picture of their
same-sex parents for a school project, would be a violation of the law.</b></p></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This
was never, ever about helping children. It was about hate merchants
spreading their hate. And we see across the country the effects of
that. Nex Benedict was one of the children targeted with this hate.
Marcia has been covering Nex's case at her site and, in last night's "<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/03/ryan-walters-is-responsible-for-death.html" target="_blank">Ryan Walters is responsible for the death of Nex Benedict</a>,"
rightly calls out hate merchant Ryan Walters who seems to think the
initial autopsy finding that a child took their own life because of the
abuse that they were experiencing is somehow vindicating him. It's no
vindication, it is an indictment. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://glaad.org/oklahoma-superintendent-of-public-instruction-ryan-walters-book-ban-record/">Earlier this month at GLAAD, Jae Moore noted</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The tragic death of high school sophomore <a href="https://glaad.org/live-updates-the-death-of-nex-benedict-and-community-response-in-oklahoma/">Nex Benedict</a> last month cast a spotlight on the <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2023/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">relentless bullying</a> LGBTQ students face <a href="https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/510345_GLSEN_Nex_Benedict_Convo_Educator_Guide_m1.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">in schools</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/vp-harris-white-house-speak-nex-benedicts-death/story?id=107480756">nationwide</a>, and on the <a href="https://glaad.org/releases/glaad-releases-anti-lgbtq-records-of-oklahoma-governor-kevin-stitt-and-state-education-superintendent-ryan-walters/">records</a>
of Oklahoma’s elected leaders in targeting transgender students,
including the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters.</b></p>
<p><b><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-education-superintendent-ryan-walters-fire-anti-lgbtq/story?id=107626475" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Walters told</a>
ABC News, “we’re not going to lie to students. And we’re not going to
push a gender ideology.” Walters’ repeated false claims about “gender
ideology” and “only two genders” conflict with the history of Two Spirit
people in his own state, which have long recognized and honored
multiple genders. Walters’ comments also crucially fail to acknowledge
Nex Benedict’s Choctaw heritage and the impact of Walters’ rhetoric and
policies on Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming (2STGNC+)
students like Nex.</b></p>
<p><b>Walters’ comments and policies attempting to ignore the existence and
history of 2STGNC+ people in his state are consistent with his record
of attempts to eliminate inclusive books. More than 350 organizations
including GLAAD have called on state legislative leaders to <a href="https://glaad.org/justice-for-nex-benedict-letter-from-350-organizations/">remove Walters</a> and investigate the unsafe climate in Oklahoma schools for 2STGNC+ students.</b></p></div><div><p><b>GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said Walters “dangerously
and recklessly prioritized escalating attacks against LGBTQ, indigenous,
and vulnerable youth, promoting lies, spreading disinformation, and
pushing broad scale discriminatory policies that do nothing to improve
education, [with] rhetoric and policies to erase the culture and history
of entire communities of Oklahomans … in alignment with national
anti-LGBTQ groups like Moms for Liberty and extremists on social media.”</b></p>
<p><b>At last month’s Board of Education meeting, the first since the news
of Nex’s death, business owner and Vice Mayor of The Village, a suburb
of Oklahoma City, <a href="https://www.advocate.com/news/oklahoma-nex-benedict-viral-video">Sean Cummings</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@_dofd/video/7338532198858886442?lang=en">addressed Walters</a>’ anti-LGBTQ record. Walters’ actions include <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/23/chaya-raichik-libs-of-tiktok-oklahoma-public-education/72324642007/">appointing</a>
Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik to the state Library Media Review
Committee in January, despite a history of anti-LGBTQ posts that have
reportedly preceded more than <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/libs-tiktok-x-chaya-raichik-bomb-threat-twitter-of-libsoftiktok-rcna102784">30 threats of violence</a>
against schools in Oklahoma and nationwide, as well as libraries and
childrens’ hospitals. Raichik does not live in Oklahoma, does not have
children in Oklahoma schools, and has no proven background in education.</b></p>
<p><b>“You and your rhetoric and your inability to do anything as a board
here are partially responsible for emboldening bullies to jump a
[student] in the bathroom,” Cummings told Walters. “You have actual
blood on your hands.”</b></p></div><div> </div><div><a href="https://progressive.org/public-schools-advocate/whos-to-blame-for-nex-benedicts-death-thompson-20240212/">Tuesday at THE PROGRESSIVE, John Thompson noted</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="lead"><b>e are learning more about the death of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nex-benedict-dead-oklahoma-b2501844.html" target="_blank">Nex Benedict</a>,
a non-binary high school student who died on February 8, the day after
they were beaten in the school bathroom in Owasso, Oklahoma. We are also
learning about ourselves, as Oklahomans, as we deal with the tragedy.
But we are not alone. This bitter attack is a case study in the cruelty
being spread across the nation by right-wing extremists. </b></p>
<p><b>Vigils <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nonbinary-student-death-nex-owasso-oklahoma-vigils-fd7695afb780d09c00b823fa0618e79f" target="_blank">were held</a> across the nation in honor of Nex, who has a Choctaw heritage. The diverse crowd I witnessed at the <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/02/25/hundreds-at-okc-praye-vigil-show-love-honor-for-nex-benedict/72688425007/" target="_blank">Oklahoma City vigil</a>
was so large that I could barely hear the speakers. We still don’t
fully know everything about Nex’s death, but it is clear that it must be
viewed within the context of vicious attacks on LGBTQ+ youth by State
Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and Governor Kevin
Stitt as well as the fifty-plus <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/20/oklahoma-legislature-considering-54-bills-targeting-lgbtq-issues-list/72597155007/" target="_blank">Republican legislative bills</a> attacking LBGTQ+ rights across the country.</b></p>
<p><b>Since he was elected in 2019, Governor Stitt has <a href="https://glaad.org/releases/glaad-responds-to-release-of-9-1-1-calls-school-surveillance-video-owasso-police-body-cam-footage-and-new-reporting-cascade-of-failures-at-school-local-government-and-law-enforcement/" target="_blank">signed</a>
laws that restrict access to public school bathrooms; ban health care
for transgender people under eighteen; ban transgender girls and women
from school sports; and prohibit Oklahomans from obtaining nonbinary
gender markers on official documents. He also signed, as the LGTBQ+
rights group GLAAD <a href="https://glaad.org/releases/glaad-releases-anti-lgbtq-records-of-oklahoma-governor-kevin-stitt-and-state-education-superintendent-ryan-walters/" target="_blank">reported</a>, “an <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2022/05/19/oklahoma-passes-bill-limiting-school-bathroom-use-gender-birth/9843619002/" target="_blank">executive order</a> that defunds diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and programs in state agencies, including public colleges.”</b></p>
<p><b>Walters has a similar record: He has <a href="https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/education/oklahoma-department-of-education-video-paints-transgender-students-as-threat-to-school-safety/article_14c16b4a-1763-11ee-8703-b7942e856e32.html" target="_blank">depicted</a> transgender students as a threat in schools, and approved a permanent <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-ryan-walters-transgender-teen-school-records-rule-rcna130816" target="_blank">rule change</a> that requires schools to get state approval before altering gender markers in a student’s records. Walters has <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2023/04/04/oklahoma-lgbt-books-school-library-rules-ryan-walters-gentner-drummond/70080835007/" target="_blank">advocated</a> for book bans and described LGBTQ+-themed books as “pornographic material.” He also <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/chaya-raichik-libs-tiktok-oklahoma-schools-committee-1234952518/" target="_blank">appointed</a>
Chaya Raichik, the founder of anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of
TikTok, to the education department’s Library Media Advisory Committee.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/03/anti-lgbtq-hate-crimes-in-schools-have-quadrupled-in-states-with-laws-targeting-the-community/">John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in schools have risen sharply in
the U.S. in recent years, more than quadrupling in K–12 schools in
states where Republican lawmakers have enacted legislation targeting the
community.</b></p>
<p><b>The alarming finding comes from report published in the <em><a data-wpel-link="external" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/12/school-lgbtq-hate-crimes-incidents" rel="external noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Washington Post</a></em> this week based on an analysis of FBI data. The <em>Post</em>
found that the nationwide average number of reported anti-LGBTQ+ hate
crimes in schools, including those on college campuses, rose from 108
between 2015–2019 to 232 between 2021–2022, more than doubling. In
states that have enacted anti-LGBTQ+ laws, the average tripled.</b></p><p><b>Even more troubling, in the 28 states where Republicans have passed laws
restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors, bans on trans
people accessing bathrooms and participating in sports, and “Don’t Say
Gay” laws, reported incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes on K–12
campuses more than quadrupled.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The hate merchants
were never, ever concerned about children. If the events unfolding
across the country have not made that clear, let's note
blood-on-his-hands Ryan Walters statement he issued in response to the
finding that Nex committed suicide:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The
loss of our student in Owasso is tragic for the family, the community,
and our state. The LGBTQ groups pushing a false narrative are one of the
biggest threats to our democracy and I remain, more than ever,
committed to never backing down from a woke mob.</b></p><p><b> </b></p></div><div>A
child is dead, a child from a school he oversees and the child is dead
because of his actions. Instead of taking accountability, promising to
learn from this, he stays confined and imprisoned by his delusions.
He's a hate merchant.</div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
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<a href="https://gorilla-radio.com/" target="_blank">
Gorilla Radio</a>
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<a href="https://gorilla-radio.com/2024/03/14/gorilla-radio-with-chris-cook-dimitri-lascaris-t-j-coles-march-13-2024/" target="_blank">
Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dimitri Lascaris, T. J. Coles March 13, 2024
</a>
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13 hours ago
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<a href="https://npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1039" target="_blank">
Music</a>
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<a href="https://npr.org/2024/03/13/1238336615/olivia-rodrigo-emergency-contraceptive-concert" target="_blank">
Olivia Rodrigo hands out Plan B pills in Missouri, where abortion is banned
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16 hours ago </div>
</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-22158613612354652902024-03-13T21:51:00.000-07:002024-03-13T21:51:28.730-07:00A hate merchant gets fired<div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="yiv1181797418ydp1fd62513yiv3019744141" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-superintendent-suspended-after-trans-student-s-removal-from-oklahoma/ar-BB1jMcvV?cvid=2c74ac02011647c98dc96493aa7d4c73&ei=22" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Good news</a>:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The
superintendent of a Texas school district has been suspended after a
transgender student was removed — and then later reinstated — from a
role in a high school production of "Oklahoma!"</b></span></span></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The
Sherman Independent School District School Board of Trustees voted
Friday to suspend Superintendent Tyson Bennett during a closed session.
Meghan Cone, a spokesperson for the district, confirmed Tuesday that the
decision was related to an investigation into the trans student's
removal from the musical.</b></span></span></p></div><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Bennett did not immediately return a request for comment.</b></span></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The student, Max Hightower, a senior at Sherman High School, was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trans-student-kicked-lead-role-high-school-production-oklahoma-gender-rcna124153" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">removed</a> in November from the lead male role in “Oklahoma!” after his family was notified of a new policy about casting by gender.</b></span></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>“There
is no policy on how students are assigned to roles. As it relates to
this particular production, the sex of the role as identified in the
script will be used when casting,” the district<a href="https://www.shermanisd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=8&ModuleInstanceID=5165&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=59310&PageID=9" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> said </a>in a statement on Nov. 6.</b></span></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>On Nov. 10, "after further review," the district <a href="https://www.shermanisd.net/musical-update" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">revised </a>its original rule, saying "sex will not be considered when casting the new production."</b></span></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Later that month, the district <a class="yiv1181797418ydp1fd62513yiv3019744141" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/texas-school-district-reverses-decision-removed-trans-student-oklahoma-rcna125219" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reversed</a> the restrictions altogether after the school board unanimously voted to reinstate the original script and cast.</b></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></span></div><p class="yiv1181797418ydp1fd62513yiv3019744141ydp1422283fcontinue-read-break" style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>“We
understand that our decision does not erase the impact this had on our
community, but we hope that we will reinforce to everyone, particularly
our students, that we do embrace all of our Board goals, to include
addressing the diverse needs of our students and empowering them for
success in a diverse and complex world,” the board's president, Brad
Morgan, said at the time.</b></span></span></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We
knew this was coming. Tyson should never have been hired. His
references were fudged -- among other things. He was fired and he had
it coming. Hate merchant.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm so sick of these adults who shouldn't be around children because all they want to do is attack children. <br /></span></span></div><p></p><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_068707529.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p><div class="date-posts"><div class="post-outer"><div class="post hentry uncustomized-post-template" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting">
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<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7247792416263827118" itemprop="articleBody">
Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Gaza remains under assault and the planned
crime of starvation considers, Donald and Joe seize the nominations of
the duopoly parties, GOP hate (and silence from so many who pretend to
be of the 'left') has resulted in an America unsafe for LGBTQ+ kids, and
much more.<div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/12/1238033721/donald-trump-joe-biden-nomination-delegates">Stephen Fowler (NPR) reports</a>:</div><div><p><b>The general election rematch between former President Donald Trump and President Biden is now official.</b></p> <p><b>Both men have now secured the required delegates to be their respective party's nominee.</b></p> <p><b>Biden
and Trump won nearly every contest in the presidential nominating
calendar so far but the important threshold of winning a majority of
delegates to the party conventions this summer has finally been met.
Tuesday's contests included primaries in <a href="https://apps.npr.org/primary-election-results-2024/states/GA.html">Georgia</a>, a key swing state for both parties, as well as <a href="https://apps.npr.org/primary-election-results-2024/states/WA.html">Washington </a>state and <a href="https://apps.npr.org/primary-election-results-2024/states/MS.html">Mississippi</a>. </b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Which
means we're in for months of Donald Trump's sour, little girl voice.
If there's a masculinity crisis in America, it can be found at every
MAGA rally. He's forever their pampered and spoiled little princess. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Marianne Williamson remains in the Democratic Party presidential race and she explains why in the video below.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Marianne
Williamson: Well with his win in Georgia tonight, the President has
won the Democratic nomination for the presidency. I congratulate him.
But I'm not doing the performative 'Oh now let's endorse the President
and let's go beat Donald Trump in 2024!' I won't do it. I know too much.
And I've seen too much. I'm going to continue. I will be on the road.
I'm on my way to Chicago. I'm on my way to Louisiana. I'm on my way to
Arizona. I'm on my way to New York. Because the things that this
campaign has been talking about and that I will continue to talk about
are the things that will actually defeat Donald Trump in 2024. The
Democratic establishment doesn't seem to have any clue what's really
going on in this country. We are at such risk of losing to Donald Trump
in 2024. Not because of people voting for Trump but because of people
staying home, people voting for Bobby Kennedy, people voting for Cornel
West, people voting for Jill Stein because people have had it. People in
the United States do not have health care. People in the United States
do not have tuition free college and tech schools -- both of which a
majority of Republicans as well as Democrats want and which are afforded
to the citizens of every other advanced democracy. People in this
country need childcare -- subsidized childcare -- and paid family leave
universally -- not just talking about it. People in this country want to
ramp down -- not ramp up -- fossil fuel extraction. People in this
country want guaranteed sick pay, guaranteed living wage. People in this
country want to repudiate the forever war machine. People in this
country want to face what's really going on in this country. My campaign
has always addressed the ubiquitous despair of so many people in this
country and that is why the political media industrial complex
peripheralized, invisiblized and erased my candidacy. Well I know I'm
supposed to be a really nice girl now and say, 'Well, it was just great
to be a part of this and thank you so much.' No. No. No. Believe me, if
the Democratic establishment does not hear what I am saying now, they
sure will hear it in November because it will be expressed by the
electorate. So I'm continuing. And I hope that you will show up to vote
for me because remember still if I get enough votes to get delegates and
to get at the convention then we can wield influence -- perhaps we can
be in the platform, part of the conversation and hopefully President
Biden himself will hear us. Somebody over the Biden administration is
listening to me cause I hear so many of my lines even in the State of
the Union. So we need to offer the American people Medicare For All --
got that guys? We need to offer the American people tuition free college
and tech school. We need to offer the American people subsidized
childcare. We need to offer the American people guaranteed sick pay. We
need to offer the American people a jobs guarantee and a guaranteed
living wage. When you have 39% of Americans saying that they are
skipping their meals regularly in order to pay their rent, when 70% of
Americans say they're living with chronic economic anxiety, when half of
American renters say they cannot afford their rent. No, it's not enough
to just try to make somethings better. No. No. No. No. No. Just making
something's better will not win it for the Democrats in 2024. The agenda
you gave us at the State of the Union guys? Congratulations on the fact
that the president was able to deliver it well. But in terms of the
content of the conversation that's not enough. I'm not the enemy. Don't
shoot the messenger here. I'm telling you, we have to offer the American
people a whole lot more if the Democrats are going to win in 2024.
That's why I'm going to continue in the race. I hope all of you will go
to <a href="http://MARIANNE2024.COM">MARIANNE2024.COM</a> and show up to
vote for me in the primary. The more we get, with every vote, that can
lead to influence, it can lead to leverage of some kind. It can
hopefully convince some people who can make a difference that we're
going to have to offer the American people so much more if we're going
to win in 2024. Otherwise, this is going to be like 2016. I think I'm
the one here saying 'Oh my god, don't you understand the fascists are at
the door.' Don't throw that back at me. 'Williamson, shut up. The
fascists are at the door!' I think Williamson needs to speak even louder
because the fascists are at the door. And so that's what I'll be doing
for the rest of this primary season. I hope you'll vote for me. The
president has the nomination but we have the truth in our hearts on a
level that is not currently being addressed by the Democratic
establishment. Let's make some noise. We're the ones making the good
trouble. We're the ones speaking the deeper truth -- the deeper truth of
the heart, speaking to the yearning and also speaking to the suffering
of so many millions of Americans. This is not the time to stop. Thanks
so much.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Marianne got 3% in the Georgia primary yesterday and 2.7% in Washington state. </div><div><br /></div><div>Cornel
West continues his vanity campaign. In California, he tried to grab
the Peace & Freedom Party's presidential nomination but Claudia de
la Cruz easily beat him. He plans to soldier on while insisting he's
not a spoiler. He's also not a winner. </div><div><br /></div><div>Did someone say Jill Stein? Apparently the 2024 Green Party platform is: We got nothing.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's
why two-time loser Jill Stein is trying to grab the gold for three-time
loser. The Green Party nationally is becoming as pathetic and inbred
as SEP. If the best they can do is the loser they already served up in
2012 and 2016, the Green Party would be better off putting any funds
into state-wide and local candidates. </div><div><br /></div><div>And
then there's Junior. Baby no nads Kennedy is teasing out an
announcement of who will be his running mate. He'll do anything for
attention. One-term governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura is one of the
name's whispered and don't use all your giggles on that choice. The
other's Aaron Rodgers. That would be hilarious and I would love to see
that pick only to hear hecklers yell out, "Where's Kevin!" Kevin being
Kevin Lanflisi -- Aaron's one-time roommate that departed Casa Rodgers
with a series of Tweets that led the press to speculate he was Aaron's
boyfriend. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Rumors regarding
Kevin have been the only humanizing thing about Aaron. Otherwise, we're
left with an alienating idiot who mistakenly believes he has an
education. Sounds like the perfect fit for Junior. </div><div><br /></div><div>That
his campaign would even put forth Rodgers goes to how out of his
element Junior is. Aaron has experience to be the vice president --
next in line for the presidency -- based on what?</div><div><br /></div><div>Junior's still a dirty joke but he's also become a tired one.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Dropping back to <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/12/israel_palestine_yousef_hammash_francesca_albanese">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <em>Democracy Now!</em>, democracynow.org, <em>The War and Peace Report</em>. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.</b></p>
<p><b>We turn now to Gaza, where Al Jazeera is <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/3/several-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-aid-truck-in-gaza-report">reporting</a>
Israeli forces have killed at least nine people who were waiting for
aid in Gaza City. Twenty injured people were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital.</b></p>
<p><b>This comes as Israel continues to restrict aid coming into Gaza,
which is on the brink of famine. The U.N. is reporting one truck was
recently denied access to Gaza because it contained scissors inside
medical kits. <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> head Philippe Lazzarini
criticized the decision, saying, quote, “Medical scissors are now added
to a long list of banned items the Israeli Authorities classify as 'for
dual use.'” He went on to say, “The list includes basic and lifesaving
items: from anesthetics, solar lights, oxygen cylinders and ventilators,
water cleaning tablets, cancer medicines and maternity kits,” unquote. <br />
Meanwhile, an aid ship bound for Gaza has set sail from Cyprus with 200 tons of food supplies. The <span class="caps">UAE</span>-funded mission was organized by two aid groups, World Central Kitchen and Open Arms.</b></p>
<p><b>Inside Gaza, Palestinians marked the first day of Ramadan Monday.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we go directly to Rafah to Yousef Hammash. He is advocacy officer in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council.</b></p>
<p><b>Welcome back to <em>Democracy Now!</em> Thank you so much for joining
us, Yousef. Can you explain what’s happening on the ground right now?
Talk about the issue of famine and hunger, and what you think needs to
happen.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">YOUSEF</span> <span class="caps">HAMMASH</span>: First of all, thanks for hosting me again and giving me the chance.</b></p>
<p><b>And, unfortunately, since we last spoke until now, nothing have
changed, only except for the worse. More families have been displaced by
the ongoing bombardment all across Gaza. Situation in Rafah has
deteriorated day by day. We are not able to fulfill the basic needs for
families here. People are scattered in the streets everywhere. So, it’s
an unimaginable situation for displaced families in Rafah. And we have a
different situation for the middle area and the northern part of Gaza,
which, unfortunately, even from media, is kind abandoned, while families
and children are on the verge of a famine, and over 25 people were
killed from hunger.</b></p>
<p><b>The situation in Gaza is going into unclear vision in the horizon. We
don’t understand what’s coming next. All what we are having is a daily
basis of madness, violence, bombardment and a death toll that’s
increasing on a daily basis. And unfortunately, so far we are not seeing
any real intervention from outside so at least we could have a glimmer
of hope that this will end soon.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And, Yousef
Hammash, how do you respond to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim denying
that there’s starvation and alleging that it is groups under Hamas in
Gaza that are preventing the delivery of aid?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">YOUSEF</span> <span class="caps">HAMMASH</span>:
I work for the Norwegian Refugee Council, and we operate on the ground,
mainly in Rafah currently, because we don’t have any access for the
northern part of Gaza. And we didn’t see any evidence related to this
allegation. All what we are looking for is open the checkpoints, the
Israel restrictions that have been put to split Gaza into three pieces
now. And we don’t have access to Khan Younis now, and there is no access
to Gaza City and the northern part of Gaza. And we are talking about
over half a million who are trapped there, dying to fulfill their
children’s basic needs.</b></p>
<p><b>People have — we had the first day of Ramadan yesterday. And I was
reaching out for friends and colleagues in the northern part of Gaza,
and I was trying to understand exactly what they could find to have
iftar, merely a piece of bread with tea. The situation in the south is
also chaos and chaotic and getting worse every day. But in the northern
part of Gaza, people are literally on the verge of famine. People are
dying to find a piece of bread there.</b></p>
<p><b>And it’s unacceptable that we could — we start to put these
allegations here and there. There is a need on the ground that’s very
clear. If we go to social media, media outlets, wherever you go, you
could see exactly what’s going on there. So, it’s unrealistic, and it’s
unacceptable, actually, just to ignore and deny that there is a famine
in the north.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: I wanted to go to Khalil Abou Ziyada, a Palestinian currently in the Al-Shati Camp in Gaza.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">KHALIL</span> <span class="caps">ABOU</span> <span class="caps">ZIYADA</span>:
[translated] My feeling is that of a person who was displaced from his
house. I’m 71 years old, and I have never experienced Ramadan with this
feeling. It’s an awful feeling. At times like this during Ramadan, I
used to prepare the dining table to eat at sunset. But today there’s no
food, and I don’t have money to get food for iftar at sunset.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
So, Yousef Hammash, the United States, President Biden, has been
authorizing the dropping of food, airdropping it — five people were
killed, crushed to death by a malfunctioning parachute that was carrying
one of the food drops — and now has proposed this pier, where they say
they’ll get food in, unclear how, considering what Israel has been
doing. All of their ports of entry or all of their crossings are closed
and not allowing food to come in from Rafah. Why would the pier be any
different, especially given that the U.S. continues to provide the bombs
and the ammunition that is dropped on the Palestinians?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">YOUSEF</span> <span class="caps">HAMMASH</span>:
That’s what make it you don’t understand exactly what’s going on. First
of all, any help to feed even one single family or one single child in
the northern part of Gaza or Gaza or in the south is very welcome and
much appreciated. But let’s go be realistic. Spending all of these
efforts building the port or airdropping, which is not efficient,
unfortunately — and you have mentioned exactly what happened in that
incident killing five people. And imagining that all of media show all
of that, what we saw related to the airdropping, was less than two aid
trucks.</b></p>
<p><b>Why the United States didn’t use its influence to its closest ally,
while it’s weaponizing them, and using that influence in a proper way to
force them, to impose on them to remove restriction on aid? And it’s
going to be more simple, more realistic and more efficient if the United
States have pushed the Israelis to allow aid trucks to go in to people
in need in the northern part of Gaza and Gaza City. And imagine the
distance between Rafah crossing and the northern part of Gaza is half an
hour by drive. So, why we need to spend all that amount of effort
building a seaport or airdropping, while we have a realistic option
that’s put in front of us, but there is just some restriction by the
Israelis? And so, that’s what makes it unimaginable, why we are going to
that option, while already we have different options on the ground, and
it’s still in place, running and functioning in place since almost the
beginning of this chaos. The only issue that we are facing in delivering
the aid on the ground is the restriction that the Israelis put on it
for Gaza City and the northern part of Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And, Yousef
Hammash, how are you faring, your family and your own children, under
these conditions? What kind of aid do you have access to?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">YOUSEF</span> <span class="caps">HAMMASH</span>:
In Rafah, there is kind of affordability. But, unfortunately, the
prices also are not affordable somehow. There is some people who could
get some of the food items, especially into Rafah. Again, there is kind
of availability, but, unfortunately, the inflation of prices make it
unaffordable for the majority of the families here.</b></p>
<p><b>We are living day by day here. Our cycle of life is one day. We
fulfill our basic needs as responsibles toward our children and extended
families, and then we will look for the next day. As an example,
yesterday, I had to search, after my working hours, up to the iftar
timing, just to look for some vegetables, and I couldn’t find it. Maybe I
was late, because there is one million and a half are in Rafah, this 55
square kilometers, and we are competing to find food for our families.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Yousef Hammash, we thank you so much for being with us, advocacy
officer in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council, joining us from
Rafah.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Starvation as a tool of war is a War Crime. These are real people suffering. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-13-24/index.html">CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Sana Noor Haq report</a>, "Ayman Al-Zanat, 28, worries that his young nephew, Fadi, will not make it through the night. The
Palestinian boy, age 6, clutches his chest while lying on a blue
hospital bed in Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He is suffering
from severe malnutrition and dehydration, according to the health
ministry in Gaza." </div><div><br /></div><div>The starvation is an intentional and planned outcome that the Israeli government has been seeking for months. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68550937">James Gregory (BBC NEWS) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b class="sc-ed73b9f2-0 jhhdRT">Starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Gaza, the EU's foreign policy chief has claimed. </b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>Josep Borrell described the lack of aid entering the territory as a "manmade" disaster.</b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>A
Spanish ship carrying desperately needed food supplies has left Cyprus
for Gaza, but the UN says this cannot replace the delivery of aid by
land.</b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has meanwhile vowed to press on with an offensive in southern Gaza.</b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>The
quickest, most effective way to get aid into the territory is by road,
but aid agencies say Israeli restrictions mean a fraction of what is
needed is getting in.</b></p></section></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/13/middle-east-crisis-live-starvation-being-used-as-a-weapon-says-eu-official">THE GUARDIAN quotes</a> Borrell stating, "This humanitarian crisis … is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The Israeli government continues its attack on aid agencies. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/13/israels-war-on-gaza-live-netanyahu-vows-to-finish-the-job-in-rafah">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Palestinian journalists have shared footage documenting people
bringing in victims of an Israeli bombing in central Rafah to the
Kuwaiti Hospital.</b></p>
<p><b>The journalists say an UNRWA aid distribution centre was shelled in
Rafah City. The footage, which has been verified by Al Jazeera, shows
people being evacuated in vehicles bearing the UNRWA logo.</b></p></div><div><div><p>Gaza remains under assault. Day 159 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/13/israels-war-on-gaza-live-netanyahu-vows-to-finish-the-job-in-rafah">ALJAZERA notes</a>, "The
number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of
the war has risen to 31,272, according to the latest figures by the
Health Ministry. An additional 73,024 have been wounded, the ministry said." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</p><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>We started the snapshot with the US and we'll go back to the US for <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/anti-lgbtq-hate-crimes">Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) report</a> on what the hate merchants have been up to:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The Republican Party's hateful policies are having a predictable result: more hatefulness.</b></p><p><b>The
GOP's current targeted attacks on transgender and nonbinary youths are
relatively new, with right-wing governors and legislatures in the last
few years prioritizing legislation barring young people from living
according to their gender identity—but federal data shows the impact the
push is already having on the safety of LGBTQ+ kids, with school hate
crimes surging in states where attacks on their right to exist have
passed. </b></p><p><b><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/03/12/school-lgbtq-hate-crimes-incidents/" target="_blank">According to</a> FBI data analyzed by<em> The Washington Post</em>,
in states where LGBTQ+ rights have been restricted, an average of about
28 anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes at K-12 schools and colleges were reported
annually between 2015-19. The number tripled to an average of 90 in
2021-22. </b></p><p><b>In just K-12 schools, the average number of hate crimes
went up from 13 per year between 2015-19 to 61 per year from
2021-22—more than quadrupling. <br /></b></p><p><b>Overall, across the country,
there was an average of 108 hate crimes at schools reported annually
between 2015-19. Between 2021-22, the average more than doubled to 232. </b></p><p><b>At
the same time, counseling services like the Trevor Project and the
Rainbow Youth Project have seen a sharp rise in calls from young LGBTQ+
people distressed by the political rhetoric that's seeped into their
schools. </b></p><p><b>"My government hates me," "my school hates me," and
"they don't want me to exist" are among the fears that young people in
states hostile to LGBTQ+ rights regularly report, Lance Preston, founder
and executive director of the Rainbow Youth Project told the <em>Post. </em></b></p><p><b>"That... is absolutely unacceptable," he said. "That is shocking."</b></p><p><b>The
surge in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes did not come as a surprise to
advocates including Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow for the
Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
<div class="widget-content">
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</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-22812445457591346092024-03-12T20:19:00.000-07:002024-03-12T20:19:08.920-07:00Jizzy Pants wants out of prison<p>Gizzy Pants is back in the news. <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ghislaine-maxwell-seeks-to-overturn-sex-trafficking-conviction/ar-BB1jKuZs?cvid=e456267fdbc2417ad1a18d0d8bc84e34&ei=22">Reuters explains</a>, "A lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell will on Tuesday ask a U.S. appeals court
to overturn the British socialite's conviction and 20-year prison
sentence for helping the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein
sexually abuse teenage girls." They shouldn't hear the appeal. She was convicted -- after they found out where she was hiding and arrested her. <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ghislaine-maxwell-s-lawyer-tell-appeals-judges-that-jeffrey-epstein-s-florida-plea-deal-protects-her/ar-BB1jMDDo?cvid=bf03f89aa52f4962a4997744f8369938&ei=65">AP adds</a>, "Lawyers for Maxwell are challenging her December 2021 conviction on
multiple grounds, but the only topic at oral arguments was whether the
deal Epstein struck in Florida to prevent a federal case against him
there also protected Maxwell in New York. Samson said it did. A
prosecutor said it didn’t."</p><p> </p><p>Gizzy Pants appears to believe that being a woman means she's not guilty. She is guilty and was found guilty. <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/appeals-court-to-hear-oral-arguments-in-ghislaine-maxwell-case/ar-BB1jKVgm?cvid=e456267fdbc2417ad1a18d0d8bc84e34&ei=30">News Nation reminds</a>:</p><p> </p><p><b>Jurors found Maxwell, 62, guilty in December 2021 of five charges for
recruiting and grooming four underage girls for Epstein to abuse between
1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and at her
sentencing, the judge said Maxwell’s conduct in luring the girls was
“heinous and predatory.”</b> <br /></p><p> </p><p>She did the crimes, she needs to do the time. And if she's unhappy being in prison, I don't think anyone would shed a tear if she killed herself in her cell. <br /></p><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_12.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a>
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Steve Coll takes a break from attacking Julian
Assange in order to serve up lies and revisionary history on the Iraq
War, Iraqi Christians want safety (not a new church), starvation
continues in Gaza, and much more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Steve
Coll. Usually we're further into March, close to the anniversary of the
start of the Iraq War before the quacks come out with their lies.
Coll's not a name you're familiar with when it comes to Iraq because
he's never weighed in. That's because he's the kind of centrist War
Hawk that was okay with the war. He didn't lack a position or space to
speak from. He just didn't feel like calling it out.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now
he's written a really bad book explaining that the reason the Iraq War
started was Saddam Hussein. Not Bully Boy Bush, mind you. No, in fact
the whore told PBS' NEWHOUR, "<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-achilles-trap-offers-a-new-look-at-saddam-husseins-relationship-with-the-u-s">And
he ended up in a dispute with the Kuwaiti royal family and then decided
basically to sack the country. Of course, George H.W. Bush organized an
international military coalition to successfully expel him from Kuwait.
But he survived in power. And that became the unfinished business of
the 1990s that George W. Bush inherited on 911.</a>"</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, he's a War Hawk. Of course, he's also a chicken ass. </div><div><br /></div><div>He
wants you and your children to be sent off to war but Princess Steve
doesn't want to put his ass on the line and never has. He's part of the
school that wants to use revisionary tactics to try to sell future
wars. The Iraq War was a worldwide nightmare and it has really slowed
down efforts to go full out War Hawk for these crazies so they're trying
to water it down and now it's about how crazy old Saddam brought the
whole Iraq War down on Iraq. Not Bully Boy Bush, you understand, it was
all crazy old Saddam. It was crazy old Saddam controlling THE NEW YORK
TIMES and crazy old Saddam controlling CNN and THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
and every other US outlet that was pimping war -- or that's what Steve
Coll wants you to believe.</div><div><br /></div><div>He's being hailed as
left and he's not left. He's a man of little ethics (don't sleep with
'fellows' of the institute you're president of and, no, marrying them
doesn't make it any better -- <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6948349/Pulitzer-executive-denies-winner-nonfiction-book-prize-chosen-husband-sits-board.html">don't use your position on the Pulitzer board to give your wife a Pulitzer</a>) and that probably explains why this 'left' man is <a href="https://fedsoc.org/contributors/steve-coll">part of The Federalist Society</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Looking at his WIKIPEDIA history, my favorite item that fell out is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steve_Coll&oldid=314381730">this from September 16, 2009</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>He was arrested on August 15 2008 for having sexual intercourse with a
horse. As result much of his previous prestige and dick, has been lost.
Tod this dat he is working to reobtain his old public love. The court
has issued a restraining order; he must saty 50 feet away from all farm
animals. </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Woah, Nelly!</div><div><br /></div><div>Presumably, that was someone being creative -- for the sake of the horse, I pray it was someone being creative. </div><div><br /></div><div>But <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steve_Coll&oldid=425970772">this is accurate</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><i><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_(magazine)" title="">Atlantic</a></i> contributor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Samuels_(writer)" title="David Samuels (writer)">David Samuels</a> criticized Coll's "shameful attacks" on <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks" title="Wikileaks">Wikileaks</a> head <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange" title="Julian Assange">Julian Assange</a>. According to Samuels, Coll "sniffed that 'the archives that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks" title="WikiLeaks">WikiLeaks</a> has published are much less significant than the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers" title="Pentagon Papers">Pentagon Papers</a>
were in their day' while depicting Assange as a 'self-aggrandizing
control-freak" whose website 'lacks an ethical culture that is consonant
with the ideals of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press" title="Freedom of the press">free media</a>.'</b></div><div><br /></div><div>And it was up for years before Steve had it pulled. Someone should restore it. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cindamuse">Cindamuse</a> is the one who pulled it from Coll's entry.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Of
course, Steve Coll would hate WIKILEAKS and Julian Assange -- they told
the truth about the Iraq War. Now here comes Coll to try to lie and
invent a revisionary history that will soften reality and allow the US
to return to large scale war.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That's
what the New America Foundation has always been about and it's why Coll
was a president there and why the disgusting Anne-Marie Slaughter is
president (and CEO) of it now -- though it calls itself New America now
(having dropped the foundation -- the thing that Coll once swore was
going to save journalism). </div><div><br /></div><div>A liar like Steve
Coll promotes wars so he'll be invited onto all the programs while
Julian Assange rots in a UK prison. That's what happens to truth
tellers versus whores.</div><div><br /></div><div>Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/ukus-time-end-prosecution-julian-assange-un-expert-says">the United Nations issued the following</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="node-news__body">
<div class="wysiwyg-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><b>GENEVA (1 March 2024) –
A UN expert today expressed concern that the possible extradition and
imminent prosecution in the United States of WikiLeaks founder Julian
Assange could have serious implications for freedom of expression.</b></p><p><b>“Gathering,
reporting and disseminating information, including national security
information when it is in the public interest, is a legitimate exercise
of journalism and should not be treated as a crime,” said Irene Khan,
the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression.</b></p><p><b>The Australian
editor, publisher and activist is awaiting the decision of the High
Court in the United Kingdom on his appeal against extradition to the
United States, where he is facing 17 charges under the 1917 Espionage
Act for publishing classified information on the WikiLeaks platform. The
charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.</b></p><p><b>“I am
concerned about the use of the Espionage Act in this case, as this
statute provides no protection for the publication of information in the
public interest,” Khan said.</b></p><p><b>She noted that if extradited, Julian Assange would be the first publisher to be prosecuted in the US under the Espionage Act.</b></p><p><b>“It
would set a dangerous precedent that could have a chilling effect on
investigative journalism in the United States and possibly elsewhere in
the world,” the Special Rapporteur said.</b></p><p><b>“International human
rights law provides strong protections for whistle-blowers, journalistic
sources and reporting in the public interest,” Khan said. “I call on
the United States and the United Kingdom, which profess to uphold the
right to freedom of expression, to uphold these international standards
in the case of Julian Assange.”</b></p><p><b>The expert urged the UK authorities not to extradite Assange and the US Government to drop the charges.</b></p><p> </p></div></div></div><div>Yesterday, <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2024/03/the-press-freedom-case-of-the-century/">Kevin Gosztola published</a> an essay about Julian and noted:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Assange was 38 years of age when WikiLeaks garnered praise for
publishing disclosures from US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Assange was an ardent, nimble, and sharp-witted advocate for the truth.
But at 52, Assange is increasingly frail as delays in proceedings
compound physical and mental health problems that he must endure in
Belmarsh prison.</b></p><p><b>President Joe Biden’s administration may prefer
the limbo to an unprecedented trial that will invite global
condemnation. No Biden official has expressed any reservations when it
comes to charging Assange.</b></p><p><b>Biden officials still sidestep
reporters, who ask why the US government won’t drop the charges against
Assange. Biden’s National Security Council spokesperson <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/10/24/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-nsc-coordinator-for-strategic-communications-john-kirby-23/">said</a> in October, “This is something the Justice Department is handling, and I think it’s better if you go to them on that.”</b></p><p><b>But
the State Department has not always been so disciplined. On World Press
Freedom Day in 2023, State Department spokesperson Verdant Patel <a href="https://thedissenter.org/state-department-finally-comments-on-assange-case-world-press-freedom-day/">endorsed</a> the prosecution that was launched under President Donald Trump.</b></p><p><b>“The
State Department thinks that Mr. Assange has been charged with serious
criminal conduct in the United States, in connection with his alleged
role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in our
nation’s history. His actions risked serious harm to U.S. national
security to the benefit of our adversaries,” Patel stated.</b></p><p><b>Patel added, “It put named human sources to grave and imminent risk and risk of serious physical harm and arbitrary detention.”</b></p><p><b>What
the State Department uttered was familiar. This is how officials
responded when WikiLeaks first published US diplomatic cables in 2010.</b></p><p><b>To
be clear, Assange’s “role” was that of a publisher who received
documents from Manning and engaged in standard newsgathering activities.</b></p><p><b>A 2011 <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ap-review-downplays-threat-from-wikileaks-disclosures/">Associated Press</a> review
of sources, whom the State Department claimed were most at risk from
publication of the cables, uncovered no evidence that any person was
threatened. In fact, the potential for harm was “strictly theoretical.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Julian
remains imprisoned for the 'crime' of truth telling while Steve Coll
makes the media rounds trying to resell the Iraq War and reform Bully
Boy Bush's image. I think Coll should volunteer to swap places with
Julian -- the world would be better off with Coll and his ilk behind
bars.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you really want to be disgusted, check
out his infomerical at The Wilson Center where not only is Bully Boy
Bush excused for lying about WMDs, not only is Saddam blamed for WMDs
but so is the Clinton administration. Shame on The Wilson Center. They
don't have much to their reputation but who knew they'd throw in with
Coll to put more blame on the Clinton administration than that of Bully
Boy Bush for the Iraq War that started in 2003. Coll is a liar and a
danger to any honest exchange.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Let's stay on Iraq for a minute more. <a href="https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/iraq-hopes-to-lure-christian-pilgrims-with-new-church-in-ancient-ur/">REUTERS noted</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><p><strong>The bell of a new church built near Iraq’s ancient city of Ur
chimed for the first time last week as part of a push to lure back
pilgrims to a country that is home to one of the world’s oldest
Christian communities.</strong></p>
<p><b>The church is part of a complex that rises from a desert plain in the
shadow of the pyramid-shaped Ziggurat of Ur, a city traditionally
believed to be the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham that was visited by
Pope Francis three years ago.</b></p></div><div><p><b>Construction of the church is to be completed this month. Last week,
the large bell was fixed into its steeple, which is made of traditional
Iraqi yellowish mud brick. Workers polished the large, brightly-coloured
stained-glass windows.</b></p>
<p><b>On his historic visit to Iraq in March, 2021, Pope Francis held an
inter-religious prayer at a site in Ur believed to have been the house
of Abraham – the father of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, we're hailing it as historic now, are we, REUTERS?</div><div><br /></div><div>Because
it was historic but in real time while we could say that -- and did say
that -- the press was tut-tutting the visit because the US government
wasn't behind it. Go back and read their reporting. It was a historic
visit.</div><div><br /></div><div>Check out the rest of the article --
including the headline -- and REUTERS is still stupid. A new church is
not what Iraqi Christians need or have needed. <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-03/christians-in-iraq-still-fearing-insecurity.html">Jean Charles Putzolu and Lisa Zengarini (VATICAN NEWS) note</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>In a country of around 40 million people, the Christian population
has been steadily declining for decades, from around 1.4 million in 2003
to about 250,000 today.</b></p>
<p><b>Archbishop Najeeb explained that, though Pope Francis brought them
comfort and encouraged expatriated Iraqi Christians to resettle
following the military defeat of ISIS in 2017, many still hesitate, and
families continue to emigrate from the Nineveh Plain and Iraqi
Kurdistan, due to ongoing insecurity.</b></p>
<p><b>He said that Christians in the region continue to endure intimidation
and violence from local militias, and that most of their houses which
were destroyed during the ISIS occupation are still in rubble. </b></p><p><b>“Christians don’t want to restart their life in a place that is still unsafe for them and that the government can’t control”.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Staying with Iraq and the Church, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/2024/03/12/head-of-catholic-church-in-iraq-calls-for-a-new-political-system/">Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>The leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/" target="_blank">Iraq</a>,
Louis Sako, called for a complete overhaul of the country’s political
process, which has been in place since the 2003 US-led invasion.</b></p><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>Cardinal <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/2023/07/16/head-of-catholic-church-in-iraq-leaves-baghdad-amid-heightened-tension-with-militia-leader/" target="_blank">Sako</a>’s
remarks coincide with the country's upcoming commemoration of the 21st
anniversary of the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime and the
introduction of an ethno-sectarian quota system.</b></p><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>“There
must be a reconsideration of the entire political process,” Cardinal
Sako said, while extending his congratulations to Muslims on the start
of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/2024/03/12/ramadan-2024-hundreds-break-fast-at-iftar-tents-under-uae-humanitarian-drive/" target="_blank">Ramadan</a>.</b></p><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>“A new nonsectarian agreement needs to be reached based on full
citizenship, ensuring a better future for Iraqis and preserving the
[society's] components and their rights."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Turning to Gaza, Ramadan began Monday. <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/03/12/israeli-strikes-kill-at-least-67-palestinians-on-first-day-of-ramadan">The Israeli government celebrated the start of the holy month by killing 67 Palestinians</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/middle-east/2024/03/12/israel-hamas-war-gaza-strip-latest-news/">THE IRISH TIMES notes</a>, "UN secretary general António Guterres has reiterated his calls for an
end to hostilities in Gaza and the increased delivery of humanitarian
aid, describing international humanitarian law as in tatters." <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/12/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Kendra Nichols, Cate Brown and Leo Sands (WASHINGTON POST) report</a>, "An
aid ship has departed Cyprus for the Gaza Strip carrying nearly 200
tons of food, the relief organization World Central Kitchen said Tuesday
morning on <a href="https://x.com/WCKitchen/status/1767443235033563602?s=20" target="_blank">social media</a>.
The aid is a fraction of the amount required to stave off a famine in
Gaza, but -- if successfully delivered -- would mark the first shipment
into the Strip via a new maritime route."</div><div><br /></div><div>Everyone
needs to stop pretending this just happened. Starvation was the plan
of the Israeli government all along -- certain leaders made remarks
making that clear. Various UN aid agencies warned what could happen,
the World Health Organization and Human Rights Watch warned what could
happen. The attack on UNRWA by the Israeli government was part of the
plan to starve Palestinians. After so many lies, it is way past time
the the mainstream press stop treating pronouncements by the Israeli
government as believable. (Check out <a href="https://fair.org/home/us-media-and-factcheckers-fail-to-note-israels-refutation-of-beheaded-babies-stories/">David Knox's article at FAIR</a>
for more on how there is no accountability in the mainstream media for
the various lies they've promoted.) They brought on this starvation and
they intended to bring it on. </div><div><br /></div><div>On UNRWA, <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/12/aid-wars-over-gaza-resuming-funding-to-unrwa/">Binoy Kampmark (COUNTERPUNCH) notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The steady and ruthless campaign by Israel
to internationally defund the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is unravelling. The lynchpin in the
effort was a thin, poison pen dossier making claims that 12 individuals
were Hamas operatives who had been involved in the October 7
attacks. Within a matter of days, two internal investigations were
commenced, various individuals sacked, and US$450 million worth of
funding from donor states suspended.</b></div><div>
<p><b>As the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-03-04-2024-a93b77e949d3bdc459311fd84d0f90ba&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw0myioqC5aADXZHCh7ZG8Lu" href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-03-04-2024-a93b77e949d3bdc459311fd84d0f90ba">explained</a> at
a press conference on March 4, he has “never been informed” or received
evidence of Israel’s claims substantiating their assertions, though he
did receive the prompt about the profane twelve directly from Israeli
officials. Every year, both Israel and the Palestinian authorities were
furnished with staff lists, “and I never received the slightest concern
about the staff that we have been employing.”</b></p>
<p><b>Had Israeli authorities signed off on these
alleged participants in bungling or conspiratorial
understanding? Certainly, there was more than a pongy whiff of
distraction about it all, given that Israel had come off poorly in The
Hague proceedings launched by South Africa, during which the judges
issued an interim order demanding an observance of the UN Genocide
Convention, an increase of humanitarian aid, and the retention of
evidence that might be used for future criminal prosecutions for
genocide.</b></p>
<p><b>An abrupt wave of initial success in
starving the agency followed, with a number of countries announcing
plans to freeze funding. In the United States, irate members of
Congress accused the agency of having “longstanding connections to
terrorism and promotion of antisemitism”. A <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/unrwa-exposed-examining-the-agencys-mission-and-failures/&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw246q-ZGcdlVXaIgWhDHec1" href="https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/unrwa-exposed-examining-the-agencys-mission-and-failures/">hearing was duly held</a> titled
“UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency’s Mission and Failures” with
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116769/witnesses/HMTG-118-FA17-Wstate-GoldbergR-20240130.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw35PM52rZkkfRGQJQ1krTy7" href="https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116769/witnesses/HMTG-118-FA17-Wstate-GoldbergR-20240130.pdf">frothing at an agency</a> that
supposedly incited “violence against Israel, subsidizes US-designated
terrorist organizations, denies Palestinians their basic human rights,
and blocks the pathways to a sustainable peace between Israel and the
Palestinians.”</b></p>
<p><b>The attempt to cast UNRWA into gleefully
welcomed oblivion has not worked. Questions were asked about the
initial figure of twelve alleged militants. News outlets <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/9/watching-the-watchdogs-israels-legacy-of-media-deception-stumbles&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw0NyHpvApqpvUi-cnP7lMyq" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/9/watching-the-watchdogs-israels-legacy-of-media-deception-stumbles">began questioning</a> the numbers.</b></p>
<p><b>The funding channels are resuming. Canada, for instance, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68518468&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw07p29tVp0r0PtBx81SeQdp" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68518468">approving</a> “the
robust investigative process underway”, also acknowledged that “more
can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian
civilians”. The initial cancellation of funding to the agency, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/8/canada-lifting-freeze-on-unrwa-funding-after-weeks-of-protests-criticism&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw1uI0GRIA210QEHSacxjdo9" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/8/canada-lifting-freeze-on-unrwa-funding-after-weeks-of-protests-criticism">charged</a> Thomas
Woodley, president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle
East, had been “a reckless political decision that never should have
been made.”</b></p>
<p><b>The Swedish government <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.government.se/press-releases/2024/03/government-issues-disbursement-of-sek-200-million-to-unrwa-following-new-agreement-on-stricter-controls/&source=gmail&ust=1710260097452000&usg=AOvVaw3cyXJjVW3rFFuAaqzcj-Kz" href="https://www.government.se/press-releases/2024/03/government-issues-disbursement-of-sek-200-million-to-unrwa-following-new-agreement-on-stricter-controls/">was also encouraged</a> by
undertakings made by UNRWA “to allow independent auditing, strengthen
internal supervision and enable additional staff controls”, promising an
initial outlay of 200 million kroner (US$19 million)</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-2000-medical-staff-starving-in-north-ministry">ALJAZEERA notes</a>:</div><div><p><b>The UN refugee agency for Palestinians has said there is no other
agency that is able to respond to the humanitarian needs in Gaza at
UNRWA’s scale.</b></p>
<p><b>The <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/1/what-is-unrwa-and-why-it-is-important-for-palestinians">UNRWA</a> runs more than 150 shelters and has at least 3,000 working staff in Gaza, the agency said in a post on X.</b></p>
<p><b>“We are the backbone of the humanitarian response,” the statement said.</b></p>
<p><b>“With over two million people in dire need of life-saving
humanitarian assistance in Gaza, no other agency is able to respond at
the same scale,” it added.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p>Gaza remains under assault. Day 158 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-2000-medical-staff-starving-in-north-ministry">ALJAZEERA notes</a>, "At least 31,184 people in Gaza have been killed and 72,889 wounded by
Israeli attacks on the enclave since October 7, according to the Health
Ministry." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</p><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-12-24/index.html">CNN's Pauline Lockwood reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Children
in Gaza are experiencing "relentless mental harm" after five months of
war, hunger, displacement and years of a blockade, according to
nongovernmental organization Save the Children, which talked to mental
health services and four parents in the strip. </b></div><div><div><div class="sc-bdVaJa post-content-rendered render-stellar-contentstyles__Content-sc-9v7nwy-0 erzhuK"><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>In <a href="https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/trapped-and-scarred-the-compounding-mental-harm-inflicted-on-palestinian-children-in-gaza/?_ga=2.30177597.387362827.1710233819-2044310761.1710233819&_gl=1*10wsatl*_ga*MjA0NDMxMDc2MS4xNzEwMjMzODE5*_ga_646SWQJ0VB*MTcxMDIzMzgyMC4xLjAuMTcxMDIzMzgyMC42MC4wLjA.*_ga_GRKVSTV36C*MTcxMDIzMzgyMC4xLjAuMTcxMDIzMzgyMC42MC4wLjA." target="_blank">a report</a> released on Tuesday, one parent told the organization:</b></p><div class="sc-bdVaJa sc-RefOD bkVmOx"><blockquote class="sc-dnqmqq hJIoKL"><b>"I wouldn’t even say that their mental health has deteriorated – it’s been obliterated. Complete psychological destruction.”</b></blockquote></div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Another said:</b></p><div class="sc-bdVaJa sc-RefOD bkVmOx"><blockquote class="sc-dnqmqq hJIoKL"><b>"Children
here have seen everything. They’ve seen the bombs, the deaths, the
bodies – we can’t pretend to them any more. Now they understand and have
seen everything. Now, my son can even tell what types of explosives are
falling – he can hear the difference.” </b></blockquote></div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>According
to the report, the collapse of healthcare and psychological services in
Gaza limits the possibility that children will get the treatment they
need to recover. </b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Director
of Save the Children for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Jason Lee
said there is hope the psychological impacts of the war could be
reversed with support, but added that "none this is possible without an
immediate, definitive ceasefire and safe, unfettered aid access so that
humanitarians can provide the critical support needed."</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><li style="display: block;">
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</div></div></li></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-16617570596845806582024-03-11T22:15:00.000-07:002024-03-11T22:15:31.105-07:00Mother Tucker <p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/cuomo-to-tucker-carlson-you-cherry-picked-jan-6-video/ar-BB1jHu1n">That Mother Tucker is back in the news</a>:<br /></p><p> </p><p><b><span class="dropcap-element-slot"></span>NewsNation
anchor Chris Cuomo and ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson clashed over the
Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack in Carlson’s first national television
appearance since his <a data-t="{"n":"destination","t":13,"b":1,"c.t":7}" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3966300-tucker-carlson-and-fox-news-part-ways/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">exit from Fox</a> last year.</b> </p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}"><b>Cuomo
confronted Carlson over his views of the insurrection and criticized
his “cherry-picked” use of security footage from the Capitol that day
that was exclusively released to him by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy
(R-Calif.).</b></p><p><b> “Your approach, and the approach of other people — ‘Hey this was just,
you know, these guys were in the wrong place, the wrong way, but that’s
all it was.’ I don’t agree with that,” Cuomo said. “I think it was a
riot. And I think they were way over the line, and I think they were
motivated to go over the line in part by the president of the United
States.”</b></p><p> </p><p>Cuomo's right and I'm confused why one of the big Tucker issues never gets touched on -- how fat Tucker Carlson has gotten. He's huge. </p><p><br /></p><p>He's a loser just like Glenneth Greenwald and all the other con artists. <br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_11.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Monday, March 11, 2024. While Marianne Williamson addresses real issues
a host of vanity campaigns distract from real issues, Ramadan starts
and there's no cease-fire, and much more.<div><br /></div><div>Let's start
in the US with electoral politics. Vying for the Democratic Party's
presidential nomination are President Joe Biden and self-made Marianne
Williamson. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Marianne
Williamson: I want to see a new beginning in this country. I want to
see us cut the chord with this aberrational chapter of history by which
corporate power has transgressed, has tyrannized the American people. I
want to cut the chord with that aberrational chapter and I want to
begin again. I want to begin a season of repair. This has ruined
peoples lives. People have died in wars that should not have been
fought. Children have asthma that they should not have. There are
cancer rates -- such as in your own state. There is a homeless rate.
There is a highest level of poverty rate of any advanced nation that is
here in the United States. There are so many examples of stress on
people's bodies, stress on people's minds and hearts, stress on
communities and stress on the Earth itself. This is unsustainable. And
this is the urgency of this message. This cannot continue. There are
too many stress points. And my contention and what I submit to you is
it's going to break one way or the other. It's like some people need to
read about The French Revolution here. It's going to break one way or
the other. It is either going to break in the direction of a radical
rededication to democracy and to justice or it's going to break in the
direction of dystopia, chaos, neo authoritarianism and possibly worse. I
feel as Franklin Roosevelt said during The Great Depression. He said,
"It has become clear to me that we must become radical for at least a
generation." But radical is not a word that we should fear. THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE is radical. The radicalism that we should
fear is the radicalism of the last fifty years. It is radical that we
have allowed corporate forces to dominate and tyrannize the American
people the way we have.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>If you're not getting the importance of Marianne's campaign, you might be an idiot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Or
a member of the Israeli government. For decades the Israeli government
got away with persecuting Palestinians. It's probably a huge shock to
Netanyahu and others in his right wing and corrupt government that
people are pushing back. But that's what information does, it
educates. It confronts pre-existing lies. It brings us to the point
today where the world collectively watches in horror at the crimes
taking place. That took years and years of work.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Need a more recent example?</div><div><br /></div><div>From the White House transcript of President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address last Thursday:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>With a law that I proposed and signed — and not one of your Republican
buddies work- — voted for it — we finally beat Big Pharma. <br /><br />Instead
of paying $400 a month or thereabouts for insulin with diabetes — and
it only costs 10 bucks to make — they only get paid $35 a month now and
still make a healthy profit. (Applause.)<br /><br />And I want to — and
what to do next, I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for
every American who needs it — everyone. (Applause.) </b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Senator
Bernie Sanders has raised that issue for years and years. And he made
it a big point of his 2020 campaign for the Democratic Party's
presidential nomination. He was raising the issue before that -- and
continued raising it after -- he introduced the Senate bill in 2023 and
US House Rep Cori Bush introduced it on the House side in 2023 -- and by
hitting on this issue and raising it, he ensured Americans knew about
it -- about the outrageous overpricing of insulin. Now it's been
confronted. </div><div><br /></div><div>Real candidates use their campaigns to help others.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That's
why Cornel West has never seemed a real candidate. What is his big
issue? It varies as often as his candidacy -- the People's Party
nominee, the self-proclaimed Green Party nominee (he was never the Green
Party's nominee -- though he did get 0.8% of the vote in this month's
Green Party primary in Pennsylvania) and now his independent candidacy.
'Brother' Cornel is useless and made himself that way. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then
there's no nuts Junior. Robert Kennedy Junior. He was going to run as
a Democrat, then that was too much. So he was going to run as an
independent but that proved too much work for little lazy Junior. Now
he's doing everything he can to get the Libertarian Party's attention.
Poor no nuts. It's not his fault that he has such tiny nads, he's a 70
year old man taking steroids so you know his elderly nuts have shrunken
even further. Shrunken testicles -- is that his campaign slogan? Or
just his campaign promise?</div><div><br /></div><div>He'll have dottered along accomplishing nothing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I
bring it up for a reason. Another party has announced their
candidates. No, not No Labels. I'm referring to the laughable
Socialist Equality Party. They've been running candidates since 1984. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Equality_Party_(United_States)">From WIKIPEDIA</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The SEP has fielded <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_United_States" title="Elections in the United States">electoral candidates</a> in the United States for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_the_United_States" title="Local government in the United States">local</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_governments_of_the_United_States" title="State governments of the United States">state</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States" title="Federal government of the United States">federal</a> offices. SEP candidates usually run as official SEP candidates on their own <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_line" title="Ballot line">ballot line</a>.
</b></p><p><b>No SEP candidate has yet won an election. </b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>What
a great and proud accomplishment. All the candidates -- for local and
state and federal offices and the political party has never produced --
in any election -- a winning candidate.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well now they've announced their 2024 presidential team: Jerry White for vice president, Joseph Kishore for president.</div><div><br /></div><div>Are you laughing yet?</div><div><br /></div><div>Kishore was their 2020 presidential candidate. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you're not getting how pathetic they are, Jerry White's been on this ticket how many times before? Four. Four times. </div><div><br /></div><div>And
they get 0.00% of the vote every time. In fact, you have to drop back
to 1988 for them getting better than 0.00% -- then they got 0.02%.</div><div><br /></div><div>They've
got an entire publication behind them -- WSWS -- but they can't get it
together ever to do videos regularly or anything at all regularly. </div><div><br /></div><div>So
they do their vanity run and they do nothing to raise attention or
awareness. They are like Junior or, for that matter, Jill Stein. The
2012 failure returned in 2016 to fail again and now wants to sink the
party in 2024. If Jill Stein is the face of the modern Green Party,
they might as well pack it in.</div><div><br /></div><div>The nominee will
be determined at their convention this summer. Hopefully, it will be
someone like 38-year-old Jasmine Sherman and not the then-74 year old
Jill Stein. A fraud, a failure and someone who left the political party
deeply in debt should have stepped aside for younger blood long, long
ago.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's amazing how we rail about the age of
Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi or now dead Dianne Feinstein but we stay
silent when a Jill Stein or a Susan "Medea" Benjamin should have stepped
aside long ago. </div><div> </div><div>Nothing changes if nothing
changes. And if you want to see The Geritol Set lose their complete
grasp on the levers of power, you have to be willing to do your part by
demanding that across the board. You can't be okay with Susan Benjamin
(mis)leading Code Pink -- by standing with Proud Boys, by her recent
call (lie) that Donald Trump would be better on Gaza than Joe Biden --
and not join the call for younger candidates. Susan should have moved
over to Raging Grannies about a decade ago. Code Pink should be an
organization for young women. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Jerry and Joseph proclaim at their campaign website:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>The Socialist Equality Party is organizing the working class in the
fight for socialism: the reorganization of all of economic life to serve
social needs, not private profit. The fight for socialism is at the
same time a fight against war, authoritarianism, environmental
degradation and all the consequences of capitalist society.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Oh,
well that's something people can . . . not relate to. Nothing
concrete. Nothing that says we will do _____ and this will make your
life better. Just a list of large concepts to be against and no real
plan for any of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is how they are after they make their big announcement: Unprepared.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once again, they'll spend an election year doing nothing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jerry's
been doing nothing since he first became the presidential nominee back
in 1996 -- restoring 'manhood' to the SEP after 1992 saw a woman as
their presidential nominee -- their first and their last. Jerry sees to
it. 'Manly' Jerry makes sure the ladies know their place in the SEP.</div><div> </div><div>And
not just the ladies, everyone. Remember, despite the attacks on LGBTQ+
members in this country for the last few years, SEP -- like their
publication WSWS -- can't defend LGBTQ+ people -- that would be
'identity politics,' they insist. Which is why they write:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>All the great problems confronting mankind are global problems that
require global solutions. The fight for socialism, therefore, requires
the unity and collaboration of workers in every country on the basis of a
common program and perspective.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Can't
use "humankind." No, that'd be too much for Jerry and Joseph --
they're probably still trembling from the ending of Tim Burton's BATMAN
RETURNS (1992) when Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne speaks of "Good will
toward men . . . and women."</div><div><br /></div><div>"Identity
politics!" screeched Joseph and Jerry as they threw their popcorn at the
screen and stormed out telling everyone waiting for the next showing,
"Catwoman dies!"</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><p>At last night's Academy Award ceremony, several individuals wore pins decrying the
continued assault on Gaza including actors: Ramsy Youssef Milo
Machado-Graner, Swann Arlaud, Eugene Lee Yang, nominee Mark Ruffalo;
directors Ava DuVernay, nominee Misan Harriman and nominee Kaouther Ben
Hania; and songwriters Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell who were
nominated for -- and won for -- writing BARBIE's "What Was I Made For?"</p><p>THE
ZONE OF INTEREST received five Academy Award nominations. Jonathan
Glazer was nominated for adapted screenplay and for director. When the
film won for Best International Feature Film, Jonathan gave the
acceptance speech. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> Gaza remains under assault. Day 157 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna142717">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "The death toll in Gaza has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war-death-toll-reaches-30000-palestinians-rcna140843" target="_blank">surpassed 31,000</a> , according to the enclave's Health Ministry, including at least 25 people who have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-children-starving-famine-warning-death-destruction-rcna141813" target="_blank">died of starvation</a> ." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</p><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><p><b><br /></b></p><p>Meanwhile, instead of
demanding Israel stop blocking food from getting it, Joe Biden wants to
build a floating aid landing. Saturday saw a flurry of reporting. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/israel-hamas/2024/03/09/israel-hamas-war-live-news-updates/72909715007/">Eduardo Cuevas (USA TODAY) reported</a>, "U.S. military personnel are scrambling to build a
temporary floating dock off Gaza to help distribute food and other aid
to Palestinians by way of the sea, a new route for supplies after months
of Israel's intense restrictions on aid delivered by land. President Joe Biden announced the assistance to Gaza during his <a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/07/state-of-the-union-2024-transcript/72890173007/">State of the Union</a> Thursday night, as Army personnel were already pulling plans and equipment together." <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/03/08/1000-us-troops-deploying-to-build-offshore-port-for-gaza-aid/">Meghann Myers (MILITARY TIMES) added</a>, "Over the next 60 days, roughly 1,000 troops will deploy to the
Mediterranean Sea to build a floating platform where cargo ships can
offload aid onto smaller military vessels, which will transfer them to a
causeway attached to the beach, where trucks can pick it up and
distribute it within Gaza, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon
spokesman, told reporters." And <span class="sc-1c2a0c78-5 FUGBS" data-testid="byline-name"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68526503">Tiffany Wertheimer (</a></span><span class="sc-1c2a0c78-6 bgeruN" data-testid="byline-role"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68526503">BBC News) noted</a>, "</span>The support ship, General Frank S Besson, set sail from a military base in the state of Virginia on Saturday." NBC NEWS has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/new-efforts-underway-to-deliver-food-aid-to-gaza-206042693768">video of the operation here</a>. Yet here it is Monday and? <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna142717">NBC NEWS reports</a>, "A U.S. army vessel carrying equipment to build a pier off the
Palestinian enclave's coast has left for the Mediterranean, but the
first ship carrying 200 tons of food aid remains docked in Cyprus. Aid
agencies have criticized the plan for a maritime humanitarian corridor,
saying it falls far short of meeting the needs of Gaza's population of
2.2 million." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/9/israels-war-on-gaza-live-ceasefire-by-ramadan-looking-tough-biden-says">ALJAZEERA reports</a>,
"The executive director of the US arm of the medical charity Doctors
Without Borders, Avril Benoit, in a statement criticised the US plan as a
'glaring distraction from the real problem: Israel’s indiscriminate and
disproportionate military campaign and punishing siege'."</p></div><div><br /></div><div><p>Last night, the White House released the following statement from Joe Biden:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><section class="body-content">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<p><b>Tonight -- as the new crescent moon marks the beginning of the Islamic
holy month of Ramadan -- Jill and I extend our best wishes and prayers to
Muslims across our country and around the world.</b></p>
<p><b>The sacred month is a time for reflection and renewal. This year, it
comes at a moment of immense pain. The war in Gaza has inflicted
terrible suffering on the Palestinian people. More than 30,000
Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including
thousands of children. Some are family members of American Muslims, who
are deeply grieving their lost loved ones today. Nearly two million
Palestinians have been displaced by the war; many are in urgent need of
food, water, medicine, and shelter. As Muslims gather around the world
over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the
Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind
for me.</b></p>
<p><b>The United States will continue to lead international efforts to get
more humanitarian assistance into Gaza by land, air, and sea. Earlier
this week, I directed our military to lead an emergency mission to
establish a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that can receive large
shipments of aid. We are carrying out airdrops of aid, in coordination
with our international partners, including Jordan. And we’ll continue to
work with Israel to expand deliveries by land, insisting that it
facilitate more routes and open more crossings to get more aid to more
people.</b></p>
<p><b>While we get more life-saving aid to Gaza, the United States will
continue working non-stop to establish an immediate and sustained
ceasefire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases
hostages. And we will continue building toward a long-term future of
stability, security, and peace. That includes a two-state solution to
ensure Palestinians and Israelis share equal measures of freedom,
dignity, security, and prosperity. That is the only path toward an
enduring peace.</b></p>
<p><b>Here at home, we have seen an appalling resurgence of hate and
violence toward Muslim Americans. Islamophobia has absolutely no place
in the United States, a country founded on freedom of worship and built
on the contributions of immigrants, including Muslim immigrants. My
Administration is developing the first-ever National Strategy to Counter
Islamophobia and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, to take on
hate against Muslim, Sikh, South Asian, and Arab American communities,
wherever it occurs. No one should ever fear being targeted at school, at
work, on the street, or in their community because of their background
or beliefs.</b></p>
<p><b>To Muslims across our country, please know that you are deeply valued
members of our American family. To those who are grieving during this
time of war, I hear you, I see you, and I pray you find solace in your
faith, family, and community. And to all who are marking the beginning
of Ramadan tonight, I wish you a safe, healthy, and blessed month. <em>Ramadan kareem. </em></b></p>
<p class="has-text-align-center"><b>###</b></p>
</div></div></section></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/11/israels-war-on-gaza-live-ramadan-begins-with-no-end-to-israels-siege">ALJAZEERA's Maram Humaid reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b> </b></div><div><b>Ramadan
is a holy month for Muslims, with people decorating their homes, buying
things for special Ramadan dishes, and planning gatherings with family
and friends to break their fast together.</b></div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg">
<p><b>But in Deir el-Balah, as Israeli bombing continues and the list of
civilians being killed gets longer by the day, there is little to
indicate that the festivities are on the doorstep.</b></p>
<p><b>“This year’s Ramadan is starkly different,” said Atia Harb, 38, who
had some old Ramadan decorations laid out in his market stall and was
playing festive tunes, trying his best to attract customers despite the
grim conditions.</b></p>
<p><b>“There is non-stop noise of bombs and racing ambulances.”</b></p></div></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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Latino USA</a>
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<a href="https://www.latinousa.org/2024/03/08/tonitasclub/" target="_blank">
Toñita’s Club Fights Erasure
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3 days ago</div>
</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"> </div></li></ul></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-43885528629524224652024-03-10T21:26:00.000-07:002024-03-10T21:26:53.835-07:00The Oscars <p>What a disappointing night and broadcast. Rebecca's "<span class="item-title"><a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/03/1-of-worst-academy-awards-ever.html" target="_blank">1 of the worst academy awards ever</a></span>" captured the broadcast early on. </p><p><br /></p><p>Oppenheimer was the usual overpraised garage from Christopher Nolan. A bad, poorly thought out film that could have said something but that would have required telling the true story -- and that would have required including the story of the Japanese. Instead, i twas another offensively White film. That's all MAGA Nolan ever has to offer.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yet the garbage won Best Picture and Best Director. <br /></p><p> </p><p>I was okay with Robert Downey Jr.'s win for the film because he's long overdue. Also he didn't have a lot of competition. Robert De Niro in another ridiculous role. Everything since Cape Fear has been an embarrassing career low point. </p><p> </p><p>Best actor, however, did have some strong competition. I was rooting for Colman Domingo, then Jeffrey Wright and the Paul Giamatti. And would have been happy if any one of the three had won. I would have even been okay if Bradley Cooper had won. But an ugly male modle who lost his ooks and we're supposed to pretend that passes for acting? I guess an aged trick needs something to prop up a sad career and maybe the award will do that for Cillian Murphy?</p><p> </p><p>Best Actress? I was rooting for Annette Bening. I was also okay with Emma Stone winning. She did. Good for her. Just glad it wasn't Lily Gladstone. Supporting actresses do not belong in the Best Acress category. Fatty wasn't a lead actress -- not by screen time, not by the focus of the script. Fatty took up a spot that a real actress could have had. Fatty Gladstone took the nomination that should have gone to Fantasia, Halle Baily or Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor -- among others.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fatty Gladstone played a supporting role in the film. When you're a fatty, the Academy apparently feels sorry for you and pretends you're playing a leading role and that you're playing it well.</p><p> </p><p>Best supporting actress? I was fine with Jodie Foster or Da'Vine Joy Randolph winning so I had no problem when Da'Vine won. </p><p><br /></p> But the effort to pretend that the paint-by-number Oppenheimer was 'about something' when it was just more of grown White men playing little boys and the sexist response to Barbie? That really captured how disgusting the presentation was. <br /><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_8.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
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Friday, March 8, 2024. Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union
Address, Gaza remains his biggest problem, while he scored some
successes last night and delivered the remarks perfectly he has still
not seriously addressed Gaza, though the media hasn't noted it, Super
Tuesday wasn't a bad day for Marianne Williamson, and much more.<div><br /></div><div>In the US last night, President Joe Biden delivered the Constitutionally mandated State of the Union Address. How was it?<br /><br />For Joe, pretty damn good.</div><div><br /></div><div>It could have been the night he was destroyed. Some might feel it should have been. <a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_01094844515.html">Yesterday's snapshot</a>
was up about a half hour before the first call came in -- from a DNC
friend -- asking, "What the hell are you talking about?" I explained
the FOX NEWS headline. We walked it through and it would have been the
end of Joe's chances at re-election. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fortunately
for Joe Biden, the GOP is a bunch of idiotic malcontents. They had the
way to take him down last night. They were too interested in
performative and not in action.</div><div><br /></div><div>Joe has a month
or two where he can end the assault on Gaza (and should end it today)
but if not don't be surprised if even idiots like the current make up of
the Republican Party stumble upon to a victory strategy.</div><div><br /></div><div>How can Joe demand a cease-fire, how can he make it happen?</div><div><br /></div><div>That's what I heard over and over in the calls that followed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were all pretending we still had our virginity.</div><div><br /></div><div>Take
Netanyahu out. That doesn't mean murder. That means we have
information, we have a spy network, he's a shady character already
facing corruption chares in his own country. He grows increasinly
unpopular. Political murders are no longer done with bullets, they're
done with gossip.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tut-tuting from the newly
chaste was the response -- to which I replied, "So you don't want to be
part of my dinners this month?" That's right. That's where I go to DC
and drop gossip.</div><div><br /></div><div>For example?</div><div><br /></div><div>You:
A Republican star in Congress. So thrilled and focused on your
future. Me? The celebrity you bothered at a wedding back when you were
a young man. The celebrity your boyfriend bothered. Although I felt
sorry for him because he was a little younger than you and I got the
distinct impression that you affair began while he was underage. Donna
the disgusting women who kept trying to get you in pictures with me. I
meet millions of people. The joke is I know everyone. I don't. And I
don't remember everyone. But too bad for you, you made it into a recent
snapshot and there I was just spit balling, doing a little parody of
you in the snapshot, giving you a home town in the snapshot and the
person I'm dictating the snapshot to asks for a pause and he looks it up
and that is your small town. How did I know it? That's when it all
comes rushing back to me. And I have the photos. I don't throw out
photos. I put them in my journals. I was there for a friend's wedding
And you were there with your fifty-something hag and your boyfriend.
And I have the pictures. I'll be dining out with various politicians
over the next few weeks explaining who you really are when you're not
verbally attacking LGBTQ+ people. Every time you speak to attack them,
you're going to know that your colleagues know your full of crap and,
most importantly, they're going to conclude -- like I have -- that your
young life affair continues to this day since your lover is still around
though you pass him off as something other than your lover of several
decades. I like doing this. It tends to make the target a little jumpy,
tends to hem them in and make them watch their vile little mouths a
little more closely. Now at some point, this always happens, someone
whispers to the press. That's not my problem. I didn't whisper to the
press. I just made sure everyone knew that the man screeching about gay
people was in fact a gay man himself -- despite the wife. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's what I like to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>I
use the truth. (I used a lie once, for the Iraq War, I've told this
story here before, we needed to remove a newspaper's support for Bully
Boy Bush and I said we could do it in one dinner. On a dare, I proved
it. But, yes, I did lie then. Again, we've talked about that before.
The only time I've used a lie but we needed to strip him of support on
the Iraq War and when I said how it could be done and several Dem
heavyweights scoffed it became, "Oh, you think you know better than me?
Let me show you how it's done." It took one dinner only. The paper
immediately dropped its support for Bully Boy Bush and his illegal
war.) </div><div><br /></div><div>So the point is, I don't want to hear anymore excuses from or for the White House. </div><div><br /></div><div>The
assault needs to end. Netanyahu is in a weak position. Confront him
with possible exposure over whatever US spy agencies have on him (I have
no idea what they have him on but I know they've got stuff).</div><div><br /></div><div>The US government regularly pressures leaders in Haiti to step down, they can manage to twist Netanyahu's crooked wrist.</div><div><br /></div><div>And if they don't? </div><div><br /></div><div>Republicans
these days are very stupid but even they are eventually going to catch
on with how to end Joe's political career. He dodged a bullet last
night. I don't think he'll be that lucky again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Could
be wrong, though. Wouldn't have thought Marjorie Taylor Greene would
show up to the State of the Union looking like the butchest lesbian at a
tailgate party but there she was last night working some intense LOVE
LIES BLEEDING mood.. </div><div><br /></div><div>Making a spectacle out of herself. The way the woman in Texas did. That's the loser that <a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/03/dean-phillips-and-tim-tebow.html">Elaine was writing about this week</a>.
I was able to call that race a few weeks ago because it was so
obvious. You're a conservative woman and you're hating a man and
forgetting the place you try to consign women to in your conservative
world.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm a feminist. I believe women can do anything.</div><div><br /></div><div>Marjorie's
not a feminist and she is not for women's rights and does not believe
in equality. Her core audience supports her on that. So when 'the
little woman' forgets her place in public and starts booing and hissing a
man, it doesn't always play the way they think. She was the fat girl
getting laughs but now the pep rally's over and she has to deal with the
fact that none of the guys like her or find her attractive in any
manner. </div><div><br /></div><div>Watching her act that way in public
-- even forgetting that embarrassing outfit -- you really have to marvel
over the self-denial of Marjorie Taylor Greene that allows her to think
she can court the crowd she does while acting the way she does.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jill
Dutton thought just like Marjorie. She thought she was coming on
'ballsy' or something. Nope. She just looked like a woman attacking --
and, yes, nagging -- a man (Brent Money). These anti-women women don't
seem to grasp that their natural constituency expects them to be
'respectful' of men and to 'know their place.' They get out there in
the real world and want to act like fully empowered people. But their
political statements and stances make that impossible for them to do.
Jill came off like the nightmare image of every conservative man and she
thought that was going to deliver her votes?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's Paul Rudnick's take on the the State of the Union Address.</div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Joe
promised ROE V WADE would be restored -- most likely by codifying it --
if he were elected. That's a promise he better be held to. Barack
Obama promised codifying ROE would be the first thing he did if elected
president but he left the White House after eight years of being
president without ever having even attempted to codify it. Joe gave a
promise that the cost of a month's insulin would be brought down to
thirty-something dollars a month. His speech had strong moments (and his
delivery of it was perfection). <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/03/bidens-state-of-the-union-tells-trans-americans-i-have-your-back/">Daniel Villareal (LGBTQ NATION) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address told transgender
Americans, “I have your back.” He also spoke against book-banning and
“erasing history,” and told Congress to pass the Equality Act,
legislation that would enshrine LGBTQ+ civil rights into federal law.</b></p>
<p><b>“Stop denying another core value of America our diversity
across American life,” Biden said, about midway through his speech.
“Banning books — it’s wrong! Instead of erasing history, let’s make
history! I want to protect other fundamental rights! Pass the Equality
Act, and my message to transgender Americans: I have your back!”</b></p><p><b>His speech starkly contrasted the American “core values” of “honesty,
decency, dignity, [and] equality” with that of “resentment, revenge, and
retribution” held by “some other people my age,” a veiled reference to
former President Donald Trump (whom he never mentioned by name).</b></p><p><b>“I know the American story,” Biden said. “Again and again, I’ve seen
the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our
nation: between those who want to pull America back to the past and
those who want to move America into the future.”</b></p><p><b>“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and
democracy been under assault at home as they are today,” he noted. Then,
after mentioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued invasion
of Ukraine — something Putin has justified with anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry —
Biden then mentioned the January 6, 2001 insurrection at the U.S.
Capitol carried out by Trump’s followers.</b></p><p><b>“Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at
the throat of American democracy,” Biden said. “We all saw with our own
eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots. They had come to stop the
peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people. “</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>“January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to
steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the
Civil War,” Biden continued. “But they failed. America stood strong and
democracy prevailed.”</b></p></div><div> </div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/tlaib-bush-raise-stop-sending-bombs-signs-as-biden-pledges-more-aid-for-gaza">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) offers</a> this take on SOTU address:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Progressive Reps. <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/rashida-tlaib">Rashida Tlaib</a> and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/cori-bush">Cori Bush</a>
raised signs calling on President Joe Biden to "stop sending bombs" to
the Israeli military as he pledged during his State of the Union address
Thursday night to provide more humanitarian aid to Gazans and decried
the war's grisly death toll.</b></p><p><b>"This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>
combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom
are not Hamas," Biden said. "Thousands and thousands of innocents, women
and children. Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly two million more
Palestinians under bombardment or displacement."</b></p><p><b>As expected,
Biden announced that the U.S. military will construct a temporary port
on Gaza's coast to facilitate the delivery of food, water, medicine, and
other humanitarian assistance as Israel obstructs aid shipments on the
ground, fueling the spread of malnutrition and disease. Critics blasted
the plan as a <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/state-of-the-union-gaza-port" target="_blank">PR stunt</a> that wouldn't do nearly enough to relieve one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in modern history.</b></p><p><b>"A
U.S. port delivering meager amounts of humanitarian aid and empty
rhetoric mean nothing when they are delivered alongside U.S. bombs," <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/JvpAction/status/1765945651714458111" target="_blank">said</a> Jewish Voice for Peace Action late Thursday.<br /></b></p><p><b>The
president also called for a six-week cease-fire—far from the "lasting
cease-fire" that Tlaib and Bush demanded during Biden's speech.</b></p><p><b>"The only cease-fire that is morally acceptable is a lasting cease-fire," Bush <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/RepCori/status/1765942233214206144" target="_blank">wrote</a> on social media. "It is inhumane to pause the violence for six weeks and then continue sending bombs right after."</b></p></div><div><p><b>While decrying the <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.dci-palestine.org/17_palestinian_children_starve_to_death_in_gaza" target="_blank">immense suffering</a>
in Gaza as "heartbreaking," Biden did not acknowledge the critical role
that U.S. weapons have played in Israel's monthslong assault. Since the
deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, the Biden
administration has <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-weapons-sales-israel" target="_blank">quietly approved</a> more than 100 separate arms sales to the Israeli government, which has used American weaponry to <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/amnesty-us-munitions-gaza" target="_blank">massacre civilians</a>.</b></p><p><b>Ahead
of Biden's speech, hundreds of activists demanding an arms embargo on
Israel blocked the route of the president's motorcade as he traveled to
the U.S. Capitol.</b></p></div><div>Gaza is not going away and needs to
be addressed. Joe's speech succeeded because the GOP is so damn stupid
and because he had certain things he needed to convey and did so. But
Gaza is not going away. And <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna142399">this summary sentence from NBC NEWS highlights</a>
why Joe can't sell his actions on Gaza to the American people, "Biden
also called for an immediate, temporary cease-fire in Israel's war
with Hamas and pointed to hostages' families in attendance at the
speech, but hopes for a new truce deal by the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan have faded after no breakthrough in the talks in Egypt." He's
calling for an immediate, temporary cease-fire. It's a pause, not a
cease-fire, stop lying to us.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/07/hawaii-democratic-caucus-results-biden-uncommitted/72876598007/">Jeremy Yurow (USA TODAY) reports</a>:</div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b><br /></b></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b><a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/07/joe-biden-hawaii-democratic-presidential-caucuses/72868934007/">President Joe Biden cruised to victory in Hawaii’s presidential caucus</a>
on Wednesday, receiving 66% of the vote with 99% reporting. However,
just over 1,500 residents cast ballots, and “uncommitted” received 29.1%
of the vote, the highest percentage in any statewide contest thus far.</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>While
Hawaii Democrats acknowledged that Biden would almost certainly win the
party’s nomination, the select handful of voters who took to the polls
described the contest as a “referendum.”</b></p></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/uncommitted-democratic-voting-state-list">IN THESE TIMES notes</a>
that March 12th will see the state of Washington vote in their primary
and that "uncommitted" is on the ballot as it will be for the Democrats
Abroad.</div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"> </div><div class="gnt_ar_by">In
Hawaii on Wednesday, Marianne got 3.2% of the votes. She could be
relaxing by the pool. She knows she's not going to win. She didn't get
back in to win, she got back in to make sure that certain issues are
being raised. </div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b><br /></b></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b>Marianne
Williamson: The possibilities are enormous. We have everything we
need in this country. The possibilities are endless. We have the people
and the best practices and the projects. People who know how to do
organic and regenerative farming, who know how to reclaim the Earth,
who know how to reclaim our food, who know how to reclaim our land, who
know how to repair us after the ravages of 50 years of corporate
dominance in which the very thought that short term corporate profits
should take precedence over our safety, our health and our well being,
that those economic ideas -- soulless as they are -- should take
precedence over the will of the people. To the point that in the last
50 years there has been a transfer of wealth to the tune of
fifty-trillion dollars. And it has ravaged American middle class. As
soon as they started with this 'trickle down' economic paradigm and as
soon as CITIZENS UNITED Supreme Court decision, gave those corporate
interests the power to basically buy and sell and turn Washington into a
system of legalized bribery. All that money was transferred into the
hands of 1% of Americans. At this point, that level of economic
injustice has ravaged us. It has ravaged our middle class. It has
ravaged our environment. It has put carcinogens in our food, toxins in
our air. We don't have universal healthcare like every other advanced
democracy does because of the insurance companies. Over a million
people in the United States, ration their insulin. You don't have that
in any other advanced democracy because they have universal healthcare.
But all of that because of the greed of the pharmaceutical companies.
Look what has happened to Iowa because of the greed of Big Agriculture
and big food companies and big banks. I don't need to tell you that
there is no state in this country that is not experiencing the ravages
of an old way of doing things and the possibilities of something new.</b> </div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by">It's
amazing that she's not news to the media. In Virginia this week? She
got 7.8% of the vote. Do you realize how many Republicans who never
got anywhere near that much have been shoved down our throats by the
media? In Utah this week, she got 5.2% of the vote. 4.3% in Vermont,
4.5% in Texas, 9.12% in Oklahoma, 1.4% in Minnesota, 3.2% in
Massachusetts, 2.9% in Colorado, 3.4% in California, 4.8% in Arkansas --
how is this not news?</div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by">It's
not just better than she did in 2020 on Super Tuesday, it's better than
Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, the repellant Tulsi Gabbard and others
did in 2020 on Super Tuesday. </div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by">Hopefully,
poli sci students are paying attention -- especially graduate students
because this is a good topic for political science journals. This
weekend, Marianne will be in Atlanta:</div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b><br /></b></div><li><div class="padbottom">
<h3>Atlanta, GA<br /><a href="https://events.marianne2024.com/eventid_20240309">[FREE] Come hear Marianne in Atlanta! </a></h3>
<b><span style="font-family: Poppins;">When: Saturday, March 9 at 5:00 pm EST</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Poppins;">Where:
<a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1201+West+Peachtree+St.+NW%2C+Atlanta%2C+GA+30309%2C+United+States" target="_blank">Joie De Vivre Counseling & Therapy, Calcutta Conference Room (get directions)</a>
</span>
</b><div class="padtop"><a class="submit-link" href="https://events.marianne2024.com/eventid_20240309"><b>Learn More</b></a></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><b>
</b><div class="padbottom">
<h3>Atlanta, GA<br /><a href="https://events.marianne2024.com/eventid_20240310">[FREE] Join Marianne in Atlanta at Hillside International Truth Center!</a></h3>
<b><span style="font-family: Poppins;">When: Sunday, March 10 at 10:00 am EDT</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Poppins;">Where:
<a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=2450+Cascade+Road%2C+Atlanta%2C+GA+30311%2C+United+States" target="_blank">Hillside International Truth Center (get directions)</a>
</span>
</b><div class="padtop"><a class="submit-link" href="https://events.marianne2024.com/eventid_20240310"><b>Learn More</b></a></div></div></li><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b> </b></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by">Dropping back to <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/7/josh_paul_israel_gaza_war">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b><br /></b></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><b><br /></b></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <i>Democracy Now!</i>, democracynow.org, <i>The War and Peace Report</i>. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Over the past few weeks, the Biden administration has been publicly
voicing reservations over the mounting death toll in Gaza, calling on
Israel to protect civilians and allow in humanitarian aid. But behind
the scenes, the Biden administration has quietly approved and delivered
more than 100 separate weapons sales to Israel over the last five
months, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions,
small-diameter bombs, bunker busters and other lethal aid, this
according to a new <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/">investigation</a> by <i>The Washington Post</i>.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made
public since the launch of Israel’s assault on October 7th, amounting to
over $250 million worth of tank shells and ammunition, which the
administration authorized using emergency authority to bypass Congress.
But in the case of the hundred other weapons sales, known as Foreign
Military Sales, the arms transfers were made without any public debate,
because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the
executive branch to individually notify Congress.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we’re joined by Josh Paul, a veteran State Department
official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest of a push to
increase arms sales to Israel amidst its assault on Gaza. Josh Paul is
the former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau
of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department, where he worked
for 11 years. He’s now a nonresident at <span class="caps">DAWN</span> — that’s Democracy for the Arab World Now. He’s joining us from New Haven, Connecticut.</b></p>
<p><b>Josh, welcome back to <i>Democracy Now!</i> Can you talk about the significance of this <i>Washington Post</i> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/">exposé</a>,
what we’ve learned about the U.S. flooding Israel with weapons as
President Biden talks about saying he’s putting pressure on Israel to
let food aid in?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOSH</span> <span class="caps">PAUL</span>: Thank you, and thank you for having me.</b></p>
<p><b>I think what we’ve learned from this story shouldn’t be a surprise to
anyone. It is that the president continues to facilitate the flow of
arms to Israel despite a change in tone. You know, we have certainly
heard the administration call for more humanitarian assistance, for, you
know, at least a temporary ceasefire. But at the same time, it
continues to provide the arms that enable Israel to continue its
operations. So, I think that’s pretty consistent, frankly, with what the
White House has said, including John Kirby from the podium this week,
that this remains U.S. policy.</b></p>
<p><b>I think many of your viewers may be shocked to hear that there have
been a hundred sales in the last few months since October 7th. But here,
I don’t think anyone in the State Department will be particularly moved
by this story. Much of the process does, unfortunately, move like a
production line when it comes to cases that do not require, under law,
congressional notification. So what we really have here is both a policy
problem but also a lack of transparency that is built into the system,
and which can only be remedied by a change in law.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Well, let’s go to what national security communications adviser John
Kirby said. He was questioned at the White House by the journalist
Andrew Feinberg, a correspondent for <i>The Independent</i> in Britain.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">ANDREW</span> <span class="caps">FEINBERG</span>:
What is preventing the president from communicating to the Israeli
government that if they don’t allow aid, we will not continue supplying
weapons? Why is that not a fair trade: no aid, no bombs?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOHN</span> <span class="caps">KIRBY</span>:
Because the president still believes that it’s important for Israel to
have what it needs to defend itself against a still viable Hamas threat.
Maybe some people have forgotten what happened on the 7th of October,
but President Biden has not.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>: So, Josh Paul, your response, both to the question and to Kirby’s response?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOSH</span> <span class="caps">PAUL</span>:
I mean, there you have it. And I think the question could also have
noted that under U.S. law, under Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance
Act, it is actually illegal to provide military assistance to a country
that is restricting U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance. And we know
that this is the case with Israel, because Jake Sullivan himself, the
national security adviser, has said that this is a problem, and, of
course, we would not be airdropping aid into Gaza, were we leaning on
Israel to open the humanitarian aid routes. So, you know, I think there
is a clear case to be made here that we are not in accordance with U.S.
law, certainly out of step, I think, with international law. And at the
same time, the Biden administration position remains: We will continue
to provide arms to Israel, whatever it requests and requires.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Well, if you could explain, Josh: How much does this differ from the
procedure that’s been in place regarding U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine?
I mean, in this case, as we’ve said, only two approved foreign military
sales to Israel have been made public. What about to Ukraine?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOSH</span> <span class="caps">PAUL</span>:
Yeah. So, for the most part, the procedures and processes through which
we provide arms to Israel versus Ukraine are different. Ukraine
requires an authorization under presidential drawdown authority, as well
as new and novel funding to, for example, Department of Defense’s
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Those have expired. We are out
of, essentially, both of those. And so, without additional funding, we
will not be able to provide arms to Ukraine.</b></p>
<p><b>Israel, on the other hand, is perfectly capable of using its own
money to procure weapons through the Foreign Military Sales system,
through the direct promotional sales system, which, by the way, <i>The Washington Post</i>
didn’t touch on. And it’s quite possible that there’s a hundred more
sales through that other channel to Israel that we don’t know about.
And, of course, you know, we are providing Israel with military ground
assistance, which it can also tap into and knows that it will be able to
tap into, because it has a 10-year commitment from us to continue
providing billions of dollars a year, unlike Ukraine. So it’s a slightly
different situation and much easier, I think, for Israel to continue to
receive weapons even in the absence of a supplemental, unlike Ukraine.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Democratic Colorado Congressmember Jason Crow told <i>The Washington Post</i>
the Biden administration should apply, quote, “existing standards”
stipulating that the United States, quote, “shouldn’t transfer arms or
equipment to places where it’s reasonably likely that those will be used
to inflict civilian casualties, or to harm civilian infrastructure.”
Crow, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the <i>Post</i>,
“I am concerned that the widespread use of artillery and air power in
Gaza — and the resulting level of civilian casualties — is both a
strategic and moral error.” Now, Crow is not usually a dove on all of
these issues, but it’s very interesting to see him talk about his
response, his critical response to the U.S. when it comes to Israel.</b></p>
<p><b>And this is particularly interesting on the day of President Biden’s
State of the Union address tonight. We don’t know exactly what he’s
going to say. We know there are a number of Americans who have family
members who are being held hostage in Gaza. We don’t know if the Biden
family or the administration will be inviting any Palestinians, and that
Biden wanted to be able to announce a ceasefire tonight, which is
clear, it looks like, will not be happening. But your response to all of
this and how these weapons sales, do you feel, perpetuate the war?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOSH</span> <span class="caps">PAUL</span>:
Yeah, I mean, I think that people who have served in the military or
worked in the Middle East, people like Representative Crow, also,
frankly, like Secretary of Defense Austin, understand that what Israel
is doing is not going to lead to success on Israel’s own terms, as
Secretary of Defense Austin has said. It will lead to strategic failure.
And that is why I think the same is true on the Israeli side, where you
have former heads of Mossad, for example, saying that this is a
dead-end road, that what they are doing is damaging to their own
interests.</b></p>
<p><b>But I think that is separate from the political question here. And
the political question is one in which we have a president and, you
know, a set of policies and, frankly, a Congress, as well, for the most
part, that remains set on this course, regardless of the harm it is
doing to Israeli security and to American global interests and, of
course, to so many Palestinians.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Josh Paul, you were in the State Department for 11 years, and you were
involved with these kind of arms deals. You resigned in protest of a
push to increase arms to Israel. But I wanted to ask you: How much does
protest on the ground affect what’s going on in the State Department, in
the White House? How much do you hear it? I mean, there is a massive
amount of protest in the United States. And no matter who wants to
insulate Biden from it, almost everywhere he goes he is hearing the
chants of “ceasefire.” I mean, tonight, one of his guests will be the <span class="caps">UAW</span> President Shawn Fain. The <span class="caps">UAW</span> was one of the early unions to call for a ceasefire. How much does it matter?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOSH</span> <span class="caps">PAUL</span>:
I think protest is very important, I think particularly protest when it
manifests at the ballot box, in terms of, for example, the
“uncommitted” vote or the “other” vote that we have seen in states and
will continue, I hope, to see in the coming days, because that signals
to the Biden administration that they really have a political problem
here. And that is really one of the only means we have of getting this
administration to change course in the time that it has left. So I think
that is very important. I think it’s most important when it manifests
directly in the political process, and when it comes with organization. I
think there is a momentum around this issue now, and we have to
maintain that momentum for the, frankly, months and years ahead, because
this is not going to be a long-term pole to shift where American policy
is and has been for many years.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Finally, you were inside for years the State Department. Now that
you’ve resigned — and we sort of ask you this every time since then —
how many people inside the administration have reached out to you? Do
you feel that that’s increasing? And how many times do they tell you
that they’ve been discussing this with Biden or the inner circle of
Biden, and what their views on this are? I mean, Biden was no fan of
Netanyahu from the beginning. And so, yet he is embracing him now. What
they are saying?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JOSH</span> <span class="caps">PAUL</span>:
Yeah, I mean, I’m still hearing from people I had not heard from
previously, to be clear, who are saying that, you know, “This is not
working. I feel sick to my stomach of being involved in this. And, you
know, I’m trying to make changes, and it’s just not working.” I had
several of those conversations just in the last week with people I’ve
not spoken to before on this issue. So I think the internal pressure,
the internal disgust, frankly, is still there.</b></p>
<p><b>But I think, you know, the White House and the president have
surrounded the president with, you know, a council of advisers who are,
for the most part, like-minded with him. And I don’t know how much of
that dissent is actually breaking through, and, even if it did, how much
it would change the president’s decision-making. I think he is where he
is. And, you know, absent significant political pressure, that is not
going to change, unfortunately.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Josh Paul, we want to thank you for being with us, veteran State
Department official, worked on arms deals, resigned in protest of a push
to increase arms sales to Israel and its siege on Gaza. He’s the former
director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of
Political-Military Affairs in the State Department, where he worked for
11 years, now a nonresident fellow with <span class="caps">DAWN</span> — that’s Democracy for the Arab World Now.</b></p></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><br /></div><div class="gnt_ar_by"><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 154 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/day-154--30-800-martyrs--over-72-000-wounded--72--children-a">ALMAYADEEN notes</a>, "The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported on Friday that 30,878
Palestinians have been killed and 72,402 wounded by the Israeli
occupation as the genocide enters its 154th day." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Today is International Women's Day. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-08-24/index.html">CNN's Celine Alkhaldi and Ibrahim Dahman report</a>:</div><div class="sc-bdVaJa post-content-rendered render-stellar-contentstyles__Content-sc-9v7nwy-0 erzhuK"><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"> </p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>At
least 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the
Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement Friday.</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Here's what else the statement said about the conditions of women in Gaza:</b></p><div class="sc-dnqmqq render-stellar-contentstyles__List-sc-9v7nwy-1 eUPcFX"><ul class="cnn_rich_text"><li><b>About 60,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip suffer from "malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of appropriate health care"</b></li><li><b>About 5,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip give birth every month in "harsh, unsafe, and unhealthy conditions"</b></li></ul></div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>The
UN's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is the main aid agency in
Gaza, also posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying an average
of 63 women are killed in the enclave per day. "On
#InternationalWomensDay, the women in #Gaza continue to endure the
consequences of this brutal war," it said.</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>UNRWA's
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said more work is required to
support and protect women. "An immediate ceasefire is the minimum," he
wrote.</b></p></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li></ul><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-6686525119699498472024-03-07T23:14:00.000-08:002024-03-07T23:14:38.888-08:00Shady must just want to embarrass the Democratic Party<p><a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/07/us-news/bob-menendez-will-not-run-for-senate-in-november/">We are back to corrupt Shady Menendez. Isabel Vincent of The New York Post writes</a>:<br /></p><p> </p><p><b>Embattled New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez will not run for
re-election in November, although he still refuses to hand in his
resignation, The Post has learned.</b></p><b>
</b><p><b>“He will not be running,” a source close to the 70-year-old three-term senator told The Post.</b></p><b>
</b><p><b>Menendez resigned his powerful position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following his <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/09/22/nj-sen-menendez-and-wife-are-indicted-on-bribery-charges/">initial indictment on corruption charges in September</a>. </b></p><p><a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/whats-plan-shady.html">As I asked last time, what's the game pla</a>n:</p><p> </p><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>What is the game plan there? </span></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span> </span></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>In June, the
primary takes place. While Menendez hasn't declared he's running for
re-election, it doesn't matter. There's no way he's going to win the
primary. So why doesn't he just cop to a plea deal on the charges and
retire from office?</span></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Does he think he'll have more power once he's a former senator? I don't see that happening. </span></span></b><br /></span></span></div><p> </p><p>Maybe he's just attempting to humiliate the Democratic Party on the way out the door? </p><p>CBS News reports the latest polls now show a majority of people in New Jersey want Shady to resign.<br /></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SXWaHzRPHnk?si=W8XUxDGh_odg5N_x" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.njspotlightnews.org/video/support-for-menendez-has-collapsed-poll-shows/">New Jersey Spotlight News notes</a>:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>The Monmouth University Polling Institute released results Thursday
of a poll that asked New Jersey residents their opinion of U.S. Sen. Bob
Menendez’s legal troubles. A majority (63%) said he should resign now.
Just 16% said they approve of the job he’s doing.</b></p><b>
</b><p><b>Menendez dodged cameras on Capitol Hill Thursday and told CNN he has
no plans to resign, despite being hit with a third indictment in the
sweeping federal bribery case against him.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>There's nothing in it for him at this point other than just wanting to humiliate the Democratic Party. <br /></p><p>Now please read Kat's "<span class="item-title"><a href="https://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/ive-had-with-black-power-media-and-its.html" target="_blank">I've had it with BLACK POWER MEDIA and its attack on African-American</a></span>."<br /></p><p>I'm right there with her. Jared Ball and Black Power Media's decision to go after the late Sidney Poitier with nonsense gossip yesterday truly is the last straw for me. We have two African-American men nominated for Best Actor. I hope one of them, Colman Domingo, wins the Oscar next week. But instead of uplifting the two men and cheering them on, so-called 'Black' Power Media has trashed both films repeatedly. I'm tired of it. </p><p>I like Kim Brown and Jacquie and Renee and the Ear Doctor but I'm tired of Jared's attacks on African-American actors. I'm also still not over his homophobic rant about Rustin (the film Domingo is in) which included him decreeing that the film was "too gay." <br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_01094844515.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Thursday, March 7, 2024. In the US and around the world the outcry for a
cease-fire grows louder, starvation grows worse in Gaza as the Israeli
government continues to disrupt the flow of aid, and much more.<br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/uncommitted-vote-israel-ceasefire-super-tuesday">At THE GUARDIAN, Rachel Leingang notes</a>: </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>A protest vote against Joe Biden gained more traction around the country on <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/super-tuesday">Super Tuesday</a> as voters in several states sought to send a message to the Democratic president to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.</b></div><div><div class="dcr-ch7w1w" data-gu-name="body"><div class="dcr-v4ay52"><div class="dcr-lw02qf" id="maincontent"><div class="article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1g5o3j6"><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Grassroots groups organized quickly after a similar effort <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/28/michigan-uncommitted-vote-biden-israel-support">in Michigan</a> last week far exceeded its goal of 10,000 votes for “uncommitted” brought in more than 100,000 votes, or 13% of the vote.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>A smattering of Super Tuesday states – Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/northcarolina">North Carolina</a>
and Tennessee – had an option on the Democratic ballot where voters
could decide not to commit to a specific candidate. These options
included “uncommitted”, “noncommitted delegate” and “no preference”.</b></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>And, still in the US, <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2024/03/06/st-paul-city-council-passes-gaza-ceasefire-resolution">Kyle Stokes (AXIOS) notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><span data-schema="smart-brevity"><b><p>The St. Paul City Council unanimously approved a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://stpaul.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6565425&GUID=97DE8D08-7285-4873-9044-953016B26540&Options=&Search=&FullText=1" data-vars-content-id="1ee14b6b-0a71-4d71-8054-61bf7904a43d" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="St. Paul City Council passes Gaza ceasefire resolution" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="non-binding resolution" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://stpaul.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6565425&GUID=97DE8D08-7285-4873-9044-953016B26540&Options=&Search=&FullText=1" target="_blank">non-binding resolution</a> Wednesday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.</p><p>Why it matters: St. Paul's vote is the latest sign of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/06/biden-uncommitted-vote-protests-states-map" data-vars-content-id="1ee14b6b-0a71-4d71-8054-61bf7904a43d" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="St. Paul City Council passes Gaza ceasefire resolution" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="discontent on the left" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/06/biden-uncommitted-vote-protests-states-map" target="_self">discontent on the left</a> with the Biden Administration's policy toward the Israel-Hamas war.</p></b></span><p><b>The big picture: A growing list of U.S. cities — <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2024/01/23/minneapolis-city-council-gaza-ceasefire-resolution" data-vars-content-id="1ee14b6b-0a71-4d71-8054-61bf7904a43d" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="St. Paul City Council passes Gaza ceasefire resolution" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="including Minneapolis" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2024/01/23/minneapolis-city-council-gaza-ceasefire-resolution" target="_self">including Minneapolis</a> — have passed similar resolutions.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.startribune.com/st-paul-city-council-poised-to-pass-ceasefire-resolution/600348896/">Katie Galioto (STAR TRIBUNE) adds</a>, "Dozens of cities in the United States already have passed resolutions calling for a cease-fire, including <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-city-council-overrides-freys-israel-hamas-veto/600341994/" target="_blank">Minneapolis</a>, <a href="https://www.startribune.com/hastings-city-council-approves-resolution-calling-for-ceasefire-in-gaza-israel-hamas/600336345/?refresh=true" target="_blank">Hastings</a>
and Columbia Heights. Council President Mitra Jalali characterized the
council's vote as a "major departure" from St. Paul's usual approach to
international issues."</div><div><br /></div><div>Dozens of cities -- in fact many more than that -- have also seen protests throughout the US. <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2024-03-06/thousands-of-pro-palestinian-demonstrators-demand-end-to-war-in-gaza-in-one-of-the-largest-protests-in-ucsd-history">Gary Robbins and Caleb Lunetta (SAN DIEGO UNION_TRIBUNE) report</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b> In one of the largest demonstrations in campus history, about 2,500
pro-Palestinian protesters marched across UC San Diego Wednesday,
demanding an end to the war in Gaza and pressing the student government
not to do business with companies they regard as hostile to
Palestinians.</b></div><p><b>The Associated Students board was considering a resolution Wednesday night that would comply with the protesters’ demand.</b></p><div>The disgust mounting is not just in the US. <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/china-calls-war-gaza-disgrace-civilisation-4177581">CNA notes</a>, "China described the war in Gaza as a 'disgrace to civilisation' and
called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire as the conflict stretched
into its sixth month despite efforts by mediators to reach a truce." <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7392be54-fbe6-4f22-95ec-94c5309e26ff">Raya Jalabi (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) reports</a> on Arab reaction:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br />
A recent Arab Opinion Index poll, which involved 8,000 people from 16
countries across the region, showed anger over the Gaza war and
America’s response at record highs, with 76 per cent of respondents
saying their position towards the US had become “more negative”. The
pollsters said the survey showed “the Arab public has lost confidence in
the US”. </b></div><div><b>Young Arabs have boycotted US brands,
including Starbucks and McDonald's, over their alleged support of
Israel, scrapped plans to study in the US and turned down jobs at US
companies. Anti-US protests have been held, particularly in Yemen and
Iraq, where the US has launched strikes against Iran-aligned armed
groups.
</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/07/middle-east-crisis-live-us-gaza-israel-ceasefire-deal-can-be-reached-talks">Daniel Hurst (GUARDIAN) covers</a> another voice dismayed:</div><div><br /></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><strong>Malaysian prime minister, <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/anwar-ibrahim">Anwar Ibrahim</a>,
has criticised the west for its attitude to the situation in Gaza
during a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra. He
said countries should not apply international law selectively.</strong></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>“Unfortunately, the gut-wrenching tragedy that continues to unfold in the <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza">Gaza</a> Strip has laid bare the self-serving nature of the much-vaunted rules-based order,” Anwar said.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>“The differing responses by the west to human suffering defy reasoning.”</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Anwar
questioned why the west had been “so vociferous, vehement and
unequivocal in the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
while remaining utterly silent on the relentless blood-letting inflicted
on innocent men, women and children of Gaza”.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>“Sure,
there are exceptions, but they are few and far between,” he said as he
delivered the 2024 Gareth Evans Oration, named after a long-serving
former foreign minister.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>US Senator Bernie Sanders says it is time to tell War Criminal Netanyahu "no."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/sanders-gaza-leverage">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> Flanked by photos of hungry children and destroyed buildings, U.S. Sen. <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/bernie-sanders">Bernie Sanders</a>
said in a speech Wednesday that the Biden administration must stop
merely asking the Israeli government to halt its indiscriminate bombing
of <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>
and begin using real leverage to bring about an end to the war and
ensure the free flow of aid to the territory's starving population.
<br /></b></p><p><b>
"The U.S. government should make it clear that failure to open up
access immediately and feed starving people will result in the Netanyahu
government not getting another penny of U.S. taxpayer military aid,"
said Sanders (I-Vt.), who noted that "right now we have the incredible
situation where a U.S. ally is using U.S. weapons and equipment to block
the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid."
</b></p><p><b>
"And if that's not crazy," the senator added, "I don't know what is."</b> </p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In
this environment, US President Joe Biden prepares to deliver the Statue
of the Union Address. And he doesn't even see what may be coming
politically. The GOP is most likely setting a trap wherein Joe becomes
ineffective and unable to lead. That's how they're going to try to
portray him -- and he's helping them out. His inability to call out the
Israeli government has left him wide open to the campaign that they are
probably about to run on him. It's worked on others. If it works, it
will only work because Joe has spent all these months truly doing
nothing. He has created the perception for his political rivals to
build upon. I hope I'm wrong. And I'm being tentative here because I'm
hoping that. But in the last four hours, FOX "NEWS" has a new
headline. I saw it on Google as I was warming up (I usually exercise
while I'm dictating the snapshot). "That's interesting," I thought,
"they haven't headlined that topic since the October 7th attack and
suddenly that's their focus." No, they haven't made that their focus.
But it does fit in with a new attack and, again, one used successfully
against a sitting president before. That Joe and his handlers could
allow this possible attack to come about is appalling. Again, I hope
I'm wrong but I think I know the GOP 'response' to tonight's State of
the Union Address. If I'm right, the only thing that would save him is
to call for an immediate cease-fire. If they're trying to paint him as
ineffective and a dilly-dally, the only path through that is for him to
demand a cease-fire in tonight's speech. And maybe curb John Kirby
because if you think about his statements on Tuesday, it's as though
he's working to aid the GOP. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>In other news, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-children-starving-famine-warning-death-destruction-rcna141813">Alexander Smith (NBC NEWS) writes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Five months after <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-says-palestinian-militants-are-infiltrating-gaza-rcna119315" target="_blank">Hamas launched multipronged attacks on Israel</a>,
almost half of Gaza’s buildings lie in ruins and at least 30,000
Palestinians have been killed, according to the enclave’s Health
Ministry, which, along with aid agencies, is warning that some of the
most vulnerable children in the territory have begun to starve to death.</b></p><p><b>The Israeli military controls swaths of the Gaza Strip, and it has threatened to attack <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-rafah-gaza-ground-assault-palestinians-desperation-rcna138795" target="_blank">Rafah</a>,
a southern city where 1.5 million Palestinians have fled, unless a
cease-fire deal is reached by next week. Israel has not achieved its
military goals: destroying <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/hamas-know-group-deadliest-attack-israel-decades-rcna119628" target="_blank">Hamas</a>
in response to its Oct. 7 attacks, which killed 1,200 people, and
rescuing the 100-plus remaining hostages taken that day. It is unclear
whether either is even possible.</b></p><p><b>Abroad, the worsening humanitarian tragedy has heaped international pressure on <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/biden-increases-criticism-israel-gaza-still-provides-military-aid-rcna141775" target="_blank">Israel</a>.
Even friends such as the U.S., which gives Israel $3 billion in weapons
and other military aid every year, have joined the chorus, rhetorically
at least, pressuring Israel urgently to allow more aid into the
enclave, where Palestinians are huddled in encampments and sleeping on
the streets.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/06/middleeast/israel-gaza-starvation-siege-mothers-babies-intl/index.html"><span class="byline__name">Sana Noor Haq</span>, <span class="byline__name">Ibrahim Dahman</span>, <span class="byline__name">AbdulQader Sabbah</span> and <span class="byline__name">Abeer Salman (</span>CNN) report</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b> As Israel’s severe restrictions <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/01/middleeast/gaza-aid-israel-restrictions-investigation-intl-cmd/index.html">on aid</a>
entering the Gaza Strip drain essential supplies, displaced
Palestinians told CNN they are struggling to feed their children.
Starving mothers are unable to produce enough milk to breastfeed their
babies, doctors say. Parents arrive at overwhelmed health facilities
begging for infant formula. In northern Gaza, people rush to grab aid
from infrequent humanitarian drops. Health workers say they <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/02/middleeast/israel-gaza-war-palestinian-parents-children-intl-cmd/index.html">cannot offer</a> life-saving treatment to malnourished Gazans because Israel’s bombardment and siege has crushed the medical system.</b></div><div><b>The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Tuesday that since the beginning of
the war, 364 health workers had been killed; 269 medical staff arrested;
155 health facilities “destroyed,” and 155 ambulances “targeted.” CNN
cannot independently confirm the numbers due to the lack of
international media access to Gaza.</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/6/gaza_update">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <em>Democracy Now!</em>, democracynow.org, <em>The War and Peace Report</em>. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.</b></p>
<p><b>A U.N. convoy of food trucks trying to bring 200 tons of food into
northern Gaza was turned back by the Israeli military today. A convoy of
14 trucks waited for three hours at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in central
Gaza before it was turned away by the Israeli military and later
stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who, quote, “looted the
food,” according to the World Food Programme. This comes as Israeli
forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinians seeking to get aid in
northern Gaza, killing at least 119 people in the most deadly attack
February 29th.</b></p>
<p><b>Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in Gaza. The Palestinian
Health Ministry said today the death toll from malnutrition and
dehydration has risen to 18, adding, quote, “The famine is deepening and
will claim thousands of lives if the aggression is not halted and
humanitarian and medical aid is not immediately brought in,” unquote.
Children, pregnant women, those with chronic illnesses are most
vulnerable.</b></p>
<p><b>Meanwhile, the Israeli bombardment continues, with shelling and
airstrikes today in cities across the Gaza Strip, including in Rafah,
Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and elsewhere. At least 30,700 Palestinians
have been killed, over 72,000 wounded in Gaza over the past five months.
Nearly the entire population has been displaced from their homes.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we go to Cairo, Egypt, where we’re joined by Susan
Abulhawa, a Palestinian novelist, poet and activist, author of several
books, best known for her debut novel, <em>Mornings in Jenin</em>, an
international best-seller translated into 32 languages, considered a
classic in Palestinian literature. She’s the founder and co-director of
Playgrounds for Palestine, a children’s organization, and the executive
director of Palestine Writes Literature Festival. She just returned from
Gaza after spending two weeks there, is now in Cairo.</b></p>
<p><b>Susan, welcome to <em>Democracy Now!</em> If you can talk about what you saw? You have <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/history-will-record-israel-committed-holocaust/45006">written</a>,
“Some are eating stray cats and dogs, which are themselves starving and
sometimes feeding on human remains that litter streets where Israeli
snipers picked off people who dared to venture within the sight of their
scopes. The old and weak have already died of hunger and thirst.”
Describe your trip.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">SUSAN</span> <span class="caps">ABULHAWA</span>: So, that part of the <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/history-will-record-israel-committed-holocaust/45006">essay</a>
is in the northern region, where nobody really is allowed to go. Trying
to venture into the north is a suicide mission. There are tanks and
snipers positioned, and anyone trying to get there is basically killed.
As you just mentioned, aid trucks are not getting in, either. They are
intentionally stopped. And it’s an intentional starvation, basically. I
was primarily in the south, in Rafah. I was able to go to Khan Younis
and to Nuseirat and a few other places in the middle region, but that
became increasingly more dangerous.</b></p>
<p><b>I want to say that the reality on the ground is infinitely worse than
the worst videos and photos that we’re seeing in the West. There is a —
you know, beyond people being buried alive en masse in their homes,
their bodies being shredded to pieces, these kinds of videos and images
that people are seeing — beyond that, there is this daily massive
degradation of life. It is a total denigration of a whole society, that
was once high-functioning and proud and has basically been reduced to
the most primal of ambitions, you know, being able to get enough water
for the day or flour to bake bread. And this is even in Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b>And the people in Rafah will tell you that they feel privileged
because they’re not starving to death, while their families in the
north, the ones that they can reach, because Israel has basically cut
off 99% of communication — what remains are basically communications by
people who have, you know, set up some ingenious ways to keep internet
in the north. But most people in the north have no idea what’s
happening. As a matter of fact, at one point — I’m sure you all know
Bisan Owda, who is on Facebook. She explained to me she often goes up to
the border between Khan Younis and the middle area in the north where
you can’t go beyond, and she explained to me that an aid truck, that
sort of pushed its way through but was eventually fired on, had — people
came up and ran up, thinking that the war was over and people were
returning to the north. So, most people in the north are in total
darkness and hunger and really have no way of communicating, no way of
figuring out where to get food.</b></p>
<p><b>And, you know, what we’re hearing on the ground is surreal. It’s
dystopic. What I witnessed personally in Rafah and in some of the middle
areas is incomprehensible. And I will call it a holocaust — and I don’t
use that word lightly. But it is absolutely that.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Susan Abulhawa, I want —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">SUSAN</span> <span class="caps">ABULHAWA</span>: The stories I heard from people are — sorry, go ahead.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, no, Susan, I wanted to ask you — you write in your <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/history-will-record-israel-committed-holocaust/45006">article</a>,
“At some point, the indignity of filth is inescapable. At some point,
you just wait for death, even as you also wait for a ceasefire. But
people don’t know what they will do after a ceasefire.” Could you talk
about that, even if there is a ceasefire —</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">SUSAN</span> <span class="caps">ABULHAWA</span>: Yeah.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: — the level of destruction that the people face now in terms of being able to rebuild their country?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">SUSAN</span> <span class="caps">ABULHAWA</span>:
I mean, that’s how much people have been reduced. I mean, the ceiling
of their hope at this point is for the bombs to stop. And, you know,
everybody wants to go back. They talk about pitching a tent on their
homes and figuring things out. But a lot of people are trying to leave.
There is a brain drain, basically. Those who can afford it, those who
can raise the money, those who are able to get jobs elsewhere, who have
professional skills, are trying to leave. They have children. All the
schools have been destroyed. College students have nowhere to go.</b></p>
<p><b>You know, what’s happening to people isn’t just this death and
dismemberment and hunger. It’s a total denigration of their personhood,
of their whole society. There are no universities left. Israel
intentionally bombed schools and blew them up, presumably to ensure that
rebuilding could not take place, that reestablishing a society cannot
take place without the infrastructure of education, of healthcare, and,
basically, foundational structures for buildings.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Susan, I wanted to follow up on what you said about a holocaust. And
you also used the term “genocide.” And you say, “Genocide isn’t just
mass murder. It is intentional erasure.” Can you take that from there?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">SUSAN</span> <span class="caps">ABULHAWA</span>:
Exactly. I mean, one of the — like I said, one of the things that
Israel has been keen to do in Gaza is to erase remnants of people’s
lives. So you have, on an individual level, homes, complete with
memories and photos and all the things of living. And I’m sure you know
Palestinians typically live in multigenerational homes. We’re not a
mobile society. And so, these homes have several generations of the same
family completely wiped out. On a societal level, you have — Israel has
targeted places of worship — mosques, ancient churches, ancient
mosques. They have targeted the museums, cultural centers, any place
that — libraries. Any place that has records of people’s lives, has
remnants and traces of their roots in the land, have been intentionally
wiped away.</b></p>
<p><b>You know, it’s really frustrating for us to read Western media talk
about, you know, Israel is targeting Hamas and whatnot. They’re not.
This has always — and when you’re on the ground, you understand this has
always been about displacing Palestinians, taking their place and
wiping them off the map. That has been Israel’s stated goal, I mean,
even in this instance and before, in 1948. It has always been their aim,
to destroy us, remove us, kill us and take our place. And that’s what’s
happening now in Gaza. It’s what happened in 1948, in 1967. And every
new Nakba, every new escalation, is greater than the one before. And
here we now arrive at a moment of genocide and holocaust, because the
world has allowed Israel to act with such barbarity with impunity.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I
wanted to ask you also — you mentioned the world reaction. More people
have died in Gaza in less than five months than have — civilians — than
have died in Ukraine in over two years, in the war in Ukraine, and
Ukraine has 40 times the population of Gaza. I’m wondering your sense of
the failure of the — especially of the Western nations, of Europe and
the United States, to act?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">SUSAN</span> <span class="caps">ABULHAWA</span>:
The Western world has lost any semblance of moral authority, if they
ever had any. Or, you know, I think that maybe there was an illusion of
moral authority previously, but I think — you know, what we have always
known is that we are dealing with genocidal colonizers. But I think that
is more apparent to the rest of the world at this hour. And I think
what’s also happening is that Americans are coming to understand,
increasingly, though not nearly enough, that they’re being lied to.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
And we’re going to take up that issue in <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/4/gaza_starvation_akram_al_satarri">Part 2 of our discussion</a>,
which we’ll post at <a href="http://democracynow.org">democracynow.org</a>. Susan Abulhawa, Palestinian
novelist, thanks so much.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-07-24/index.html">CNN notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="sc-dnqmqq render-stellar-contentstyles__List-sc-9v7nwy-1 eUPcFX"><ul class="cnn_rich_text"><li><b>Suffering in Gaza: <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-07-24/h_9de55e22b1281619dd66f316693ed83b" target="_blank">At least 20 people have died</a> in Gaza due to malnutrition and dehydration since the war began, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-06-24/h_5ec9fac914e9b943e6c9016776a4068e" target="_blank">including a 15-year-old boy</a> who was declared dead at the Al-Shifa medical complex on Wednesday, the enclave's health ministry said. Gazans <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/06/middleeast/israel-gaza-starvation-siege-mothers-babies-intl" target="_blank">told CNN</a>
their children are starving to death and mothers cannot breastfeed
their babies. In the southern city of Rafah, a displaced health worker
has warned thousands of babies could die of starvation if Israel
continues its <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/01/middleeast/gaza-aid-israel-restrictions-investigation-intl-cmd/index.html" target="_blank">severe restrictions</a> on food, fuel, water and medication from entering Gaza. </b></li><li><b>Israel blocking aid: The United Nations said almost 40% of aid missions it coordinated in Gaza were <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-07-24/h_cadc4dd121de88bece6dc3efb09706e5" target="_blank">denied or impeded by Israel last month</a>.
In February, 86 of the 222 missions in areas that needed coordination
were denied or impeded by Israel, said the agency's humanitarian affairs
arm. In response to the deepening humanitarian crisis, European
Commission President <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/09/21/ursula-von-der-leyen-european-union-russia-sanctions-amanpour.cnn" target="_blank">Ursula von der Leyen</a> will travel to Cyprus this week to discuss creating a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-06-24/h_12178f49ab443c6ea4da537b979e7a22" target="_blank">maritime aid corridor to Gaza</a>. </b></li></ul></div></div><div><br /></div><div>And <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/7/israels-blocking-of-aid-creating-apocalyptic-conditions-in-gaza">ALJAZEERA notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Israel has generated “famine-like conditions” in the Gaza Strip
“while obstructing and undermining the humanitarian response”, according
to a new report by humanitarian group Refugees International.</b></p>
<p><b>The group’s research in Egypt, Jordan and Israel revealed that Tel
Aviv “consistently and groundlessly impeded aid operations within Gaza,
blocked legitimate relief operations and resisted implementing measures
that would genuinely enhance the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza”.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 153 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/7/israels-war-on-gaza-live-20-starve-to-death-in-gaza-more-feared-dead">ALJAZEERA notes</a>, "At least 30,800 people have been killed and 72,298 wounded by Israeli
attacks on Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry said." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>We'll wind down with <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/israel-didnt-even-try-to-defend-the-legality-of-its-occupation-to-world-court/">this from Marjorie Cohn's latest TRUTHOUT column</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>For six days, more than 50 countries, the League of Arab States, the
African Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation presented <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/case/186">testimony</a>
to the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court) about the
legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The
overwhelming majority of them, largely from the Global South, told the
court that the occupation was illegal.</b></p>
<p><b>The historic hearing, which took place February 19-26, was held in
response to the United Nations General Assembly’s December 30, 2022,
request for an <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240226-pre-01-00-en.pdf">advisory opinion</a> on the following questions:</b></p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p><b>(a) What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing
violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and
annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including
measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and
status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related
discriminatory legislation and measures?</b></p>
<p><b>(b) How do the policies and practices of Israel … affect the legal
status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise
for all States and the United Nations from this status?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b>The General Assembly asked the ICJ to discuss these issues with
reference to international law, including the UN Charter; international
humanitarian law; international human rights law; resolutions of the
Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council; and the
2004 advisory opinion of the ICJ finding that Israel’s wall on
Palestinian land violated international law.</b></p><p><b>Israel regularly thumbs its nose at the World Court. It ignored the court’s <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/131/1677.pdf">ruling</a>
that the wall was illegal and refuses to implement the ICJ’s
provisional order to refrain from committing genocidal acts and ensure
humanitarian aid to Gaza.</b></p><p><b>Before the hearing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted
the court: “Israel does not recognize the legitimacy of the proceedings
of the international court in The Hague regarding ‘the legality of the
occupation’ — which are an effort designed to infringe on Israel’s right
to defend itself against existential threats,” he <a href="https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/02/palestine-calls-for-end-to-israeli-occupation-as-icj-begins-hearings-on-un-advisory-opinion-request/">said</a>.
“The proceedings in The Hague are part of the Palestinian attempt to
dictate the results of the diplomatic settlement without negotiations.”</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>Although Israel didn’t appear at the hearing, it submitted a <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20230724-wri-08-00-en.pdf">five-page statement</a>
which called the General Assembly’s questions “a clear distortion of
the history and present reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Israel didn’t even attempt to defend the legality of the occupation,
focusing instead on why the ICJ should not render an advisory opinion.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
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1 day ago </div>
</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p> Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-54996580471855364932024-03-06T21:33:00.000-08:002024-03-06T21:33:43.087-08:00What's the plan Shady?<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">It never ends for Shady Menendez. <a class="yiv8933222441ydp21d17fb2yiv8566305395" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/sen-bob-menendez-and-his-wife-indicted-for-obstruction-of-justice/ar-BB1jnZVT?cvid=82e4c8a95cfa4f29a6a7f10be2d46a33&ei=12" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Molly Bohannon (Forbes) reports</a>:</span></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife were hit with another </span><a class="yiv8933222441ydp21d17fb2yiv8566305395ydp46e2a74bcolor-link" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.606899/gov.uscourts.nysd.606899.238.0.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.606899/gov.uscourts.nysd.606899.238.0.pdf">superseding indictment</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> from
a federal court in New York on Tuesday that alleges obstruction of
justice, a new charge on top of the bribery charges the pair already
face.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Menendez
and his wife, Nadine Menendez, face obstruction of justice charges in
the new indictment, which argues the pair made their lawyers make “false
and misleading statements” to prosecutors about payments that
prosecutors allege were actually bribes, </span><a class="yiv8933222441ydp21d17fb2yiv8566305395ydpa5fbd327color-link" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-menendez-charged-with-obstruction-justice-new-indictment-2024-03-05/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-menendez-charged-with-obstruction-justice-new-indictment-2024-03-05/">multiple</a><a class="yiv8933222441ydp21d17fb2yiv8566305395ydpa5fbd327color-link" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-05/us-senator-bob-menendez-indicted-again-in-us-bribery-case?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-menendez-charged-with-obstruction-justice-new-indictment-2024-03-05/"> outlets</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> reported Tuesday.</span></span></span></span></b><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm
just shaking my head. Puzzled. <br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">What is the game plan there? </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In June, the
primary takes place. While Menendez hasn't declared he's running for
re-election, it doesn't matter. There's no way he's going to win the
primary. So why doesn't he just cop to a plea deal on the charges and
retire from office?</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Does he think he'll have more power once he's a former senator? I don't see that happening. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"> <br /></div><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_01681166956.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
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<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-641469964755886566" itemprop="articleBody">
Wednesday, March 6, 2024. The day after Super Tuesday, the Supreme
Court's lousy decision, starvation continues in Gaza, and much more.<div><br /></div><div>The
Supreme Court made a lousy decision this week. The decision was lousy,
but the whole thing was lousy. That's the case put forward, that's the
media coverage, that's what Congress did at the start of 2021. If you
ever wanted proof that our society was infected with idiots, all you had
to do was follow the nonsense.</div><div><br /></div><div>I planned to be nice and just hold my tongue but there are too many e-mails on the topic.</div><div><br /></div><div>Was
there an attempted insurrection? I believe there was and I didn't rush
to that decision. I do not like Donald Trump but I did not rush to
that decision. When the legal cases against him began to get play, that
clarified his role behind the scenes and, no, it's not stretch to see
him as the ringleader. </div><div><br /></div><div>But there were other issues there as well and the press, and the lawyers and the Congress elected to ignore them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's drop back to January 20, 2017.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>What
a sad and poorly dressed family. But the key take away is that Donald
took the oath of office. He was sworn in as president.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the oath they all have to take:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my
Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>You saw the video, Donald took the oath.</div><div><br /></div><div>Donald then broke the oath.</div><div><br /></div><div>He took an oath to uphold the Constitution. He broke that oath. Article II is part of the Constitution:</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li><ul><li><br /></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li id="II_S1_C2"><strong>Clause 2 Electors</strong></li><li><div class="clause"><p><b>Each
State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may
direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and
Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but
no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or
Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.</b></p></div><ul><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C2-1/ALDE_00013798/">ArtII.S1.C2.1</a> Overview of Electors Appointment Clause</b></li><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C2-2/ALDE_00013799/">ArtII.S1.C2.2</a> Historical Background on Electors Appointments Clause</b></li><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C2-3/ALDE_00013800/">ArtII.S1.C2.3</a> State Discretion Over Selection of Electors</b></li><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C2-4/ALDE_00013801/">ArtII.S1.C2.4</a> Legal Status of Electors</b></li><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C2-5/ALDE_00013802/">ArtII.S1.C2.5</a> Discretion of Electors to Choose a President</b></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li id="II_S1_C3"><strong>Clause 3 Electoral College Count</strong></li><li><div class="clause"><p><b>The
Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for
two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same
State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons
voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of
the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The
President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House
of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then
be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the
President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and
have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall
immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person
have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House
shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President,
the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State
having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or
Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States
shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the
President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the
Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or
more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot
the Vice President.</b></p></div><ul><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C3-1/ALDE_00013598/">ArtII.S1.C3.1</a> Electoral College Count Generally</b></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li id="II_S1_C4"><strong>Clause 4 Electoral Votes</strong></li><li><div class="clause"><p><b>The
Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on
which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same
throughout the United States.</b></p></div><ul><li><b><a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C4-1/ALDE_00013599/">ArtII.S1.C4.1</a> Timing of Electoral Votes Generally</b></li></ul></li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>Click
on anything you need to in order to expand the above. He broke it. He
came up with fake electors, he plotted and schemed. Every thing he did
to try to avoid leaving office was illegal and unconstitutional. The
Constitution outlines the process. It did not permit him to do what he
did. What he did was actually treason. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's
a strong word and it's one I don't toss around lightly because it
carries the penalty of death. But his actions qualify as treason. He
put himself above the country and that's not allowed. And that's what
should have been hammered home.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is he fit to
serve? Four years earlier when he was presumably more aware of his
surroundings, he was ready to destroy democracy to hold onto a second
term. He broke his oath to the Constitution. Clearly, he is not fit
for office.</div><div><br /></div><div>They didn't hit on it. They didn't
cover it that way. Maybe they just don't care about what's termed the
supreme law of the land? </div><div><br /></div><div>Must be because the media ignored that aspect, the attorneys did, the Congress did. </div><div><br /></div><div>It
is your first duty in office, to take the oath of office. And you fail
at keeping that oath then you have no business running for office
again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Would it have mattered? I think it
would have swayed more people. We know what he did. We have video of
him taking the oath. We know he broke it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I
don't think it would have mattered to the Supreme Court. It's a corrupt
Court and the best that you can say for the three center-left justices
is that they're scaredy cats.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course the state can determine who is on their ballot.</div><div><br /></div><div>What f**king would do those lying justices live in?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sorry Baby Kennedy Junior wants to be on the ballot. Who's he fighting with? States. </div><div><br /></div><div>States are determining whether he can be on their ballot or not. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, states have that right and they always have.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's an embarrassment of stupidity all around.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's
note Super Tuesday before we move on. A number of states held
primaries yesterday. In California? The general election in November
will now determine whether Adam Schiff or Steve Garvey gets the seat.</div><div><br /></div><div>It better be Schiff. And if it's not, he better be crucified by the press.</div><div><br /></div><div>Steve Garvey is a faded pin up from decades ago. </div><div><br /></div><div>He is now on the ballot in November because of Adam Schiff.</div><div><br /></div><div>Adam wanted to run against him. Not against Katie Porter, not against Barbara Lee. He elevated Garvey for that reason.</div><div><br /></div><div>What could go wrong?</div><div><br /></div><div>2016
Team Hillary wanted her in the White House and they elevated Donald
Trump for that reason. Look how that worked out. And has she or her
team faced serious questioning on this? No, of course not.</div><div><br /></div><div>Schiff better win. If he doesn't, the press should descend upon him like pack of jackals. </div><div><br /></div><div>He knows what that's like and will probably learn even more about it judging by last night's 'victory.'</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Across the states, US President Joe Biden faced challenges. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/03/06/super-tuesday-heres-how-the-uncommitted-protest-vote-fared-against-biden/?sh=5fd7116360b4">Siladitya Ray (FORBES) breaks it down</a>:</div><span class="fs-author-name"><div class="contrib-label-container"><span class="contrib-byline-type"></span></div></span><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="key-facts">
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<p><b>In six of the 14 states that held Democratic primaries on Tuesday,
the “uncommitted” or “no preference” option garnered the second highest
number of votes—beating longshot contenders Marianne Williamson and Rep.
Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)</b></p>
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<div class="key-facts-element animate-line">
<p><b>The “uncommitted” vote drew unexpectedly strong support in Minnesota, <a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/minnesota/?r=25869" href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/minnesota/?r=25869" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/minnesota/?r=25869">garnering</a> nearly 46,000 or 19% of the votes—driven by support from Muslim American voters and young progressives, <a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/us/politics/biden-uncommitted-protest-vote-minnesota.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/us/politics/biden-uncommitted-protest-vote-minnesota.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/us/politics/biden-uncommitted-protest-vote-minnesota.html">according to</a> the New York Times.</b></p>
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<div class="key-facts-element animate-line">
<p><b>In North Carolina, where Biden was the sole candidate on the ballot, more than 88,000 chose ‘No Preference’—<a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/north-carolina/?r=34653" href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/north-carolina/?r=34653" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/north-carolina/?r=34653">accounting</a> for 12.7% of the vote.</b></p>
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<div class="key-facts-element animate-line">
<p><b>More than 54,000 voters, or 9.4%, <a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/massachusetts/?r=24548" href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/massachusetts/?r=24548" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/massachusetts/?r=24548">picked</a> “No Preference” in the Massachusetts primary, with the protest vote beating both Williamson and Phillips by handy margins.</b></p>
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<div class="key-facts-element animate-line">
<p><b>With 73% of the ballots counted, “Noncommitted delegate” <a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/colorado/?r=7393" href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/colorado/?r=7393" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/colorado/?r=7393">looks set</a> to finish second place in the party’s Colorado primary, having garnered 8.1% of the votes.</b></p>
</div>
<div class="key-facts-element">
<p><b>“Uncommitted” received 7.9% of the votes in <a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/tennessee/?r=43449" href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/tennessee/?r=43449" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/tennessee/?r=43449">Tennessee</a>—where Biden was the sole candidate—and it also beat Phillips to finish second in <a class="color-link" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/alabama/?r=1817" href="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/alabama/?r=1817" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/alabama/?r=1817">Alabama</a>, with 6% of the votes.</b></p>
</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>On the topic of elections, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/2024/03/03/iraqi-kurdistan-region-to-hold-parliamentary-election-in-june/">Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>The Kurdistan Region of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/" target="_blank">Iraq</a> will hold long-overdue parliamentary elections on June 10, according to a decree issued by regional presidency on Sunday.</b></p><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>“The
decree is effective immediately, and all necessary measures must be
taken from today, upon its issuance," President Nechirvan Barzani said.</b></p><p class="default__StyledText-sc-1jtxuc8-1 jQghZF body-paragraph"><b>The
semi-autonomous region was supposed to hold parliamentary elections in
October 2022, but disagreements between the major ruling parties, the
Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, pushed
back the date.</b></p></div><div><b>The two parties, which have a delicate power-sharing arrangement, later
agreed to extend the parliament's term for a year so they could continue
negotiations over issues such as amending the elections law and the
sharing of tax and oil revenues.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Let's
move over to Gaza, specifically fish faced Pramila Patten and her
lies. She didn't conduct an investigation. She doesn't use terms like
evidence but instead uses "information" as she insists that rapes took
place during the October 7th assault in Israel. She doesn't do much of
anything -- fake asses rarely do -- the lying alone wears her out and
chafes her under carriage. <a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_5.html">We covered her nonsense yesterday</a>. And we noted that <a href="https://www.passblue.com/2024/01/09/un-envoy-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-to-visit-israel/">January 9th, Dawn Clancy (PASS BLUE) reported</a>:</div><div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>She was invited by the government to visit the country more than a
month ago to hear first-hand testimonies from Israeli survivors of
sexual violence allegedly committed during the brutal Hamas and
affiliated militia attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.</b></p>
<p><b>Patten, according to a <a href="https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/press-release/gaza-strip-sexual-violence/">press release</a>
in early December, had “responded positively” to the initial invitation
to visit Israel. But it’s unclear if she will investigate alleged
sexual violence and rape that was committed by the militias three months
ago.</b></p>
<p><b>[Update, Jan. 10: UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric
told reporters that Patten would conduct a “mission” to Israel and the
West Bank at the end of the month “to gather information on sexual
violence, reportedly committed in the context of the attacks of 7
October and its aftermath” The mission “will be conducted in the
exercise of her mandate, in accordance with her standard UN
methodology.” She’ll be accompanied by experts in “safe and ethical
interviewing, forensic evidence, digital analysis, and accountability,”
but she is not mandated to “investigate”]</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Yes,
she was invited in by the Israeli government. At a time when they were
nixing other UN agencies, refusing to allow them to probe, they reached
out specifically to Patten. That tells you what you need to know about
her.</div><div><br /></div><div>The propaganda outlet YNET offers "<a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/ryuruob6t">Unbiased, professional and fair: the UN official behind Hamas sex crime report</a>"
the text of which is a full two paragraphs (that was sarcasm) and maybe
that's because when she hides the fact that the government of Israel
specifically chose her, that lack of disclosure influences how we see
her and her non-findings based on information and her fat gut.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hamas has issued the following response to Patten:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>We, in the Islamic Resistance
Movement (Hamas), reject and strongly condemn the report issued by U.N.
official Pramila Patten, regarding the claim and allegations of
Palestinian resistance fighters committing “rape and sexual violence”
incidents during the events of October 7.</b></p>
<p><b>This came after failed “israeli”
attempts to prove this false charge, which was confirmed to have no
basis in truth, except to demonize the Palestinian resistance and to
cover up the United Nations rapporteurs’ report about the existence of
conclusive evidence of horrific human rights violations suffered by
Palestinian women and girls by the “israeli” occupation forces. </b></p>
<p><b>Despite Ms. Patten’s claims and her
false and baseless accusations against the Palestinian fighters, her
report did not document any testimony of what she calls victims of those
cases, but relied in her report on “israeli” institutions, soldiers,
and witnesses selected by the occupation authorities, to push toward
trying to prove this false charge, which was refuted by all
investigations and international reports. </b></p>
<p><b>Ms. Patten’s claims are clearly
contradicted by the testimonies of “israeli” women about the good
treatment by the fighters towards them, as well as the testimonies of
the released “israeli” female prisoners, and what they confirmed of the
good treatment they received during their captivity in Gaza. </b></p>
<p><b>This false accusation will not
succeed in obscuring the ugliness and horror of the “israeli” crimes
committed in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the killing of about
40,000 Palestinians, most of them women, children, and civilians, in a
mass crime and ethnic cleansing, and a deliberate disregard for the
resolutions of the International Court of Justice and other
international reports, which documented parts of the crimes and
atrocities committed in Gaza by the new Nazis. </b></p>
<p><b>Central Media Office </b><b>for </b><b>the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine </b></p>
<p><b>The statements made by U.N. Envoy Patton are disgraceful, false, and biased towards the entity.</b></p>
<p><b>The Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine has strongly condemned the statements made by U.N. Envoy
Pramila Patton that accused “the resistance factions in Gaza of
committing sexual violence crimes, torture, and harsh treatment against
hostages and detainees on October 7.” These statements are shameful, far
from the truth, and biased towards the entity.</b></p>
<p><b>The Front clarified that the purpose
of these statements is to cover up the brutal crimes and practices of
the occupation against our Palestinian people, which are fully
documented by the United Nations and international institutions. By
contrast, this U.N. envoy did not rely on any reliable evidence of the
resistance factions having committed any such practices; instead, she
relied on reports and testimonies of Zionist origin that have been
proven false.</b></p>
<p><b>The Front added: “Since the beginning
of its war of genocide on the [Gaza] Strip, the zionist enemy, in its
attempt to justify this crime against the Strip, has spread
lies and fabricated narratives and stories about the resistance
factions on October 7. However, in light of the absence of clear
evidence, the publication of fabricated videos, and their exposure to
the global public opinion, it forced heads of states, international
institutions, and media entities to apologize.”</b></p>
<p><b>The Front emphasized that the resistance, with testimonials from
international institutions and even by the admission of the released
detainees and hostages, ensured to uphold ethics
and good treatment of detainees, providing all forms of comfort and
even protecting them from Zionist bombing and treachery. </b></p>
<p><b>At the same time, the world was shocked by the proven and<a href="https://t.me/PalestineResist/29783"> documented reports</a>
and testimonies of the occupation committing sexual violence and
torture against a large number of women during their arrest and
detention in Khan Younis and other areas penetrated in the Gaza Strip.</b></p>
<p><b>The Front concluded its statement by
calling on the U.N. envoy to retract and apologize for these dubious
statements, to cease the double standard policy and equating the victim
with the executioner, and to conduct a serious investigation into the
ongoing practices of genocide in the Gaza Strip – not to cover up these
crimes or attempt to absolve the occupation, which has been intensified
due to the lawsuit filed by South Africa in the International Court of
Justice, revealing the atrocious reality of these crimes to the entire
world.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68483180">David Gritten (BBC NEWS) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b class="sc-ed73b9f2-0 jhhdRT">"What
is the fate of the children suffering from hunger? Will they find
someone to save them or will they die? My son Ali has already died."</b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>The
father of Ali, a Palestinian baby boy who recently died of malnutrition
and dehydration at northern Gaza's only paediatrics hospital, has
appealed for help for the other children being treated there, as the UN
warns of famine if aid deliveries are not substantially increased.</b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>"Ali
was born in wartime and there was no food or anything for his mother to
eat - a matter which caused his kidneys to fail," the man - who did not
want to be named - said in an interview recorded for BBC Arabic's Gaza
Lifeline radio service.</b></p></section><section class="sc-189fa0a-0 insmih" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-e1853509-0 bmLndb"><b>"Ali's
life got worse day after day. We tried to get him treated at hospitals,
but there was no help... Ali died in front of the entire world, which
kept watching him pass away."</b></p></section></div><div><br /></div><div>We
stop it there because the BBC can't count. That's it, right? They
wouldn't just be lying, right? 10 kids? It was more than ten by the
start of the work week. But in the next paragraph the BBC wants to use
ten. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/6/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-food-convoy-blocked-from-north-gaza-by-israel">Here's ALJAZEERA</a> (and they can count):</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>The Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza has risen to 18.</b></p>
<p><b>“The famine is deepening and will claim thousands of lives if the
aggression is not halted and humanitarian and medical aid is not
immediately brought in,” it said in a statement.</b></p>
<p><b>It added that Israel was “deliberately” starving thousands of hungry
people in northern Gaza and called on the international community and
the UN to halt the war and avoid a “health catastrophe”.</b></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 152 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/6/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-food-convoy-blocked-from-north-gaza-by-israel">ALJAZEERA notes</a>,
"The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30,717, with more than
72,156 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-06-24/index.html">CNN reports</a> this morning:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><li><b>Starvation in Gaza: Israeli forces <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-05-24/h_4c6f3570afaaeec0a20e60b719003071" target="_blank">turned away</a>
a food aid convoy from traveling to northern Gaza on Tuesday, the
United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said. It comes after UN
experts <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-05-24/h_72c40d0d53b3b0116ac53cc557be671d" target="_blank">accused Israel</a>
of "intentionally starving the Palestinian people" in Gaza. The World
Health Organization said limits to aid deliveries have resulted in
roughly 90% of children under the age of 2 experiencing severe food
poverty, with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-05-24/h_3a2849329158ee01109dbdd393a133b0" target="_blank">child malnutrition levels</a> in northern Gaza being "particularly extreme." The main UN relief agency in the strip is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-05-24/h_987a2ce7a5910ddde0946133ead094c7" target="_blank">unsure if it will be able to pay</a> its staff so they can deliver food to Gazans. Multiple countries <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/01/middleeast/unrwa-halt-operations-gaza-israel-hamas-intl/index.html" target="_blank">paused funding</a> when some staffers with the agency were accused of taking part in the October 7 Hamas attack. </b></li><li><b>Food airdrops: The US and Jordan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-05-24/h_a63c38d0eae8fd0e1c78da3674e17a85" target="_blank">again airdropped meals</a> into the enclave on Tuesday. The Pentagon said the US and its international partners are also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-03-05-24/h_38fff4f1e74a9ba17acb8c121a342b7b" target="_blank">considering a maritime corridor</a> to get aid into Gaza. US ally Israel continues to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/01/middleeast/gaza-aid-israel-restrictions-investigation-intl-cmd/index.html" target="_blank">obstruct the bulk of aid deliveries</a> to the strip. </b></li><li><b>Aid line shooting: Israeli forces opened fire on people <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/05/middleeast/israel-fire-palestinians-aid-northern-gaza-intl/index.html" target="_blank">waiting for aid</a> on
Monday night in northern Gaza, eyewitnesses told CNN. The shooting took
place in Gaza City shortly before midnight, said one eyewitness, who
had traveled there to try to get flour. A local journalist said there
was "sporadic fire." CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces
for comment. It’s unclear if there were any casualties. It comes after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/29/middleeast/gaza-food-truck-deaths-israel-wwk-intl/index.html" target="_blank">more than 100 Palestinians were killed</a> trying to access food aid trucks amid Israeli gunfire in Gaza City last Thursday, according to Gaza health officials.</b></li></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
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Like Maria Said Paz</a>
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7 hours ago
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Ann's Mega Dub</a>
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<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/03/stuck-in-this-world-with-lot-of-hateful.html" target="_blank">
Stuck in this world with a lot of hateful haters
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Nex
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<a href="https://jodywatley.net/2024/03/05/jody-watley-new-single-everlasting-has-a-global-groove/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jody-watley-new-single-everlasting-has-a-global-groove" target="_blank">
Jody Watley – New Single EVERLASTING Has A Global Groove
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18 hours ago</div>
</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-75109264292163472362024-03-05T21:31:00.000-08:002024-03-05T21:31:18.303-08:00Stuck in this world with a lot of hateful haters<p>Is it really that hard for us to love each other and root for each other? I guess it is. Too many people would rather spread hate and try to hurt others. Like that awful Ken Paxton.<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="yiv1462856743ydpe7ae8323yiv3467408763" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-blocks-texas-s-cruel-attempt-to-force-lgbtq-group-to-out-trans-families/ar-BB1jk191?cvid=a14f485cdf814155b656b959fe1972f1&ei=15" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Bil Browning (LGBTQ Nation) reports</a>:</span></span></p><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has repeatedly abused his position to
persecute trans people, their families, and health providers. The
far-right politician has exceeded his authority in vicious attempts to
force out-of-state companies and universities to hand over private
information using legal threats and bullying behavior.</span></span></b></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">While
some states have passed laws to protect health systems and families
from Paxton’s desperate attempts to force them to turn over medical
records and other information, the legal system itself has put the
brakes on some of his most outrageous efforts.</span></span></b></p></div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The
LGBTQ+ group PFLAG, which supports the families and friends of queer
people, is one of the groups currently suing Texas over a state law that
bans gender-affirming care for transgender children.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The Attorney General </span><a class="yiv1462856743ydpe7ae8323yiv3467408763" href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/03/texas-is-demanding-names-medical-care-plans-from-trans-youth-pflag-is-standing-up-to-the-state/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recently attempted to force the group</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> to
out trans families, their health care providers, and insurance
companies in a brazen and “cruel attempt to circumvent the legal
system,” according to Lynly Egyes, legal director at Transgender Law
Center. The center is one of the group’s legal representatives in the
suit.</span></span></span></span></b><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When I
read that, I'm enraged that a hate merchant can work so hard to destroy
lives. And then I remember all the cowards who refused to speak out as
LGBTQ+ people have been targed.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
fake asses. The Sabby Sabs. Our supposed left. Our supposed Black
(really, Sabby, with that hair)? She can, and does, bring convicted
pedophile Scott Ritter on her show but she will do nothing to defend
LGBTQ+ people. She's a fake ass. A Jimmy Dore-lette, desperate to be
inside with the White folk on the right wing.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've never suffered from that delusion. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Speaking of delusions . . . <a class="yiv1462856743ydpe7ae8323yiv3467408763" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republican-senator-tells-fox-we-want-to-stop-biden-from-delivering-the-state-of-the-union/ar-BB1jkbV9?cvid=0e8f42c4813d4714b2f4945d6a7b4020&ei=12" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mediaite reports</a>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Fox News White House correspondent </span><strong style="color: #2b2b2b;">Peter Doocy</strong><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> reported on President</span><strong style="color: #2b2b2b;"> Joe Biden’s</strong><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> new
strategy to try and win over critics on Monday and noted that some
Republicans are trying to stop Biden’s State of the Union address, which
the administration hopes will be part of a reset for the president.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“If voters are concerned about President <a class="yiv1462856743ydpe7ae8323yiv3467408763" href="https://www.mediaite.com/tag/joe-biden/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Biden’s</a> age,
there’s nothing he can do to get any younger, but he can start to lean
more heavily on younger members of his team,” Doocy began before playing
a clip from Transportation Secretary <strong>Pete Buttigieg</strong> on a weekend show.</span></span></b></p><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></b></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“I’m
going to be on the road even more. You’re going to see the president
continuing to be on the road. And look, we’ve also got to work with
partners on the ground to make sure that their residents connect the
dots,” Buttigieg said.</span></span></b></p><p class="yiv1462856743ydpe7ae8323yiv3467408763ydpe40a2d89continue-read-break" style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Doocy
then noted a recent statement from the Biden administration, “We are
also told by the White House comms director we are fanning out
aggressively, not only on Thursday, but in the weeks ahead to reach
Americans where they received the news with the president’s message
about whose side he’s on.”</span></span></b></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“But
there are actually lawmakers right now actively trying to prevent the
State of the Union from happening,” Doocy added, rolling a clip of Sen. <strong>Joni Ernst</strong> (R-IA) on Fox Business from earlier in the day.</span></span></b></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">That woman is a lunatic. </span></span></div><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot_5.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Tuesday, March 5, 2024. A UN 'report' backs up Israel but are we the
only ones who'll point out that the laughable report was written by a
woman the Israeli government selected back in December (no, that's not
how investigations work) and much more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Where to start? Where to start?</div><div><br /></div><div>How about with this: The First Lady of Israel was raped! </div><div><br /></div><div>What's that? She wasn't. Then why does the UN offer speaking to her as proof of anything?</div><div><br /></div><div>If
you missed it, the UN sent a stooge with a team to Israel to supposedly
learn if rapes took place October 7th. You or I might call that an
"investigation." The UN didn't. That's your first raised eyebrow --
the repeated insistence that this is not anything to take seriously. If
you wade through the actual . . . can we call it a 'report'? Is that
okay with the UN? If you wade through <a href="https://news.un.org/en/sites/news.un.org.en/files/atoms/files/Mission_report_of_SRSG_SVC_to_Israel-oWB_29Jan_14_feb_2024.pdf">it</a> you find 23 pages of nothing. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>They
found no evidence as the Israeli government led them by the hand to
various people (none of them rape survivors). They found no physical
evidence. </div><div><br /></div><div>They found nothing:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>The
main challenge was the limited number of and access to
survivors/victims of sexual violence, and to survivors and witnesses of
the 7 October attacks. While the mission team was able to meet with some
released hostages as well as with some survivors and witnesses of the
attacks, it did not meet with any survivor/victim of sexual violence
from 7 October despite concerted efforts encouraging them to come
forward.</b></div></div><div><br /></div><div>They found nothing:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div><b>In the Nahal Oz military base, the mission team reviewed reports of sexual violence</b></div><div><b>including a case of rape and genital mutilation, neither of which could be verified. With respect</b></div><div><b>to the latter instance, while the forensic analysis reviewed injuries to intimate body parts, no</b></div><div><b>discernible pattern could be identified, against either female or male soldiers. However, seven</b></div><div><b>female soldiers were abducted from this base into Gaza.</b></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>They found nothing:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div><b>The mission was neither intended to, and nor could the mission team, in such a short</b></div><div><b>period of time, establish the prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence during and after the 7</b></div><div><b>October attacks. The overall magnitude, scope, and specific attribution of these violations would</b></div><div><b>require a comprehensive investigation by competent bodies</b></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, an investigation would require "competent bodies" and clearly the United Nations team sent in did not qualify. </div><div><br /></div><div>The report is pathetic and laughable.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div><b>For the purposes of this mission and report, “conflict-related sexual violence” is defined</b></div><div><b>in accordance with the framing definition used in successive reports of the Secretary-General on</b></div><div><b>conflict-related sexual violence. The term thus refers to “rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution,</b></div><div><b>forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage, and any other form of</b></div><div><b>sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls, or boys that is</b></div><div><b>directly or indirectly linked to a conflict. </b></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Forced
abortions? I'm sorry, is that supposed to suggest that Hamas was also
carrying out field abortions during the October 7th attack? </div><div><br /></div><div>The UN team can't get off the First Lady of Israel:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div><b>The mission team met with a wide range of national authorities including the President of</b></div><div><b>Israel and the First Lady, relevant line ministries including Foreign Affairs, Welfare and Social</b></div><div><b>Affairs, Health, and Justice. </b></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Again,
was the First Lady raped? Then why do you keep bringing her up. A
ceremonial post with no power and you keep trying to inflate her.
Reminder -- not all women are feminist and there's a reason that no
one's ever called Pamila Patten a feminist. What is she? Someone that
determined this March report would decide rape took place. She made
that clear in repeated interviews going back to January. <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1sajwrqa">Here's YNET news reporting on from February 5th</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text_editor_paragraph ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="1mudu" data-offset-key="95c54-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="95c54-0-0"><b><span data-offset-key="95c54-0-0">According
to Pramila Patten, the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
and Special Envoy for Sexual Violence in Conflicts, she has been unable
to sleep for a week since viewing the </span><a data-uw-rm-ext-link="" href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syfz9bcz6" id="rJzL1RZ9Vaa" target="_blank"><span data-offset-key="95c54-1-0">47-minute video compiled by the IDF of the atrocities</span></a><span data-offset-key="95c54-2-0"> committed on </span><a data-uw-rm-ext-link="" href="https://www.ynetnews.com/topics/October_7" id="B17LyCbcVT6" target="_blank"><span data-offset-key="95c54-3-0">October 7</span></a><span data-offset-key="95c54-4-0">.
The scenes continue to haunt her. "Only after I saw the video did I
understand things that I didn't understand before in terms of the
magnitude of the disaster that happened."</span></b></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Poor Pramila, ugly and stupid.</div><div><br /></div><div>(And she truly is ugly.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Her
laughable report fails to note so much. Such as the reality that
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR),
repeatedly contacted the government of Israel to conduct an
investigation into events and was refused. But the government of Israel
asked for Pramila. Maybe they love eye bags or pinched faces or purple
lips, who knows? But they asked for Pramila.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and they asked for her in December. <a href="https://www.passblue.com/2024/01/09/un-envoy-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-to-visit-israel/">January 9th, Dawn Clancy (PASS BLUE) reported</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>She was invited by the government to visit the country more than a
month ago to hear first-hand testimonies from Israeli survivors of
sexual violence allegedly committed during the brutal Hamas and
affiliated militia attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.</b></p>
<p><b>Patten, according to a <a href="https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/press-release/gaza-strip-sexual-violence/">press release</a>
in early December, had “responded positively” to the initial invitation
to visit Israel. But it’s unclear if she will investigate alleged
sexual violence and rape that was committed by the militias three months
ago.</b></p>
<p><b>[Update, Jan. 10: UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric
told reporters that Patten would conduct a “mission” to Israel and the
West Bank at the end of the month “to gather information on sexual
violence, reportedly committed in the context of the attacks of 7
October and its aftermath” The mission “will be conducted in the
exercise of her mandate, in accordance with her standard UN
methodology.” She’ll be accompanied by experts in “safe and ethical
interviewing, forensic evidence, digital analysis, and accountability,”
but she is not mandated to “investigate”]</b></p><p><b>[. . .]</b></p><p><b>Patten, a 65-year-old lawyer originally from Mauritius, said in another <a href="https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/press-release/un-special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-ms-pramila-patten-calls-for-the-immediate-safe-and-unconditional-release-of-remaining-hostages-after-75-days-in-h/">press release,</a>
on Dec. 21: “All forms of sexual violence and the taking of hostages
are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian and human
rights law. Accordingly, all the horrific reports of sexual violence
allegedly committed by Hamas on 7 October must be promptly and
rigorously investigated, and the United Nations reiterates its readiness
to independently investigate any such violations.”</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Is there anything sadder than a 65 year old whore? Well, a whore with a fish face but we already told you she's ugly. </p><p><br /></p><p>So
she didn't do an investigation. She spoke to no one of value and she
was invited in by the Israeli government as it attacked other
officials. Hmm. Also, don't claim you filed an ethical report when you
failed to disclose in your 23 pages that the government of Israel
invited you in and did so in December.</p><p><br /></p><p>A lazy whore exposed herself and, at 65, no one wanted to see it. Sana Saeed dissects it in the following thread of Tweets.</p><p><br /></p><p>
</p>
<br /></div><div>
<br /></div><div>
<br /></div><div> </div></div>
<br /><div>
<br /></div><div>
<br /></div><div> </div>
<br /><div>
<br /></div><div> <br /></div><div> </div>
<br /> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In
an unsigned, ridiculous report for the BBC, all claims are treated as
researched and substantiated -- they are not -- yet there's no mention
of my point above: The whore was invited in by Israel in December -- at
a time when they were refusing requests from UN figures. It's a
conflict of interest that needs to be noted. They selected her for a
reason. People learning the unsubstantiated claims of her 'report' need
to know that. It goes to trust and its unethical not to disclose it.
It undercuts the claims so they want to keep it quiet but that's not
journalism.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, look, well known liar <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/europe/un-team-sexual-abuse-oct-7-hostages-intl/index.html">Richard Roth writes a 'report' for CNN</a>
that also hides the reality that Pramila was invited in by the Israeli
government. If only all criminals could pick and choose who
investigates them, right?</div><div><br /></div><div>And let me add
something else as a rape survivor. Five months? My what delicate
flowers Israeli women must be. Five months after an alleged rape --
excuse me, rapes -- multiples -- none of the women can come forward.
Help me out on that, I don't see myself as exceptionally strong. Other
rape survivors, does that track for you because it doesn't for me. It
does go the sexist mind set that would use claims of rape to sell a
war. It does go to their injured manhood that would claim that a rape
would turn a woman into a body of dysfunction to be shrouded and hidden
away. Or maybe they all just had an attack of the meses? That's about
the level of maturity Pramila and the Israeli government's nonsense
reaches.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 151 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/5/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israeli-attacks-on-aid-seekers-continue">ALJAZEERA notes</a>, "The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip says the death toll of
Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since October 7 has risen to
30,631, with 72,043 others wounded." Months
ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Lets drop back to <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/4/gaza_starvation_akram_al_satarri">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
We begin today’s show in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials say
at least 16 children have died in recent days from starvation and
dehydration as Israel’s assault continues. <span class="caps">UNICEF</span> warns the number of child deaths will likely “rapidly increase” unless the war ends.</b></p>
<p><b>Palestinians in Rafah searched Sunday under the rubble of a family
home hit by an Israeli airstrike the night before that killed as many as
14 people, including a father and twin babies born in the last few
months.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PALESTINIAN</span> <span class="caps">WOMAN</span>:
[translated] We want the United States to get away from us. We don’t
want anything from them. We don’t want anything from the United States.
They are lying and conspiring against us. God is my suffice and the best
deputy.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Here in the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris Sunday called
for a ceasefire in Gaza. She made the comments in a speech in Selma,
Alabama, marking the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">VICE</span> <span class="caps">PRESIDENT</span> <span class="caps">KAMALA</span> <span class="caps">HARRIS</span>:
And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an
immediate ceasefire, for at least the next six weeks, which is what is
currently on the table. This will get the hostages out and get a
significant amount of aid in. This would allow us to build something
more enduring to ensure Israel is secure and to respect the right of the
Palestinian people to dignity, freedom and self-determination. Hamas
claims it wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as
we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal. Let’s get a ceasefire.
Let’s reunite the hostages with their families. And let’s provide
immediate relief to the people of Gaza.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Vice President Harris spoke three days after the United States blocked a
U.N. Security Council statement condemning Israel after Israeli
soldiers opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza City, in a
massacre that left at least 118 people dead. On Sunday, officials in
Gaza accused Israeli forces of killing and wounding dozens more aid
seekers who had gathered at the Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza City. Facing
growing international criticism, President Biden Friday announced the
United States would begin airdropping food aid into Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>Negotiations for a temporary ceasefire faced another setback Sunday
when Israel boycotted talks in Cairo after Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu accused Hamas of failing to provide a list of all living
Israeli hostages.</b></p>
<p><b>Meanwhile, Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz is in the U.S.
for what’s being described as an unauthorized trip to hold talks with
Vice President Harris, Tony Blinken and other top officials. Gantz is
seen as a rival to Netanyahu, who reportedly lashed out at Gantz for
making the trip without his approval.</b></p>
<p><b>All of this comes as the official death toll in Gaza has topped 30,500.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we go to Rafah for an update from Akram al-Satarri, the Gaza-based journalist.</b></p>
<p><b>Akram, your brother was at the aid convoy when Israeli soldiers
opened fire. What did he explain to you happened, what’s being now
called the flour massacre, for the flour that people were coming to get
to make bread?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>: Good morning, Amy.</b></p>
<p><b>Yes, indeed, my brother was one of the people who were targeted by
the Israeli tanks and artillery fire in that area of al-Rashid Street,
particularly al-Nabulsi roundabout, when they were trying to seek food
for their children. To start with, it is the very personal story of my
brother in mind, who was in direct contact with me, seeking to secure
any help whatsoever for his children. He was taking that unsafe trip
towards al-Nabulsi roundabout. He was waiting there. He was waiting from
3:00 in the afternoon. He was hoping that he would get at least some
wheat flour for his children, because they have not eaten bread for
around 25 days or even more than 25 days. He saw many people there
coming from the Gaza north, as well, in the hope that they can secure
some food for their children.</b></p>
<p><b>All of a sudden, the bombardment started — not the bombardment;
rather, the tanks’ gunfire started. And, of course, the tanks are using
1.5-millimeter caliber guns, and those guns are very lethal. They can
split a person into two halves. The fire started. The tanks never
stopped shooting at them. And the observation that was — the observation
that was made by the people who were there, including my brother, that
the number of the tanks that were present in that particular time was
[inaudible], in the sense that in the last few days they knew tanks were
like there, but not in the large number that was in that particular
day. The fire started. The fire never stopped. People were shot. People
were falling on the ground. People were running. And some of the wounded
people were grabbing the legs of the other people, asking them to save
and help them. The ones even whose legs were pulled were shot, as well,
and were killed. So, people were crawling. My brother told me that he
was crawling for around 1.5 kilometers, from this al-Nabulsi roundabout
up to al-Shalihat roundabout, which is an area that is around 1
kilometer or 1.2 kilometers far away from the area that they were in.
The firing never stopped.</b></p>
<p><b>And to him, it looked like that was preplanned and that the massacre
that was planned, according to the description of my brother and any
other people, was intentional. And the firing never stopped 'til that
very large number of people were killed. And a very large number of
people also was injured. Some of them are dying every day. And this
specific incident was replicated the day after this massacre took place
and the day, three days or even four days after that. So it looks like
this is a policy that is followed by the Israeli occupation army, and it
looks like the objective is to continue the starvation of the people of
Gaza and to kill them when they dare to think that they can secure
something to feed their children. So they were killed when they're
trying to get the wheat flour. They were killed while they were seeking
life.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
So, the Israeli military says it started a preliminary review and that
Israeli forces did not attack the convoy, but that most of the
fatalities were caused by a stampede. At the same time, the director of
the Al-Awda Hospital told the United Nations some 80% of the wounded
brought into the hospital had been shot. If you could respond further,
Akram?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
Well, according to the preliminary diagnoses of the hospital and of the
people who were there, most of the people who were there were suffering
from upper body parts injuries, which is indicative of the gun that was
used, of the fire that was used against them. Some were hit also by
shrapnel because of the — by artillery fire that was hit at them.</b></p>
<p><b>Of course, if I were Israel or if I were the occupation, I would tell
the world that I have already started a preliminary investigation, and
they might also [inaudible] came from us, and shoot the Palestinians,
who were not using any arms and who were seeking to feed their children.
That’s typical. That’s normal. This is the Israeli habit. They will say
— because they targeted the Baptist Hospital, and they also said that
was not them, that was an Islamic Jihad rocket, missile, that hit the
people and killed around 600 people. That’s normal.</b></p>
<p><b>But the issue now, if the international community is failing to
compel Israel to conduct a scrutiny into the things that happened, I
think the international community failed before and is still failing to
stop the ongoing atrocities and is helping somehow. When they are
condoning the ongoing bombardment, they are failing to do justice for
the people of Palestine, and they are failing to observe the
international humanitarian law coordinates — the international
humanitarian law dictates, that asks the government to take whatever
precautions are needed to protect the civilian population, civilian
population that is living in Gaza, extremely difficult conditions
[inaudible] food [inaudible]. They were not [inaudible] in a fire
exchange. They were seeking food for their families and for their
children and for themselves, and they ended up being killed.</b></p>
<p><b>So, Israel will deny. And I wouldn’t be surprised also if Israel said
that they were killed by other Palestinians. That is a scenario, I
think, that is extremely acceptable for Israel. And Israel allies would
buy anything from Israel. So, no need. The ones who were killed are just
Palestinians, Palestinians who were treated as second-grade humans, who
are still besieged, who are still starving, who are still killed, who
are still displaced for around second or six or seven or eight times,
and who are expecting more of the misery and the death and displacement.</b></p>
<p><b>So, the international community is failing, and I don’t think the
Palestinians trust any statements made by the Israeli army about any
preliminary investigation, because there were many preliminary
investigations to be done, but they were never done, and there was many
justice that is expected to be done for the Palestinians but was not
done.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Akram, if you can comment on the United States working with the
Jordanian Air Force, dropping 38,000 ready-to-eat meals, largely on the
beach in Gaza? If you can respond to — we just played clips of mass
protest, that there was protest around the world, but one person in
Washington, D.C., commented on the fact that while the U.S. is
providing, is dropping this food, they should stop providing Israel with
the bombs they drop on Palestinians.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
The clear analysis of this situation when it comes to the
cause-and-effect relationship between Israel and the misery that the
Palestinians have been living, the United States and the misery that
Palestinians have been living, three C-103 planes were dropping food on
the Palestinians, while countless number of F-16s, F-15s, F-22s and
F-35s, also with the most advanced technology and with the ammunition
that are provided by the United States to the Israel — so, in one hand,
they are providing people with food, and in the other hand, they are
providing people with death, taking their lives.</b></p>
<p><b>I think the United States should be reconsidering its position when
it comes to providing Israel with killing ammunitions and thinking that
they are providing people in Gaza with around 35,000 or 36,000 meals
that are ready to eat. The Palestinians might not be able to eat them.
And some of the airdropped assistance that was dropped in Gaza went to
the sea. And one of the people that I was talking to, he was joking and
mocking the whole situation we are living in. He was saying the fish is
very grateful for the American administration because they dropped the
food that was sent to Gaza to the fish in the Gaza Sea. And I think a
president that is dropping the aid for the Ukrainians while the Gaza is
the target is, in a way — needs to reconsider everything about that, and
they need to make sure that they provide unhindered access through the
recognized crossings of Gaza for the people who are displaced, in the
Gaza south and in the Gaza north. So, somehow, it’s — Palestinians find
it ridiculous. Palestinians find it a way that needs to be reviewed and
changed.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
What word are you getting of ceasefire negotiations? And also, what is
happening on the ground where you are, in Rafah, right now? Al Jazeera
reporting at least 11 were killed, 50 wounded, after an Israeli air
attack on a tent housing displaced people next to an entrance to a
hospital in Rafah city, not far from where you are standing.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
Well, the negotiations are still underway. It looks like Israel has
some demands to make. Some of them were not agreed upon in the past, but
now they are coming up with them. Palestinians don’t have high
expectations when it comes to the negotiation.</b></p>
<p><b>Palestinians are extremely busy now trying to survive because of the
expansion of the ground operation. In Khan Younis area, they have
already targeted — the Israeli occupation targeted Hamad City area and
also the al-Qarara area, which is an expansion of the ground operation
that has been already starting in Khan Younis for the last — have been
already rolling in Khan Younis for the last three months. The Israeli
occupation forces targeted a tent by a hospital in the Rafah west area,
and they also targeted a home. The number of people who were killed in
Rafah for the last 24 hours is more than 50 people in different
incidents taking place in different parts of Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b>So, the misery is continuous, and the bombardment is continuous. And
the number of Palestinians who are killed because of that and the number
of people who are displaced because of that is increasing, I would say,
by the second, not by the minute.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Finally, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has the
negotiating team boycotting the negotiations now in — the ceasefire
negotiations in Cairo, because he says Hamas has refused, as part of the
deal, to provide the list of living hostages. Your thoughts on this and
where these negotiations stand?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
As a matter of fact, that — I’ve been following the news about this
from the Israeli media sources and from the Palestinian media sources,
as well. That specific request was not made by the Israeli security
forces, security agencies in the past. Now Netanyahu is inventing
something new for the sake of just continuing the delay.</b></p>
<p><b>It looks like this delay is taking place for some purely political
reasons where Netanyahu is interested in prolonging the war. They have
disputes. They have issues. One of the top leaders is now in the U.S.A.
Netanyahu is busy calling Blinken and calling other people, telling them
that it is an unauthorized trip. It looks like there is something that
is internally happening in the Israeli political arena that Netanyahu
wants to stop and prevent from happening. And that’s why everything that
he wants to do eventually reflects on the Palestinians, now more
killing, more displacement, now refusing the request to provide some
names — now asking to provide some names.</b></p>
<p><b>So, I think we will see a great deal of procrastination like the one
that we have been seeing for the past few months. Netanyahu is
interested in his personal safety when it comes to his political career,
political life, and I think that’s why even the Israeli security
forces, that are not being able to end this military confrontation with
the Palestinian factions in Gaza, are now trying to, through the
political means, to come to, I would say, honorable end for this, but
they are failing to do so.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
You’re talking about Benny Gantz being in Washington now to meet with
today Kamala Harris, Tony Blinken — she’ll be meeting with — and other
officials. I wanted to, finally, ask you about the issue of famine,
about the number of children who are dying of hunger and dehydration,
and how the Palestinians are dealing with this at this point.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
Well, according to the statistics that were released by the Palestinian
Ministry of Health, around 1 million Palestinians have developed some
diseases of any kind, be them some diseases that have to do with the
digestive system, with the respiratory system, with the upper
respiratory system, which is indicative of the quality of life, where
quality of life has reached in Gaza, and what is the situation of the
public health. When you don’t have water desalination plants, when you
destroy the water purification systems, when you destroy the solar
panels that are on top of the houses of the people, when you destroy the
heavy vehicles that are used by the municipalities to remove the waste,
when you are destroying everything that has to do with the life of the
Palestinians, this result is normal and is projected, and it will
continue to deteriorate.</b></p>
<p><b>Now, with the children, 18 children have died in northern Gaza. More
children are dying in southern Gaza. People cannot get decent food for
their children. When people are drinking the water, the water is
polluted, and it causes them some serious public health issues. And now
the children are the most vulnerable people within the community. We
have 1 million child in Gaza, 1 million child that do not have
appropriate shelter, do not have appropriate feeding systems. They don’t
have appropriate water systems, and they end up consuming water that is
polluted, food that is polluted. They end up exposed. The twins that
were killed yesterday, they were just twins. They were children. They
were killed with their father. So they were deprived from the right to
live, and they are still deprived from the right to access decent water,
shelter and food supplies. So this is the situation in Gaza as it is.
It is an ongoing suffering because of the fact that the Israeli
occupation denied them the right to be treated as humans. This is the
whole issue.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Akram al-Satarri, we want to thank you so much for being with us, a
Gaza-based journalist, speaking to us today from Rafah. Please be safe.</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Where's
the video? We posted it yesterday. For a few hours you could stream
it. YOUTUBE's now put a warning on it. The Israeli government can kill
but YOUTUBE won't allow the damage to be shown.</p></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/05/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Frances Vinall (WASHINGTON POST) notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>A severe lack of food led to the deaths of 10 children at Kamal Adwan
Hospital in northern Gaza, the head of the World Health Organization <a href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1764652624492515832" target="_blank">said Monday</a>, a day after the Gaza Health Ministry reported that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/03/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/?itid=lk_inline_manual_26" target="_blank">15 children there have died</a>
of malnutrition or dehydration. Visits to two hospitals in the area —
the first the WHO has been able to make since October — revealed “severe
levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages
of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed,”
Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>New content at THIRD:</div><div><br /></div><div><ul class="posts"><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/truest-statement-of-week.html">Truest statement of the week</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/truest-statement-of-week-ii.html">Truest statement of the week II</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-note-to-our-readers.html">A note to our readers</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/gaza.html">Gaza</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/tv-elsbeth.html">TV: ELSBETH</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/book-talk-mike-ava-and-ci.html">Book Talk (Mike, Ava and C.I.)</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/book-list.html">Book list</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/2024-passings.html">2024 passings</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/tweet-of-week.html">Tweet of the week</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/music-elaine-covers-sonny-chers-look-at.html">Music: Elaine covers Sonny & Cher's LOOK AT US</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/evan-ross-my-wonderful-sons-who-are.html">Evan & Ross, my wonderful sons who are loving men,...</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-unregistered-marriages-harm-women.html">Iraq: Unregistered Marriages Harm Women and Children</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/this-editions-playlist.html">This edition's playlist</a></li><li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/03/highlights.html">Highlights</a></li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"> </div></li></ul></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-19546743852493624652024-03-04T18:00:00.000-08:002024-03-04T18:00:00.139-08:00Fat, ugly and a coward -- Clarence Thomas <p><b><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/">BULLY BOY PRESS</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;">& </span><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="https://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/">CEDRIC'S BIG MIX</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> & <a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/">THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN</a> & <a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/">ANN'S MEGA DUB</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;"> & <a href="https://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS</a> & <a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/">THE COMMON ILLS</a> -- THE KOOL AID TABLE</span></b> </p><p>TODAY, THE BIASED AND UNETHICAL SUPREME COURT TRAMPLED ON THE CONSTITUTION, ON STATE RIGHTS, AND ON COMMON SENSE. </p><p>WE SPOKE WITH CROOKED CLARENCE THOMAS TO GET A HANDLE ON THE MOOD OF THE COURT -- <span style="color: #999988;"><a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/">BULLY BOY PRESS</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;">& </span><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="https://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/">CEDRIC'S BIG MIX</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> & <a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/">THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN</a> & <a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/">ANN'S MEGA DUB</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;"> & <a href="https://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS</a> & <a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/">THE COMMON ILLS</a> </span>MUST CREDIT . </p><p>WE JOINED CROOKED CLARENCE AS HE ROLLED HIS NUDE AND PORTLY FIGURE AROUND NUDE IN BALUT AT DOI MOI. HE EXPLAINED HE DID THIS ONCE A WEEK TO REMIND HIMSELF OF THE VIETNAM WAR AND "HOW A LOT OF SUCKERS SERVED BUT I DIDN'T. NO LITTLE CLARRY KEPT HIS COWARDLY AND CUTE ASS OUT OF THAT WAR, F**K THE DRAFT. THAT'S WHY I'M THE PERFECT TO SIT ON THE COURT -- WHEN MY COUNTRY WAS AT WAR, I SOUGHT DEFERMENTS TO AVOID SERVING. SOME PEOPLE CALL ME CROOKED CLARENCE -- THEY SEEM TO FOGET THAT I'M ALSO COWARDLY CLARENCE."</p><p><br /></p><p>SO TODAY, WE ASKED, YOU DECIDED THAT THE CONSTITUTION DID NOT MATTER?</p><p><br /></p><p>"NO, YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!" HE THUNDERED AS HE GRABBED HIS CLOTHES PREPARING TO GET DRESSED WITHOUT SHOWERING THE BALUT OFF HIS BODY. "WE DID NOT DECIDE THAT TODAY! WE DECIDED THAT YEARS AGO! I LAUGH AT THE IDIOTS WHO CALL FOR ME TO RECUSE MYSELF. WHEN HAVE I EVER THOUGHT IT WAS BOUND BY THE LAW? WHEN MY SUGAR DADDIES WERE BRIBING ME WITH MILLIONS OVER THE YEARS? HA!"</p><p><br /></p><p>AN OBVIOUSLY MIFFED AND HALF-DRESSED (TOP ONLY) CROOKED CLARENCE BEGAN ROOTING AROUND AND THUNDERING, "WHERE IS MY PENILE SHEATH! AS A MEMBER OF THE BLADDER & BOWEL COMMUNITY, I CANNOT GO OUT IN PUBLIC WITHOUT MY PENI PAD TO ABSORB MY INCONTINENCE SPRAYS THAT HAPPEN ON THE HOUR! WHERE IS MY PENILE SHEATH! WHERE!"</p><p>AS THESE REPORTERS WALKED OUT, WE OBSERVED LEGAL GOSSIP AND PROFESSIONAL HOMOPHOBE JONATHAN TURLEY SCURRYING IN ON ALL FOURS, WAGGING HIS SAGGY ASS AND EXCLAIMING, "I'LL LICK IT UP, JUDGE THOMAS, I'LL LIKE IT ALL UP!" <i> </i></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_29.html">FROM THE TCI WIRE</a>:</p><div>We start in the US with major campaign news. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKaEeTz0qVk&t=2s">Marianne Williamson announced yesterday</a> that "as of today, I am unsuspending my campaign for president of the United States." </div><div><br /></div><div>The
moment is important for a number of reasons. First, if you suspend you
campaign, you can start it back up. Something Ron DeSantis reminds
himself daily as he waits to see Donald Trump convicted. So it's
teachable. Second it also shows the need for something more. Marianne
suspended her campaign. And then we ended up with Michigan's primary
this week which was noteworthy for a number of reasons including that
despite having suspended her campaign on February 7th, this week she
still got 3% of the vote. She beat the forgettable and unlikable Dean
Phillips who was still in the race. She didn't campaign, she did do
meet-and-greet, buy ad time, phone bank, media, you name it. And she
beat Dean Phillips giving it presumably his best shot.</div><div><br /></div><div>There
is a hunger for something more and there is a need to push the
Democratic Party presidential candidate -- whomever that may be -- to
fight for the American people. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, her campaign <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKaEeTz0qVk&t=2s">released a video</a> of her explaining why she was unsuspending. You can also read that at <a href="https://marianne2024.com/">her website</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="copy"><b>As of today, I am unsuspending my Presidential campaign.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>All of us have noticed America’s political dynamics are
moving in a disturbing direction. Donald Trump’s power is on the
incline, and President Biden’s is on the decline. More and more people
are saying the quiet part out loud: that despite the fact that the
President deserves credit for many of his accomplishments, he is clearly
a weak candidate to defeat Donald Trump in 2024.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I, however, am not. My ability to arouse in Americans
the angels of our better nature is the most powerful antidote to Trump’s
dark and authoritarian vision.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I suspended my campaign because we were losing the horse
race. But there is something much bigger than the horse race that’s at
stake here. In the words of Mohammed Ali, ‘When the mission is right,
the odds don’t matter.”</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We cannot sit idly by while the D.C. political class
sleepwalks this country into disaster. Too many have followed the
directives of the status quo for too long, but we are awakening now. We
are ready to act, to take the wheel of history into our hands and turn
it in another direction.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We need a President who stands for a new beginning in
America, and whether I can help do that as President or in some other
way, unsuspending the campaign is a necessary next step.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We will win on the promise of restoring America’s middle
class and waging peace both domestically and internationally. From
#MedicareForAll to #CeasefireNow in exchange for the hostages, from
tuition free college and tech school to a guaranteed living wage, from
waging peace to repudiating America’s forever war machine, from
subsidized child care to ending America’s War on Drugs, our platform is
the winning one.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I will respond to the cult-like personality of Donald
Trump with a light-filled vision of hope and possibility. We will become
once again a “government of the people, by the people, and for the
people” at a time when corporate interests have taken Washington
hostage.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I hope you are as moved by this vision as I am. You have
supported the campaign before, and I hope you feel moved to support it
again.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We must rise to the occasion like never before; so much
is riding on what we do now. Even if the most I can do is influence the
President, that in itself is a goal worth striving for. For those of us
who are deeply committed to Trump not returning to the White House,
it’s imperative that we do everything possible to help mount a winning
campaign in 2024.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I hope you will help me do this. There is no time to
waste. Please give generously so we can restart the engines and race to
the top.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>They also released the video below that gets to why she is running and why you should care.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OzggH8WADpw?si=rjH82wMoJM6VSLJL" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Marianne
Williamson: I'm Marianne Williamson and when I was growing up, America
had a vibrant middle class. The average American worker had decent
benefits, could afford a home, could afford a car, could afford a yearly
vacation, could afford for one member of the couple to stay home if
they wished and could afford to send their kids to college. But over
the last fifty years, there's been a massive transfer of wealth to the
tune of 50 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% of Americans to the the
top 1% -- decimating America's middle class. We all owe President Biden
a debt of gratitude for defeating President Trump in 2020. But with
the things that they're going to be throwing at us in 2024? We need to
submit to the American people an agenda of fundamental economic
reform: universal healthcare, tuition-free colleges at state colleges
and universities, higher education including tech schools, paternity and
maternity leave, free child care and a guaranteed living wage. These
are things that are considered moderate positions in every other
advanced democracy . But in the United States, people have been trained
to expect too little. The American people have been played. What the
Democratic Party should do is to truly return to the principles of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- not just alleviate their suffering but
offer them genuine economic reform, not just help people survive in an
unjust system, the Democratic Party should end an unjust system.
Washington DC, with a few brave exceptions, is filled with two major
categories of leaders: Those who don't even care about all the suffering
that is going on out there and those who do not have the moral courage
to fix it. Let me in there, I will.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That's a powerful message and she's speaking to us. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know a kind way to say this so let's not try to pretty it up: Who the hell is Junior speaking to?</div><div><br /></div><div>My
phone hasn't stopped ringing since the e-mail his campaign sent out
late yesterday afternoon "Let’s send a powerful message" (afternoon my
time -- PST). </div><div><br /></div><div>Marianne just spoke about the needs of the American people.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bobby Kennedy Junior can't do that. </div><div><br /></div><div>Junior yammered away for over 1600 words and the only time "you" were mentioned was to beg for money.</div><div><br /></div><div>What did he offer instead?</div><div><br /></div><div>More
attempts to climb on top of the shoulders of his father and the late
President John F. Kennedy. For variety, he threw two more men in the
mix -- Martin Luther King Jr. -- mentioned only in passing -- and
Malcolm X. The last one, that was the most offensive. </div><div><br /></div><div>Right
now, as you read this, you're in the world and you're trying to learn
and grow. Some people stop. Junior stopped growing long ago. Which is
why he offers the Whitest and most insulting take on Malcolm X you
could imagine. I can remember when, in the 80s, his take began to
become a dominant take. Articles and books appeared. It was a
different take than the spit-on-Malcolm take that was so popular among
many. But I don't know that it was a better take. At least when the
enemy spits on you, they realize you're a force -- even in death -- to
be reckoned with. The new Malcolm was more like a child who returned
from a journey and was petted on the head. That's 'history' in Junior's
warped mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>In fairness, it's history he was
'taught.' Lucy Hughes-Hallett wrote an excellent book entitled
CLEOPATRA: HISTORIES, DREAMS AND DISTORTIONS. The 1990 book is a must
read for critical thinkers and traces how history is flexible and how in
one time period one thing is emphasized and in another it's something
else. Same person: Cleopatra. But the history and the stories a
society tells itself change over time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Bobby's
become fixated on the last century and that's becoming ever more
clear. It's the 21st century and he can't cope with it. </div><div><br /></div><div>And
it's bad enough that Junior keeps trying to pretend he can speak for
his father (who does have eight other living children) and his uncle but
now he's trying to speak for MLK and Malcolm as well? </div><div><br /></div><div>"What's next?" a friend asked over the phone, "His donation plea where he channels the ghost of Kitty Genovese?" </div><div><br /></div><div>Exactly. </div><div><br /></div><div>He's useless as THE DAILY SHOW made clear this week. </div><div><br /></div><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/chuGDDdJLbk?si=p_fHSq7aQk3f1K0E" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><div><br /></div><div> Back to the real world, the Michigan primary was important this week. Let's note <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/28/michigan_2024_primary_uncommitted_biden_gaza">this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><p><br /></p><p>Recommended: "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/like-when-fighting-nazis-in-wwii-us-has.html">Like when fighting the Nazis in WWII, the US has t...</a>"</p><ul class="posts">
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for you too</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/all-in-for-marianne.html" target="_self">All in for Marianne</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/crooked-clarnece.html" target="_self">Crooked Clarnece</a>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/black-history-month-and-black-current.html" target="_self">Black History Month and Black Current Events</a>"</p><ul class="posts">
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/tv-lorne-michaels-tries-to-shift.html">TV: Lorne Michaels tries to shift the overton window</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-note-to-our-readers_27.html">A note to our readers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/truest-statement-of-week_27.html">Truest statement of the week</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/aaron-bushnell.html">Aaron Bushnell</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/book-talk-ann-marcia-trina-ava-and-ci.html">Book Talk (Ann, Marcia, Trina, Ava and C.I.)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/from-tesr-test-kitchen_27.html">From THE TESR TEST KITCHEN</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/book-list.html">Book list</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/music-kat-reviews-melissa-manchesters.html">Music: Kat reviews Melissa Manchester's new album</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/this-editions-playlist_27.html">This edition's playlist</a></li></ul><p><br /></p><p>"<span class="item-title"><a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/2024/02/marjorie-taylor-greene-identifies-self.html" target="_blank">Marjorie Taylor Greene identifies self as 'a national security threat'</a></span>"<br />"<span class="item-title"><a href="http://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/2024/02/whats-that-smell-marjorie-taylor-greene.html" target="_blank">What's that smell? Marjorie Taylor Greene!</a></span>"</p><p>"<a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/2024/02/this-just-in-mtg-fat-and-smellu.html" target="_blank">THIS JUST IN! MTG: FAT AND SMELLU</a>"</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-45234218943608947802024-03-02T13:11:00.000-08:002024-03-02T13:11:09.402-08:00Shady Menendez <p>Things just got a little worse for Shady Menendez. <br /></p><p> <span class="vcard"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/01/menendez-defendant-guilty-00144438">Dustin Racioppi (Politico) reports</a>:</span></p><p class="story-text__paragraph "><b>Jose Uribe, one of the three
businesspeople charged in the corruption case focused on Sen. Bob
Menendez, pleaded guilty Friday to bribery and other charges in a
Manhattan federal court. </b></p><b>
</b><p class="story-text__paragraph "><b>Uribe was an insurance broker and
central player in a yearslong scheme to bribe New Jersey’s senior
senator with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold in
exchange for favors to enrich themselves and the government of Egypt,
according to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. </b></p><p><b><span class="vcard"> </span></b></p><p class="story-text__paragraph "><b>Uribe
and the two other businesspeople, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, also
purchased a new Mercedes-Benz for Menendez’s wife, Nadine Arslanian
Menendez, and helped pay her mortgage, according to prosecutors. </b></p><b>
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</b><p class="story-text__paragraph "><b>“Are you happy?” Uribe allegedly
texted Nadine Menendez after purchasing the Mercedes. She responded, “I
will never forget this.”</b></p><b>
</b><p class="story-text__paragraph "><b>Uribe had also been implicated in a New Jersey state-level investigation, in which Menendez allegedly tried to intervene. </b></p>
<p> </p><p><a href="https://gothamist.com/news/nj-businessman-pleads-guilty-to-attempted-bribery-of-us-sen-bob-menendez">Samantha Max (The Gothamist) explains</a>:</p><p><b>Prosecutors said that in exchange for the Mercedes Benz, Menendez
pressured an official with the New Jersey attorney general’s office to
resolve the case favorably for Uribe’s associates without success.
Prosecutors haven’t named that official.</b></p><p><b>Uribe agreed to pay
restitution and give the Internal Revenue Service copies of amended,
accurate tax returns for 2016 through 2021 as part of his plea deal. He
also agreed to pay any taxes he owes to the IRS for those years.</b></p><p><b>If
Uribe complies with all the terms, according to the plea deal, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York will not
prosecute him further. The deal does not protect him against prosecution
for other crimes. If prosecutors learn that Uribe has committed
additional crimes or provides “false, incomplete, or misleading
testimony or information,” he could once again face criminal charges.</b></p><p><b>The
agreement does not say what Uribe’s sentence will be, noting that
criminal sentences are up to the court and promises from prosecutors are
forbidden. But it does say that prosecutors will inform probation
officers and the court about Uribe’s pledge to cooperate with law
enforcement. The total maximum sentence on all counts is 95 years in
prison, according to the plea deal.</b></p><p> It does not look good for Shady. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/co-defendant-menendez-corruption-case-pleads-guilty-will-cooperate-rcna141438">NBC NEWS notes</a>:</p><p> </p><p><b>Adam Fee, Menendez's attorney, said in a statement, “Senator Menendez
has spent months detailing the law and the evidence that demonstrate
that charges should never have been filed in this case. Today’s news of
Mr. Uribe’s change of plea does not change the core truth: Sen. Menendez
is innocent and the prosecutors have got it wrong. Sen. Menendez
continues to look forward to proving his innocence to a jury.”</b> <br /></p><p> Shady, you basehead.<br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/03/iraq-snapshot.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Friday, March 1, 2024. Marianne Williamson delivers a major speech in
San Francisco, THE NEW YORK TIMES mythical rape 'report' continues to
fall apart, instead of answering questions about that report the paper
is trying to figure out who is speaking to the press, and much more.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Marianne
Williamson announced Wednesday that she was unsuspending her campaign
for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination and was back in the
race.. She spoke at an event in San Francisco last night.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Excerpt.<br /><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Marianne
Williamson: The Battle of Gettysburg was the battle at which it was
decisive. Once the North won that battle, it was decisive that the
Union would in fact survive. So Abraham Lincoln himself went to the
battlefield. And his words, of course, in The Gettysburg Address is
that the men who died there -- for the North -- he said that they had
given their last full measure of devotion so that a government of the
people and by the people and for the people would not perish from the
earth. My message to you is, once again, although we don't already know
this, is it's perishing now. It's perishing on our watch because we
are for all intents and purposes a government of the corporations and by
the corporations and for the corporations. And ever since particularly
CITIZENS UNITED and the unlimited permission given to corporate forces
to flood our political system with the undue influence of their money,
at this point, they hold Washington hostage. Washington is a system of
legalized bribery. I can tell you from being in the belly of that
beast, this is how the system operates. If you don't have, I mean huge
money -- I don't mean money, I mean huge money -- Remember the President
has a billion dollars for this campaign. If you don't have either huge
amounts of money or access to people with huge amounts of money, you
don't have a chance of being anywhere near the pinnacles of power in
this country. And that's why you might ask yourself, 'Well given all
the things we've been talking about tonight, why don't they pass
policies in Washington that make it better? Why don't they pass
policies that help the average American?" That's because there are so
few average Americans in that place. And how much power is exerted to
make sure the average American either doesn't get in or once they do get
in they're manipulated to the point where there's just more suckers for
the same establishment? There's only one way to override this at this
point. And that is for a peaceful revolution -- a peaceful revolution at
the ballot box. John F. Kennedy said that those who keep us from
peaceful revolution make violent revolution inevitable. So I believe
that we are at a crossroad. I think we all know that we're at a
crossroad. But like I said before, this is a moment for data analysis. I
didn't say anything tonight that everybody here doesn't already know. I
mean maybe I gave a statistic or two that you might not have
considered. But in general it's like the dots are scrambled. It's not
like the dots aren't there. And it's not that we're stupid people.
It's that we've been trained -- we've been trained to expect too
little. We've been trained to farm out our best critical thinking. And
we've been -- even those of us who are Democrats -- we've been trained
to give up the democratic process. We've returned to Tammany Hall
politics -- to men around a table a hundred years ago who got together
with cigars and decided who the candidates would be and would come up
with these ridiculous policies like, "Oh, no, no, we don't primary an
incumbent president." Tell that to those of us who remember Lyndon B.
Johnson because Eugene McCarthy primaried him, Bobby Kennedy Sr.
primaried him. We didn't think that was weird. We thought it was
democracy. People primary sitting senators all the time. People
primary sitting Congress people all the time. But we've just been 'oh!
oh! oh!' This is codependency now. Because the DNC said "Oh, no, we
have to go with Joe. The DNC says we're going with Joe." Who the hell
is the DNC? I'll tell you something, political parties are not
mentioned in the Consitution. And George Washington, in his farewell
address, warned us about them. He said, he predicted -- and, man, this
one rings true -- he said they could form factions of men who were more
loyal to their party than to their country. John Adams would then say
he saw political parties as the greatest threat to our democracy. And I
-- many of us in this room -- grew up in a time when political parties
sat in the background. We still honored that democratic principal that
political power lies in the hands of the people. The people would make a
decision in a primary who to nominate. The party would have nothing to
do with it until the people had chosen and then they would step in.
But, of course, they decided once Bernie Sanders came along, "Oh, we're
not going to have any of that." And then they got away with that. And
then they did it the next time and they got away with that. And now
they don't even pretend. Now they don't even pretend. And we're just
going along. So I ran for president because I feel that we need an
economic u-turn -- an economic u-turn in this country. Because I feel
we're like a ship headed for the iceberg here and that one major party
just heads right towards it and another major political party heading
more slowly and will hit it at a different angle. We have one major
political party representing a total nose-dive for our democracy because
you can't have a thriving democracy where you don't have a thriving
middle class. And the other major political party is moving in the
direction of a managed decline. These political parties do not just chop
wood and carry water for these corporate forces, they are huge
corporate forces. So seems to me we need to turn the ship around. Now I
was very enthralled by Franklin Roosevelt's Economic Bill of Rights
which would include universal healthcare, Medicare For All, tuition free
college and tech school, a complete elimination of the college loan
debt by using The Higher Education Act. It would include all of the
things we've mentioned. It would include things like ramping down
fossil fuel extraction rather than ramping it up which all of those
presidents of the modern era -- Democrats and Republicans -- end up
falling in line with Big Oil. Now one of them pretends not to. See,
one of them has learned what we want to hear so will say things like
"I'm the Climate President" and will even make sure that there are
healthy investments in green energy in The Inflation Reduction Act and
we say, "Oh, that's so good! There are these wonderful, wonderful, very
beneficial in the Inflation Reduction Act. Oh, yes. Oh, yes." Guess
what? It's a classic purse thief distraction technique. That same
president has given more oil drilling permits than even Trump did. That
same president okayed The Willow Project. That same president must
know that all of the investment in dirty energy completely nullifies the
investments in healthy, green energy. We are suckers if we're okay
with that. And all of the presidents in the modern era -- Republican or
Democrat -- are willing to fall in line -- obviously -- with the defense
industries. And so what we need is a guaranteed living wage. What we
need is guaranteed sick pay. All of those things. And we need to
repudiate the permanent war machine. Americans are figuring this out.
We need to play peace games, not just war games. We need a peace
academy, not just military academy. We need armies of peace builders
just like we have armies of military personnel. We need a peace academy,
not just a military academy, because we need to learn to wage peace.
Even Donald Rumsfeld said we need to learn to wage peace. </b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The
speech was broadcast live on YOUTUBE (2,844 views -- those may not
include live views) and TWITTER (9448 views). (TWITTER -- I don't work
for Elon Musk and I don't have to indulge him.)</div><div><br /></div><div>It
was a major speech covering many important topics and explaining why
she was back in the race -- a candidate unsuspending their campaign is
news -- it's always news in the rare times that it happens. Most
infamously, it happened in 1992 when H Ross Perot came back into the
race.</div><div><br /></div><div>So news outlets can hire reporters to
cover just Taylor Swift or just Beyonce, but there's no one who could
cover a speech in a major US city -- one also broadcast live over the
internet?</div><div><br /></div><div>That's rather sad and one more sign of a democracy in peril.</div><div><br /></div><div>And
I'd rather money be spent covering the arts than covering sports so
let's add in all the reporting that took place after the Superbowl
ended. I think everyone who wanted to see it, watched it. The coverage
in the days after the game was not needed.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Gaza.</div><div><br /></div><div>ELETRONIC
INTIFADA continues to cover the mythical rapes of October 7th that have
still not been documented. And the revelations that THE INTERCEPT and
others have turned up in the last days.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/extraordinary-charges-of-bias-emerge-against-nytimes-reporter-anat-schwartz/">James North (MONDOWEIS) notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>New doubts are emerging about the <em>New York Times</em>’s coverage
of sexual violence during the October 7 Hamas-led attack — and the paper
owes its readers an open and transparent explanation. </b></p>
<p><b>What’s more, its reporting on this issue has become so questionable
that it should assign new reporters to go over the entire story again.</b></p>
<p><b>The latest questions are centered around Anat Schwartz, an Israeli
who co-authored several of the paper’s most widely circulated reports,
including the now <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/">well-known and scrutinized</a> December 28 article headlined: “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html">‘Screams Without Words’’ How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7.</a>”</b></p><p><b>Independent researchers <a href="https://twitter.com/stephenWalt/status/1761580980584730984">scrutinized the online record</a>,
and raised serious questions about Schwartz. First, she has apparently
never been a reporter but is actually a filmmaker, who the <em>Times</em>
suddenly hired in October. You would expect the paper to look for
someone with actual journalistic experience, especially for a story as
sensitive as this one, written during the fog of war. Surely the paper
had enough of its own correspondents on staff who could have been
assigned to it.</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>Next, the researchers found that Schwartz had not hidden her strong
feelings online. There are screenshots of her “liking” certain posts
that repeated the “40 beheaded baby” hoax, and that endorsed another
hysterical post that urged the Israeli army to “turn Gaza into a
slaughterhouse,” and called Palestinians “human animals.”</b></p><p><b>(Just this morning, more evidence emerged online; Schwartz apparently also served in Israeli Military Intelligence.)</b></p><p><b>Finally, one of her co-authors on two of the reports was Adam Sella, who is her nephew. ********* [see note added below]*****</b></p><p><b>Let’s pause here. What would happen if the <em>Times</em> suddenly
hired a Palestinian filmmaker with no journalistic background, who had
recently publicly “liked” posts that called for “pushing Israeli Jews
into the sea,” to co-write several of its most sensitive and contested
reports? </b></p><p><b>(We don’t have to speculate. <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2022/10/palestinian-photog-says-nyt-fired-him-for-expressing-support-for-resistance/">The <em>Times</em> fired Palestinian photojournalist Hosam Salam</a> in 2022 after one of the pro-Israel media watchdog groups protested about his social media posts.)</b></p><p><b>After Anat Schwartz’s online history became public, she locked down
her accounts and then deleted much of the incriminating content.</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>The <em>New York Times</em> imposes strict rules on its reporters to
maintain the appearance of objectivity. Reporters are not supposed to
attend demonstrations of any kind, wear campaign buttons, or post
opinions on social media. By hiring Anat Schwartz, the paper clearly
violated its own guidelines, and it should publicly explain and
apologize.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>***********[Added 3/1/24 2:49 PM EST, not her nephew. <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/1/nyt_anat_schwartz">Jeremy Scahill explained that on today's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></p><p><b>And her partner in this, Adam Sella, is the nephew of Anat Schwartz’s partner, and they’re not married. In fact, Amy, <em>The New York Times</em>,
they requested a correction from us, because we had initially said that
it was her nephew, which I think in the context of America and other
countries you would say. If you’re somebody’s longtime life partner, you
would say, “Oh, yeah, this is my nephew.” OK, they’re not blood
relatives, and they emphasize that she’s not married. Fine, we corrected
that.</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>My question is: Where are the corrections in <em>The New York Times</em> piece? <em>The New York Times</em>
has grave, grave mischaracterizations, sins of omission, reliance on
people who have no forensic or criminology credentials to be asserting
that there was a systematic rape campaign put in place here. And to
publish this article at a moment when Israel was intensifying, after
that brief pause where captives were exchanged — intensifying its
genocidal attack against the people of Gaza, this played a very, very
significant role. And the more we learn about this, the more we discover
that the reporting tactics that <em>The New York Times</em> used are
certainly not up to the standards that the newspaper claims to be
promoting. They will not issue any corrections on what has already been
documented to be very problematic sins of commission and omission in
this piece.</b></p><p><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/1/nyt_anat_schwartz">Use the link for Jeremy and Ryan Grimm's discussion with Amy Goodman on today's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a>]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/">Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim and Daniel Boguslaw (INTERCEPT) reported</a> Wednesday:</p></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><b><br /></b></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><b><br /></b></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><b> Inside the newsroom, the article was met with praise from editorial
leaders but skepticism from other Times journalists. The paper’s
flagship podcast “The Daily” attempted to turn the article into an
episode, but it didn’t manage to get through a fact check, as The
Intercept previously <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/01/28/new-york-times-daily-podcast-camera/">reported</a>.
(In a statement received after publication, a Times spokesperson said,
“No Daily episode was killed due to fact checking failures.”)</b></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><p><b>The fear among Times staffers who have been critical of the paper’s
Gaza coverage is that Schwartz will become a scapegoat for what is a
much deeper failure. She may harbor animosity toward Palestinians, lack
the experience with investigative journalism, and feel conflicting
pressures between being a supporter of Israel’s war effort and a Times
reporter, but Schwartz did not commission herself and Sella to report
one of the most consequential stories of the war. Senior leadership at
the New York Times did.</b></p>
<p><b>Schwartz said as much in an <a href="https://www.glz.co.il/%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%A6/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%A6%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A8/%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%A6%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A831-12-2023-1001/%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%94-%D7%AA%D7%92%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%99%D7%AA-nyt-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%91-710" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">interview</a>
with Israeli Army Radio on December 31. “The New York Times said,
‘Let’s do an investigation into sexual violence’ — it was more a case of
them having to convince me,” she said. Her host cut her off: “It was a
proposal of The New York Times, the entire thing?”</b></p>
<p><b>“Unequivocally. Unequivocally. Obviously. Of course,” she said. “The
paper stood behind us 200 percent and gave us the time, the investment,
the resources to go in-depth with this investigation as much as needed.”</b></p>
<p><b>Shortly after the war broke out, some editors and reporters
complained that Times standards barred them from referring to Hamas as
“terrorists.” The rationale from the standards department, run for 14
years by Philip Corbett, had long been that Hamas was the de facto
administrator of a specific territory, rather than a stateless terror
group. Deliberately killing civilians, went the argument, was not enough
to label a group terrorists, as that label could apply quite broadly.</b></p></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><p><b>Corbett, after October 7, defended the policy in the face of
pressure, newsroom sources said, but he lost. On October 19, an email
went out on behalf of Executive Editor Joe Kahn saying that Corbett had
asked <a href="https://talkingbiznews.com/media-moves/ny-times-makes-editorial-changes-in-standards/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">to step back from his position</a>.
“After 14 years as the embodiment of Times standards, Phil Corbett has
told us he’d like to step back a bit and let someone else take the
leading role in this crucial effort,”<a href="https://www.nytco.com/press/an-update-on-our-standards-team/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"> Times leadership explained</a>. Three newsroom sources said the move was tied to the pressure he was under to soften coverage in Israel’s favor. <a href="https://twitter.com/LailaAlarian/status/1761376892244967789/photo/2" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">One of the social media posts</a>
that Schwartz liked, triggering the Times review, made the case that,
for Israeli propaganda purposes, Hamas should be likened at all times to
the Islamic State. A Times spokesperson told The Intercept, “Your
understanding about Phil Corbett is flatly untrue.” In a statement
received after publication, “Phil had asked to change roles before Joe
Kahn even became executive editor in June 2022. And it had absolutely
nothing to do with a dispute over coverage.”</b></p>
<p><b>Since the revelations regarding Schwartz’s recent social media
activity, her byline has not appeared in the paper and she has not
attended editorial meetings. The paper said that a review into her
social media “likes” is ongoing. “Those ‘likes’’ are unacceptable
violations of our company policy,” said a Times spokesperson.</b></p>
<p><b>The bigger scandal may be the reporting itself, the process that
allowed it into print, and the life-altering impact the reporting had
for thousands of Palestinians whose deaths were justified by the alleged
systematic sexual violence orchestrated by Hamas the paper claimed to
have exposed.</b></p>
<p><b>Another frustrated Times reporter who has also worked as an editor
there said, “A lot of focus will understandably, rightfully, be directed
at Schwartz but this is most clearly poor editorial decision making
that undermines all the other great work being tirelessly done across
the paper — both related and completely unrelated to the war — that
manages to challenge our readers and meet our standards.”</b></p></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">The
story never should have run. There were no facts. There was no
evidence. We have stated over and over here that it is mythical rapes
until they have survivors or victims (victims if the females died).</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2023/12/iraq-snapshot_01968698163.html">Let's drop back to December 8th</a> [<b>Corrected: this originally said "December 9th" -- it was the December 8th snapshot</b>]:</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><div><b>I'm sorry I'm not in the mood for crap. I'm going try to be nicer
than I was to the actress who called me last night and begged me to help
with the effort on those mythical rape victims. But I can't make any
promises.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>That was last night. This morning"</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div dir="ltr"><b>One
e-mail changed a little bit in the 43 times it was sent. You got the
wrong one. You can't shame me. Not on the topic of the assault. I get
it, you want us to all grab the Israeli government's hymnal and sing
the chorus to "Rapes Took Place October 7th And My Heart Knows It
Happened." You got the wrong one.</b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>(A)
I was assaulted years ago as a child. So I really don't need to hear
from you sentences like, "Imagine if you were assaulted . . ." _____, I
was. I don't have to imagine. And what kind of sicko (a) wants me to relive that trauma? (B) "You have said over and over,
'Believe all women.''' One more time: You got the wrong one. I never
said that and I never would say that. Check the archives and you'll see
that I have long rejected that nonsense. I do not believe in that
blanket nonsense. Some men lie, some women lie. More to the point, I
am a thinking person and I would be an idiot to turn off my brain and
march along blindly. There are women who came forward with charges
against Donald Trump. I don't like Donald and never have. I believed
some of the women, I didn't believe them all. If you were serving on a
jury, you'd listen to the information and process it using your best
skills. That's not "believe all women." I've never argued that and I
never would. Some women I believe, some I don't. Some I can't
determine. (C) "It is your duty to call out these rapists." What
rapists? As with the women who allegedly were raped, we don't know
anything about who raped anyone. </b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>I hear your claims. I've heard them repeatedly in the media. Where's your proof?</b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Some of you liars on this are bringing back in the beheaded babies lie.
That is a lie. There is no proof to that. But it could have happened.
A sword swipe, a head comes off. Yeah, that can happen. But you're
telling me that in the hours an assault took place on October 7th, as
Israelis scrambled to get to safety and hopefully Israeli forces scrambled to fight the attack, Hamas took
time to rape. And to gang rape. Wow. </b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Doesn't
play. Doesn't mean it didn't happen. But it doesn't play. If you
pitched me that, I'd say that was a huge plot point error and that the
audience will never believe it. This was
an attack lasting hours not days. That the audience -- aware of all the
money that's gone into the Israeli military alone would never believe
that attackers would gang rape on site of the attack because they would
be in fear of being caught. They might drag someone away to rape them
after the attack but to stop everything and conduct a gang-rape? Again,
it doesn't play. Doesn't mean it didn't happen. But it doesn't play.</b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div></div></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">It didn't play. It was never believable. </div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">Recently,
the United Nations raised the issue of Palestinian girls and women
being abused and raped in Israeli custody. That likely has happened. A
woman being held somewhere is much more likely to be assaulted than a
woman out in the open in the midst of a raid, attack, charge whatever. </div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">If evidence emerges that it did happen, we'll note that evidence. We did note the UN announcement because it is news.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">But,
please note, I didn't use it to slam feminists or the women who pretend
they're feminists even though they're just Me-ists. Feminism is only
to be acknowledged and practiced by Me-ists when they can personally
benefit from it. Like the joke about certain African-American male
celebrities who reach out to the Black community only when they're in
the midst of a scandal and therefore, the joke goes, suddenly remember
they're Black.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">Part
of the propaganda on the rape myth (it's a myth until they find females
who were raped) was to try to turn woman against woman. And, in the
US, various ugly spirited women -- and balding women if you think about
it -- used their celebrity to sneer at other women for not embracing
and standing up for these non-existent rape victims.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">And
that was bad enough. I don't need some egotistical bitch who made
everyone miserable on her so-so TV show and was such a bitch that they
weren't willing to meet her quote so she'd pop up on the spin-off
lecturing me about feminism. A queen bee who persecutes other women
telling me what feminism is?</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">That was bad enough. But then we had others coming forward and damning feminists for promoting the mythical rapes.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">Excuse
me. I'm a feminist. I'm not the feminist. Ava and I, at THIRD,
present a feminist view on the media, we don't write "the" feminist
view.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">Because there's not one universal voice or opinion. </div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">It
was amazing to watch as a narrative emerged that bashed feminists for
(a) not speaking out for the mythical rape victims and (b) bashed
feminists for speaking out on the mythical rape victims.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">That's what it finally came down to.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">A lot of writers who never do a thing for feminism or feminists kept attacking us -- regardless of what we did or did not do.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">I
think it's highly more likely that women in custody were raped -- it's
true of women in custody in any country including the US. So I won't be
surprised if the investigation the UN is calling for -- on what has
happened to Palestinian women in Israeli custody -- finds actual
evidence and proof. But as a feminist and as a rape victim, this
feminist does not use rape for propaganda. </div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">We
should wait for proof. Listen to women, absolutely. But there were no
women to listen to with regards to October 7th and what I'm left with
is the impression that women were used to sell war (how it has looked
the entire time) and that's not about feminism. THE NEW YORK TIMES has a
lot to answer for as do various American celebrities -- Julianna, Mayim
and other balding actresses.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">Instead of answers from THE TIMES, they're circling the wagon and trying to figure out who's talking to the press. <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/new-york-times-israel-gaza-leak">Charlotte Klein (VANITY FAIR) reports</a>:</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><b><br /></b></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><p class="has-dropcap"><b><em>The</em> <em>New York Times</em> is conducting a leak investigation following a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/01/28/new-york-times-daily-podcast-camera/">report</a> in The Intercept about a yet-to-be-aired episode of <em>The Daily</em>
addressing explosive claims of sexual violence committed by Hamas on
October 7. Management in recent weeks has pulled at least two dozen
staffers, including <em>Daily</em> producers, into meetings in an
attempt to understand how internal details about the podcast’s editorial
process got out, according to multiple sources familiar with the
matter. The investigation, I’m told, is being led by Charlotte Behrendt,
the paper’s director of policy and internal investigations.</b></p><p><b>In late January, The Intercept reported that the <em>Times</em> had planned to air an episode of <em>The Daily</em> weeks earlier that was based on a December <em>Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html">investigation</a>, led by Pulitzer Prize–winner Jeffrey Gettleman and coauthored by freelancers Anat Schwartz and Adam Sella,
about how Hamas “weaponized sexual violence” in the October attack on
Israel. But the paper shelved that episode “amid a furious internal
debate about the strength of the paper’s original reporting on the
subject,” according to The Intercept, which noted that a new script was
drafted that “offered major caveats, allowed for uncertainty, and asked
open-ended questions that were absent from the original article, which
presented its findings as definitive evidence of the systematic use of
sexual violence as a weapon of war.” The Intercept’s Daniel Boguslaw and Ryan Grim
suggested that producers and the paper faced a conundrum: “run a
version that hews closely to the previously published story and risk
republishing serious mistakes, or publish a heavily toned-down version,
raising questions about whether the paper still stands by the original
report.” (<em>Times</em> spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander
told The Intercept that the paper does not comment on ongoing reporting
and that “there is only one ‘version’ of any piece of audio journalism:
the one that publishes.”)</b></p><p><b>It’s highly unusual for the <em>Times</em> to conduct a leak
investigation, with multiple staffers saying this is the first such
internal probe they can recall taking place. “It’s not something we do,”
said one. “That kind of witch hunt is really concerning.” Though
information has leaked out in the past—it’s par for the course for a
newsroom as sprawling and influential as the <em>Times</em>—this
disclosure presumably cuts deeper because it described internal
decision-making around a story that had yet to be published.</b></p></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">That's
not a good look for any outlet. It's an especially poor look for THE
TIMES. It was four years ago, remember, that they were dismissing the
Hunter Biden laptop. But more to the point, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/business/media/new-york-post-hunter-biden.html">it was October 18, 2020 that they published an article everyone wants to forget</a>
-- a fairy tale about how THE NEW YORK POST -- a threadbare publication
that has nowhere near the newsroom THE TIMES does -- had massive
pushback on their own Hunter Biden laptop article. [Added 3/1/24 at
10:23 PM actual date of NYT 'report' on the NY POST article and also
provided link And, by the way, 'tabloid' is not an insult or broadside.
It's what THE POST is and has been going back to the days of Dorothy
Schiff -- there are tabloids and there are broadsheets.] That
anonymice 'report' was questionable for the lack of facts and
on-the-record sources -- and the pretense that NY POST has an actual
newsroom of any significance -- they're run on the cheap. But it's even
more appalling when you grasp that THE TIMES believes it can
investigate and report on other outlets but that no one should do the
same on them.</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><b>[Added 3/1/24 at 2:53 pm -- I think we need Jeremy and Ryan's discussion with Amy on today's DEMOCRACY NOW!</b><br /><br />
<br /><br /><b>
We'll note it in Monday's snapshot -- and it will go up here in about
two hours in its own post but since the snapshot is reposted I want to
be sure the video of their discussion is in this snapshot.]
</b><br /><br />
</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><div><span class="Link"></span>Gaza remains under assault. Day 147 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." AP
noted yesterday that the death toll stood at 30,035 with
over 70,000 injured and thousands missing. Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna141305">NBC NEWS reports</a>:</div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><b><br /></b></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><p><b>At least 13 children are dead in Gaza because of malnutrition and hunger, Hamas said, citing data from the Gaza Health Ministry.</b></p><p><b>The
deaths are "a declaration of failure of the international community and
the United Nations in carrying out their tasks in protecting children
from starvation," it said in a statement today. </b></p><p><b>"We
renew our call on the United Nations and international relief
institutions to take urgent action to save children and civilians in the
Gaza Strip, especially in the Gaza and North governorates, and not to
submit to the dictates of the criminal Zionist occupation," Hamas said,
referring to Israel.</b></p><p><b>The organization also urged the
international community to help deliver food aid and medical assistance
to the enclave urgently "to avoid the increasing catastrophe of famine."</b></p></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2"><br /></div><div class="article-byline__authors text-accentDynamic mb-2">The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
<div class="widget-content">
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<ul id="BlogList1_blogs"><li style="display: block;">
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8 hours ago
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8 hours ago
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8 hours ago
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8 hours ago
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<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/like-all-games-even-con-games-have-to.html" target="_blank">
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<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
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<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/03/accountability.html" target="_blank">
accountability
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</span>
<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/03/groomer-lauren-boebert-at-heart-of-sex.html" target="_blank">
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<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
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<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/melissa-manchester-dolly-parton-and.html" target="_blank">
Melissa Manchester, Dolly Parton and Rhiannon Giddens
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8 hours ago </div>
</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-5439974198504933022024-02-29T22:14:00.000-08:002024-02-29T22:14:48.733-08:00Good for Sarah<p><a href="https://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/"><b>Betty</b></a> and I have both covered Alyssa Milano's refusal to be honest that she got Shannen Doherty fired. We both missed something. Eric e-mailed me <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sarah-michelle-gellar-defends-shannen-145748799.html">this story</a>: <br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>She can be quite <em>charming. </em></b></p><p><b>Sarah Michelle Gellar has officially thrown her support behind her good friend <a class="link " data-rapid_p="18" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:Shannen Doherty;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://nypost.com/2024/01/23/entertainment/shannen-doherty-and-jason-priestley-talk-about-the-sexual-undertone-of-their-90210-twin-siblings/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Shannen Doherty</a> amid the “Charmed” actress’ yearslong feud with former co-star Alyssa Milano.</b></p><p><b>“It was a difficult time,” Gellar, 46, told <a class="link " data-rapid_p="19" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:E! News;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1395789/sarah-michelle-gellar-supports-shannen-doherty-amid-charmed-drama" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E! News</a> on Sunday. “I was there for it. I think Shannen’s just about sharing her truths in general right now.”</b></p><p> </p><p>Good for Sarah. </p><p> </p><p>I don't know Alyssa thinks anyone believes her when Shannen and Holly Marie Combs are telling the truth. Only idiots and sycophants like Mark Ruffalo believe Alyssa. <br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_29.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Thursday, February 29, 2024. Marianne's back in, Joe's slow on the
uptake, Junior steps on more corpses as he tries to climb the political
ladder, the 30,000 mark has been passed in Gaza and much more.<div><br /></div><div>We start in the US with major campaign news. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKaEeTz0qVk&t=2s">Marianne Williamson announced yesterday</a> that "as of today, I am unsuspending my campaign for president of the United States." </div><div><br /></div><div>The
moment is important for a number of reasons. First, if you suspend you
campaign, you can start it back up. Something Ron DeSantis reminds
himself daily as he waits to see Donald Trump convicted. So it's
teachable. Second it also shows the need for something more. Marianne
suspended her campaign. And then we ended up with Michigan's primary
this week which was noteworthy for a number of reasons including that
despite having suspended her campaign on February 7th, this week she
still got 3% of the vote. She beat the forgettable and unlikable Dean
Phillips who was still in the race. She didn't campaign, she did do
meet-and-greet, buy ad time, phone bank, media, you name it. And she
beat Dean Phillips giving it presumably his best shot.</div><div><br /></div><div>There
is a hunger for something more and there is a need to push the
Democratic Party presidential candidate -- whomever that may be -- to
fight for the American people. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, her campaign <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKaEeTz0qVk&t=2s">released a video</a> of her explaining why she was unsuspending. You can also read that at <a href="https://marianne2024.com/">her website</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="copy"><b>As of today, I am unsuspending my Presidential campaign.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>All of us have noticed America’s political dynamics are
moving in a disturbing direction. Donald Trump’s power is on the
incline, and President Biden’s is on the decline. More and more people
are saying the quiet part out loud: that despite the fact that the
President deserves credit for many of his accomplishments, he is clearly
a weak candidate to defeat Donald Trump in 2024.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I, however, am not. My ability to arouse in Americans
the angels of our better nature is the most powerful antidote to Trump’s
dark and authoritarian vision.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I suspended my campaign because we were losing the horse
race. But there is something much bigger than the horse race that’s at
stake here. In the words of Mohammed Ali, ‘When the mission is right,
the odds don’t matter.”</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We cannot sit idly by while the D.C. political class
sleepwalks this country into disaster. Too many have followed the
directives of the status quo for too long, but we are awakening now. We
are ready to act, to take the wheel of history into our hands and turn
it in another direction.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We need a President who stands for a new beginning in
America, and whether I can help do that as President or in some other
way, unsuspending the campaign is a necessary next step.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We will win on the promise of restoring America’s middle
class and waging peace both domestically and internationally. From
#MedicareForAll to #CeasefireNow in exchange for the hostages, from
tuition free college and tech school to a guaranteed living wage, from
waging peace to repudiating America’s forever war machine, from
subsidized child care to ending America’s War on Drugs, our platform is
the winning one.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I will respond to the cult-like personality of Donald
Trump with a light-filled vision of hope and possibility. We will become
once again a “government of the people, by the people, and for the
people” at a time when corporate interests have taken Washington
hostage.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I hope you are as moved by this vision as I am. You have
supported the campaign before, and I hope you feel moved to support it
again.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>We must rise to the occasion like never before; so much
is riding on what we do now. Even if the most I can do is influence the
President, that in itself is a goal worth striving for. For those of us
who are deeply committed to Trump not returning to the White House,
it’s imperative that we do everything possible to help mount a winning
campaign in 2024.</b></p>
<p class="copy"><b>I hope you will help me do this. There is no time to
waste. Please give generously so we can restart the engines and race to
the top.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>They also released the video below that gets to why she is running and why you should care.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Marianne
Williamson: I'm Marianne Williamson and when I was growing up, America
had a vibrant middle class. The average American worker had decent
benefits, could afford a home, could afford a car, could afford a yearly
vacation, could afford for one member of the couple to stay home if
they wished and could afford to send their kids to college. But over
the last fifty years, there's been a massive transfer of wealth to the
tune of 50 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% of Americans to the the
top 1% -- decimating America's middle class. We all owe President Biden
a debt of gratitude for defeating President Trump in 2020. But with
the things that they're going to be throwing at us in 2024? We need to
submit to the American people an agenda of fundamental economic
reform: universal healthcare, tuition-free colleges at state colleges
and universities, higher education including tech schools, paternity and
maternity leave, free child care and a guaranteed living wage. These
are things that are considered moderate positions in every other
advanced democracy . But in the United States, people have been trained
to expect too little. The American people have been played. What the
Democratic Party should do is to truly return to the principles of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- not just alleviate their suffering but
offer them genuine economic reform, not just help people survive in an
unjust system, the Democratic Party should end an unjust system.
Washington DC, with a few brave exceptions, is filled with two major
categories of leaders: Those who don't even care about all the suffering
that is going on out there and those who do not have the moral courage
to fix it. Let me in there, I will.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That's a powerful message and she's speaking to us. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know a kind way to say this so let's not try to pretty it up: Who the hell is Junior speaking to?</div><div><br /></div><div>My
phone hasn't stopped ringing since the e-mail his campaign sent out
late yesterday afternoon "Let’s send a powerful message" (afternoon my
time -- PST). </div><div><br /></div><div>Marianne just spoke about the needs of the American people.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bobby Kennedy Junior can't do that. </div><div><br /></div><div>Junior yammered away for over 1600 words and the only time "you" were mentioned was to beg for money.</div><div><br /></div><div>What did he offer instead?</div><div><br /></div><div>More
attempts to climb on top of the shoulders of his father and the late
President John F. Kennedy. For variety, he threw two more men in the
mix -- Martin Luther King Jr. -- mentioned only in passing -- and
Malcolm X. The last one, that was the most offensive. </div><div><br /></div><div>Right
now, as you read this, you're in the world and you're trying to learn
and grow. Some people stop. Junior stopped growing long ago. Which is
why he offers the Whitest and most insulting take on Malcolm X you
could imagine. I can remember when, in the 80s, his take began to
become a dominant take. Articles and books appeared. It was a
different take than the spit-on-Malcolm take that was so popular among
many. But I don't know that it was a better take. At least when the
enemy spits on you, they realize you're a force -- even in death -- to
be reckoned with. The new Malcolm was more like a child who returned
from a journey and was petted on the head. That's 'history' in Junior's
warped mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>In fairness, it's history he was
'taught.' Lucy Hughes-Hallett wrote an excellent book entitled
CLEOPATRA: HISTORIES, DREAMS AND DISTORTIONS. The 1990 book is a must
read for critical thinkers and traces how history is flexible and how in
one time period one thing is emphasized and in another it's something
else. Same person: Cleopatra. But the history and the stories a
society tells itself change over time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Bobby's
become fixated on the last century and that's becoming ever more
clear. It's the 21st century and he can't cope with it. </div><div><br /></div><div>And
it's bad enough that Junior keeps trying to pretend he can speak for
his father (who does have eight other living children) and his uncle but
now he's trying to speak for MLK and Malcolm as well? </div><div><br /></div><div>"What's next?" a friend asked over the phone, "His donation plea where he channels the ghost of Kitty Genovese?" </div><div><br /></div><div>Exactly. </div><div><br /></div><div>He's useless as THE DAILY SHOW made clear this week. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> Back to the real world, the Michigan primary was important this week. Let's note <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/28/michigan_2024_primary_uncommitted_biden_gaza">this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
We begin today’s show in Michigan, where President Joe Biden won the
Democratic primary Tuesday but faced a significant backlash over his
support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Biden won about 81% of the vote,
but over 100,000 voters, or more than 13%, cast their ballots for
“uncommitted.”</b></p>
<p><b>In recent weeks, the group Listen to Michigan urged Democrats to vote
“uncommitted” to pressure Biden to call on Israel to end its assault on
Gaza. Organizers of the campaign had said they were hoping for 10,000
“uncommitted” votes, pointing to Donald Trump’s win of less than 11,000
votes in 2016, to show the significance of that number. Tuesday’s vote
shows they got 10 times that amount.</b></p>
<p><b>Michigan is the first major battleground state in the general
election to hold its primary. It’s also home to one of the largest Arab
American populations in the country. Top White House officials visited
Michigan earlier this month to meet with Arab and Muslim leaders after a
number of them refused to meet with Biden’s campaign manager.</b></p>
<p><b>The movement to vote “uncommitted” will likely spread to other
states. Organizers of the movement are holding a call with supporters in
Minnesota, which will vote next week, and Washington state, which holds
its primary March 12th.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we’re joined by two guests. James Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute. His new <a href="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2024/02/28/why-the-usa-continues-to-fail-the-arab-world/">opinion piece</a> for <em>Pakistan Today</em> is titled “Why the <span class="caps">USA</span>
Continues to Fail the Arab World.” He’s joining us from Utica, New
York. We’re also joined by former Democratic Congressmember from
Michigan Andy Levin. He’s joining us from Southfield, Michigan.</b></p>
<p><b>We welcome you both to <em>Democracy Now!</em> You’re a former
congressmember, Andy Levin. You’re also a former synagogue president.
Talk about this “uncommitted” campaign. For every six votes President
Biden got yesterday in the primary, “uncommitted” got one. Talk about
the organizing effort and what message that you hope that those who
supported “uncommitted,” like yourself, sent to President Biden.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">ANDY</span> <span class="caps">LEVIN</span>: Well, good morning, Amy and everyone. I don’t have much of a voice left, so sorry about that.</b></p>
<p><b>It was really an incredible thing, Amy. You know, I’ve been
organizing for peace for 40 years, and I’ve rarely seen such an organic
and authentic movement come together in, as you say, just three weeks.
And we got over 100,000 people to vote “uncommitted.” This was something
that grew up out of the Arab American and larger Muslim communities in
Michigan, but it had great power among progressives, among Jewish
people, Christians, Muslims, people of other faiths, people of no faith.
College campuses were aflame about this.</b></p>
<p><b>And the idea was that Michigan has this “uncommitted” box on our
ballot, because, remember, this is a presidential primary, and some
other states do the same thing. You’re voting to send delegates to a
convention, so you could vote to send delegates “uncommitted.” And, in
fact, we won so many votes, I believe we will send at least one delegate
from two congressional districts: the 6th District, represented by
Debbie Dingell, and the 12th District, represented by Rashida Tlaib.</b></p>
<p><b>I think the significance of this, Amy, is that the president’s
people, and maybe the president himself, there’s a danger that they see
this as sort of like a political problem: “We need to send surrogates.
We need better messaging. People just need to realize what a disaster
Trump would be, which, of course, we can never let him get near the
White House again. So they’ll come around all of this.” No. This is war.
This is the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people, leveling
whole neighborhoods, most of the Gaza Strip. We don’t just want you to
use a better message.</b></p>
<p><b>The message from us to the president yesterday was: You must change
course. You must change course for the sake of your political reelection
and because it’s the right and necessary thing to do from every point
of view, including U.S. national security interests, for God’s sake. The
message to the president is: Stop treating what Bibi Netanyahu says as
the boundary of the possible. You’ve got to move towards an immediate
and permanent ceasefire and an end to this carnage, free all the
hostages, free political prisoners among the Palestinians, including
leading longtime prisoners who — if you don’t like Hamas, free Marwan
Barghouti, who’s been in prison for so long, whom many Palestinians
might support to change the situation there. So, we really need actual
change in policy, and I think we sent that message strongly last night.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Andy Levin,
I wanted to ask you — I was particularly struck by the turnout. The
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said this was a record
turnout on Tuesday for a presidential primary. Compared to, for
instance, South Carolina, where only 4% of Democrats voted in the
primary, here we had over, it looks like, 50%? Could you explain this
issue of turnout, as well?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">ANDY</span> <span class="caps">LEVIN</span>:
Well, one thing is that there were more — quite a greater number of
Republicans voting, or people voting in the Republican primary than the
Democratic primary. That’s also something that’s not great for President
Biden. But there was some sense of a contest on that side, right? Even
though we all know that Nikki Haley was going to trail by a wide margin.</b></p>
<p><b>But it is remarkable, Juan. Think about it. We have an incumbent
Democratic president running for reelection. We all know he’s going to
be the nominee. Most Democrats feel like maybe he’s done a really great
job in other areas. Personally, I was really proud to serve with him in
the 117th Congress. I’m proud of the Investing in America agenda that we
passed, having some, at least a semblance of, industrial policy in
America for the first time in many decades, and on and on. But what’s
remarkable is that this 100,000-plus people who voted “uncommitted,”
almost all of them, Juan, wouldn’t have showed up but for this. They’re
mad at the president. They would have stayed home.</b></p>
<p><b>And our message was: Wait a minute. That would be a disaster if you
stayed home. He won’t get the message. He won’t understand. Come out and
express your rage. Shake your fist at the president and say, “Look,”
for most of them, “I voted for you in 2020. I’m really mad at you right
now, and I have to tell you.” So, that, I think, juiced turnout.</b></p>
<p><b>And look at East Lansing, where Michigan State University is. Look at
Ann Arbor, where the University of Michigan is. It’s not just Dearborn
and Hamtramck, with our incredible, beautiful concentration of Arab
American and other Muslim voters. It’s also young people across the
state and progressives across the state who said, “We’re your base. We
want to win in November. In order to win, we want peace now.”</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Andy Levin, the last time we talked to you, you were a congressmember. You were running for reelection. <span class="caps">AIPAC</span>,
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, had invested millions in
Democratic primaries to defeat progressives who supported Palestine. You
were one of those they were trying to defeat. You’re a self-described
Zionist who supports a two-state solution. But earlier, before that
primary, a former president of <span class="caps">AIPAC</span> described
you as “arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the
U.S.-Israel relationship.” Can you talk about what happened to you then?
You lost that election. But do you see your point of view being
embraced much both in Michigan and around the country in a way that <span class="caps">AIPAC</span> never imagined?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">ANDY</span> <span class="caps">LEVIN</span>:
I do, Amy. I mean, basically, they spent millions of dollars of dark
money. They raised a huge amount of so-called hard money for my opponent
in that primary, who basically toed the <span class="caps">AIPAC</span>
line completely. And now they say they’re going to spend $100 million
in 2022, and evidently they’ve already raised $44 million to take out
progressives in Democratic primaries. And much of their money is coming
from Republican billionaires, who don’t have any place in a Democratic
primary. And shame on us, as Democrats, if we continue to allow
Democratic candidates to take Republican money in Democratic primaries.</b></p>
<p><b>But here’s the situation. This avalanche of mostly dark money coming
to try to interfere with Democratic primaries is running into a tsunami
of upset by Democratic base voters who say, “The Jewish people deserve
self-determination. What about the Palestinian people? And, in fact,
there is no peace and security for the Jewish people in the Holy Land
unless and until we realize the political and human rights of the
Palestinian people. And we have to love each other. We have to support
each other. We have to find a way to live together.” And, yes, this is a
huge rebuke to that point of view that we must support the Israeli
government no matter what they do.</b></p>
<p><b>I mean, why are we letting Bibi Netanyahu set the boundary of the
possible? This man has never been for a just peace for one day in his
life. He has actively opposed Palestinian self-determination his whole
career. Like some other people we know, he’s fighting to stay in office
so that he doesn’t go to jail. I mean, come on. You can support the
people of Israel and the people of Palestine without supporting these
horrible policies and this horrible war.</b></p>
<p><b>I mean, you know, think of the average — I think of myself, Amy, 40 years ago, when I was a college student. And if I read what <em>The New York Times</em> reported, for example, that the U.S. was supplying 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, and the <span class="caps">IDF</span>
was dropping them not just on densely populated areas but on places
where they had told the Palestinians to flee, and then, at the end of
the article, “By the way, we’ve sent 5,000 more of one type of
2,000-pound bombs to Israel since October,” that Andy Levin 40 years ago
is not unlike college students and other young people all around
Michigan’s campuses and working people, saying, “Whoa! This is
unacceptable.” And we showed the president that we don’t accept it
yesterday.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I’d
to bring in James Zogby to the conversation, get your reaction to the
vote in Michigan, and also whether you think that this “uncommitted”
movement could spread across the country, especially now as we head into
Super Tuesday on March 5th.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JAMES</span> <span class="caps">ZOGBY</span>:
Well, look, number one, I want to thank Andy Levin for his leadership.
He made an enormous difference here, and we’re so pleased to be
partnering, as we were, in this campaign.</b></p>
<p><b>Secondly, I think, message sent. A hundred-plus thousand
“uncommitted” votes, much larger than anyone anticipated, makes a point:
President Biden, you ignore this vote at your risk.</b></p>
<p><b>And thirdly, I think, there, frankly, is not a need to go any
further. And I think that it’s very clear. We can extrapolate from the
rest of the states what the turnout would be in November if we ignore
this issue and continue to ignore this issue, not only, as the
congressman said, with the Arab American vote, but with young voters,
Black voters. We’ve done polling. My brother John has done polling on
this among American voters, not just Arab American voters. The impact
that the Gaza war is having on voters under 29, the impact it’s having
on Black, Latino and Asian voters, who are core to the Democratic
coalition, is very clear.</b></p>
<p><b>We just wanted to make a point in Michigan. It was the place to make
the point. But, frankly, it can also be read in Virginia. It can be read
in Georgia. It can be read in Pennsylvania. You ignore this war, and
you continue to offer nothing but anodyne, “Well, we’re really with you,
and we feel bad, too, and we’re paying attention and working every
day,” that does not cut it at this point. There is genocide unfolding.
People want it to end. The president either is going to have to act
decisively to end it, or it’s going to have an impact in November.</b></p>
<p><b>And as the congressman said it, as the organizers of this movement
have been very clear, this is not the abandon Biden movement. This is
the, for God’s sake, shape up or you might lose in November Biden
movement. And the fact is, is that the president has to listen and
change. It’s going to be too late for some. The fact that 30,000 have
already died, that famine is on the way, that genocide has continued is
going to mean a lot of people are going to say, “I can’t do this. I just
can’t do it.” But if there’s to be any effort at all made to bring some
voters back, something dramatic has to happen and change from the White
House to say, “Let’s give him another shot.”</b></p>
<p><b>But, frankly, right now we’re having trouble finding that message.
And I think Michigan sends a very strong signal, that doesn’t have to be
repeated anywhere else. Look, when I saw the Emerson College poll out
the day before this vote, I said, “Message sent.” They had 11%. We got a
little — you know, we did a little better than that. They said youth
vote was voting “uncommitted.” We did that. We showed that. In college
towns across the state, we won. “Uncommitted” won in Dearborn. It beat
Joe Biden. “Uncommitted” won in Hamtramck. It beat Joe Biden. Those are
the two concentrations of Arab American voters. The president needs to
pay attention. And I hope he does. And, you know, I hope he does in a
way that is decisive and clear and actually turns the corner.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And, James
Zogby, of course, in Michigan, the participation of elected officials
like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and other local Michigan officials did
have an impact on that vote. Do you see other Democratic Party officials
in other states following that lead?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JAMES</span> <span class="caps">ZOGBY</span>:
Well, look, we’ve already seen city councils in 70 cities do this. And
that number is growing. There is, not just among Arab American, like
— you know, we saw a lot of that in Michigan. We also saw Black
officials. We saw progressive Jewish officials. And as important as
Rashida was, Andy Levin was an important message sender here that this
is a broader movement for justice. And let’s not forget that. City
councilwoman in Detroit came out just a couple of days before the vote,
saying, “I am with 'uncommitted.'” That’s important, having Black
elected officials, Arab American elected officials, progressive Jewish
elected officials saying, “We want this to end, and we want President
Biden to make a difference.” That’s important.</b></p>
<p><b>And so, yeah, I think this is going to have a sort of an effect
across the country. And we don’t need to do it in other states. We just
don’t, because the message is very clear. Number one, you know in
Michigan there’s no way to create an electoral map that you win in
November. But, number two, we can extrapolate what happens in Michigan
and say, “Hmm, it’s going to happen in Virginia. It’s going to happen in
Georgia. You’re going to lose youth vote, Black vote, Arab American
vote. And you don’t win Pennsylvania if that’s the case.”</b></p>
<p><b>So, I think, you know, I’ve been doing this for a long, long time,
and I know that these voter groups have to have a reason to turn out. I
think what was important about this — and, Congressman, I thank you and
others for it — was that you gave people a reason to turn out. These
“uncommitted” voters would not have turned out, and they would not turn
out again in November, if they didn’t have a reason to turn out. We gave
them a reason with “uncommitted.” Joe Biden’s got to give them a reason
in November.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
And talk, Jim Zogby, about the other states. Talk about Minnesota and
other states who are now, apparently, adopting this “uncommitted” vote.
But in Michigan, what’s different — right? — is it’s actually printed on
the ballot. And I think you can also add — I mean, most people didn’t —
they talked about Dean Phillips, but Marianne Williamson, who suspended
her campaign, came in third, and she was the one Democrat for a
ceasefire. So you could probably add her votes to the “uncommitted”
votes.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JAMES</span> <span class="caps">ZOGBY</span>:
[inaudible], for example, the Arab community said, “Let’s back Marianne
Williamson, even though she dropped out,” because she’s on the ballot
and there is no other option. Look, let me say, I’m not going to
discourage anybody from trying to do it in other states. I just — like I
said, I don’t think you need to. And I would rather have energy focused
on city council resolutions and getting people to sign on to ceasefire
resolutions across the board.</b></p>
<p><b>There is a — I did the Palestine statehood resolutions in 1988 with
Jesse Jackson. We passed them in 11 states. We got to the national
convention, had the first-ever debate from the podium on a minority
plank. After that, everybody continued doing it, but without Jesse in
the mix, we never had the momentum to carry it through.</b></p>
<p><b>We had a number of ideal things come together in Michigan: a huge
concentration of Arab Americans, the support of elected officials, local
elected officials, mayors, state reps, etc., city council people. We
also had Congressman Levin, who was great on college campuses in terms
of mobilizing and bringing people forward, and a great collection of
organizers and a budget to make it happen. We’re not going to have that
in Minnesota. We’re not going to have that in other states. And so, I
don’t want to see people set up for failure. And so, I think you take
what happened in Michigan, you extrapolate it to your state, you send
the message to President Biden: “It happened here. It can happen
elsewhere.” There’s no need to try to replicate what can’t be
automatically replicated, given the ideal composition of forces in
Michigan that made this happen.</b></p>
<p><b>And so, I, frankly, think — I don’t know what’s going to happen in
other states, but I don’t want to take a defeat in Minnesota, because
it’s not even on the damn ballot, and say, “Oh, look, it’s” — and give
the other side a crowing rights. They’re going to try whatever they can
do to crow and say we really didn’t — “They didn’t accomplish anything,
because 81% still voted for Joe Biden.” Well, of course 81 voted for Joe
Biden. But that’s not going to mean November, because in the Emerson
poll, Joe Biden is losing by two points. Eleven percent “uncommitted,”
and Joe Biden loses by two points, hmm, does that — DMFI, Democratic
Majority for Israel, don’t you get what that means? That means that you
need that 11% to come to your side in order to put you over the top. We
can say that in every state without having to go through this whole
process, especially when it’s not even on the ballot and you can’t
really get the same outcome you get in Michigan.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
We’re going to end with Andy Levin. You come from a political dynasty.
Your uncle was the late senator who headed the Armed Services Committee,
Carl Levin, I’m sure a close friend of President Biden; your father a
congressman, as well, Sandy Levin. What do you think they would say at
this point about this movement, about this demand and grassroots
organizing?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">ANDY</span> <span class="caps">LEVIN</span>:
Well, Amy, Uncle Carl passed away, as you know, several years ago. My
dad is 92 and going strong. And he is really proud of what I’m doing.
He, you know, was involved in helping Soviet Jews flee to Israel. You
know, he supported U.S. policy for a two-state solution forever. But I
think he understands that there is no way now, after 54 years of
occupation and things going in the wrong direction, there’s no way
forward unless the president of the United States steps up and leads
much more strongly as a peacemaker.</b></p>
<p><b>And, look, I’m going to end on a hopeful note. Joe Biden, with this
long history of chairing the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate
— and, you know, he says he’s known all the Israeli leaders, all the
Palestinian leaders. You’ve got to step up, Mr. President, and now end
this carnage and lead a diplomatic effort, not a military effort, to end
this conflict. It can be done. You’ve got to step up and do it, both
because it’s the right thing to do and because your politics depend on
it. As Jim Zogby said, the other states are fine. Michigan is a must-win
state. Minnesota isn’t, you know, for example. He’s going to win
Minnesota anyway, I think. But you’ve got to win Michigan to put the
Electoral College math together. And I think it’s just going to be hard
to do unless you change course. So let’s get going.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Well, clearly, President Biden is hearing people. When he was with Seth
Meyers the other night, the late-night comic, in an ice cream store, as
he was licking his mint chip ice cream, a reporter asked a question
about a ceasefire, and he said, yes, he thinks it’s going to happen on
Monday. That surprised both Israel and Hamas. We’ll see what happens.
But it was on the eve of the Michigan primary that he said that. Andy
Levin, I want to thank you for being with us, former Democratic
congressmember from Michigan, and James Zogby, president of the Arab
American Institute.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/29/thursday-briefing-joe-biden-israel-gaza-war-michigan-voting">At THE GUARDIAN, Nimo Omer writes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Over the next two newsletters I’ll look at very
two different elections that are thousands of miles apart but similarly
fractured by the war in Gaza. Today we will be in a midwestern state in
the US, and tomorrow we’ll be in a small town in the north of England.
Stay tuned.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Normally,
an uncontested Democratic primary race with an incumbent president
running is not big news. But in Michigan a group of relentless
grassroots activists turned what was supposed to be an uneventful
election into a symbol of the dissatisfaction and anger at <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden">Joe Biden</a> over his continued support of Israel in the war in Gaza.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Though the president has sharpened <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/14/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-advice">his criticism</a> of Israel’s military response, the damage, in the minds of many voters, has been done. <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/20/us-vetoes-un-resolution-ceasefire-israel-gaza#:~:text=The%20US%20has%20vetoed%20a,forward%20on%20Tuesday%20by%20Algeria.">Vetoing</a>
the latest UN security council resolution that called for an immediate
ceasefire and supplying military aid to Israel has earned Biden the
stark moniker of “genocide Joe”, a reference to the <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/how-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-played-out-in-the-hague">allegations</a> made by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, which Israel has strongly denied.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The
campaign, Listen to Michigan, started just a few weeks before the
primary election, urging the public not to vote for Biden and instead
vote uncommitted, to pressure the president to support an immediate and
permanent ceasefire. They were more effective than even they had hoped,
with the uncommitted movement receiving more than <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/27/biden-wins-michigan-primary-election">100,000 votes</a>.
Though Biden still won by 80%, the uncommitted movement has rattled the
White House, as they wonder if this is a sign of what is to come in the
run up to the November general elections.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-29-2024-f9b5a62a80d8b83eac4946d3c85af58b">Wafaa Shurafa and Kareem Chehayeb (AP) report</a>, "Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza
City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed,
bringing the death toll since the start of the <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Israel-Hamas war</a></span>
to more than 30,000, according to health officials." The horrors in
that single sentence. The assault continues, the death toll is now over
30,000 and those in need were fired on by Israeli forces. It's
horrific. </div><div><span class="Link"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Link">And
it's never ending and Joe Biden's not demanding a cease-fire. We need
Marianne in this race now more than ever -- see Betty's "</span><a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/all-in-for-marianne.html" target="_blank">All in for Marianne</a><span class="Link">" and Revecca's "</span><a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/we-need-to-find-our-way-maybe-mariannes.html" target="_blank">we need to find our way - maybe marianne's the answer</a><span class="Link">." Of the 30,000, </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/29/middleeast/gaza-death-toll-30000-israel-war-hnk-intl/index.html"><span class="byline__name">Rob Picheta</span> and Abeer Salman (CNN) report</a>:</div><div><span class="Link"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Link"><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clt6pxqee00033b6hfdrs2srj@published"> </p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clt6pxqee00033b6hfdrs2srj@published"><b>The towering figure underscores a horrific, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/10/middleeast/khan-younis-devastation/">months-long ordeal</a>
for Palestinians inside the strip, during which Israel’s bombing and
ground campaigns have displaced the vast majority of the population and
created a dire humanitarian crisis.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clt75actl00033b6hlmpnflqg@published"><b>
In all, 30,035 people have been killed so far, the ministry
said Thursday, adding that the number of injured is over 70,000. </b></p></span></div><div><span class="Link"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Link">30,000. </span>Gaza remains under assault. Day 146 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." As
noted earlier in the snapshot, the death toll now stands at 30,035 with
over 70,000 injured and thousands missing. Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Link"><br /></span></div><div> If the bombs and the bullets don't kill you in Gaza, there's still starvation. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/28/children-die-of-malnutrition-in-gaza-hospitals-health-ministry">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="p1"><b>Six children have died from dehydration and malnutrition
at hospitals in northern Gaza, the Health Ministry in the besieged
Palestinian territory has said, as the catastrophic humanitarian
situation in the besieged enclave worsens.</b></p>
<p class="p1"><b>Two children died at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the
ministry said on Wednesday. Earlier it reported that four children died
at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, while seven others
remained in critical condition.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna141090">Larissa Gao (NBC NEWS) reports</a>,
"Reports that at least six more children in northern Gaza
have died of dehydration and malnutrition are 'horrendous,' the U.N.
agency for Palestinian refugees said on X today. The United Nations
Relief and Works Agency also called for 'unimpeded access' across the
enclave and an immediate cease-fire." <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/defunding-unrwa-us-genocide">At COMMON DREAMS, Phyllis Bennis addresses this topic</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s actions in <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a> <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1227078791/icj-israel-genocide-gaza-palestinians-south-africa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">plausibly constitute genocide</a>. The world’s most influential judicial body ordered Israel to stop killing civilians and to admit more humanitarian aid.
</b></p><p><b>
Unfortunately, Israel was <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/26/israel-not-complying-world-court-order-genocide-case" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">having none of it</a>. Israel’s killings have continued, with <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/25/gaza-death-toll-set-to-pass-30000-as-israel-prepares-assault-on-rafah" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza now dead</a> and tens of thousands more at risk of dying from <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/28/at-least-576000-people-in-gaza-one-step-away-from-famine-un-says" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hunger and disease</a>. <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/28/at-least-576000-people-in-gaza-one-step-away-from-famine-un-says" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Precious little aid</a> is getting in.
</b></p><p><b>
And worse, the U.S. has joined Israel’s efforts to incapacitate Gaza’s most important relief agency.
</b></p><p><b>
Just hours after the Court’s decision was announced, Israel alleged
that 12 Gazan employees of the UN’s Relief Works Agency (UNRWA)—the
primary body responsible for providing humanitarian support to <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/palestine">Palestine</a> refugees—were Hamas members connected to the October 7 attacks.
</b></p><p class="pull-quote"><b>
Defunding the agency further undermines Palestinians’ access to water, food, medicine, shelter, and fuel.
</b></p><p><b>
For more than half a century UNRWA has provided all the services in
Gaza that would ordinarily be provided by a government. Most of Gaza’s
doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, and street sweepers are UNRWA
employees. Without UNRWA, all the other U.N. agencies and nonprofits
would be unable to carry out their crucial work in the region.
</b></p><p><b>
UNRWA employs thousands of people in Gaza. Israel’s claim about 12 of them was dubious—and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/22/us-intelligence-unrwa-hamas" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the country’s government offered no evidence for it</a>.
</b></p><p><b>
In fact, the names of all UNRWA employees had been <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/why-donors-should-not-suspend-aid-unrwa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">provided to Israel earlier in the year</a> for vetting and no concerns were raised. But just in case, UNRWA immediately announced it was <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/middleeast/unrwa-fires-staff-members-october-7-attacks-intl/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">firing the named employees</a> (minus two who’d been killed). And <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/4449083-un-review-unrwa-neutrality-allegations-staff-ties-hamas/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the U.N. launched</a> two separate investigations.
</b></p><p><b>
Instead of waiting for these investigations to play out, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/30/biden-gaza-food-aid-hamas-civilians-strategy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Biden administration immediately cut</a>
its entire aid allocation to UNRWA, despite the agency’s irreplaceable
role in getting desperately needed aid into Gaza. Many key U.S. allies
followed suit, and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://truthout.org/articles/senate-passes-bill-to-defund-unrwa-as-israel-assaults-last-safe-place-in-gaza/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the U.S. Senate voted to explicitly bar UNRWA</a> from receiving future humanitarian aid.
</b></p><p><b>
Some in Washington suggested they might redirect UNRWA funds to organizations like <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-suspending-unrwa-funding-us-aims-to-send-aid-to-other-groups-operating-in-gaza/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UNICEF and the World Food Program</a>,
but UNICEF and WFP together have less than 70 staff on the ground in
Gaza—UNRWA has over 13,000. U.S. officials themselves had admitted
earlier that UNRWA was <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-02-13/ty-article/.premium/u-s-senate-passes-massive-aid-bill-for-ukraine-israel-but-path-ahead-unclear/0000018d-a281-d8e9-a3bf-f3a182000000" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“the only game in town”</a> in terms of getting any significant aid into Gaza.
</b></p><p><b><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-unrwas-funding-will-have-dire-humanitarian-consequences-222586" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The impact of these cuts</a>
on the already threatened lives of 2.3 million displaced Gazans—as well
as millions more Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Jordan,
Lebanon, and Syria—can hardly be overstated. Defunding the agency
further undermines Palestinians’ access to water, food, medicine,
shelter, and fuel—and alongside ongoing U.S. military support for
Israel, makes Washington complicit in genocide.
</b></p><p><b>
Thousands of Palestinians—especially babies, children, pregnant women,
and the elderly—will die as a result of these cuts. And the millions of
Palestinian refugees throughout the region will lose the only
international agency in the U.N. system that’s mandated to protect their
rights, including their right to return someday to their homes in
what’s now Israel.</b> </p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>As
we wind down. Aaron Bushnell. He took his own life on Sunday to protest
the assault on Gaza. That is news. It needs to be noted and we did
note it. Some of you are e-mailing asking what I think about it? I
really haven't. I've noted it here but refrained from offering personal
thoughts. Clearly, he weighed his decision. Clearly, it's sad when
anyone takes their own life. Clearly, as well, sometimes, in the world
we live in, there is no choice involved in suicide. Conditions, lack of
access and opportunities, and realities being what they are, a person
is forced into that decision. It is news, his action was news, and we
covered it. Some of you don't want to hear about it in the snapshot
anymore and I can understand and that's why I'm putting this at the
bottom so you could read the above before bailing. </div><div><br /></div><div>I
don't know him and I don't know his friends or family. I won't try to
speak for him and I am bothered that others have. So I can understand
why some of you are sensitive to the coverage -- any coverage -- of
this. When I learned Monday that a group was organizing some sort of
'memorial' for this weekend, I found that sad and distasteful. That may
be for others but it's not for me. It feels like someone trying to use
the death to promote themselves. </div><div><br /></div><div>This same
group, by the way, was egging on a US veteran to kill himself a few
years back. You may remember that and remember that we called them out
for it. Tomas Young did not end up taking his own life. He died of
natural causes. It was his decision to make but, it became clear if you
paid attention, that he was moving away from taking his own life -- but
people weren't paying attention to Tomas, they just saw the headlines
and the news coverage to come and kept pushing suicide as a political
protest to Bully Boy Bush. That's why we called it out. When he
initially announced his decision, that was his decision and I believe we
covered it here as that. But, again, it became obvious that he was
moving away from that decision despite various 'personalities' --
including a 'rocker' as well as the elderly girlies -- demanding that it
happen.</div><div><br /></div><div>If there's a news development, we will
certainly note it but I do understand that for many of you -- for
various reasons -- this is a topic you'd prefer we close the book on now
that it's been covered here. Heard and respected.</div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-36835104011429569122024-02-28T22:36:00.000-08:002024-02-28T22:53:40.635-08:00Chips and salsa and Wendys and Burger King<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Read an <a class="yiv7057532905ydpe71f9487yiv7124832528" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/why-mexican-restaurants-don-t-charge-for-chips-and-salsa/ar-BB1iYmwA?cvid=53ac072e71c149a6fef4318c1cc192d1&ei=6" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">interesting article by Sharon Rose (Food Republic)</a>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">W<span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">hen
you visit a Mexican restaurant, the presumption is that you'll be
served free chips and salsa before your meal. Part of the experience is
enjoying these freebies while perusing the menu and deciding what to get
for your main course. Far from filling you up before your order
arrives, they tend to have the opposite effect of stimulating your
hunger and thirst, perhaps in anticipation of the food to come. If
you've ever wondered why restaurants don't charge for these
complimentary pre-meal snacks, or how they can afford to do so, the
answers have as much to do with psychology as they do gastronomy.</span></span></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The
French word lagniappe is a familiar term in Louisiana meaning a gift or
something extra provided by a business to its customers. In the
restaurant world, this usually indicates a free appetizer or sides
included with a meal — like bread and butter or a baked potato served
alongside steak. The word actually comes from the Spanish "la ñapa,"
which in turn derives from the Quechua word "yapay," meaning a bonus or
something added. Which is all rather ironic when you consider that in
Mexico, it is not customary for chips and salsa to be served gratis.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">In
the United States, however, restaurants usually provide free starters
to meet customers' expectations and remain competitive. It speaks to our
perception of value by giving us more for what we pay, fostering
loyalty and good vibes, and gives businesses the opportunity to upsell
more expensive items.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">That
basket of chips and dip is the perfect opportunity for a restaurant's
waitstaff to upsell you on other items, especially drinks. The salty,
starchy, and spicy combo of corn tortilla chips and picante salsa makes
you feel thirsty. While there's no direct profit to be made by giving
you these for free, the establishment is counting on your party
purchasing beverages ... all the better if you order higher priced
cocktails like margaritas, </span><a href="https://www.foodrepublic.com/1309791/ultimate-pina-colada-recipe/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pina colada</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">, cerveza michelada, or non-alcoholic specialties like agua fresca or </span><a class="yiv7057532905ydpe71f9487yiv7124832528" href="https://www.foodrepublic.com/1415589/what-is-mexican-horchata-flavor/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mexican horchata</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">.
The happier you are with a bottomless supply of something tasty to
nibble on, the longer you're likely to linger and order more booze.</span></span></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I never really thought about it -- why they were free -- before reading that article. It makes sense, though. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
I would have a fit if chips and salsa weren't brought to the table.
I'm so used to it. Like bread at an Italian restaurant. I like a
margarita on the rocks, though. Not frozen. And I love spinach
enchiladas -- love enchiladas all around but spinach would be my
favorite. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">On food, fast food, what was Wendy's thinking? That we would <a class="yiv7057532905ydpe71f9487yiv7124832528" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/wendy-s-pushes-back-after-digital-menu-plan-spurs-outrage-over-surge-pricing/ar-BB1j2Qbt?cvid=c3d20f76ea8a41bf98d2d52a4ca64814&ei=43" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pay more for food during 'peak hours</a>'?
The reason those are 'peak hours' is because that's when everyone wants
to eat. That was the stupid thing of the week. We saw that on The
Daily Show last night and couldn't believe it. In fact, let me include
that sketch if it's online.</span></span></div><p></p><p> </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g8BNtN_2fbQ?si=NebssjYo-FdPatrd" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p> </p><p>There. It's about seven minutes into the video above. </p><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">And <a class="yiv7057532905ydpe71f9487yiv7124832528" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/burger-king-offers-free-whopper-deal-in-response-to-wendy-s-surge-pricing-backlash/ar-BB1j3VML?cvid=10d1a6f4de8a4ac5bb437898f85e9194&ei=41" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">USA Today notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>At least one competitor is looking to capitalize on the backlash fast food chain <a class="yiv7057532905ydpe71f9487yiv7124832528" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2024/02/27/wendys-surge-pricing-dynamic-pricing-uber/72755552007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wendy's</a> received after it announced it was planning to test out a "dynamic pricing model."</b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2024/02/05/bk-million-dollar-whopper-contest/72480988007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Burger King</a> said
in a news release Wednesday it is offering customers a free Whopper or
Impossible Whopper with a purchase of $3 or more now through Friday,
March 1 when customers order via the <a class="yiv7057532905ydpe71f9487yiv7124832528" href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/burger-king-app/id638323895" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BK app</a>.</b></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">"Surge pricing? Well, that's new. Good thing the only thing surging at BK is our flame!" Burger King's statement reads.</span></span></b></span></span><p><br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_0115293905.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Wednesday, February 29, 2024. Another hospital shuts down in Gaza,
Michigan voters send a message by voting "uconommitted," Senators Patty
Murray, Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth, Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Schumer
address the need for IVF, and much more.<div><br /></div><div> </div><div>Yesterday,
voters in Michigan turned out for the primaries. When the polls
closed, Lavora Barnes -- Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party --
released the following statement: </div><div> </div><div><b>“The energy and enthusiasm we saw around this early primary in
Michigan is why we fought so hard for it. Now we will bring this energy
forward to the general election where the choice between Joe Biden and
Donald Trump couldn’t be more clear. Do we want a President who spreads
hate and division or a president who fights for all of us? We look
forward to making our voices heard again in November when we will reject
Donald Trump’s MAGA extremism and ensure that Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris can continue to deliver for Michiganders. Michigan Democrats are
ready to get to work from now through election day because the stakes
could not be higher.”</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>With
almost all the votes counted (99%), the results were 2.7% for Dean
Phillips, 3% for Marianne Williamson, 13.3% for uncommitted and 81.1%
for Joe Biden. </div><div><br /></div><div>13.3%? If Ron DeSantis could have posted that in a Republican primary (not a caucus), he'd still be in the race. </div><div><br /></div><div>Michigan voters sent up a flare. The Biden campaign is run by idiots if they don't address it. </div><div> <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/uncommitted-michigan-primary">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> More than <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/27/us/elections/results-michigan-democratic-presidential-primary.html" target="_blank">100,900 Michigan voters</a>
marked "uncommitted" on their ballots during the swing state's
Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, a signal to President Joe
Biden that his continued support for Israel's war on <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a> is angering key elements of his base and potentially threatening his reelection chances.
</b></p><p><b>
Leaders and supporters of the Listen to Michigan campaign made clear
that their goal was not to harm Biden's general election prospects, but
rather to convince him to change course on Gaza, where the U.S.-armed
Israeli military has killed nearly 30,000 people in less than five
months.
</b></p><p><b>
In 2020, Biden defeated former President Donald Trump—his likely
general election opponent in November—by 150,000 votes, and Trump
defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton four years earlier by
roughly 11,000 votes.
</b></p><p><b>
"We need Joe Biden to listen to the voice of Michiganders," Layla
Elabed, campaign manager for Listen to Michigan and the sister of Rep. <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/rashida-tlaib">Rashida Tlaib</a>
(D-Mich.), told reporters late Tuesday. "Listen to the voice of his
core constituents and demand a permanent cease-fire now and the ending
of this unconditional, unchecked funding to Israel." </b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="wpds-c-PJLV"><div class="dib items-center" data-qa="author-byline"><span class="left"><div class="dib font-xxs" data-cy="name-with-optional-link" data-qa="name-with-optional-link"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/28/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Kelsey Ables and Andrew Jeong (WASHINGTON POST) explain</a>, ""More than 100,900 Democratic presidential primary voters (13.3 percent)
were uncommitted after 98 percent of the votes had been counted early
Wednesday. In the last two presidential elections, the number of
uncommitted Democratic primary votes in Michigan has hovered around
20,000, and not passed 2 percent of the total vote." <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/poll-permanent-ceasefire">Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) adds</a>:</div></span></div></span></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>In the latest sign that the Biden administration's continued defense and support of Israel's assault on <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a> leaves it representing a shrinking minority of Americans, a new poll out Tuesday found that
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/2/27/voters-support-the-us-calling-for-permanent-ceasefire-in-gaza-and-conditioning-military-aid-to-israel" target="_blank"> 67% of Americans</a> of all political affiliations want the United States to join the international call for a permanent cease-fire.
</b></p><p><b>
That's up six points from progressive think tank Data for Progress's
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2023/12/5/voters-want-the-us-to-call-for-a-permanent-ceasefire-in-gaza-and-to-prioritize-diplomacy" target="_blank"> last poll</a>, taken in November.
</b></p><p><b>
Support for a cease-fire among Democratic voters remains strong, with
77% saying U.S. President Joe Biden should demand a permanent cessation
of hostilities and a de-escalation in violence. Sixty-nine percent of
Independents said the same, up from 61% in December, as well as 56% of
Republicans, up from 49%. </b></p><p><b>oth Democrats and Independents were far more likely to disagree with
the idea that the U.S. should wait until Hamas is defeated to call for a
cease-fire. Since October, Israel has killed at least 29,878
Palestinians, including
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-02-04/ty-article-opinion/.premium/11-500-children-have-been-killed-in-gaza-horror-of-this-scale-has-no-explanation/0000018d-6fe9-d4f1-a18d-fff9c4010000" target="_blank">more than 11,500 children</a>. A near-total blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed about a quarter of the enclave's population to "the edge of famine,"<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-biden-comments-turn-focus-back-to-gaza-ceasefire" target="_blank"> according to</a> U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Ramesh Rajasingham.
</b></p><p><b>
Biden said Monday that he is hopeful for a cease-fire "by next Monday,"
but current talks between Hamas and Israel, which are being mediated by
Qatar, are
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-says-hopes-see-cease-fire-monday-israel-hamas-war-rcna140597" target="_blank">reportedly</a> about a temporary cessation in violence.</b> </p><p><br /></p></div><div><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/michigan-biden-uncommitted-palestine-gaza-voters-primary">Ahead of the vote, IN THESE TIMES hosted a discussion</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>EMAN ABDELHADI: Is Michigan lost to Biden? Is there anything Biden could do to win it back at this point? </b></div><div><div class="max-w-article mx-auto px-4 smaller">
<p><b>LAYLA ELABED: Before we can even talk about Biden
getting support at the ballot box, the very minimum that the Biden
administration would need to do, for us to talk about what support would
look like come November, is support a permanent cease-fire and
a reevaluation of our policy of unchecked, unconditional military
funding to Israel.</b></p>
<p><b>ABDELHADI: How did the <span class="push-double"></span><span class="pull-double">“</span>Vote Uncommitted” campaign come about? What has your role been?</b></p>
<p><b>ELABED: I’m the campaign manager for Listen to Michigan’s <span class="push-double"></span><span class="pull-double">“</span>Vote
Uncommitted” campaign. This came about because of the frustration and
the discontent that so many Democratic voters feel right now. Especially
because some <span class="numbers">80</span>% of Democratic voters are
pro-cease-fire. Talking with other Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, our
pro-ceasefire community, our anti-war community, we really were like, <span class="push-double"></span><span class="pull-double">“</span>What can we do? How can we leverage our political power at this point with the Michigan primary election coming up?” </b></p>
<p><b>The methodology around <span class="push-double"></span><span class="pull-double">“</span>Uncommitted” really came out of the <span class="numbers">2008</span> Obama campaign. In <span class="numbers">2008</span>,
Obama did not make the ballot in the Michigan primaries, but his
campaign was able to mobilize young voters, Black voters and voters of
color to vote <span class="push-double"></span><span class="pull-double">“</span>Uncommitted”
as a rejection of Hillary Clinton, and it really embarrassed the
Clinton campaign. And so we took that and applied it to our current
Democratic primary with Joe Biden. </b></p>
<p><b>One of the reasons it’s not okay to vote for a different Democratic
candidate is because the whole institution of the Democratic Party has
really turned on their constituency, has turned on their base. We can
see the majority of our Democratic leaders, our Democratic elected
officials haven’t supported a cease-fire, and haven’t been vocal enough
about ending the genocide. We have our champions like Cori Bush and
Rashida Tlaib (note: Elabed’s sister). But on the whole, especially at
the federal level, we’re not seeing condemnation of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government. So that’s how
this came about. We had a group of young and old Michigan organizers
and this campaign is not only multi-generational, it’s multi-faith, it’s
multi-racial, and it’s really, really grassroots. It’s being led by
community organizers in Michigan and supported by national folks,
national organizations, national organizers. But it really is organic.</b></p>
</div>
<div class="pb-8 px-0 md:px-4 z-30 relative">
<div class="flex flex-col lg:flex-row">
<div class="flex-1 px-4 py-2 md:py-4"> </div><div class="flex-1 px-4 py-2 md:py-4"><span class="authorBy"></span><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/anderson-cooper-draws-backlash-for-snapping-at-nina-turner-after-she-mentions-gaza-plight-completely-shameless-101709111613402.html">Shweta Kukreti (HINDUSTAN TIMES) notes</a> that not everyone can handle discussing the events in Michigan: </div><div class="flex-1 px-4 py-2 md:py-4"><br /></div><div class="flex-1 px-4 py-2 md:py-4"><h2 class="sortDec"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">American broadcaster Anderson Cooper surprisingly
snapped at a guest discussing the plight of Gazans & asserted that
“we don't need to debate” on the conflict.</span></h2><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">At a time when the world is pushing for truce talks amid the ongoing
Israel-Hamas war, American broadcaster Anderson Cooper surprisingly
snapped at a guest discussing the plight of <a class="manualbacklink" href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/thousands-of-gazans-beaten-humiliated-by-israeli-forces-un-says-101705670276987.html" target="_blank">Gazans</a> and asserted that “we don't need to debate” on the conflict.</span></b></div><div><div class="storyParagraphFigure"><div class="adMinHeight313"><div class="storyAd ht-dfp-ad1 roadBlock" data-google-query-id="CP3Ws4qHzoQDFUc8swAdcHAB8g" id="div-gpt-ad-story"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/1055314/Hindustantimes_Desktop_News/HT_Desk_News_Details_A_300x250_0__container__" style="border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: 0pt; border: 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></b></div></div></div> </div> <p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">During
a CNN panel discussion on Tuesday, Cooper interrupted former Ohio State
Senator Nina Turner as she acknowledged some Arab-Americans' hesitancy
to support incumbent President Joe Biden. Following this, the host
asserted that the viewers "don't really need a lecture on the problem"
and would like to know more about "the politics of this tonight.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">[. . .]</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the discussion progressed, CNN panel members emphasised the 'uncommitted' protest vote, which had reached nearly 16 percent.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Turner then went on to target Biden by reflecting on the pain of the Arab-American and <a class="manualbacklink" href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/what-would-a-new-palestinian-government-in-the-west-bank-mean-for-the-war-in-gaza-101708999426335.html" target="_blank">Palestinian</a> community.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">“And
so while this president was in the ice cream shop saying, ‘I think
there’s going to be a ceasefire,’ 30,000 people have been slaughtered.
People are living in famine. They can’t get medical care. So it can’t
come soon enough for them, and that was really the weight that I picked
up on when I was in Dearborn, [Michigan],” she said.</span></b></p><p> </p><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copper jumped in when Turner highlighted the efforts of <a class="manualbacklink" href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/us-house-votes-to-censure-rep-rashida-tlaib-for-unbelievable-falsehoods-about-greatest-ally-israel-101699417043466.html" target="_blank">Rashida Tlaib</a> and other Congress members who have been calling for a ceasefire.</span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/anderson-cooper-cuts-off-guest-discussing-gaza-carnage-on-cnn-panel">William Vaillancourt (DAILY BEAST) adds</a>:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>“All I‘m saying is that at a certain point after October 7, it
becomes clear. I mean, you have a right-wing prime minister,” she began,
before Cooper interrupted.</b></p><p><b>“Right. We don’t need to debate the issue,” he claimed.</b></p><p><b>“I’m
not denying anybody’s pain,” Turner continued. “What I am saying is
that this president—and our country—has the power to say to [Benjamin]
Netanyahu: We need a permanent ceasefire.”</b></p></div></div><div class="flex-1 px-4 py-2 md:py-4"><br /></div><div class="flex-1 px-4 py-2 md:py-4"><div> Gaza remains under assault. Day 145 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna140842">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "More than 29,900 people have been killed in Gaza <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-orders-rafah-evacuation-ground-invasion-netanyahu-gaza-war-rcna137863" target="_blank">since the war began</a>
, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 70,300 have
been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, ALJAZEERA notes<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/28/israels-war-on-gaza-live-thousands-could-die-in-days-as-israel-blocks-aid">:</a></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>Al-Awda
Hospital in the city of Jabalia, northern Gaza, has announced the
complete suspension of all its medical services due to severe shortages
of fuel and medical supplies, according to the Wafa news agency.</b></p>
<p><b>The director of the monitoring and evaluation department in al-Awda,
Dr Muhammad Salha, warned in a press statement that the development
would lead to “a complete deprivation of basic health services for
citizens, especially in light of the cessation of service by all
hospitals in the north”, according to the report.</b></p>
<p><b>He urgently appealed to all international, humanitarian and human
rights organisations to put pressure on Israel to supply the hospital
with medicines, consumables, medical supplies and fuel.</b></p>
<p><b>The Israeli forces besieged al-Awda Hospital for 18 days, causing
severe damage to the upper floors of the building, in addition to
destroying a number of ambulances, the report said.</b></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna140842">Henry Austin (NBC NEWS) reports</a>:</div><div> </div><div><p><b>NBC News has joined broadcasters and other media
organizations from around the world to call for access to Gaza to report
on Israel's war with Hamas. </b></p><p><b>“Almost five months into
the war in Gaza, foreign reporters are still being denied access to the
territory, outside of the rare and escorted trips with the Israeli
military," the letter says.</b></p><p><b>“We
urge the governments of Israel and Egypt to allow free and unfettered
access to Gaza for all foreign media. We call on the government of
Israel to openly state its permission for international journalists to
operate in Gaza and for the Egyptian authorities to allow international
journalists access to the Rafah Crossing.”</b></p><p><b>Entry to the
enclave for journalists has been all but impossible without the
permission and supervision of the Israeli military. </b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Palestinians are being increasingly targeted in the US. Let's drop back to <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/26/anti_terror_laws_palestine_israel">Monday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <i>Democracy Now!</i>, <a href="http://democracynow.org">democracynow.org</a>, <i>The War and Peace Report</i>. I’m Amy Goodman.</b></p>
<p><b>We look now at how Palestinians are being increasingly targeted by
U.S. anti-terrorism laws amidst ongoing efforts to conflate
pro-Palestinian activism with so-called terrorism. The Anti-Defamation
League, the <span class="caps">ADL</span>, has called on university presidents to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine, known as <span class="caps">SJP</span>, chapters for, quote, “material support for terrorism.” <span class="caps">ADL</span> <span class="caps">CEO</span> Jonathan Greenblatt has even compared <span class="caps">SJP</span> to the Hitler Youth.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">JONATHAN</span> <span class="caps">GREENBLATT</span>: Anti-Zionism is antisemitism. And the <span class="caps">SJP</span>
and these kids who are pushing it are like the Hitler Youth. Sorry, I
know people don’t like it when I say that, but it’s true. And what Shai
said before is spot-on.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Meanwhile, several American universities have suspended or banned
Students for Justice in Palestine. In an interview in January with CNN’s
Dana Bash, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed, without evidence,
some protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are connected to Russia,
and urged the <span class="caps">FBI</span> to investigate them.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. <span class="caps">NANCY</span> <span class="caps">PELOSI</span>:
For them to call for a ceasefire is Mr. Putin’s message. Mr. Putin’s
message. Make no mistake: This is directly connected to what he would
like to see. Same thing with Ukraine. It’s about Putin’s message. I
think some of these — some of these protesters are spontaneous and
organic and sincere. Some, I think, are connected to Russia. And I say
that having looked at this for a long time now, as you know.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">DANA</span> <span class="caps">BASH</span>: You think some of these protests are Russian plants?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. <span class="caps">NANCY</span> <span class="caps">PELOSI</span>: I wouldn’t say they’re plants. I think some financing should be investigated. And I want to ask the <span class="caps">FBI</span> to investigate that.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: She later would say, when people were protesting in San Francisco, “Go back to China.”</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we’re joined by two guests who have been following all of
this closely. Darryl Li is an anthropologist and lawyer teaching at
University of Chicago. He’s the author of the new <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/anti-palestinian-core-origins-and-growing-dangers-us-antiterrorism-law">briefing paper</a>,
“Anti-Palestinian at the Core: The Origins and Growing Dangers of U.S.
Antiterrorism Law,” jointly published with the Center for Constitutional
Rights and Palestine Legal. And we’re joined by Dima Khalidi, founder
and director of Palestine Legal.</b></p>
<p><b>We welcome you both to <i>Democracy Now!</i> Darryl Li, let’s start with you. Talk about what you found.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DARRYL</span> LI: Good morning, Amy. It’s good to be with you.</b></p>
<p><b>Well, I think many viewers of <i>Democracy Now!</i> are probably
familiar with the way that Palestinians have been slandered and
stereotyped as terrorists for a long time. What this report does is it
reaches back and connects the dots of a longer history, going back
almost 50 years, showing how the very foundations of terrorism law in
the United States, at key moments of their development, were crafted
with the agenda of opposing or crushing Palestinian liberation in mind.</b></p>
<p><b>The first time the word “terrorism” even shows up in federal law is
in a 1969 statute, and it’s, unfortunately, very relevant today. This
statute restricts U.S. aid to <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, the U.N.
body that provides humanitarian aid to refugees, and it uses the word
“terrorism” essentially as a synonym for Palestinian resistance. And one
of the chief sponsors of this legislation, Congressman Leonard
Farbstein from New York, made a speech on the floor of the House of
Representatives where he peddled the stereotype of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
schools and Palestinian refugee camps, essentially, as hotbeds of
terrorism that are brainwashing the sort of next generation of
terrorists. So, in light of today’s campaigns to defund <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
and to deprive Palestinians of humanitarian aid, we can see that this
is part of a much, much longer campaign that extends in many different
directions.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Can you talk about who is pushing these laws and what their agenda is, Darryl Li?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DARRYL</span> LI: Yes. One of the
other key aspects of the story is the role of organizations like the
Anti-Defamation League in pushing for this legislation over time. And
again, this is relevant for one of the clips that you just played, the
clip of Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the <span class="caps">ADL</span>, accusing student activists, <span class="caps">SJP</span> of terrorism support — of being terrorism supporters. There’s a bit of a coming-full-circle moment here, because the <span class="caps">ADL</span>
was actually one of the organizations that lobbied very heavily for the
passage of this law that criminalizes so-called material support to
terrorist organizations. The material support statute is actually the
most commonly used charge in federal terrorism cases. And the reason why
it’s prosecutors’ favorite tool is because it is incredibly broad. It
criminalizes ordinary activity that would usually be covered and
protected by the First Amendment. So it’s a very, very convenient
weapon. And it was passed in the 1990s as the result of a long-running
campaign by the <span class="caps">ADL</span> and other groups to
essentially crack down on Palestinian community organizing and
Palestinian solidarity organizing in the United States.</b></p>
<p><b>And what they did, actually, was they exploited the outrage following
the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. Now, many
people will recall, of course, that the people who carried out that
bombing were U.S. citizens, essentially right-wing white nationalist
militia members. But the law that was passed as a result of the Oklahoma
City bombing included — it was mostly a sort of get-tough-on-crime,
crack-down-on-immigration bill that included the material support law
that was proposed by the <span class="caps">ADL</span> as part of a larger package of measures that were all about, essentially, targeting Palestinian liberation movements.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
And, Dima Khalidi, head of Palestine Legal, let’s be clear: It’s not
only Students for Justice in Palestine that have been banned on some
campuses, but also Jewish Voice for Peace.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DIMA</span> <span class="caps">KHALIDI</span>:
That’s right, Amy. We’ve seen over the last several months multiple
efforts to shut down student activism. And that is a direct result of
efforts by groups like the <span class="caps">ADL</span>, but also by
statements by President Biden himself that have said that he will — he
is mobilizing federal law enforcement to surveil campus activism. And
these threats of surveillance, that Pelosi herself made, as well, are
serious, and they reflect what we are saying in this report is a
fundamentally anti-Palestinian agenda.</b></p>
<p><b>When the U.S. government, instead of stopping military aid to Israel to stop this genocide, is stopping funding for <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>,
that is a lifeline for Gazans, this is the result of decades of
anti-Palestinian rhetoric that has allowed these laws to develop, and
that is, ultimately, in this moment when people are mobilizing to stop
this genocide, a cover for the genocide. It is a justification for the
dehumanization of Palestinians and their allies, to tar them with
criminal or discriminatory intent. And that’s the intention of this
report, is to really expose this anti-Palestinian agenda that is driving
efforts to really expand these laws to target First Amendment activity
that is trying to mobilize people for justice.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Palestine Legal has received multiple reports of the <span class="caps">FBI</span> harassing Palestine advocates for their social media posts. Can you describe some examples, Dima?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DIMA</span> <span class="caps">KHALIDI</span>:
Well, we and other legal organizations that are supporting people who
are facing increasing repression are getting multiple reports of people
being visited by the <span class="caps">FBI</span>, often because of
social media posts that they make, because of their activism on the
streets. And people have even been visited by <span class="caps">ICE</span>,
immigration enforcement agencies. And this is a direct result, again,
of this rhetoric, of this increase in surveillance resources to law
enforcement agencies. And as we know from the post-9/11 era, the impact
on our communities is enormous. It has a huge chilling effect on people,
on First Amendment rights. But it also is a signal of an erosion of a
whole host of constitutional rights when law enforcement is mobilized in
this way, as we saw in the 1960s with <span class="caps">COINTELPRO</span>, as we saw in the post-9/11 era.</b></p>
<p><b>So, this is just the beginning, we think, of what is a massive
mobilization of state resources against this movement. And this is why
we’re publishing this report now, to really encourage lawmakers to
protect First Amendment rights, to roll back these laws, which are only
shielding Israel from accountability and scrutiny and undermining
fundamental First Amendment rights for everybody.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Can you talk about the anti-Palestinian bills that are in front of
Congress, one of them that would possibly radically expand deportations
of Palestinians at this time, Dima?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DIMA</span> <span class="caps">KHALIDI</span>:
Yeah, we’re seeing legislatures around the country, not just Congress,
but state legislatures, threatening, presenting bills that are trying to
justify an erosion of constitutional rights and First Amendment rights
by noting terrorism, supposed terrorism, threats, right? And certainly
after October 7th, we saw an increase in these kinds of bills — one that
wanted to deport all Palestinians. And we see this rhetoric from our
elected officials, as well.</b></p>
<p><b>So, we are very clear that the reason that this is allowed to happen
is because this anti-Palestinian sentiment has been cemented not only
into U.S. law, but into the minds of people. And that’s why these kinds
of bills are proposed with hardly anyone blinking an eye, while
Palestinians are being obliterated in Gaza as we speak. So, this is a
very concerning moment and one where we must all stand up and recognize
that our laws have been built and are being used and exploited to
further Israel’s own agenda and, you know, the United States’ complicity
in what Israel is doing right now.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Darryl Li, can you talk about what most surprised you, in this last minute we have, in doing the research for this report?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DARRYL</span> LI: Yes, well, I
think one of the surprising episodes is the one that I referred to
earlier about the way that the material support law was passed after the
Oklahoma City bombing. Essentially, what happened was that the Clinton
administration proposed a sort of general anti-terrorism law that
included the things that the <span class="caps">ADL</span> wanted, that
essentially targeted Palestinians, but also included things that you
would like expect, like expanded law enforcement authority, regulation
of firearms and explosives, and so on. And the House-led — sorry, the
Republican-led House of Representatives essentially gutted that bill and
replaced it with all the provisions that they wanted. And immediately,
the Democrats and the <span class="caps">ADL</span> pushed back, lobbied
very hard, and the parts of the original bill, only the ones that
pertained to so-called international terrorism, that were essentially
targeting Palestinians, were put back into the bill. So it’s a really
sobering example of how anti-Palestinian animus is one of the most
enduring areas of bipartisan appeal in Washington.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. We’re going to link to your <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/anti-palestinian-core-origins-and-growing-dangers-us-antiterrorism-law">report</a>.
Darryl Li, lawyer, associate professor of anthropology and social
sciences at the University of Chicago, and Dima Khalidi, founder and
director of Palestine Legal. The new briefing paper is “Anti-Palestinian
at the Core: The Origins and Growing Dangers of U.S. Antiterrorism
Law.”</b></p>
<p><b>That does it for our show. To see all our video and audio <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/pages/help/podcasting">podcasts</a>, you can go to democracynow.org. And congratulations to our whole team as we just surpassed 2 million YouTube viewers. <i>Democracy Now!</i>
produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Sharif Abdel
Kouddous, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff.
I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And we'll wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>February 27, 2024</b></div><div>
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<h1 class="elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Senators
Murray, Duckworth, Schumer, Baldwin, Klobuchar Lead Press Conference
Denouncing Alabama IVF Decision, Calling for Passage of Legislation to
Protect Right to IVF </span></h1> </div>
</div>
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<p><b><a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/new-legislation-from-senators-murray-duckworth-would-protect-right-to-access-ivf-other-assisted-reproductive-technology-in-the-face-of-republican-attacks/"><i>ICYMI</i></a><i>:
New Legislation From Senators Murray, Duckworth Would Protect Right to
Access IVF, Other Assisted Reproductive Technology in the Face of
Republican Attacks</i></b></p>
<p><b><i><u>Senator Murray</u></i><i>: “Women aren’t just going to
‘forget’ who is responsible for this—who ripped away their dreams of
building their families. This is not hyperbole. This is not
hypothetical. This is happening.”</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>**VIDEO from press conference </i></b><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=116OMcVvbnk">HERE</a><i>***</i></b></p>
<p><b>Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL),
Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
held a press conference responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling
on Friday that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization
(IVF) are considered “extrauterine children” under state law, and
calling for passage of <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/new-legislation-from-senators-murray-duckworth-would-protect-right-to-access-ivf-other-assisted-reproductive-technology-in-the-face-of-republican-attacks/">legislation</a>
that would establish a statutory, nationwide right to access IVF
treatment. The decision sparked concerns that embryos that are destroyed
or damaged could lead to civil liability, which would have sweeping
implications for fertility treatment—since the ruling, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/university-alabama-pauses-ivf-services-court-rules-embryos-are-childre-rcna139846">at least three</a> IVF providers in Alabama have suspended IVF services.</b></p>
<p><b>At the press conference, Senator Murray forcefully denounced the
Alabama ruling and the far-right ideology of “fetal personhood”
underlying the decision—an ideology supported by many <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/431/cosponsors">Republican politicians</a> that has <a href="https://www.pregnancyjusticeus.org/resources/when-fetuses-gain-personhood-understanding-the-impact-on-ivf-contraception-medical-treatment-criminal-law-child-support-and-beyond/">terrifying consequences</a> for the humanity and rights of pregnant women and could <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/personhood-bills-ivf-restrictions-alabama-rcna140228">put an end</a> to people’s ability to build families through IVF. IVF is overwhelmingly popular with Americans—<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-trump-try-contain-backlash-alabama-fertility-ruling-2024-02-23/#:~:text=STRONG%20IVF%20SUPPORT%20IN%20POLLS,among%20those%20who%20oppose%20abortion.">recent polling</a> found that 85 percent of Americans support increasing access to fertility-related procedures and services. A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/14/a-growing-share-of-americans-say-theyve-had-fertility-treatments-or-know-someone-who-has/#:~:text=As%20the%20average%20age%20when,new%20Pew%20Research%20Center%20survey.">survey</a>
from Pew Research Center in September found that 42 percent of adults
say they have used fertility treatments or personally know someone who
had—up from 33% five years ago.</b></p>
<p><b>“Imagine going through years of trying to get pregnant, to no
avail, maybe going through the heartbreak of a miscarriage, often,
multiple times. Then turning hopefully to IVF, allowing yourself to hope
‘maybe this time,’ only to have some right-wing judges pull the rug out
from under you,” Senator Murray said at the press conference today.
“My heart truly goes out to all of the women in Alabama who are
suffering right now. And let’s get one thing straight—Republicans cannot
pretend this is some surprise. They have fought for decades to overturn
<i>Roe</i>, knowing full well it would create situations like this.”</b></p>
<p><b>“Women aren’t just going to ‘forget’ who is responsible for
this—who ripped away their dreams of building their families,” Murray
continued.
“This is not hyperbole. This is not hypothetical. This is happening. If
Republicans seriously want to help fix the chaos and devastation they
have worked so hard to create, they can help us restore the rights
enshrined in <i>Roe</i>—which they overturned to make all this possible—and they can help us pass my legislation to protect and expand IVF care.” </b></p>
<p><b>Just last month, Murray and Duckworth introduced their <i><a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/new-legislation-from-senators-murray-duckworth-would-protect-right-to-access-ivf-other-assisted-reproductive-technology-in-the-face-of-republican-attacks/">Access to Family Building Act</a>,</i>
which would protect every American’s right to access IVF and other
assisted reproductive technology (ART) services that millions of
Americans rely on to have children. Building on the <i>Right to Build Families Act</i>the
lawmakers had introduced in previous Congresses, the new legislation
would establish a statutory right to access IVF and other ART services,
thereby pre-empting any state effort to limit such access and ensuring
no hopeful parent—or their doctors—are punished for trying to start or
grow their family.</b></p>
<p><b>After the Supreme Court’s disastrous <i>Dobbs</i> ruling, many
women have not only seen their constitutional right to abortion ripped
away from them as a result of state abortion bans, but their ability to
get treatment for <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/press-release/abortion-bans-may-limit-access-to-certain-drugs-used-to-treat-women-with-cancer-autoimmune-diseases-and-ulcers/">cancer</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-science-health-medication-lupus-e4042947e4cc0c45e38837d394199033">lupus</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/08/abortion-bans-methotrexate-mifepristone-rheumatoid-arthritis/">more</a>—and
to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology in order to
build a family—are also under threat. The new patchwork of state
abortion bans has <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/21/1112127457/infertility-patients-fear-abortion-bans-could-affect-access-to-ivf-treatment">created</a> <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/09/doctors-ivf-abortion-bans">significant confusion </a>among
patients and providers alike about what services doctors can and cannot
provide in states with the most restrictive laws, leading IVF centers
to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/23/ivf-lobby-post-roe-landscape">call for</a> new protections.</b></p>
<p><b>Senator Murray is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/15/patty-murray/">longtime leader</a>
in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care
and, after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Dobbs v. Jackson
Women’s Health Organization overturning <i>Roe v. Wade</i>, Murray <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-democrats-push-biden-for-bold-action-to-protect-abortion-access-in-a-post-roe-america/">has led</a> <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/murray-warren-to-president-biden-we-need-an-executive-order-to-defend-americans-right-to-an-abortion-now">Congressional</a> <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/republican-senator-blocks-bill-to-codify-americans-right-to-contraception-">efforts</a> <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/republican-senator-blocks-cortez-masto-murray-effort-to-protect-right-to-travel-">to</a> <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/republican-senator-blocks-bill-to-protect-doctors-providing-legal-abortion-care-from-extreme-attacks-">fight</a> <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/republican-senator-blocks-murray-smith-effort-to-pass-commonsense-family-planning-bill-">back</a>. Murray <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-rallies-with-senate-democrats-patients-providers-advocates-to-keep-up-fight-for-reproductive-rights-we-are-not-going-anywhere/">led her colleagues</a>
at the outset of this Congress to make crystal clear that Senate
Democrats are continuing to fight to protect every American’s
reproductive rights and will be a firewall against Republicans’
continued attacks on women’s rights—and that’s exactly what she’s doing
now. Murray <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-duckworth-bush-pressley-introduce-bicameral-bill-to-help-women-with-disabilities-access-reproductive-health-care/">has</a> <a href="https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-baldwin-murray-introduce-legislation-to-create-reproductive-health-travel-fund">introduced</a> <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Let-Doctors-Provide-Reproductive-Health-Care-Act-One-Pager.pdf">more</a> <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-duckworth-hirono-reintroduce-each-act-to-help-guarantee-abortion-coverage-for-millions-of-americans/">than</a> a <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senators-murray-smith-reintroduce-legislation-to-protect-reproductive-health-care-funding/">dozen</a> pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-schrier-reintroduce-legislation-to-ensure-doctors-can-provide-legal-abortion-care-protect-providers-from-out-of-state-extremists/">protect providers</a>, and help ensure women <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senators-murray-baldwin-introduce-reproductive-health-travel-fund-act/">get the care</a> they need and <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-leads-senate-democrats-in-pushing-commonsense-bills-to-protect-womens-fundamental-freedoms-speaks-on-senate-floor-about-dobbs-fallout/">repeatedly sought</a> unanimous consent to pass common-sense bills to protect women’s fundamental freedoms; she also co-leads the <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-reintroduces-womens-health-protection-act-slams-republicans-for-creating-and-worsening-post-roe-health-crisis/">Women’s Health Protection Act</a>, which would restore the right to abortion nationwide, and has been <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-sanders-wyden-baldwin-lead-44-senators-in-urging-the-biden-administration-to-require-insurers-to-fully-cover-over-the-counter-birth-control-with-no-out-of-pocket-costs-or-prescription-barri/">leading</a> <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-hirono-cortez-masto-rally-for-over-the-counter-birth-control-reintroduce-affordability-is-access-act/">Congressional efforts</a> to make over-the-counter birth control affordable. In January, Senator Murray led Senate Democrats in <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senators-murray-schumer-stabenow-klobuchar-baldwin-warren-cortez-masto-host-abortion-rights-briefing-ahead-of-roe-v-wade-anniversary-we-will-not-let-anyone-turn-away/">hosting a briefing</a>
on the State of Abortion Rights across America, where senators heard
powerful testimony from individuals who had been personally harmed by
Republicans’ abortion bans.</b></p>
<p><b><u>Senator Murray’s full remarks</u></b><b><u>, as delivered at today’s press conference, are below:</u></b></p>
<p><b>“First of all, thank you to Senator Duckworth who’s been such a champion on this issue and for your amazing words this morning.</b></p>
<p><b>“Ever since IVF access in Alabama was thrown into jeopardy by
Republicans’ extreme ideology, women have been sharing the most
heartbreaking stories about how their dreams of becoming a mother have
been turned into a complete nightmare. </b></p>
<p><b>“Imagine going through years of trying to get pregnant, to no avail,
maybe going through the heartbreak of a miscarriage, often, multiple
times. Then turning hopefully to IVF, paying thousands—often tens of
thousands—of dollars, taking your shots, allowing yourself to hope
“maybe this time.</b></p>
<p><b>“Only to have some right-wing judges pull the rug out from under you
because they believe a frozen embryo kept in storage at an IVF clinic is
the same—and should have the exact same rights—as a living, breathing,
human person, because they want everything that’s happening in doctors’
offices and fertility clinics to conform to their extreme ideology—one
that would make services like IVF impossible.</b></p>
<p><b>“My heart truly goes out to all of the women in Alabama who are suffering right now. </b></p>
<p><b>“And let’s get one thing straight—Republicans cannot pretend this is some surprise.</b></p>
<p><b>“Republicans fought for decades to overturn Roe, knowing full well it would create situations like this. </b></p>
<p><b>“Democrats have been warning about this for years. </b></p>
<p><b>“It’s been incredible to watch Republicans now scramble over the
weekend to suddenly support IVF while many of these same Republicans are
literally, right now, cosponsors of legislation that would enshrine
fetal personhood—the very concept that caused all of the chaos in
Alabama—and would make IVF unavailable nationwide. </b></p>
<p><b>“You cannot support IVF and support fetal personhood laws. They are fundamentally incompatible! You are not fooling anyone! </b></p>
<p><b>“Women aren’t just going to ‘forget’ who is responsible for this—who ripped away their dreams of building their families. </b></p>
<p><b>“This is what happens when Republican politicians take away women’s power over their own bodies. </b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>“This is not hyperbole. This is not hypothetical. This is happening.</b></p>
<p><b>“If Republicans seriously want to help fix the chaos and devastation
they have worked so hard to create they can help us restore the rights
enshrined in Roe—which they overturned to make all this possible—and
they can help us pass legislation to protect and expand IVF care. </b></p>
<p><b>“And our bill—the Access to Family Building Act—is a great place to start. </b></p>
<p><b>“It just does not get more straightforward than this: if Republicans
seriously support the right to build families through IVF, they can
prove it tomorrow on the floor.”</b></p>
<p><b>###/</b></p>
</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uaC41CS9G5hsqI4TKkxvIY-WWsaYx7E3VWyN2tQrMwPginEttaz2FdcM8wRKjYwcxXggOvevYANtUQ_qjnw3Jd6NQd=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uaC41CS9G5hsqI4TKkxvIY-WWsaYx7E3VWyN2tQrMwPginEttaz2FdcM8wRKjYwcxXggOvevYANtUQ_qjnw3Jd6NQd=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://kbla1580.com/" target="_blank">
KBLA - Tavis Smiley's talk radio</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://kbla1580.com/palm-beach-potpourri-starring-award-winning-singer-pbs-tv-host-cristina-fontanelli-and-her-fabulous-friends/" target="_blank">
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Fontanelli and Her Fabulous Friends
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2 hours ago
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<a href="https://npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1039" target="_blank">
Music</a>
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<a href="https://npr.org/2024/02/28/1234195743/tiny-desk-concert-butcher-brown" target="_blank">
Tiny Desk Premiere: Butcher Brown
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<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_shu6A2_ATi4xzuHoG2xy5LQ0HSC3chtZSWZF_seItHD5zTJM7tefpykxxLYGDk3qAvtsCKDz40LIqDNEztIialjpABuxPDxytYzPxmDpoIng=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_shu6A2_ATi4xzuHoG2xy5LQ0HSC3chtZSWZF_seItHD5zTJM7tefpykxxLYGDk3qAvtsCKDz40LIqDNEztIialjpABuxPDxytYzPxmDpoIng=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Trina's Kitchen</a>
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<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-daily-show.html" target="_blank">
THE DAILY SHOW
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
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<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Mikey Likes It!</a>
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<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/paul-rudnick-kim-brown-48000-dems-vote.html" target="_blank">
Paul Rudnick, Kim Brown, 48,000 Dems vote "uncommitted"
</a>
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8 hours ago
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<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)</a>
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8 hours ago
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<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/crooked-clarnece.html" target="_blank">
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Ruth's Report</a>
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<span class="item-title">
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</span>
<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
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</div>
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<li style="display: block;">
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<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v5yA9EIR-qd0KFO2W4glxnWv3LyVr-TmEVLB5VKeXeJLguW903NMqZGPwGDUrGanHkuca9rer6NV0Llrr1Xo6TUc1IHYNllFva2mQJo8GXcoQiPfloSOt-tqeWalWFpnuPXXXYSg=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v5yA9EIR-qd0KFO2W4glxnWv3LyVr-TmEVLB5VKeXeJLguW903NMqZGPwGDUrGanHkuca9rer6NV0Llrr1Xo6TUc1IHYNllFva2mQJo8GXcoQiPfloSOt-tqeWalWFpnuPXXXYSg=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
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<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/elected-republicans-keep-making-it-worse.html" target="_blank">
elected republicans keep making it worse
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
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<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uJqpcwG6McxUP_-bssDhnfEJgJgh1CwDShvwISdeXLMN4KwoUSovxBSsJy36sq4fZdjJizQBOPljCN1-53XMuFT0IeErt4OFgf0FxEX4s=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uJqpcwG6McxUP_-bssDhnfEJgJgh1CwDShvwISdeXLMN4KwoUSovxBSsJy36sq4fZdjJizQBOPljCN1-53XMuFT0IeErt4OFgf0FxEX4s=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
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<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Ann's Mega Dub</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/tennessee-gets-worse.html" target="_blank">
Tennessee gets worse
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sZrml8DOr21NYct1Pxxn3JqTd-YgRqRqDfcHu-NlMWjKdXBk04an_A9rlAmYtQmwpNx_l3bB9a4-UKEn4gR8qnctF75J5MrGMEmoq6TDA0=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sZrml8DOr21NYct1Pxxn3JqTd-YgRqRqDfcHu-NlMWjKdXBk04an_A9rlAmYtQmwpNx_l3bB9a4-UKEn4gR8qnctF75J5MrGMEmoq6TDA0=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
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<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
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<div class="item-content">
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<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-hateful-haters.html" target="_blank">
The hateful haters
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
8 hours ago</div>
</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-35974545823603201282024-02-27T20:54:00.000-08:002024-02-27T20:54:31.954-08:00Tennessee gets worse <p>Following up on "<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/tennessee-beccomes-state-of-hate.html">Tennessee beccomes the state of hate</a>," the state of Tennessee gets more hateful. <a class="yiv0010875349ydpd4d0e950yiv4598748394" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pride-flags-would-be-largely-banned-in-tennessee-classrooms-in-bill-advanced-by-gop-lawmakers/ar-BB1iWqDs?cvid=f31a088106214694b5462cfbb2c1cbe8&ei=26" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AP reports</a>:</p><div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> A bill that would largely </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-desantis-florida-goverment-cb504dfe7d344dfb0bc9a54cfc157b4b" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ban displaying pride flags</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> in public school classrooms was passed by the GOP-led Tennessee House on Monday after Republicans cut a heated debate short.</span></span><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The
70-24 vote sends the legislation to the Senate, where a final vote
could happen as early as this week. The motion to cut off debate
prompted Democratic Rep. Justin Jones, of Nashville, to yell that House
Speaker Cameron Sexton was out of order and ignoring people's requests
to speak. Republicans in turn scolded Jones by voting him out of order,
halting his immediate comments.</span></span><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I
don't get it. Nor do I get how out lesbian Janis Ian can continue to
make her home in such a homophobic state. I really do not get that.
You'd think she'd have some self-respect and stand up for herself.
Stand up for her wife. Apparently not. And now the <a class="yiv0010875349ydpd4d0e950yiv4598748394" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tennessee-s-new-law-empowers-officials-to-deny-marriage-licenses-on-personal-grounds/ar-BB1iXVyg?cvid=afaa021e2b3d4ea6b2558c006cbd3d77&ei=18" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">state is trying to prevent same sex couples from getting marriage licenses</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>The
bill’s prime legislative sponsor in the House, GOP state Rep. Monty
Fritts, defended the law last year, stating, “As societal views change
about what constitutes a marriage, officiants must be able to refuse to
solemnize marriages that are contrary to their beliefs. The government
has a responsibility to protect the exercise of religious beliefs.” He
positioned the bill as a safeguard for those with authority to perform
civil ceremonies, allowing them to act according to their conscience.</b></p><p class="yiv0010875349ydpd4d0e950yiv4598748394ydpc150cb6acontinue-read-break" style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>The
law’s opponents, however, see it as a thinly veiled attempt to
circumvent established rights. Camilla Taylor, deputy legal director of
litigation for Lambda Legal, labeled the legislation as “patently
unconstitutional,” contending that it blatantly attempts to “roll back
recent progress by the LGBTQ community.” Taylor underscored that public
officials are obligated to serve all members of the public without
discrimination, and such a law would inevitably lead to stigma by
forcing same-sex couples to undergo different processes to obtain
marriage licenses.</b></p></div><b><br /></b></div><p></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_0389705138.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
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Monday, February 26, 2024. Aaron Bushnell of the US Air Force set
himself on fire in DC in front of the Israeli Embassy, calls grow to
vote "uncommitted" in Michigan's upcoming Democratic Party presidential
primary, the death toll in Gaza gets closer to 30,000 (it's probably
passed it long ago but we're talking about the official death toll which
does not account for those who have been listed as missing for months
now), and much more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In the
US, President Joe Biden still can't come to the aid of the
Palestinians. More and more people just can't stomach anymore of the
killing. Aaron Bushnell was one such person.</div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div>Yesterday reports emerged about the actions Aaron took. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli-embassy-air-force-member-sets-himself-on-fire/">Jordan Freiman (CBS NEWS) reported</a>, "An active-duty U.S. Air Force member is in critical condition after
he set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.,
on Sunday, officials said. The man set himself on fire around 1
p.m. ET and both the U.S. Secret Service and Metropolitan Police
Department responded, the agencies said." <span class="Link"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-us-embassy-fire-c49922e38d51727af736e60e3bb21dd5">Didi Tang and Michael Balsamo (AP) added</a>, "</span>Law
enforcement officials
believe the man started a livestream, set his phone down and then doused
himself in accelerant and ignited the flames. At one point, he said he
'will no longer be complicit in genocide,' the person said. " And <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/26/us-airman-sets-self-on-fire-in-protest-over-israels-genocide-in-gaza">ALJAZEERA noted</a>, "In December, a protester set herself on fire outside the Israeli
Consulate in Atlanta. A Palestinian flag was found at the scene, and the
act was believed to be one of 'extreme political protest'." <a href="https://time.com/6821425/israel-embassy-air-force-protest-fire-self-immolation-aaron-bushnell-latest-updates/">Chad De Guzman (TIME) became the first reporter at a US outlet to name Aaron</a>, "The burn victim, who identified himself in video of the incident as
25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, reportedly succumbed to his injuries on
Sunday night, according to independent journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1761956302543016071">Talia Jane</a>, who posted on social media that she is in contact with Bushnell’s family and friends." </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHFQpv3J2A">MIDDLE EAST EYE has posted the video</a>.
As he walks up to the embassy, he explains what has led to this. He
then pours gasoline on himself and then sets himself on fire. Here are
his final words.</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Aaron
Bushnell: I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force and I
will no longer be complicit in genocide. I'm about to engage in an
extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been
experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers is not
extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be
normal. Free Palestine. Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free
Palestine!</b></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 143 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna140444">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "More than 29,700 people have been killed in Gaza <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-orders-rafah-evacuation-ground-invasion-netanyahu-gaza-war-rcna137863" target="_blank">since the war began</a>,
according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 69,800 have
been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/25/biden-gaza-israel-arab-democrat-voters">Samuel Robinson and Andrew Solender (AXIOS) report</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><span data-schema="smart-brevity"><b><p>Michigan activists want to shock
and shame the Biden campaign in the state's Tuesday primary to take
seriously the risk of losing the support of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/michigan-arab-american-voters-biden-israel" data-vars-content-id="dc5d9de4-a54c-4bdf-ae65-2f4097c98e3f" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="Arab Americans in Michigan could deliver Biden's first blow" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="Muslim and Arab Americans" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/04/michigan-arab-american-voters-biden-israel" target="_self">Muslim and Arab Americans</a>. </p><p>Why it matters: The war in Gaza has hurt President Biden's support among <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/muslim-voters-michigan-biden-trump-2020_n_5fa41369c5b6f1e97fe77a1f" data-vars-content-id="dc5d9de4-a54c-4bdf-ae65-2f4097c98e3f" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="Arab Americans in Michigan could deliver Biden's first blow" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="the same voters" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/muslim-voters-michigan-biden-trump-2020_n_5fa41369c5b6f1e97fe77a1f" target="_blank">the same voters</a> who were crucial to him flipping the state from Trump in 2020.</p></b></span><p><b>Activists want voters to back "uncommitted" instead of Biden.</b></p><ul><li><b>Biden
has lost the community "at a fundamental level," says Abbas Alawieh, a
spokesperson for the Listen to Michigan campaign, during Israel's
military strikes — described as <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-bombs-destruction-death-toll-scope-419488c511f83c85baea22458472a796" data-vars-content-id="dc5d9de4-a54c-4bdf-ae65-2f4097c98e3f" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="Arab Americans in Michigan could deliver Biden's first blow" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="the most destructive in recent history" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-bombs-destruction-death-toll-scope-419488c511f83c85baea22458472a796" target="_blank">the most destructive in recent history</a>. </b></li><li><b>"[T]his
is a warning to Biden like, get your s--t together or you're going to
lose," said Adam Abusalah, a Dearborn native who worked on Biden's 2020
campaign and is also pushing an "uncommitted" vote.</b></li><li><b>Local Arab American leaders <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://apnews.com/article/biden-campaign-arab-american-support-israel-michigan-cf331a82f907fe70e22d5f0aa6d7346e" data-vars-content-id="dc5d9de4-a54c-4bdf-ae65-2f4097c98e3f" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="Arab Americans in Michigan could deliver Biden's first blow" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="refused to meet" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-campaign-arab-american-support-israel-michigan-cf331a82f907fe70e22d5f0aa6d7346e" target="_blank">refused to meet</a> with a top Biden campaign adviser last month.</b></li><li> </li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/25/michigan-gretchen-whitmer-biden-israel-gaza-war">Sam Levine (GUARDIAN) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat who is the only Palestinian-American serving in Congress, <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/18/rashida-tlaib-joe-biden-michigan-democratic-primary">urged Democrats last week</a> to vote “uncommitted” in Michigan’s 27 February primary.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>“We
don’t want a country that supports war and bombs and destruction. We
want to support life. We want to stand up for every single life killed
in Gaza … This is the way you can raise our voices. Don’t make us even
more invisible. Right now, we feel completely neglected and just unseen
by our government,” she said in a video posted to her Twitter account.
“If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.”</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Tlaib’s sister, Layla Elabed, is the campaign manager for <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.listentomichigan.com/supporters">Listen to Michigan</a>,
the group that has been leading the effort to get people to vote
uncommitted. The group has the support of 30 elected officials across
south-east Michigan, including Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn,
which has a large Arab American population.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>“Biden
must earn our vote through a dramatic change in policy,” the group says
on its website. “President Biden has been a successful candidate in the
past by representing a broad coalition, but right now he’s not
representing the vast majority of <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/democrats">Democrats</a> who want a ceasefire and an end to his funding of Israel’s war in Gaza.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><p> <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/beto-o-rourke-uncommitted-biden-michigan">Joe Queally (COMMON DREAMS) reports</a>: </p><p><b>Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke became the latest high-profile member of
the party to back the push for Michigan voters to tick the
"uncommitted" box on the primary ballot next week as a way to protest
President Joe Biden's unconditional support of Israel's unyielding
assault on the people of <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>.</b></p><p><b>"I
do think it makes sense for those who want to see this administration
do more, or do a better job, to exert that political pressure and get
the president's attention and the attention of those on his campaign so
that the United States does better," said the former congressman who has
run for both president and the U.S. Senate.</b></p><p><b>In an <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://michiganadvance.com/2024/02/24/beto-orourke-supports-uncommitted-campaign-in-michigans-tuesday-presidential-primary/" target="_blank">interview</a> with the <em>Michigan Advance</em> on Friday, O'Rourke explained that he was partly influenced by a recent <em>New York Times</em> op-ed by Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud which <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/opinion/biden-dearborn-michigan-gaza.html" target="_blank">argued</a>
that "no amount of landmark legislation" passed by the Biden
administration "can outweigh the more than 100,000 people killed,
wounded, or missing in Gaza. The scales of justice will not allow it."</b></p><p><b>O'Rourke said he agrees "with the aims and the goals" of the <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/michigan-officials-uncommitted" target="_blank">grassroots </a><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/michigan-officials-uncommitted">campaign</a>
in Michigan that is urging Democrats to use Tuesday's primary contest,
in which Biden faces no real opponent, as a way to express the deep
frustration many voters in the state are feeling over the carnage in
Gaza.</b></p><p><b>"We should have a ceasefire, there should be a return of
each [and] every single one of those hostages [taken by Hamas], there
should be an end to this war and there should be a negotiated solution
to Palestinian statehood," O’Rourke told the news outlet. "All of that
needs to happen, and I share the concern that the United States is not
doing close to enough to bring those things to pass."</b></p><p><b>Polls have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/americans-want-cease-fire-new-poll/" target="_blank">shown</a>
a strong majority of Democratic voters support an immediate cease-fire
in Gaza, something Biden has steadfastly refused. Disagreement with the
administration's policy is especially high among younger voters as well
as the Arab American and Muslim Americans who represent a sizeable bloc
of Michigan voters.</b></p></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Sunday night on CBS, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-doctor-on-gaza-devastation-from-israel-hamas-war-60-minutes-transcript/">60 MINUTES addressed</a> the humanitarian crisis:</div><p><span class="sc-d63d5cd8-3 faMHro" data-testid="byline-name"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><b>When the terrorist group Hamas unleashed its barbaric attack inside
Israel last October, the response by the Israeli government was swift.</b></p><p><b>Israel launched thousands of troops, tanks and more than 45,000 bombs into Gaza, decimating entire cities.</b></p><p><b>The
Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health says more than 29,000 people have
been killed and nearly 2 million displaced - numbers many in the Israeli
press and the United Nations are reporting.</b></p><p><b>Israel has barred journalists from independently accessing the Gaza
strip, defying the long-standing precedent of allowing reporters into
war zones.</b></p><p><span class="sc-d63d5cd8-3 faMHro" data-testid="byline-name"><b>
</b></span></p><p><b>Aid workers say a "catastrophic" <span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctor-aid-workers-describe-gaza-devastation-60-minutes/" target="_blank">humanitarian crisis is unfolding</a></span> in Gaza, but reporting on it has been challenging.</b></p><p><b>So we asked aid workers, including two Americans – to share their view from inside Gaza over the last 142 days.</b></p><p><b>A warning -- it is difficult to watch.</b></p><p><b>This was the scene at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza in late January.</b></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><div>This morning, Human Rights Watch issued the following:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="mb-8 md:mb-14"><div><div class="article-body article-body--contained rich-text mx-auto"><p><b>The <a href="https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/north-africa/israel/palestine">Israeli</a> government has failed to comply with at least one measure in the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/26/gaza-world-court-orders-israel-prevent-genocide">legally binding order</a>
from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in South Africa’s
genocide case, Human Rights Watch said today. Citing warnings about
“catastrophic conditions” in Gaza, the court <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ordered</a>
Israel on January 26, 2024, to “take immediate and effective measures
to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and
humanitarian aid,” and to report back on its compliance to the specific
measures “within one month.”</b></p>
<p><b>One month later, however, Israel continues to obstruct the provision
of basic services and the entry and distribution within Gaza of fuel and
lifesaving aid, acts of <span class="onomasticon onomasticon-cursor-default" data-once="enable_tooltips" data-tooltip="Collective punishment in international law describes any form of sanction that is imposed on targeted individuals or groups for actions they did not personally commit. For example, an entire group of people is punished for alleged actions committed by members of the group." tabindex="0" title="collective punishment">collective punishment</span> that amount to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children">war crimes</a> and include <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza">the use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war</a>.
Fewer trucks have entered Gaza and fewer aid missions have been
permitted to reach northern Gaza in the several weeks since the ruling
than in the weeks preceding it, according to <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-140" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs</a> (OCHA).</b></p>
<p><b>“The Israeli government is starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians,
putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding
order,” said <a href="https://www.hrw.org/about/people/omar-shakir">Omar Shakir,</a>
Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli
government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even
intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.”</b></p>
<p><b>Other countries should use all forms of leverage, including sanctions
and embargoes, to press the Israeli government to comply with the
court’s binding orders in the genocide case, Human Rights Watch said.</b></p>
<p><b>Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza">found</a>
in December 2023 that Israeli authorities are using starvation as a
weapon of war. Pursuant a policy set out by Israeli officials and
carried out by Israeli forces, the Israeli authorities are deliberately
blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, willfully impeding
humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and
depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to its
survival.</b></p>
<p><b>Israeli authorities have kept its supply of electricity for Gaza <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-122-0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shut off</a>
since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks. After initially cutting the
entire supply of water that Israel provides to Gaza via three pipelines,
Israel resumed piping on two of its three lines. However, due to the
cuts and widespread destruction to <a href="https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-101-enarhe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">water infrastructure</a> amid unrelenting Israeli air and ground operations, only <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-strip-brink-public-health-catastrophe-health-and-wash-clusters-reassert-calls-immediate-long-lasting-ceasefire" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">one of those lines remained</a>
operational at only 47 percent capacity as of February 20. Officials at
the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility told Human Rights Watch
on February 20 that Israeli authorities have obstructed efforts to
repair the water infrastructure.</b></p>
<p><b>According to data published by OCHA and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-140" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">daily average</a>
number of trucks entering Gaza with food, aid, and medicine dropped by
more than a third in the weeks following the ICJ ruling: 93 trucks
between January 27 and February 21, 2024, compared to 147 trucks between
January 1 and 26, and only <a href="https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZTVkYmEwNmMtZWYxNy00ODhlLWI2ZjctNjIzMzQ5OGQxNzY5IiwidCI6IjI2MmY2YTQxLTIwZTktNDE0MC04ZDNlLWZkZjVlZWNiNDE1NyIsImMiOjl9&pageName=ReportSection3306863add46319dc574" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">57</a> between February 9 and 21. A <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/snapshot-deprivation-humanitarian-aid-gaza-strip-january-2024" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">survey</a>
of impediments to the entry of aid faced by 24 humanitarian
organizations operating in Gaza between January 26 and February 15
pointed to a lack of transparency around how aid trucks can enter Gaza,
delays and denials at Israeli crossings and inspection points, and
concerns about safety of trucks.</b></p>
<p><b>By comparison, an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-war-inflicts-catastrophic-damage-infrastructure-economy-2023-11-17/#:~:text=On%20average%20500%20trucks%20of,21." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">average of 500 trucks of food and goods</a> entered
Gaza each day before the escalation in hostilities in October, during
which time 1.2 million people in Gaza were estimated to be <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/world-cannot-stand-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">facing acute food insecurity</a><u>,</u> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/25/un-report-80-per-cent-of-gaza-inhabitants-relied-on-international-aid-before-war" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">80 percent of Gaza’s population</a> were reliant on humanitarian aid amid Israel's more than <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/14/gaza-israels-open-air-prison-15">16-year-long unlawful closure</a>.<br /><br />
High-ranking Israeli officials have articulated a policy to deprive civilians of food, water, and fuel, as Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza">has documented</a>. The Israeli government spokesperson <a href="https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/1744051926453346699" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a><u> </u>more recently that there are “no limits” to aid entering Gaza, outside of security. Some Israeli officials <a href="https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/1760357301855175020?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blame</a> the UN for distribution delays and <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2463496/middle-east" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">accuse</a> Hamas of diverting aid or Gaza police for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/world/middleeast/gaza-aid-convoys-ambush.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">failing to secure convoys</a>.</b></p>
<p><b>The Israeli government cannot shift blame to evade responsibility,
Human Rights Watch said. As the occupying power, Israel is obliged to
provide for the welfare of the occupied population and ensure that the
humanitarian needs of Gaza’s population are met. The Israeli human
rights group Gisha <a href="https://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/letters/Letter_Israel_must_provide_for_all_needs_northern_Gaza_English.pdf?mc_cid=04f1429477" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">challenged</a>
the Israeli government’s claims that it is not obstructing entry or
distribution of aid and also found that it is not complying with the ICJ
order.</b></p>
<p><b>Israeli authorities have also obstructed the aid that enters Gaza from reaching areas in the north. The <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/snapshot-deprivation-humanitarian-aid-gaza-strip-january-2024" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">survey</a>
of humanitarian organizations found that “almost no aid is distributed
beyond Rafah,” Gaza’s southernmost governorate. On February 20, the
World Food Programme <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/un-food-agency-pauses-deliveries-north-gaza" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">paused deliveries of lifesaving food</a> to the north, citing lack of safety and security. Israeli forces struck a <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146192" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">food convoy</a> on February 5, the UN <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146192" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> and CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/middleeast/un-food-convoy-gaza-israel-strike-cmd-intl/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">documented</a>.</b></p>
<p><b>Between February 1 and 15, Israeli authorities <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-124" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">only facilitated</a>
2 of 21 planned missions to deliver fuel to the north of the Wadi Gaza
area in central Gaza and none of the 16 planned fuel delivery or
assessment missions to water and wastewater pumping stations in the
north. <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-123" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fewer than 20 percent of planned missions</a>
to deliver fuel and undertake assessments north of Wadi Gaza have been
facilitated between January 1 and February 15, as compared with <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-98" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">86 percent of missions</a> planned between October and December, according to OCHA.</b></p>
<p><b>“Israel’s ground forces are able to reach all parts of Gaza, so
Israeli authorities clearly have the capacity to ensure that aid reaches
all of Gaza,” Shakir said.</b></p>
<p><b>Since the ICJ order, Israeli authorities have also apparently destroyed the offices of at least <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/snapshot-deprivation-humanitarian-aid-gaza-strip-january-2024" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">two humanitarian organizations</a> in Gaza and taken steps to <a href="https://twitter.com/TalalAlhaj/status/1760713081594720279/photo/2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">undermine the work of UNRWA</a>, the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/31/gaza-suspending-unrwa-aid-risks-hastening-famine">largest provider</a> of humanitarian aid in Gaza, which <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/snapshot-deprivation-humanitarian-aid-gaza-strip-january-2024" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more than half</a> of other humanitarian organizations rely on to facilitate their operations. The head of UNWRA, Philippe Lazarini, <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/letter-commissioner-general-president-general-assembly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> in a February 22 <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/letter-commissioner-general-president-general-assembly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter </a>to
the UN General Assembly president that the agency has reached a
“breaking point” due to multiple government suspensions of funding and
Israel’s campaign to shut the agency down.</b></p>
<p><b>Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, <a href="https://x.com/bezalelsm/status/1757457717206134790?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> on February 13 that he had blocked a US-funded flour shipment to Gaza, because it was going to UNRWA. Israel has <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/unrwa-funding-gaza-suspended/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">alleged</a> that at least 12 of the agency’s 30,000 employees participated in the October 7 attacks, which the UN is investigating.</b></p>
<p><b>In late December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
(IPC), a multi-partner initiative that regularly publishes information
on the scale and severity of food insecurity and malnutrition globally, <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156749/?iso3=PSE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">concluded</a>
that over 90 percent of Gaza’s population is at crisis level of acute
food insecurity or worse. The IPC said that virtually all Palestinians
in Gaza are skipping meals every day while many adults go hungry so
children can eat, and that the population faced famine if current
conditions persisted. “This is the highest share of people facing high
levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever
classified for any given area or country,” the group said.</b></p>
<p><b>On February 19, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/childrens-lives-threatened-rising-malnutrition-gaza-strip" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">found</a>
that 90 percent of children under age 2 and 95 percent of pregnant and
breastfeeding women face “severe food poverty.” On February 22, Save the
Children <a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news/gaza-families-forced-forage-food-left-rats-11-million-children-face-starvation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>
families in Gaza “are forced to forage for scraps of food left by rats
and eating leaves out of desperation to survive,” noting that “all 1.1
million children in Gaza [are] facing starvation.”</b></p>
<p><b>In response to a <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240212-wri-01-00-en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">request by South Africa</a>
for additional provisional measures following Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s order for Israeli authorities to explore a possible
plan to <a href="https://x.com/bezalelsm/status/1757457717206134790?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">evacuate Rafah</a> ahead of a ground incursion, the ICJ <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240216-pre-01-00-en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a>
that the “perilous situation demands immediate and effective
implementation of the provisional measures” throughout Gaza – but not
new measures – and highlighted Israel’s duty to ensure “the safety and
security of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”</b></p>
<p><b>Beyond enabling the provision of basic services and aid, the measures
in the ICJ’s binding order require Israel to prevent genocide against
Palestinians in Gaza and prevent and punish incitement to commit
genocide. The ICJ issued these measures “to protect the rights claimed
by South Africa that the Court has found to be plausible,” including
“the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of
genocide.” Although South Africa asked the court in its oral arguments
during <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/10/world-court-hear-genocide-case-against-israel">January hearings on the provisional measures</a> to make any report it ordered public, the court did not indicate that it has done so.</b></p>
<p><b>Between January 26 and February 23, more than 3,400 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, according to figures from Gaza’s <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-125" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Health Ministry</a> compiled by OCHA.</b></p>
<p><b>South Africa’s case against Israel for genocide is distinct from the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/16/world-court-review-57-year-israeli-occupation">proceedings</a> on the legal consequences of Israel’s 57-year-occupation, which began at the ICJ on February 19.</b></p>
<p><b>“Israel’s blatant disregard for the World Court’s order poses a
direct challenge to the rules-based international order,” Shakir said.
“Failure to ensure Israel’s compliance puts the lives of millions of
Palestinians at risk and threatens to undermine the institutions charged
with ensuring respect for international law and the system that ensures
civilian protection worldwide.” </b> </p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><p><a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/"><b>Kat</b></a>'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/kats-korner-melissa-manchesters-back.html">Kat's Korner: Melissa Manchester's back</a>" went up today. The following sites updated:</p><p><br /></p><li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdXHhcwND9penB5FpvauyZKjZ9cBgGMxIQ-Lxo48jDIhoXPwvWBrdbvqVohw0uyrlUXS_7D710dc2irk8GtO3qnZzeSB=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdXHhcwND9penB5FpvauyZKjZ9cBgGMxIQ-Lxo48jDIhoXPwvWBrdbvqVohw0uyrlUXS_7D710dc2irk8GtO3qnZzeSB=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://kbla1580.com/" target="_blank">
KBLA - Tavis Smiley's talk radio</a>
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<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://kbla1580.com/a-bikepacker-whos-been-on-the-road-for-8-years-says-hes-turned-his-lifestyle-into-a-business-that-covers-his-costs-heres-how/" target="_blank">
A bikepacker who’s been on the road for 8 years says he’s turned his
lifestyle into a business that covers his costs — here’s how.
</a>
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3 hours ago
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<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
SICKOFITRADLZ</a>
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<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/nex-benedict-and-dime-doe.html" target="_blank">
Nex Benedict and Dime Doe
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14 hours ago
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<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWUJQCtwDWduImoYudDwm5aE0nIc0VZvi14zmcCyYc6pJHNu83Nfg__qvCK_GhjSBtc0E_lvFVU5KObXtbVH0brszFgbxb0GCPqzw=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWUJQCtwDWduImoYudDwm5aE0nIc0VZvi14zmcCyYc6pJHNu83Nfg__qvCK_GhjSBtc0E_lvFVU5KObXtbVH0brszFgbxb0GCPqzw=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
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<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1039" target="_blank">
Music</a>
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<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://npr.org/2024/02/25/1233771262/spanish-singer-bad-gyal-on-her-debut-album-and-discovering-reggaeton-in-spain" target="_blank">
Spanish singer Bad Gyal on her debut album and discovering reggaeton in
Spain
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17 hours ago
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<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVpRApkehYVwb90Sqe2mvk5zUFkjqXXQbDDv9FO_ODX2E6QjqNri96xfq5zgpolRxlJmJqmPOqlvHd6WD578qGYFIHJz_BRlnaXW7fw1VutAZnY=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVpRApkehYVwb90Sqe2mvk5zUFkjqXXQbDDv9FO_ODX2E6QjqNri96xfq5zgpolRxlJmJqmPOqlvHd6WD578qGYFIHJz_BRlnaXW7fw1VutAZnY=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Like Maria Said Paz</a>
</div>
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<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/stevie-nicks.html" target="_blank">
Stevie Nicks
</a>
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1 day ago
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</div>
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://gorilla-radio.com/" target="_blank">
Gorilla Radio</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://gorilla-radio.com/2024/02/25/ape-goes-to-victoria-gaza-solidarity-march-and-rally-day-140-february-24-2024/" target="_blank">
Ape Goes to Victoria Gaza Solidarity March and Rally Day 140 February 24,
2024
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1 day ago
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</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Mikey Likes It!</a>
</div>
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<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/pamela-salem-kim-brown-and-idiot-of-week.html" target="_blank">
Pamela Salem, Kim Brown and . . . Idiot of the Week
</a>
</span>
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1 day ago
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</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Ann's Mega Dub</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/j-rany-taraborrellis-awful-beyonce-book.html" target="_blank">
J Randy Taraborrelli's awful Beyonce book
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
1 day ago
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<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWYFBMneo9VHNVe63wwHjbyy9CRDS8IfrRSfLrCmoMtOmOjJi35Li21FQX0IAaxEMRnI-kpoG0GPa8nij2toV68VvBiyE39nxF_kXruLlcd1gY0OkxsTXAwzvmuz_wJDwIF18FSjw=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWYFBMneo9VHNVe63wwHjbyy9CRDS8IfrRSfLrCmoMtOmOjJi35Li21FQX0IAaxEMRnI-kpoG0GPa8nij2toV68VvBiyE39nxF_kXruLlcd1gY0OkxsTXAwzvmuz_wJDwIF18FSjw=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/we-all-suffer-when-religious-freaks-try.html" target="_blank">
we all suffer when religious freaks try to control our lives
</a>
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1 day ago
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</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Oh Boy It Never Ends</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/all-of-us-strangers.html" target="_blank">
ALL OF US STRANGERS
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
2 days ago
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</li><li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWF5uAQWKlmSE9A9Js4jyQz0Yy64_Zhvv8fpOs8aN5d57gb6JIq7Qbdl3Fkw7nWEtCghsdz-QAlaaESZDRrxYIpr33iLsatQ4fjlK_q6PaEXmGvkqGMhlp14bhKoQ=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWF5uAQWKlmSE9A9Js4jyQz0Yy64_Zhvv8fpOs8aN5d57gb6JIq7Qbdl3Fkw7nWEtCghsdz-QAlaaESZDRrxYIpr33iLsatQ4fjlK_q6PaEXmGvkqGMhlp14bhKoQ=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/beyonce-judas-priest-and-non-comeback.html" target="_blank">
Beyonce, Judas Priest, and the non-comeback kid Justy Timberlakes
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2 days ago
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Latino USA</a>
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<a href="https://www.latinousa.org/2024/02/23/javierzamoratranscript/" target="_blank">
Javier Zamora on the Role of a Writer in Today’s World: Episode Transcript
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The Official Jody Watley Website</a>
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</div></div></li><p><br /></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-74186045104980026892024-02-24T05:52:00.000-08:002024-02-24T20:05:12.399-08:00J Randy Taraborrelli's awful Beyonce book <p>Elizabeth Taylor. She was famous for being a film star and for her romances. And, as a result, you should avoid books about her that were published after the 1970s. Kitty Kelley probably wrote the definitive biography on Taylor and that was published in 1981 and entitled Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star. Now William J. Mann published a great book on the actress, How To Be A Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor In Hollywood, in 2009. How did he do that? He didn't try to tell the entire life story. He focused on a select period of time. </p><p><br /></p><p>I bring that up because of J Randy Taraborrelli Becoming Beyonce - The Untold Story.</p><p><br /></p><p>Beyonce is in the news this week -- see Kat's "<span class="item-title"><a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/beyonce-judas-priest-and-non-comeback.html" target="_blank">Beyonce, Judas Priest, and the non-comeback kid Justy Timberlakes</a></span>" -- and I happened upon this book for $3 bucks when I was grocery shopping -- $3 bucks in hardcover. It apparently didn't sell well back in 2015.</p><p><br /></p><p>Beyonce is number one on the country charts.</p><p><br /></p><p>She shouldn't be. The lyrics? Bitch is part of the chorus. One "bitch" would be enough to keep a song from playing a country music station. Then there's the video. Is she 18 starting out so allowing herself to be used? I don't need your boobies, Beyonce. I know your ass got you where you are but I still don't need your boobies. That video is not empowerment, it's embarrassment. </p><p><br /></p><p>So this was the week to read up on Beyonce.</p><p><br /></p><p>If there was a good book.<br /></p><p>But J Randy has written a piece of garbage. He thinks Beyonce has lived Elizabeth Taylor's life, apparently, and that every detail is interesting and important. No, it's not. And trying to cover everything leaves him with a glorified time line passed off as a book.</p><p><br /></p><p>J Randy is someone a lot of us know from Soul and other magazines. He decided to become an author. Early on, he could write. Even his vicious Call Her Miss Ross was readable. </p><p><br /></p><p>For those who don't know, Call Her Miss Ross helped rip apart Diana's name and image. And it was lies. J Randy republished it as an 'update' (rewrite) as Diana Ross: A Biography. The difference between the two books? He took out a lot of the lies. He had chosen to believe bitches like crooked Martha Reeves and Gladys Knight. There's a reason Martha served on a city council briefly -- look it up for yourselves. At Motown in the sixties, Martha was jealous of Diana. Martha slept with anyone she could -- including the Papas of the Mamas and the Papas -- and she did everything she could to become a star. Didn't happen. She was popular on the radio but tended to repulse in front of a camera. She tried to have a solo career but no one wanted to hear her voice without the backing vocalists. So her career ended with the sixties. It must be very humiliating when she compares herself to Diana. Diana wasn't just a popular singer in the 60s, she was a record breaking one. She was a trendsetter in fashion as well. A trailblazer for Black artists and for all women. She went on to have a successful solo career and she was a box office star (the first Black woman to be one) who was also nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Diana is a legend. Martha, on a good day, is a "who?" And then there's Gladys. Black America's MAGA queen. If Orrin Hatch hadn't died two years ago, Gladys would still be up his ass. She's a Mormon and she really can't relate to most of us Black Americans. She also can't have a hit without others. Her brother and her cousins propped her up for years. Every attempt to go solo failed. She feels mistreated by Motown so she took it out on Motown. Go to hell, MAGA Gladys and take your scorn for Colin Kaepernick with you.</p><p><br /></p><p>J Randy's book was vile and disgusting (yet readable) and he owes Diana Ross a huge apology. But God has a way of setting the balance. Call Her Miss Ross finally let J Randy find a White audience. But it's the last readable book he ever wrote. Call is the Lord's justice or karma.</p> <p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_01638737148.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
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Friday, February 23, 2024. Julian Assange remains persecuted, Gaza under
assault, the sexism involved in attacking one group of transgendered
people, the UN hears about the assault in Gaza and much more.<div><br /></div><div>This
week, Julian Assange's attorneys made an appeal to the British
government to stop them from handing Julian over to the US government.
Yes, all these years later, Julian Assange remains imprisoned and
remains persecuted by
US President Joe
Biden who, as vice president, once called him "a high tech terrorist."
Julian's 'crime' was revealing the
realities of Iraq -- Chelsea Manning was a whistle-blower who leaked the
information to Julian. WIKILEAKS then published the <a href="https://wikileaks.org/irq/">Iraq War Logs</a>.
And many outlets used the publication to publish reports of their own.
For example, THE GUARDIAN published many articles based on The Iraq War
Logs. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks">Jonathan Steele, David Leigh and Nick Davies offered, on October 22, 2012</a>:</div><div><div><div><p>
<br />
<br />
<b>A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iraq">Iraq</a> has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.</b><br />
<b>Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the
Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the
whistleblowing website <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/wikileaks">WikiLeaks</a>.</b><br />
<br />
<b>The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident
US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have
leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters
and civilian killings in the Afghan war.</b><br />
<b>The new logs detail how:</b><br />
<b><span class="bullet">•</span>
US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse,
torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct
appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.</b><br />
<br />
<b><span class="bullet">•</span> A US helicopter gunship involved in a
notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after
they tried to surrender.</b><br />
<b><span class="bullet">•</span> More than 15,000 civilians died in
previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no
official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081
non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.</b><br /></p><p><b>The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical
evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or
ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric
shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent deat</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/dec/12/julian-assange-biden-press-freedom-legacy">Eric Lichtblau (GUARDIAN) has observed</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><aside class="dcr-1aul2ye" data-gu-name="meta"></aside><div class="dcr-1jw1u7l" data-gu-name="body"><div class="dcr-nb3g3g"><div class="dcr-1gnfftb" id="maincontent"><div class="article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1t62qer"><p class="dcr-2v2zi4"><b>The <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/biden-administration">Biden administration</a>
has been saying all the right things lately about respecting a free and
vigorous press, after four years of relentless media-bashing and legal
assaults under Donald Trump.</b></p><p class="dcr-2v2zi4"><b>The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has even put in place expanded protections for journalists this fall, <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/justice-department-announces-new-legal-protections-journalists">saying</a> that “a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy”.</b></p><p class="dcr-2v2zi4"><b>But the biggest test of Biden’s commitment remains imprisoned in a jail cell in London, where WikiLeaks founder <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/julian-assange">Julian Assange</a>
has been held since 2019 while facing prosecution in the United States
under the Espionage Act, a century-old statute that has never been used
before for publishing classified information.</b></p><p class="dcr-2v2zi4"><b>Whether the US justice department continues to
pursue the Trump-era charges against the notorious leaker, whose group
put out secret information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Guantánamo Bay, American diplomacy and internal Democratic politics
before the 2016 election, will go a long way toward determining whether
the current administration intends to make good on its pledges to
protect the press.</b></p><p class="dcr-2v2zi4"><b>Now Biden is facing a re-energized push, both inside the United States and overseas, to drop Assange’s protracted prosecution.</b></p></div></div></div> </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Yet Julian remains persecuted. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>Why
has the British government imprisoned him since 2019? Five years. He
must have been found guilty in a British court of some grave crime,
right? Nope. From <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/21/assange_extradition">Thursday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re going outside the British High Court, where we’re
joined by Matt Kennard, who’s been closely following the hearings. He’s
head of investigations at the journalism website <i>Declassified UK</i>. His new book, <i>The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs the American Empire</i>, is out in June.</b></p>
<p><b>Matt, welcome back to <i>Democracy Now!</i> Thanks so much for
joining us. This is the lunch break of the High Court. Yesterday, the
lawyers for Julian Assange made their case. Today, the lawyers for the
U.S. government argued he should be extradited to the United States. Can
you talk about what the judges who are hearing this case have been most
interested in, and your assessment of the presentations so far?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MATT</span> <span class="caps">KENNARD</span>:
Well, firstly, I should just say that this case, this hearing today and
yesterday, is merely about whether Julian Assange has a right to appeal
the extradition to the United States. That decision was made a couple
years ago, and he wants to appeal it on the substantive issues.</b></p>
<p><b>And yesterday, his lawyers went through the main issue, which is that
this is a political prosecution, which is prohibited in the U.S.-U.K.
Extradition Treaty of 2003. You can’t send someone to the United States
for political offenses. They argued they’ve even taken at its highest —
the U.S. indictment is indicting him under the Espionage Act,
effectively as a spy, and that is a political offense. So that was how
it started. They also argued that it contravenes the European Convention
on Human Rights. Article 7 is about foreseeability. In 2010, when he
began releasing the U.S. cables, he had no way of knowing that what he
was doing was a criminal offense, because it’s never been prosecuted by
the U.S. government before, even revealing the names of human
informants. And then they went on to Article 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which is about freedom of speech and free
expression and press freedom — again, a huge violation of that, of
course, if Assange goes to the United States.</b></p>
<p><b>And today, the U.S. lawyer, effectively, her case was about trying to
differentiate Assange from journalists. They were saying he’s not a
journalist, he’s a hacker, he’s a computer scientist — when, of course,
it’s clear to everyone that Assange is a journalist. He revealed more
criminality by the world’s most powerful country than anyone’s ever done
in history.</b></p>
<p><b>So, for me, watching the case, the arguments being given by both
lawyers today, it’s clear that Assange should be allowed an appeal on
the substantive issues, because the original ruling in 2021, January
2021, by District Judge Vanessa Baraitser blocked the extradition of
Julian Assange to the United States, but on very narrow grounds. She
agreed with every dot and comma, effectively, of the U.S. indictment,
but said that he was a suicide risk, and the extradition should be
blocked on those grounds. The U.S. then appealed, won that appeal and
said that “We won’t treat him in the ways that the district judge
assumed. We won’t put him under SAMs,” which is extremely onerous prison
conditions. But that was then against — and that judge favored the U.S.
But Assange was never allowed to appeal that original ruling on the
substantive issues.</b></p>
<p><b>So, we must, for British justice, for global justice, because, of
course, this case is about global journalism, because Assange is an
Australian citizen who committed these so-called crimes that the U.S. is
indicting him for outside of the U.S. So, if Britain does extradite
Assange to the United States, that gives the U.S. extraterritorial reach
to go anywhere around the world, pluck any journalist who’s publishing
information they don’t like, and bring them to the United States. It’s
hugely worrying for — not just for journalists in this jurisdiction, but
any jurisdiction around the world.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Matt, you
mentioned that Assange is an Australian citizen. On Wednesday,
Australia’s Parliament overwhelmingly approved a motion calling for his
release. Is this significant at all in terms of the course of these
hearings or what might follow?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">MATT</span> <span class="caps">KENNARD</span>:
Well, I mean, I don’t think it is, unfortunately, because we know the
political pressure that has been brought on the United States
government. There’s been presidents all over the world, from Lula to
Petro in Colombia, and they’ve all been calling for the United States to
drop this case and saying it’s a huge violation of freedom of the
press, but it’s not happened. And then you’ve got civil society
organizations, NGOs all around the world interested in press freedom
saying that this is a huge violation of press freedom, and it’s had no
impact on either party, because, of course, this indictment was first
brought by the Trump administration and then carried on by the Biden
administration, so this is a bipartisan consensus in Washington that
they want to get Assange.</b></p>
<p><b>But what should protect Assange in this case, when he’s being
persecuted by the political system in the United States, is an
independent judiciary in Britain. Of course, that’s how we’re told it
works. But, unfortunately, I believe that the U.K. judiciary has been
captured by the state in this case, which is one of the surest signs of
authoritarianism, and not only captured by the U.K. state, but captured
by the U.S. state.</b></p>
<p><b>That also goes for the penal system. Why is Julian Assange in
Belmarsh maximum-security prison in London? This is called “Britain’s
Guantánamo.” It’s full of rapists, pedophiles, terrorists. He’s never
been charged and convicted of anything other than a bail violation in
the U.K. And that conviction was spent in under two years. He’s still
there on remand. And it’s nearly five years he’s been there.</b></p>
<p><b>So, the whole thing has been irregular from the start, so I don’t
hold up too much hope for the British justice system. I think that what
we — where there is hope is global public opinion. And as you can hear
behind me, the people on the ground are really coming out to support
Julian Assange in Britain. We don’t have the support in the same way
from the mainstream media or even civil society as much as it should
here, but that could change the game. So, hopefully, that pressure will
tell. I do believe that it may look so bad for the British justice
system to not allow an appeal, that they will allow this to go forward.
But we don’t know. This case has been irregular from the start.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://thewest.com.au/podcasts/court-in-the-act/court-in-the-act-time-to-bring-julian-assange-home-says-jailed-journalist-peter-greste-c-13702889">Tim Clarke (THE WEST AUSTRALIAN) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>Peter Greste -- the
journalist who spent more than a year locked up in an Egyptian prison —
has said the Australian government took too long to finally call for the
release and return of Julian Assange.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>Assange
took his final appeal against extradition to the United States to the
UK’s highest court this week -- a last bid to stop him from being sent
across the Atlantic to face espionage charges.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>[. . .]</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>Now, Mr Greste is a professor of journalism and executive director of the Alliance for Journalist’s Freedom.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>On
this week’s episode of ‘Court in the Act’, he explained why Assange
should be released from prison and allowed back to Australia – while
also saying he still does not believe some of the 52-year-old’s actions
were journalism.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>“Even
if I disagree with the way that he handled information, even if I think
it’s not journalism — the way that the US government is using the
Espionage Act to come after Julian for publishing the information that
he did has serious implications for journalists,” Mr Greste said.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>“It sets a very, very dangerous precedent that can be used against legitimate news organisations and legitimate journalists.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>“It’s
very difficult to have a sensible conversation about Julian Assange
because everybody wants to push him into either of those camps. A hero
or villain.</b></p><p class="css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020"><b>“It’s not
just possible but important to hold those two contradictory truths
together and recognise that the truth is probably somewhere in the
middle.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Moving over to <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/23/roaming-charges-111/">Jeffrey St. Clair's weekly column for COUNTERPUNCH</a> where he notes one of the most embarrassing figures of the US government -- blood thirsty Nancy Pelosi:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>+ Tim Sebastian: “You go on supplying them [Israel] with hardware to
do these things, you own this operation every bit as much as they do,
don’t you?”</b></p>
<p><b>Nancy Pelosi: “No, we don’t. We don’t…there’s nothing that we have sent since Oct. 7 that has contributed to this brutality.”</b></p><p><b>+ Pelosi comes off as ancient under Tim Sebastian’s questioning:
she’s confused, arrogant and ignorant of basic history. But consider
this: by the time Pelosi entered Congress in 1987, Joe Biden had been
serving in the Senate for 15 years!</b></p><p><b>+ The compulsion to lie when literally everyone knows you are lying is the defining political pathology of our time…</b></p><p><b>+ As Pelosi continues to write her own dubious political obituary,
consider that for nearly two years of increasing tensions, the Pentagon
didn’t have direct communications with the Chinese military, after
Pelosi’s provocative trip to Taiwan in 2022. The hotline was only
recently restored.</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>+ As I wrote in my <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/17/shooting-the-messengers/">Gaza Diary</a>
last week, Israel is committing war crimes so brazen & outrageous
that no one had even thought of legislating against them. What’s more,
almost every act of this war can be independently documented, often in
real time. The entire war is a crime.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday,
the United Nations Security Council was briefed on conditions in Gaza.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor
Wennesland delivered testimony that included:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><b> As we approach 140 days of devastating war, there is still no end in sight.</b></span></div><div>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>No end to the trauma of those impacted by the horrors unleashed on 7 October. </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>No end to the suffering and desperation of the people in Gaza.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>No end to the regional turmoil.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>I
was in Gaza this week to see first-hand the unfolding tragedy and to
meet with our tireless and brave teams on the ground who face impossible
challenges to deliver life-saving assistance to Palestinian civilians
in the Strip. What I saw was shocking and unsustainable.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>I
am deeply concerned about a possible full-scale Israeli military
operation in the densely populated Rafah area, where some 1.4 million
Palestinians are sheltering and where we have the only points of entry
of humanitarian goods. </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>I
cannot stress enough how urgently we need a deal that will bring about a
humanitarian ceasefire and the release of hostages. I reiterate my call
for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and for a
humanitarian ceasefire.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>In
the meantime, I will continue to urge all concerned – including Israeli
authorities - to address the key impediments to our humanitarian
response on the ground. We need more safety measures, greater security
and the tools and access points to scale up aid, particularly in the
north of the Strip.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>I
am also continuing my extensive engagements in the region and
internationally, to both support all efforts toward a ceasefire and
bring about a more common understanding and coordinated approach to
addressing the complex humanitarian, security and political crises
affecting not only Gaza, but the whole of the Occupied Palestinian
Territory, Israel and the region. </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>I
am convinced that there is no time to lose in laying the framework for
Gaza’s recovery and for a long-term political resolution of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including by advancing meaningful,
irreversible steps towards a two-State solution. </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>Madam President,</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>According
to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, from 18 January through 16 February,
4,327 Palestinians were killed and over 7,000 injured in fighting and
Israeli operations in the Strip, bringing the total Palestinian
fatalities in the war to more than 28,000, many women and children. </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>The IDF has said that over 10,000 Palestinian fatalities are militants. </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>In
addition to the approximately 1,200 fatalities on 7 October in Israel,
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported 235 security forces personnel
killed in Gaza since ground operations began. Of the 253 hostages
kidnapped on 7 October, some 134 are believed to be still held hostage
by Hamas, 112 have been freed, and 11 bodies recovered.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>160 UN staff have been killed in Gaza – the largest single loss of life in the history of the Organization.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>Madam President, </b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>Battles
have continued across Gaza, including a campaign in Khan Younis that
began in late January and, more recently, intensified airstrikes in the
densely populated Rafah area.</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; text-align: justify;"><b>Hospitals,
schools and other protected sites continue to be severely impacted by
military operations. l, albeit at reduced frequency and range. </b></p></div><div>On their news page, the UN notes:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Also
briefing the Council was Christopher Lockyear, Secretary General,
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders.</b></p><p><b>Fearful
of further deadly Israeli attacks, he said he was “appalled” by the
United States’ repeated use of its veto power to obstruct efforts to
adopt the most evident of resolutions: one demanding an immediate
ceasefire.</b></p><p><b>“We live in fear of a ground invasion” in Rafah, he said.</b></p><p><b>Calling
Washington’s new proposed draft resolution “misleading at best”, he
said the Council should reject any resolution “that further hampers
humanitarian efforts on the ground and leads this Council to tacitly
endorse the continued violence and mass atrocities in Gaza”.</b></p><p><b>“Attacks on healthcare is an attack against humanity,” he said,
noting that while Israel claims Hamas is operating in hospitals, “we have seen no independently verified evidence of this.”</b></p><p><b>Not
48 hours ago, Israeli shelling and gunfire killed and injured MSF staff
and their families in Khan Younis, despite notification to the warring
parties of the location, which was marked with an MSF flag, he said,
recalling that some were trapped in the burning building, which active
shooting delayed ambulances from reaching them in what has become an
“all too familiar” pattern of Israeli forces raiding hospitals,
bulldozing MSF vehicles and attacking its convoys.</b></p><p><b>“This
pattern of attacks is either intentional or indicative of reckless
incompetence,” he said, adding that his colleagues in Gaza are fearful
that as he speaks to the Council today, they will be punished tomorrow.</b></p><p><b>“The
laws and the principles we collectively depend on to enable
humanitarian assistance are now eroded to the point of becoming
meaningless,” he said.</b></p><p><b>In the face of killings and maiming of aid workers, “the humanitarian
response in Gaza today is an illusion,” he said, adding that efforts to
provide aid are “haphazard, opportunistic, and entirely inadequate”.</b></p><p><b>“How
can we deliver lifesaving aid in an environment where the distinction
between civilians and combatants is disregarded?” he asked, adding that
his teams are exhausted. “Calls for more humanitarian assistance have
echoed across this Chamber, yet in Gaza we have less and less each day –
less space, less medicine, less food, less water, less safety.”</b></p><p><b>Since
7 October, MSF has been forced to evacuate nine health facilities,
and medical teams have added a new acronym to their vocabulary –
“W.C.N.S.F., Wounded Child, No Surviving Family”, he said.</b></p><p><b>Citing
a new draft resolution being negotiated by the US he said that Gazans
"need a ceasefire not when ‘practicable’, but now". “They need a
sustained ceasefire, not a ‘temporary period of calm’. Anything short of
this is gross negligence.”</b></p><p><br /></p></div><div>And yet Gaza remains under assault. Day 140 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-netanyahu-plan-post-war-gaza-rcna140147">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "More than 29,500 people have been killed in Gaza <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-orders-rafah-evacuation-ground-invasion-netanyahu-gaza-war-rcna137863" target="_blank">since the war began</a>,
according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 69,400 have
been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/23/israels-war-on-gaza-live-local-authorities-report-central-gaza-massacre">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>On Thursday, at least 40 people were killed and scores wounded by Israeli attacks in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah that flattened houses.</b></p>
<p><b>One attack on a tent by an Apache warplane killed two and injured
many members of the al-Ramlawi family who were seeking shelter in the
west of Deir al-Balah.</b></p>
<p><b>“My cousin, who lost his daughter, [woke up to the] horrors, with the
sound of the Apache warplane getting louder and louder,” said Hassan
Al-Ramlawi, 33, one of the family members.</b></p>
<p><b>“It’s just a tent. They are displaced and evacuated from the north
here to seek refuge. They were sleeping. Why were they attacked? Even in
tents, we are not safe.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Also on
Thursday, the G-20 held the first of a two-day meeting. During the
meeting Gaza -- and the US veto this week of a cease-fire (their third
on the Security Council) -- was raised. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/23/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">John Hudson (WASHINGTON POST) reports</a>:</div><div> </div><div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>Brazilian
Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the host of this year’s annual Group of
20 gathering, began the meeting by decrying the “paralysis” at the U.N.
Security Council, where Washington <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/20/israel-gaza-ceasefire-us-veto/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4&itid=lk_inline_manual_7" target="_blank">vetoed a third resolution</a> for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza this week.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>“This state of inaction results in the loss of innocent lives,” Vieira said.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>The
top diplomats at the gathering, which included Secretary of State
Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, offered their
views on various geopolitical issues in a session that was closed to
the media so officials could express themselves more candidly.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>But
by mistake, a small group of journalists, including from The Washington
Post, were able to listen in on the session because the audio headsets
continued broadcasting the remarks, unbeknownst to the Brazilian hosts.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>Australia,
a close ally of the United States, supported an immediate cease-fire in
Gaza and strongly warned about the “further devastation” that could
result from Israel’s announced military campaign in the southern city of
Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought
shelter.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>“We
say again to Israel — do not go down this path,” said Australia’s
representative, Katy Gallagher. “This would be unjustifiable.”</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>South
Africa, which has accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, a
charge Israel strenuously denies, said world leaders have “allowed
impunity to hold sway.”</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>“We
have failed the people of Palestine,” said Naledi Pandor, South
Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation.</b></p></div><p class="PJLV italic font-light mb-md font-copy left"><b><i><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/22/g20-gaza-israel-blinken-brazil/?itid=lk_fullstory">This is an excerpt from a full story</a>.</i></b></p><div class="PJLV PJLV-iiXdZir-css"><div class="wpds-c-fJODHS wpds-c-fJODHS-idbJeaI-css" data-testid="luf-2-action-bar"><div class="PJLV PJLV-igStMRY-css flex justify-center"><a class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-density-compact wpds-c-kSOqLF-gtsvqC-icon-right continue-reading-button" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/22/g20-gaza-israel-blinken-brazil/?itid=lk_fullstory"><b><svg class="content-box fill-currentColor wpds-c-fBqPWp" height="16" viewbox="0 0 16 16" width="16" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></b></a></div></div></div></div><div>We've got another topic before we wind down this morning.</div><div><br /></div><div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a world of stupidity, the US can't afford to be any more fact-free or any more hateful.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Which
is one of the main reasons we can't afford Robert F. Kennedy Jr as a
president. He persists in his vanity campaign. Two states and . . .
counting? He's got what, about eight months before the election. And
he does realize that the states have cut offs, right? They're not
waiting until November to determine whether or not you're on their state
ballot. Time's ticking for Junior.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Does
he not grasp time? David Bowie sang, "Time may change me but I can't
change time." Junior thinks he can. How else to explain his current
and ongoing (through February 29th) "Presidents' Day Auction." It's a
limited edition auction. He must be saving the sweat-soaked t-shirts
and briefs that he's worn for his OnlyFans account and instead if
offering such 'winners' as $750 for a photo -- a photo! -- of Kelly
Slater and Junior getting ready to surf! You know Kelly Slater, right?
The surfer big in the 90s who's bald now and 52 years old. Yeah, 75
cents would be too much to bid for that photo. But, quick before
Presidents Day ends on last Monday that already passed, bid! Bid! For
Presidents Day -- every day must be Presidents Day! -- bid.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="yiv1747180217ydpfe91e383yiv5477971292" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/rfk-jr-trans-athletes-should-not-compete-against-women/ar-BB1iGaBR?cvid=05ed159eca384edeab1a99b32af575c8&ei=40" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Junior's in the news</a> and let's expose his sexism yet again:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>During
an event, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked about
the issue of transgender athletes competing in sports.</b></span></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Kennedy
stated he does not think biological males should be allowed to compete
against women in consequential sports where scholarships or careers are
at stake, as it would not be fair.</b></span></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Really.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Am
I the only one aware that trans men (women who have or are
transitioning to men) are competing in boxing and football and other
sports. And yet Junior and the other hate merchants aren't up in arms
over that. What is this obsession with male to female transition?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hmm. What could it be?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The patriarchy's fear of -- and hatred for -- the feminine?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's
protected tom boys for years. Society says they're cute -- to a point
and to a certain age -- but the same society says that boys who are
feminine should get the s**t kicked out of them. That's the school
Junior's from so don't think he's about helping women. He's not. He
sees males who transition to female as gender traitors who are doing the
most horrific thing in the world -- celebrating womanhood. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
think Junior made more since when he was shooting up heroin. Maybe he's
back on it? That would be a better excuse than sexism to hide behind
when trying to explain why male to female trans shouldn't be allowed to
compete but he has nothing to say about female to male trans persons
competing. It's not really about 'safety' or 'fairness,' it's about his
hatred of feminine males that was ingrained decades ago and which he
wrongly now aims at women -- transgender women are women, Junior.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scared-for-our-kids-anger-mounts-after-non-binary-teen-dies-following-school-fight/ar-BB1iINbP?cvid=05ed159eca384edeab1a99b32af575c8&ei=33" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ava Sasani (GUARDIAN) reports</a>:</span><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The death of a non-binary 16-year-old in Oklahoma has left LGBTQ+ Americans overwhelmed by anger and grief this week.</b></span></p><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Nex
Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary student, died on 8 February after a
“physical altercation” with classmates in their high school bathroom,
according to a statement by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=797096819120305&id=100064599824990&ref=embed_post" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">local law enforcement</a> on 21 February.</b></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"><b>In
a statement on the school’s website, school officials said: “Students
were in the restroom for less than two minutes and the physical
altercation was broken up by other students who were present in the
restroom at the time, along with a staff member who was supervising
outside of the restroom.”</b></span><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hmm.
What happened to the students who beat Nex up? We know what happened
to Nex. The school punished Nex. What happened to the students who
beat Nex up?</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">B-b-b-but Nex
might not have died from the attack. Nex might not. Nex might have.
As Marcia notes in "," doesn't matter, there is no bullying allowed.
Best case scenario for the bullies, the attack didn't kill Nex. But
they still attacked and assaulted. And, sorry, but "We didn't kill Nex,
we just made Nex's second to last day on earth miserable with our
bullying"? That's really not the get-out-of-jail card that they hope it
is. <a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/bullying-children-is-unacceptable.html">As Marcia noted</a> last night:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What
was done to Nex was outrageous. And before someone says "[Nex] didn't
die from the bullying!" We don't know. But we do know the bullying was
wrong and we do know everyone took part in it should be punished. <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/authorities-to-release-video-from-school-where-family-of-lgbtq-student-said-teen-was-attacked-day-before-their-death/ar-BB1iG3t0?cvid=05ed159eca384edeab1a99b32af575c8&ei=16" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NBC NEWS reports</a>:</b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Authorities in Oklahoma will release video from <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/oklahoma-student-dies-one-day-fight-high-school-bathroom-rcna139643" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">inside the school where the family of an LGBTQ student said the teen was attacked</a> and assaulted in a bathroom one day before their death, police said Wednesday.</i></b></span></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Hallway
cameras inside Owasso High School West Campus show the student, Nex
Benedict, before and after the Feb. 7 fight, Owasso Police Department
spokesman Nick Boatman told NBC News.</i></b></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Boatman
said investigators have reviewed the video and will release it “at some
point.” He did not provide additional details about what the video
shows.</i></b></span></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>And
it doesn't require someone being killed to insist that the children are
protected from bullying. And if you're an adult now but were bullied
in school by a teacher, principal, coach, whatever, I think you should
consider suing. That is awful that it happened during the 70s (I saw it
some). And if, even for 30 seconds, it frightens that adult to learn
you've filed a lawsuit against them, I say that's a win. Even if it
doesn't go to court. Just striking some fear into that abuser is
something.</b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back to the article:</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notably, Sue Benedict said in an interview with <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nex-benedict-dead-oklahoma-b2499332.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Independent</a> that
her child had started to be bullied by other students last fall. The
bullying began shortly after the Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt, signed a
bill that prohibits transgender public school students from using the
bathroom that matches their gender identity.</b></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>“I
said ‘you’ve got to be strong and look the other way, because these
people don’t know who you are’,” she told the publication. “I didn’t
know how bad it had gotten.”</b></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Stitt offered his <a class="yiv1747180217ydpfe91e383yiv5477971292" href="https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-owasso-student-death-nonbinary-nex-04f1c51924860d77877016810bc05762" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">condolences</a> to
Nex’s family in a statement on Wednesday, calling it “a tragedy” and
said that “bullies must be held accountable”. The statement seemed
hollow to LGBTQ+ people across Oklahoma – several of whom told the
Guardian this week that their state has become increasingly hostile
towards transgender and non-binary people.</b></span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>“This
is a direct result of hateful rhetoric about two-spirit and LGBTQ
people,” said Sarah Adams, a two-spirit member of the Choctaw Nation in
Oklahoma. Two-spirit is a contemporary term used by many Indigenous
cultures to describe a person who lives outside the gender binary of
male and female.</b></span></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>[. . .]</b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Oklahoma
lawmakers have proposed more than 50 anti-LGBTQ+ laws in 2024 alone,
more than any other state this year, according to the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights-2024" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ACLU</a>. In 2022, Oklahoma became the first state to enact an explicit ban on non-binary gender markers on birth certificates.</b></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Just two weeks before Nex’s death, the Oklahoma’s schools superintendent, Ryan Walters, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-education-superintendent-walters-libs-tiktok-raichik-4db2bcb9d8e0582f67329f6879bdf6ba" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">appointed</a> the far-right social media influencer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/07/cpac-anti-trans-rhetoric" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chaya Raichik</a> to
the state committee that reviews the appropriateness of school library
content. Raichik runs Libs of TikTok, an anti-LGBTQ+ social media
account.</b></span></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>In
a video released by the Oklahoma department of education last year,
Walters described trans children as a danger to their classmates who put
“<a class="yiv1747180217ydpfe91e383yiv5477971292" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHxuHyqTkcY&t=112s" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">our girls in jeopardy</a>”.</b></span></p><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh,
look at that, male to female trans persons put -- according to Walters
-- "our girls in jeopardy." But, again, female to male trans persons
aren't noted. There's a word that I don't use but that needs to be
noted here because it will clarify what I'm talking about if anyone
isn't getting it. Prissy. The term rhymes with prissy. Again, tom boy
is not demonized in our patriarchal culture; however, that word that
rhymes with prissy is about demonizing. And, again, it exists because
the male 'gender traitor' is to be demonized in our climate and it's
been that way forever and a day. Feminism is -- and has always been --
about debunking and burying these sexist gender constructs. Nex claimed
both -- that's what two spirits is about and I'm curious as to whether
Nex is someone who studied Native American culture as an outsider or as
someone who was Native American. (Curious, it doesn't change what Nex
embraced.) There are more than two genders. I get that if you're </span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-war-on-transgender-kids-took-the-life-of-nex-benedict/ar-BB1iIPMH?cvid=05ed159eca384edeab1a99b32af575c8&ei=44" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196ad4; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Dave Zirin (THE NATION) notes</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">:</span></div></div></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The
basics of the story are ugly, but we cannot look away, because this is
what we have become: a country that wages a one-sided legislative war
against trans kids. We are a country where Benedict was bullied for
being nonbinary. We are a country where on February 7, Benedict was
beaten with a trans friend in a bathroom, and the adult on bathroom duty
did nothing for two minutes before stepping in. We are a country where
the school administrators, instead of calling an ambulance or the police
as Sue Benedict wanted, was sent home with a two-week suspension for
“fighting.” Sue took Nex Benedict to the hospital with a badly bruised
and scratched face, the back of their head hurt from hitting the
bathroom floor, but the hospital quickly discharged them. The next
morning, they collapsed and died.</b></span></p><p class="yiv1747180217ydpfe91e383yiv5477971292ydp5941561fcontinue-read-break" style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>But
school officials aren’t the only people who failed Benedict. Libs of
TikTok fascist and far-right social media influencer Chaya Raichik
hounded a beloved teacher who supported Benedict at Owasso High School
out of his job through her heavily edited viral videos. The
superintendent of public schools Ryan Walters appointed Raichik, a
former New York real estate agent, to the state of Oklahoma’s library
advisory committee. Walters has refused to comment on the beating death
of one of his students, as if Benedict did not exist. (Since Benedict’s
death, he has found time to post worshipful thoughts about Donald
Trump.)</b></span></p></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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<a href="https://jodywatley.net/" target="_blank">
The Official Jody Watley Website</a>
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<a href="https://jodywatley.net/2024/02/22/jody-watley-set-to-thrill-at-summer-flashback-funkfest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jody-watley-set-to-thrill-at-summer-flashback-funkfest" target="_blank">
Jody Watley Set To Thrill At Summer Flashback FunkFest
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15 hours ago
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<a href="https://gorilla-radio.com/" target="_blank">
Gorilla Radio</a>
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<a href="https://gorilla-radio.com/2024/02/21/gorilla-radio-with-chris-cook-john-helmer-mazin-al-nahawi-february-21-2024/" target="_blank">
Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, John Helmer, Mazin Al-Nahawi February 21,
2024
</a>
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1 day ago </div>
</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-81198128907123752662024-02-22T23:12:00.000-08:002024-02-22T23:12:15.656-08:00Tennessee beccomes the state of hate<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><a class="yiv1747180217ydpfe91e383yiv5477971292" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/neo-nazi-rally-in-nashville-condemned-by-lawmakers/ar-BB1iFo3T?cvid=e2f3fb9a7f3b407da72825953ef2bfb5&ei=5" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jason Silverstein (CBS News) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">A neo-Nazi rally in downtown Nashville over the weekend is being condemned by a local Jewish group and by state lawmakers.</p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Witness
videos posted on social media over the weekend showed a small group of
people, wearing red shirts and black masks, giving Nazi salutes and
carrying a black swastika flag as they marched through downtown streets
in broad daylight. Clips showed the marchers passing through Broadway,
the city's bustling music row, and by the state capitol, chanting "Sieg
Heil" and calling for deportations. </p></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr">How in the world does that happen? Maybe the answer is: It happens in Tennessee.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">It's hate country.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">That's
all it is. They have allowed their state to become a hate state.
They're attacking LGBTQ+ people every chance they get. Racism and
homophobia go hand-in-hand. If you live in Tennessee and aren't a
bigot, you must be in the minority because the state's elected
representatives are hate merchants.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I'd be embarrassed to live there, honestly. The residents have allowed a beautiful state to become a sewer of hate. <a class="yiv1747180217ydpfe91e383yiv5477971292" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tennessee-governor-signs-bill-allowing-public-officials-to-refuse-to-perform-same-sex-marriages/ar-BB1iGlXl?cvid=e88df42db05a474e806f92aef789ce1b&ei=37" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Hill notes</a> the latest bigotry:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed a bill Wednesday allowing public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.</p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">State lawmakers approved Tennessee <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0878&GA=113" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">House Bill 878</a> last
week. The legislation states people “shall not be required to solemnize
a marriage” if they refuse to doing so based on their “conscience or
religious beliefs.” According to the Tennessee Legislature website, the
governor signed the bill Wednesday.</p></div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">God
doesn't endorse bigotry. Tennessee's in the sewer and it clearly lacks
the integrity to crawl out. And this needs to be a wake up call for
all Americans. We have got to stand up to bigotry. When we don't, they
think they can get away with it. That's why The Grayzone and Mrs. Max
Blumenthal do not belong on the left. They're grifters and they
justified attacks on LGBTQ+ people with that Russian Today trash Anya
Blumenthal pinning a Tweet for months to the top of her feed -- a Tweet
she wrote -- mocking transgender people. She's garbage. And she looks
like a man, have you noticed? Is that why Max fell for her? Is he into
men? If so, maybe a mannish woman is his first step out of the
closet. Come on, Maxie, you can do it. And you can find some guy who
knows how to love -- Anya looks like a demon, I doubt she's ever
loved. <br /></div><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_0890411476.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Thursday, February 22, 2024. Gaza death toll nears 30,000, Israel
military lawyers warns of possible criminal prosecution for IDF forces,
the Israeli government destroys a mosque, hate merchants in the US
continue their attacks, and much more.<div><br /></div><div>Starting with
this: 18-year-old Jack Johnson of Louisiana arrested for murder. Police
were called to the Benton, LA home of Speaker of the House Mike
Johnson's earlier this morning when a screaming woman phoned to report a
homicide. When they arrived on the premises, the screaming woman
turned out to be a very high strung Speaker Johnson who had discovered
his son in an exhausted state of bliss, the younger Johnson having just
jerked off. "All of those children! Dead!" wailed the Speaker as he
waved his son's still damp cum rag in the faces of the responding
officers. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That is where Alabama's latest nonsense leads, right? <a href="https://feminist.org/news/alabama-supreme-court-rules-that-embryos-outside-of-the-womb-qualify-as-human-beings/">Hannah Irvine (FEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><p><b>The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that embryos outside of the womb
qualify as human beings in a ruling that further thwarts reproductive
freedom in the state. In the <a href="https://publicportal-api.alappeals.gov/courts/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/cms/case/343D203A-B13D-463A-8176-C46E3AE4F695/docketentrydocuments/E3D95592-3CBE-4384-AFA6-063D4595AA1D">131 page opinion </a>Alabama
judges quoted the Bible and listened to complicated theoretical legal
arguments before ultimately coming to the 7-2 decision. </b></p> <p class="nitro-offscreen"><b>The
case comes after two Alabama couples pursuing IVF sued the Alabama
Mobile Infirmary Medical Centre after a patient was able to break into
the hospital’s cryogenic facility and subsequently dropped two embryos.
The embryos at this stage have been chosen as suitable for possible
transfer into the uterus. Even though they have passed this hurdle, they
are still 50% likely to fail when transferred. </b></p></div><div> <p class="nitro-offscreen"><b>The two plaintiffs filed their complaints under Alabama’s <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2022/title-6/chapter-5/article-22/section-6-5-391/">Wrongful Death of a Minor Act</a>.
The judges used this act as the legal basis for their decision, citing
that the “Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies on its face to all
unborn children, without limitation.” This landmark ruling not only is a
clear product of a pro-life agenda strengthened by religious propaganda
but also serves as a reminder of the strict grip that Alabama lawmakers
want to have over reproductive health in the state. </b></p> <p class="nitro-offscreen"><b>This
ruling further tightens abortion regulations and it will also serve as a
barrier to the people of Alabama who wish to go through the IVF
process. Hospitals view the ruling as a huge risk, making it almost
impossible to run an IVF clinic without the constant fear of causing a
“death.” One thing is clear – the state of Alabama has offered women yet
another haunting warning, they can and will take control of their
reproductive rights as they see fit.</b></p></div><div>The idiots of the
Alabama court are trying to destroy reproductive rights. It never ends
for them. These nut jobs live on the slippery slope. </div><div><br /></div><div>In fact, here's footage of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito trying to use that slope to further erode equal rights.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't the only one rooting for the crocodile to catch Alito, was I?</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/20/alito-jurors-homosexuality-sin/72672733007/">Maureen Groppe (USA TODAY) reports</a>:</div><div><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>Supreme Court <a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/20/alito-jurors-homosexuality-sin/72672733007/">Justice Samuel Alito</a>
attempted an “I told you so” on Tuesday when he criticized a judge’s
dismissal of potential jurors in a workplace discrimination case because
they believed homosexuality is a sin.</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>Alito said that’s exactly the type of outcome he warned against when, against his objections, the <a class="gnt_ar_b_a" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/26/supreme-court-gay-lesbian-marriage/28649319/">Supreme Court ruled in 2015</a> that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><b>Alito
said he’d anticipated that Americans would be labeled as bigots unless
they hid their traditional religious beliefs about “homosexual conduct.”</b></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><br /></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Was that his inner voice warning him or just the ravings from a syphilis plagued mind?</p></div><div>All Alito wants is to live in a world where he can be a bigot but not get called one. Is that so wrong?</div><div><br /></div><div>Yeah, it is. You're lying, hypocritical ass is so wrong and so disgusting.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alito,
please note, voted for Lori Davis. He said that 'religious' people --
homophobes -- could refuse to do work for gay people. Now he says that
homophobes should be allowed to sit on a jury to rule as to whether or
not LGBTQ+ rights have been broken. Does no one else the blatant
hypocrisy?</div><div><br /></div><div>It's about time -- damn time -- that
someone explained to Alito that freedom of religion in the US included
freedom FROM religion. </div><div><br /></div><div>He's an evil man and
hopefully he will die soon. Maybe he'll break his neck rushing down one
of those slippery slopes. The world will be a better place with one
less bigot.</div><div><br /></div><div>In "<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/theyre-killing-trans-kids-with-their.html" target="_self">They're killing trans kids with their words and their hate</a>," Marcia noted Nex Benedict. <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/nex-benedict-everything-we-know-about-16-year-old-oklahoma-students-death">Lex McMenamin (TEEN VOGUE) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Nex Benedict, <a href="https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-student-death-raichik-walters#toggle-gdpr">a 16-year-old Oklahoma high school sophomore</a>,
was beaten by three girl classmates in the bathroom of Owasso High
School on Feb. 7. On Feb. 8, Nex – who identified within the <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-variance-around-the-world">Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming (2STGNC) umbrella</a> – was declared dead at the hospital.</b></p><p><b>Now LGBTQ+ Oklahomans are mourning the loss of a straight-A student, a Minecraft fan, and animal lover – a teenager – in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nex-benedict-dead-oklahoma-b2499332.html">a school district previously targeted by Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik;</a>
Raichik now sits on the statewide library advisory board. In 2023,
Oklahoma censured the state’s only nonbinary representative — not to
mention signing into law a bill forcing public school students to use
the bathroom associated with their gender assigned at birth; advocates
are currently closely watching several anti-trans pieces of legislation.</b></p><p><b>Before
Benedict’s name was made public, a source who claimed to be the mother
of Benedict’s best friend told a local outlet the cause of death was
“complications from brain trauma,” and that “three older girls were
beating the victim and her daughter in the girl’s bathroom.” (We are not
linking because the story uses Benedict’s deadname. <a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.freedomoklahoma.org/news/nex-benedict"}" data-offer-url="https://www.freedomoklahoma.org/news/nex-benedict" href="https://www.freedomoklahoma.org/news/nex-benedict" rel="noopener" target="_blank">According to Freedom Oklahoma</a>,
it’s not presently clear which pronouns Benedict used, so this story
will refrain from using pronouns for Nex.) The anonymous source also
alleged that Benedict couldn’t “walk to the nurses’ station” without
assistance and that the school did not call an ambulance, while the
school claims they were unaware of the fight until informed by a parent;
<a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.owassops.org/apps/news/article/1887342"}" data-offer-url="https://www.owassops.org/apps/news/article/1887342" href="https://www.owassops.org/apps/news/article/1887342" rel="noopener" target="_blank">on Feb. 20, the school backtracked</a>, acknowledging that students saw the school nurse after the fight.</b></p><p><b>Texts allegedly sent by Nex after the fight to a family member, <a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.fox23.com/news/family-member-shares-messages-sent-by-16-year-old-owasso-student-day-before-death/article_a08a9600-d069-11ee-a555-a721a9701cad.html"}" data-offer-url="https://www.fox23.com/news/family-member-shares-messages-sent-by-16-year-old-owasso-student-day-before-death/article_a08a9600-d069-11ee-a555-a721a9701cad.html" href="https://www.fox23.com/news/family-member-shares-messages-sent-by-16-year-old-owasso-student-day-before-death/article_a08a9600-d069-11ee-a555-a721a9701cad.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">published by an Owasso Fox affiliate on the 20th</a>,
began, “I got jumped at school 3 on 1 had to go to the ER… They had
been bullying me and my friends and I got tired of it so I poured some
water on them and all 3 came after me. School did not report to the
police and is probably getting sued [redacted].”</b></p></div><div><p><b>Benedict’s grandmother Sue, who also adopted Nex, brought Nex to the
hospital after the fight, then home again; the next day, Nex was brought
back to the hospital and was pronounced dead. Sue told <em>The Independent</em>
that Nex was suspended for two weeks from school on the day of the
fight; Sue also mentioned that Nex had been bullied throughout this
school year.</b></p><p><b>“Nex
did not see themselves as male or female. Nex saw themselves right down
the middle. I was still learning about it, Nex was teaching me that,”
Benedict <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nex-benedict-dead-oklahoma-b2499332.html">told <em>The Independent</em></a>. “I was so proud of Nex. They were going some place, they were so free.”</b></p><p><b><a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/2/18/2224306/-Libs-of-TikTok-targeted-a-district-then-a-non-binary-student-was-killed-on-campus"}" data-offer-url="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/2/18/2224306/-Libs-of-TikTok-targeted-a-district-then-a-non-binary-student-was-killed-on-campus" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/2/18/2224306/-Libs-of-TikTok-targeted-a-district-then-a-non-binary-student-was-killed-on-campus" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Multiple outlets</a> and individuals, including <a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://twitter.com/wsuares/status/1759631745291346247?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1759631745291346247%7Ctwgr%5Eea1e0e686b9f9537b4e79aa413163d2ac753f5ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advocate.com%2Fnews%2Ftransgender-student-death-raichik-walters"}" data-offer-url="https://twitter.com/wsuares/status/1759631745291346247?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1759631745291346247%7Ctwgr%5Eea1e0e686b9f9537b4e79aa413163d2ac753f5ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advocate.com%2Fnews%2Ftransgender-student-death-raichik-walters" href="https://twitter.com/wsuares/status/1759631745291346247?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1759631745291346247%7Ctwgr%5Eea1e0e686b9f9537b4e79aa413163d2ac753f5ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advocate.com%2Fnews%2Ftransgender-student-death-raichik-walters" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Oklahoma newscaster Wendy Suarez</a>, as well as Freedom Oklahoma, the state’s LGBTQ+ advocacy org, connected Benedict’s death to the appointment of Raichik, <a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.losangelesblade.com/2024/02/08/labeled-stochastic-terrorism-libs-of-tiktok-attacks-nbc-for-same/"}" data-offer-url="https://www.losangelesblade.com/2024/02/08/labeled-stochastic-terrorism-libs-of-tiktok-attacks-nbc-for-same/" href="https://www.losangelesblade.com/2024/02/08/labeled-stochastic-terrorism-libs-of-tiktok-attacks-nbc-for-same/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">who’s been accused of “stochastic terrorism,</a>" <a href="https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-student-death-raichik-walters#toggle-gdpr">to the state’s</a> “Library Media Advisory Committee” in January <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/ryan-walters-nex-benedict-libs-of-tiktok/">by the state’s Secretary of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters</a>. According to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nex-benedict-dead-oklahoma-b2499332.html">the Independent</a>,
a “teacher who Nex had greatly admired” resigned in 2022 after Raichik
targeted them on social media. Raichik has denied any responsibility in
Benedict’s death, and <a class="external-link" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://twitter.com/AriDrennen/status/1759982447092216089"}" data-offer-url="https://twitter.com/AriDrennen/status/1759982447092216089" href="https://twitter.com/AriDrennen/status/1759982447092216089" rel="noopener" target="_blank">has instead misgendered Nex repeatedly</a> in social posts. <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/ryan-walters-nex-benedict-libs-of-tiktok/">As for Walters</a>,
in a 2023 video released by the Oklahoma Department of Education, he
utilized transphobic rhetoric. He has also banned students from changing
their gender on school records.</b></p></div><div>Last week, in Iraq, a blogger was murdered:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><mark class="beyondwords-highlight bwp id-73cc8c27-cb52-499a-9f22-8fea957def61" style="background: rgb(238, 238, 238);"><b>A trans blogger, known as “Simsim”, has been killed in the Al-Qadisiyah governorate of Iraq, a security source has said. </b></mark></div><div><b>The blogger was killed by unknown assailants, the source told <a href="https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Transgender-blogger-Simsim-assassinated-in-Diwaniyah">Iraqi publication Shafaq News</a>. The 28-year-old victim was stabbed several times, near the mural roundabout in the centre of the city of Diwaniyah.</b></div><div><br /></div><div> <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So
these lunatics think what? That when they die, they'll meet their
maker and their savior is going to high five them for killing an LGBTQ+
person? They're as sick as the people who flew the planes into the Twin
Towers. </div><div><br /></div><div>And sick minds are the reason for the continued assault on Gaza. This morning <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/22/israel-militarys-top-lawyer-warns-troops-over-improper-conduct-in-gaza">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The Israeli military’s top lawyer has issued an unprecedented warning to troops against “improper conduct” in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-war-on-gaza/">Gaza</a> which includes the unjustified use of force and looting among other “criminal” actions.</b></p>
<p><b>Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the military advocate general,
issued the warning in a letter on Wednesday, as reported by the Haaretz
newspaper, saying it was “difficult to exaggerate” the “severity” of the
soldiers’ actions over nearly five months of the war.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>They should be very worried about facing charges. War Crimes are being carried out. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-rafah-famine">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> Israeli airstrikes on the severely overcrowded <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a> city of Rafah on Thursday destroyed a
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/QudsNen/status/1760585477524959369" target="_blank">mosque</a>
and several houses as the leaders of aid groups and key United Nations
agencies issued their latest warning over deteriorating humanitarian
conditions across the Palestinian territory.
</b></p><p><b><em>Reuters</em><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hits-gazas-rafah-hamas-chiefs-trip-raises-truce-hopes-2024-02-22/" target="_blank">reported</a> that Rafah residents described the latest flurry of Israeli attacks as "one of their worst nights yet."
</b></p><p><b>
"Mourners wailed over at least seven corpses in body bags, laid out on
cobbles outside a morgue in the city," the outlet reported. "Gaza health
authorities said 97 people were confirmed killed and 130 wounded in the
last 24 hours of
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/israel-hamas/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Israeli assaults</a>,
but most victims were still under rubble or in areas rescuers could not
reach. The al-Farouk mosque in the center of Rafah was flattened into
slabs of concrete, the facades of adjacent buildings blasted away."
</b></p><p><b>
Rafah is currently home to around 1.5 million people, most of whom fled
to the small city from elsewhere in the Gaza Strip to escape Israeli
bombs and ground forces—only to face airstrikes and the threat of a
ground assault not long after arriving. Starvation and disease are
spreading rapidly in the city, which rests near Gaza's border with
Egypt.</b> </p></div><div>Last night, <a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/we-should-all-be-ashamed-of-butcher.html">Mike noted</a>
US President Joe Biden's refusal to demand a cease-fire, "A cease-fire
now is the only answer -- right now. If Joe's too senile
to grasp that, he doesn't deserve a second term. If he just doesn't
care about Palestinians, he doesn't deserve a second term."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Joe's inability to find a spine was debated on <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/21/michigan_primary">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <em>Democracy Now!</em>, democracynow.org, <em>The War and Peace Report</em>. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.</b></p>
<p><b>The United States on Tuesday vetoed a widely supported Security
Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The vote
was 13 to 1 in favor of the resolution, with the United Kingdom
abstaining. It marked the third time the U.S. has vetoed a Security
Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. The vote came a day
after the U.S. circulated a rival resolution calling for a temporary
ceasefire linked to the release of all Israeli hostages.</b></p>
<p><b>Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on
Gaza over the past four-and-a-half months, with thousands more missing
and presumed dead under the rubble. Nearly 70,000 people have been
wounded. Eighty percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, while a
humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, with a quarter of Palestinians
in Gaza facing starvation.</b></p>
<p><b>The Biden administration’s support for Israel in its assault on Gaza
has come under fierce criticism both around the world and here at home.
In Michigan, which is a key battleground state, home to one of the
largest Arab American populations in the country, a campaign is growing
to vote “uncommitted” in next week’s Democratic primary in protest of
President’s Biden’s policies backing Israel.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we’re joined by two guests. Michigan state Representative
Abraham Aiyash is the Michigan House majority floor leader, the
second-ranking Democrat in the Michigan House. Representative Aiyash was
among several Arab and Muslim leaders who met with Biden officials in
Dearborn last week, after refusing to meet with Biden’s campaign
manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez. He’s also joined more than 40 other
Michigan elected officials in pledging to cast a vote for “uncommitted”
in Michigan’s February 27th primary. He’s joining us from Detroit.
Joining us from Washington, D.C., on his way to Michigan, is Democratic
Congressmember Ro Khanna. He’s the deputy whip of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus and is going to Michigan tomorrow to meet with Muslim
and Arab American leaders in the state.</b></p>
<p><b>We welcome you both to <em>Democracy Now!</em> Abraham Aiyash, let’s
begin with you. What are you demanding — as the Michigan House majority
floor leader, what are you demanding of the Biden administration? You
don’t usually take such stands against your own party, but right now the
Democratic Party is really dealing with enormous pressure at this
point. Can you talk about what you want to see happen?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. <span class="caps">ABRAHAM</span> <span class="caps">AIYASH</span>:
Look, I think our demands are simple. We just don’t want our
government, our country to support, to aid, to abet any operation that
kills innocent men, women and children. It is not a radical idea for us
to suggest that the richest and most powerful country in the history of
the world should not be funding what we see as a genocide, that we have
seen nearly 30,000 dead Palestinians at the hands of the U.S.-funded
Israeli missiles and bombs, and we want our leadership to not engage in
that type of moral failure and that degenerative act that does not
dignify the humanity of the Palestinian people. So, you know, more than
anything, we’re not standing against anyone, but we’re simply
reaffirming our stance for humanity and for the basic tenets of human
rights, which says it is not a crazy concept that we should not be
supporting any effort that is killing any innocent person in the world,
especially to the magnitude that we’ve seen in Gaza, where more people
have died in this conflict than any war since World War II, which is
just a devastating toll.</b></p>
<p><b>And we’re hoping to exercise our right. We’re going to use the ballot
box on February 27th to show that we are going to not support any
effort that is supporting a genocide and that we’re going to stand firm
and, hopefully, allow this administration to change course before the
November election.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: Well, I
wanted to ask Congressman Ro Khanna, who’s with us, as well — you’ve
said that, for example, that President Trump is too dangerous to not
support President — I mean, former President Trump is too dangerous to
not support President Biden. Your response to those Democrats who cannot
in good conscience vote for President Biden, at least in this primary?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. RO <span class="caps">KHANNA</span>:
Well, first of all, I have a tremendous amount of respect for
Representative Aiyash, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in
Michigan. I do believe the administration needs to change course in
foreign policy in the Middle East in order to gain the trust of people
who we have lost. You can’t just meet with the Muslim American or Arab
American community and then veto in the United Nations a resolution
calling for a ceasefire and, by the way, an unconditional release of the
hostages. This is the third time we have vetoed that. It is hurting our
moral standing. It is hurting our commitment to human rights. And it is
not giving confidence to people that you’re hearing them and changing
course.</b></p>
<p><b>So, my hope is, in my meetings with Representative Aiyash and others,
that we can come up with a strategy that helps change course in the
Middle East so we get a permanent ceasefire, so we have a release of the
hostages, so we get aid into Gaza, and we have more peace and justice
in the region.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And,
Representative Aiyash, I wanted to ask you about the meeting you had
with Biden officials earlier this month in Dearborn. What did you get
out of those talks?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. <span class="caps">ABRAHAM</span> <span class="caps">AIYASH</span>:
We were firm in reiterating our points. We want to see an immediate,
permanent ceasefire. We want to see humanitarian aid delivered to the
people of Gaza through entities like <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>.
And we want to see restrictions and conditions on the aid that is sent
to Israel. You know, it is unfathomable that we just send a blank check
with no conditions to a country that has violated human rights, that has
violated international law over and over and over again.</b></p>
<p><b>And we reminded the administration that, one, they showed up 124 days
into this conflict. They visited a state that happens to be the swing
state. So, we are not seeing the level of support. We’re not seeing the
level of concern that our communities have demonstrated for months. And
we reiterated those messages once again.</b></p>
<p><b>And unfortunately, just four days after that meeting, we saw the
Netanyahu regime did one of the worst attacks on the Rafah region, and
the United States still did not put the type of pressure on that regime
to stop these heinous acts.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Let me ask Congressmember Khanna: Do you think the Biden administration
made a mistake in vetoing yet another ceasefire resolution? And I want
to go a little further. Right after the U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations issued that veto, President Biden was in Los Angeles at a
fundraiser. He was attending a high-dollar fundraiser with the media
mogul Haim Saban, well-known Democratic, pro-Israel billionaire. The
dinner — the meeting was at, what, $3,300, to cost as much as $250,000.
I’m looking at a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-fundraiser-israel">piece</a> now in <em>Common Dreams</em>.
Your thoughts on this and on President Biden continually saying he’s
putting enormous pressure privately on Netanyahu, yet their private acts
continue to be against the kind of ceasefire that was put forward and
vetoed at the United Nations?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. RO <span class="caps">KHANNA</span>:
It was a mistake to veto the United Nations resolution. At the very
least, we could have abstained. I mean, you have 15 countries on that
Security Council. Thirteen of them are voting for a resolution for a
permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages, which is the
sentiment not just in the world, it’s the sentiment about the majority
of American people. And we are the lone “no” vote in the global
community. It is hurting America’s standing in the world, especially an
administration that is committed to multilateralism and rebuilding
international institutions. What does this say about the credibility of
the U.N. if we aren’t going to participate in those institutions?</b></p>
<p><b>The other issue is that I appreciate that there has been some
movement in the administration because of many of us in Congress who
have called for a permanent ceasefire, who have called for the
humanitarian aid to Gaza. There has been movement in recognizing the
value and dignity of Palestinian lives and the humanitarian concerns.
But now we need action. There needs to be clear consequences to
Netanyahu and his very far right-wing government. I mean, people in his
government are way to the right of Donald Trump, and that is important
to understand, people like Ben-Gvir. It needs to be clear to Bibi: He
can’t go into Rafah. Our secretary of defense doesn’t want it. Our
president doesn’t want it. Who is he to defy the United States of
America and then expect us to continue to provide military aid to do
that? So we need to be very, very clear of the consequences, and that is
not what has happened so far.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ:
Representative Aiyash, I wanted to ask you —— in December, you embarked
on a hunger strike and joined a demonstration outside the White House to
call for a ceasefire. Why is this issue so deeply personal to you?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. <span class="caps">ABRAHAM</span> <span class="caps">AIYASH</span>:
Look, my chief of staff [inaudible] — her two aunts were one of the
victims of the Nakba. And I remember her telling me the story where her
father and his two sisters walked across the Jordan Valley, only for the
two aunts to pass away from dehydration. You know, there is a real pain
and a real history behind the dehumanization of the Palestinian people.</b></p>
<p><b>And we’ve seen people all across this country stand up and say our
country should not be looking by while all these innocent men, women and
children are suffering at the hands of a right-wing regime that,
Congressman Khanna mentioned, that we are funding. You know, if you look
at the facts, a majority of Americans — 80% of Democrats support a
ceasefire. Over 60% of Americans support a ceasefire. Yet we see a
majority of Congress and this White House just seem to ignore the will
of the American people. You know, that is just a uniquely un-American
concept, when you have folks for months who have protested, folks for
months who have stood up and said, “We demand that our country lead with
moral conviction and say that no innocent man, woman and child should
be murdered at the hands of U.S. weaponry,” and our leaders just seem to
ignore it.</b></p>
<p><b>And I’m grateful for leaders like Congressman Khanna, who has stood
firmly in supporting human rights, who stood firmly in saying that
Palestinians deserve just as much dignity as the Ukrainians, as the
Israelis, as anyone in this world. But to see our leaders continue to
ignore the will of the American people is extremely disheartening. And,
you know, that is why this issue is so important for so many people
across this country, because it is a reminder that we are going to
continue to fight for our democracy and continue to fight for democratic
values and ideals, and it is through things like voting “uncommitted”
and continuing to organize and protest for peace all across the world.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Congressmember Khanna, you said there needs to be consequences to
affect Israeli policy. Do you think that the U.S. should cut off
military aid to Israel, to Prime Minister Netanyahu, for what they’re
doing in Gaza right now? And if you can talk about the big meeting
you’re going to have tomorrow evening with Rashida Tlaib, the “Take Back
Our Power” campaign, Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American
member of the U.S. Congress?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">REP</span>. RO <span class="caps">KHANNA</span>:
Well, I voted “no” on the blank check, $17 million of unrestricted
money to Israel, just a week or two ago. And I certainly don’t think we
should be giving them more of the precision missiles, which would go to
attack people in Rafah. I don’t see how we can bypass Congress, which
has been happening, to provide offensive military weapons to undertake
strikes that our own government is saying should not happen.</b></p>
<p><b>Let me just say this: I’m really looking forward, first, to meeting
people like Representative Aiyash and other Arab American, Muslim
American leaders. He is not just a representative. He is the leader in
the Michigan House. He’s going to be a future governor, a future
senator, a future member of Congress. And this is the point. The
coalition of the modern Democratic Party is not the coalition of 1972.
It is a coalition that includes young people, progressives, Muslim
Americans, Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, young folks. The <span class="caps">AME</span>
Black church has come out for a ceasefire. And we better wake up to
that fact, because the future of the Democratic Party is going to demand
justice for two states, a Palestinian state living side by side with
the Israeli state, and is going to demand concrete actions for a
ceasefire and recognizing the humanity of both Palestinians and
Israelis. The conversation with Rashida Tlaib is one about electricity
and power and justice on that, though I’m sure other topics will come up
at that town hall.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
We want to thank you both for being with us, California Congressmember
Ro Khanna, headed to Michigan tomorrow, and Abraham Aiyash, speaking to
us from Detroit, the Michigan House majority floor leader. The Michigan
primary is February 27 — that’s next week — in Michigan.</b></p>
<p><b>When we come back, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/21/african_union_palestine">leaders
at this years’s African Union Summit condemn Israel’s assault on Gaza.
We’ll get the latest and also hear decisions they made around Sudan,
around the Democratic Republic of Congo and more</a>. Stay with us.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 139 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna139928">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "More than 29,400 people have been killed in Gaza <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-orders-rafah-evacuation-ground-invasion-netanyahu-gaza-war-rcna137863" target="_blank">since the war began</a>,
according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 69,400 have
been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">Isaiah</a></b>'s THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/isaiahs-world-today-just-nuts-jim.html">Jim Jordan Has More Free Time</a>" went up last night. The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div>
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</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li></ul><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-72609094215144202212024-02-21T18:34:00.000-08:002024-02-21T18:34:58.876-08:00Mike Johnson struggles to speak movingly about faith<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/194475523@N05/53544219221/in/dateposted-public/" title="jim jordan"><img alt="jim jordan" height="542" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53544219221_f5815002f6_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">Isaiah</a></b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">'s THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "</span><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/isaiahs-world-today-just-nuts-jim.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Jim Jordan Has More Free Time</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">" just went up.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></p><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="yiv8942128752ydpc38ea3c8yiv1079476385" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/i-m-not-at-church-republicans-slam-mike-johnson-for-horrible-sermon-at-gop-retreat/ar-BB1iFpj6?cvid=7ffde36a77414c239102cfbfb15b609e&ei=14" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kathleen Cuilliton reports</a>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Republicans
are slamming Speaker Mike Johnson for what they say was an overly
religious sermon delivered at a weekend G.O.P. retreat, according to a
new report.</span></span></b></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Johnson
(R-L.A.) was supposed to speak to Republican lawmakers at the Mandarin
Oriental Hotel in Miami about holding onto the party’s House majority,
but <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/21/congress/johnsons-sermon-to-gop-retreagt-00142436" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sources told Politico</a> the topic was less tactics and more tenets.</span></span></b></p></div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">“I’m not at church,” one source told Politico. “The sermon was so long.”</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Johnson,
a devout Christian, reportedly bemoaned declining church membership,
referenced Bible verses, and tried to argue God was in the party’s
political corner.</span></span></b></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“I think what he was trying to do, but failed on the execution of it, was try to bring us together,” the source told Politico.</span></span></b></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“He couldn't bring it back to make the point,” the source added, and described the presentation as “horrible.”</span></span></b></p></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">You
know, some people just can't speak convincingly of faith. Maybe they
don't speak well, maybe they're closet cases who pretend to be righteous
and because they're fakes they can't speak convincingly. I just hope
Mike Johnson knows that God loves him even if he's a closet case and
that God's love and faith is for all who want it. Most of all, there is
nothing wrong with being LGBTQ+. I think Mike Johnson's life would be
happier if he could grasp that. </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And leave the closet.</span></span></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_0562775115.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Wednesday, February 21, 2024. For the third time, the US government
vetoes a cease-fire, CNN reports on a War Crime with documented
evidence, and much more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div>England's Prince William may have joined the call for a cease-fire but the US government hasn't. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>As the BBC notes, the US government vetoed the resolution. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/un-israel-palestinians-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-vote-350c86ef261bf1a00a2515cf22764de5">Edith M Lederer (AP) explains</a>,
"The United States on Tuesday vetoed an Arab-backed and widely
supported
U.N. resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the
Israel-Hamas war in the embattled Gaza Strip, saying it would interfere
with negotiations on a deal to free hostages abducted in Israel." 13
nations voted in favor of the cease-fire. The US voted against it. And
the UK?</div><div><br /></div><div>Apparently unconcerned that the future
kind of England -- William -- is calling for a cease-fire --
unconcerned despite his father's health scare -- they decided to
abstain. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the UN, the UK stood with the US. In England this morning, most Brits are expressing agreement with William.</div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div>Prince William is not the only official in England calling for a cease-fire. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68346129">BBC NEWS reports</a> that the Laobur Party is as well:</div><div><br /></div><div><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b class="sc-7dcfb11b-0 kVRnKf">Labour
has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza for the
first time since the outbreak of the conflict in October.</b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>The move comes after days of party debate on how to vote in Parliament on an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire.</b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>Ten Labour frontbenchers quit in order to vote for the SNP's previous call for a ceasefire in November. </b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said Labour had shifted because the situation in Gaza had "evolved".</b></p></section></div><div><br /></div><div>On the vote at the United Nations, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/20/us-vetoes-un-resolution-ceasefire-israel-gaza">Julian Borger (GUARDIAN) notes</a>, "Washington was widely lambasted for using its veto again at a time when
nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2 million
people are under threat of famine." <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/u-s-vetoes-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-00142229">Mona Zhang (POLITICO) adds</a>, "Meanwhile, Arab states are weighing their next steps and considering
bringing some version of the vetoed Algerian resolution to the floor of
the U.N. General Assembly." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/world-condemns-uss-latest-un-security-council-veto-on-gaza-ceasefire">ALJAZEERA reminds</a> that this was the US' third veto of a cease-fire at the UN Security Council and:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>France’s UN envoy Nicolas de Riviere expressed regret that the
resolution “could not be adopted, given the disastrous situation” in
Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>De Riviere added that France, which voted for the resolution, would
continue to work towards all captives being released and for a ceasefire
to be “implemented immediately”.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-fundraiser-israel">At COMMON DREAMS, Julia Conley reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Hours after his ambassador to the United Nations vetoed the third
cease-fire resolution to be proposed at the U.N. Security Council since
Israel began its U.S.-backed bombardment of <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>
in October, President Joe Biden was scheduled to attend a high-dollar
fundraiser at the home of an influential pro-Israel billionaire on
Tuesday.</b></p><p><b>Tickets for the event hosted in Los Angeles by media mogul Haim Saban <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://deadline.com/2024/02/biden-fundraising-los-angeles-haim-saban-1235831530/" target="_blank">started</a>
at $3,300 and cost as much as $250,000. Other exclusive fundraising
events for Biden, who is seeking reelection in November, have been
disrupted in recent months by protesters demanding that the U.S. end its
support for Israel, which has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians in
Gaza since October</b></p><p><b>Co-hosts of the fundraiser include attorney Cliff and Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, whose <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://deadline.com/2024/02/biden-fundraising-los-angeles-haim-saban-1235831530/" target="_blank">own event</a> in November was marked by <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-protesters-heckle-fundraiser-1845569" target="_blank">demands</a>
for a cease-fire from people in a crowd as Vice President Kamala Harris
spoke. Demonstrators also displayed fake blood at the Gilbert-Luries'
home. <br /></b></p><p><b>Nicole Mutchnik, a vice chair of the Anti-Defamation
League, is also a co-host of Tuesday's event. Mutchnik's staunchly
pro-Israel organization has frequently accused pro-Palestinian rights
groups of anti-Jewish sentiment, equating anti-Zionism with
antisemitism. <br /></b></p><p><b>Jewish-led Palestinian rights group IfNotNow
pointed out that Saban has been quoted as suggesting the U.S. should
"scrutinize" Muslims "to get them to admit they are or they're not
terrorists."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>But the US government's refusal to call for a cease-fire isn't just about money and greed. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/andy-ogles-gaza">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) makes that clear</a> in his reporting on the words of a member of Congress:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said Tuesday that "we should
kill 'em all" after an activist pressed him to respond to atrocities
that the U.S.-backed Israeli military is committing against Palestinians
in <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>, including children.
</b></p><p><b>
"I've seen the footage of shredded children's bodies," the activist
told Ogles. "That's my taxpayer dollars that are going to bomb those
kids."
</b></p><p><b>
"You know what? So, I think we should kill 'em all, if that makes you
feel better," Ogles responded. "Hamas and the Palestinians have been
attacking Israel for 20 years. It's time to pay the piper."</b> </p></div><div>Tennessee trash. Whomever dropped it in DC, can you come pick it up? The country doesn't need him.</div><div><br /></div><div>As the US veto continues to outrage, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/middleeast/un-food-convoy-gaza-israel-strike-cmd-intl/index.html"><span class="byline__name">Katie Polglase</span> and Muhammad Darwish (CNN) report</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="source inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/source/instances/clsuk63qr001fivpahr1298pl@published"><b><cite class="source__cite">
</cite>
</b></div>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsuk8j8800073b6hx8gkk8fz@published"><b> </b></p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsuk8j8800073b6hx8gkk8fz@published"><b>Israeli forces fired on a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-05-24/h_cb28c9762353d6b31a6dc2a6be971b11">United Nations convoy</a>
carrying vital food supplies in central Gaza on February 5, before
ultimately blocking the trucks from progressing to the northern part of
the territory, where Palestinians are on the verge of famine, according
to documents shared exclusively by the UN and CNN’s own analysis.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsuk8j8800093b6hvk29axt3@published"><b>
CNN has seen correspondence between the UN and the Israeli
military that show the convoy’s route was agreed upon by both parties
prior to the strike. According to an internal incident report compiled
by UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, which was also seen by CNN,
the truck was one of 10 in a convoy sitting stationary at an IDF
holding point when it was fired upon.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsuk8j88000a3b6hfgl2cwak@published"><b>
No one in the convoy was hurt, but much of its contents –
mainly wheat flour desperately needed to bake bread – were destroyed.
Tracing the strike offers a window into the major challenges that
humanitarian efforts face in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/11/middleeast/why-only-a-trickle-of-aid-is-getting-into-gaza-mime-intl/index.html">getting aid to Gaza’s</a>
more than 2 million people – nearly 85% of whom are internally
displaced – amid Israel’s nearly five-month bombardment of the strip.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clsuk8j88000b3b6hwlldt24m@published"><b>
“A convoy that had food on it, heading to the northern parts
of the Gaza Strip. That convoy on its way in what we call the middle
areas, it got hit. One of the trucks carrying supplies was hit by
Israeli naval fire,” Juliette Touma, global director of communications
for UNRWA, told CNN.</b> </p></div><div><br /></div><div>War Crimes.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 138 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/21/israels-war-on-gaza-live-us-ceasefire-veto-a-new-low-as-hunger-spreads">ALJAZEERA notes</a>, "At least 29,313 people have been killed and 69,333 wounded in Israel’s
attacks on Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry
reported." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, Cindy McCain, <span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="text-overflow: unset;"> Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, Tweets:</span></div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div>The
conditions get worse and worse. A cease-fire? That would have allowed
the delivery of aid. But Joe Biden had to go soak up big bucks from
corrupt donors and hope he can buy his way into a second term after his
actions make clear that he doesn't deserve one.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna139713">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "The World Food Program is pausing the delivery of food to northern Gaza
until conditions are safe, saying its drivers were shot at and faced
looting and beating. The agency said this decision would add to the
'unprecedented desperation' in Gaza, after earlier warning the enclave
is at risk of famine. UNICEF warned yesterday that Gaza faced an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-centrists-unveil-bipartisan-border-aid-deal-ukraine-israel-rcna139071" target="_blank">'explosion' in child deaths</a> due to malnutrition and illness." This morning, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/21/middle-east-crisis-live-israel-gaza-palestine-lebanon-un-the-hague">THE GUARDIAN notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Also Wednesday, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said that two
people were killed when a shelter housing staff in the Gaza Strip was
struck during an Israeli operation in an area where Palestinians have
been told to seek shelter.<br /><br />“While details are still emerging,
ambulance crews have now reached the site, where at least two family
members of our colleagues have been killed and six people wounded. We
are horrified by what has taken place,” the group said in a post on
social media.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="wpds-c-PJLV"><div class="dib items-center" data-qa="author-byline"><span class="left"><div class="dib font-xxs" data-cy="name-with-optional-link" data-qa="name-with-optional-link"><span class="wpds-c-cNdzuP" data-qa="attribution-text"></span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/21/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Kelsey Ables and Niha Masih (WASHINGTON POST) report</a>:</div></span></div></span></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, is holding the
third day of hearings Wednesday into the legal consequences of Israel’s
policies and practices “in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Dozens
of countries are expected to present oral arguments during the hearings,
which span six days, and deal with questions of Israeli control over
the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. While the proceedings are not
directly about the war in Gaza, they could intensify pressure on Israel over its military campaign there.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>Palestinian
officials offered impassioned remarks on Monday, with one arguing that
“successive Israeli governments have given the Palestinian people only
three options: displacement, subjugation or death.” Israel said it does
not recognize the legitimacy of the hearings and will not attend. The
United States is slated to speak Wednesday.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>Here’s what to know.</b></p></div><p class="PJLV italic font-light mb-md font-copy left"><b>This is an excerpt from a full story.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>For more on the International Court of Justice, let's note <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/20/icj_palestine_ahmed_abofoul">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <i>Democracy Now!</i>, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.</b></p>
<p><b>We go now to The Hague, where the International Court of Justice is
holding a six-day hearing as over 50 countries are testifying against
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. It’s the
largest-ever participation in the World Court’s history.</b></p>
<p><b>Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said Monday, quote, “The
genocide underway in Gaza is a result of decades of impunity and
inaction.” Riyad Mansour, Palestinian envoy to the U.N., delivered
emotional testimony Monday.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">RIYAD</span> <span class="caps">MANSOUR</span>:
The state of Palestine appeals to this court to guide the international
community in upholding international law, ending injustice and
achieving a just and lasting peace, to guide us towards a future in
which Palestinian children are treated as children, not as demographic
threat, in which the identity of the group to which we belong does not
diminish the human rights to which we are all entitled, a future in
which no Palestinian and no Israelis is killed, a future in which two
states live side by side in peace and security. The Palestinian people
only demand respect for their rights. They ask for nothing more. They
cannot accept nothing less and nothing else. The future of freedom,
justice and peace can begin here and now.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
That was Palestine’s permanent representative to the United Nations,
Riyad Mansour, addressing the International Court of Justice Monday.
Earlier today, South African Ambassador Vusi Madonsela addressed the
court.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">VUSI</span> <span class="caps">MADONSELA</span>:
The inordinate delay in achieving a fair and just settlement has
resulted in an unending cycle of violence. A clear legal
characterization of the nature of Israel’s regime over the Palestinian
people can only assist in remedying the ongoing delay in achieving a
just settlement. … We, as South Africans, sense, see, hear and feel to
our core the inhumane discriminatory policies and practices of the
Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was
institutionalized against Black people in my country.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: For more, we’re joined from The Hague, where the <span class="caps">ICJ</span>
hearing is taking place, by Ahmed Abofoul, legal research and advocacy
officer at the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq. He
contributed to their advisory opinion on the case.</b></p>
<p><b>Welcome back to <i>Democracy Now!</i> It’s great to have you with
us. This is historic, what’s taking place right now, Ahmed, at the
International Court of Justice. More than half the world’s countries are
participating in this. Talk about the significance of this. And
although we just played the South African envoy’s comments, this is not
to be confused with that other case, the South Africa bringing the case
around genocide against Israel in the court, that just happened a few
weeks ago.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AHMED</span> <span class="caps">ABOFOUL</span>: Sure. Well, first of all, thank you for having me again, Amy, and congratulations on <i>Democracy Now!</i>’s
28th anniversary. In this dystopian age of misinformation and biased
media, especially in the West, we value your work, and we congratulate
you and hope your viewers will continue to support your important work.</b></p>
<p><b>You’re absolutely right, Amy. This is a historical moment. For over
57 years, Israel has been perpetuating its occupation in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, dominating every aspect of their lives and
maintaining this occupation to further facilitate and impose this
apartheid regime, imposed on the Palestinian people as a whole. One of
the important features of this occupation is that it is colonial in
nature. So, it’s combined with the continued, unabated building of
settlements and the theft of land and the demographic manipulation and
engineering of the Occupied Palestinian Territory in an attempt to empty
it from its Indigenous people — a very common feature of colonial
regimes and projects trying to steal the land without the people.</b></p>
<p><b>This is a historical moment, Amy, because this is, as you mentioned,
the most — the case with the most interest by states in the history of
the advisory opinion procedure before the court. And it shows you that
the world has something to say about this occupation.</b></p>
<p><b>The whole body of occupation — of the law of occupation shows us that
occupation was not intended to last that long. Occupation is temporary
in nature. But the way Israel perpetuated the occupation shows that
Israel is not interested in ending that occupation, but it actually
needs that occupation to further implement its strategy to acquire more
land by force with as least Palestinians as possible.</b></p>
<p><b>And therefore, the premise of this case, I think there are three main
legal arguments that Israel is violating what we call international
law, peremptory norms from which no derogation is permitted. So, the
first norm that Israel is violating is the acquisition of territory by
force or the threat of the use of force. The second is Israel’s
violations of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,
which is also a peremptory norm. And the imposition of regime of racial
discrimination and demographic manipulation in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory and beyond, that is a regime of apartheid imposed on the
Palestinian people as a whole, denying them their unalienable rights,
including Palestinian refugees, who continue to be denied their right to
return to their homes and villages.</b></p>
<p><b>So, this is an important moment, where for the first time we would
have the principal organ of the United Nations telling us the legal
consequences of Israel’s occupation. And it will be extremely difficult
for Israel’s allies after that to justify Israel’s actions in any way
possible. Israel has been instrumentalizing the rules of international
humanitarian law, the body of law that governs the situation of
occupation, to further its settler-colonial project in Palestine. I
think after this decision, which I have no doubt that the court will
decide that Israel’s occupation is illegal, it will be very difficult to
support Israel and its policies by Israel’s allies, including the U.S.
So, all eyes on the U.S. and how it will react to this important ruling.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And, Ahmed
Abofoul, I wanted to ask you: For those who are not familiar with these
international legal bodies, could you briefly summarize the difference
between the International Court of Justice proceedings and the separate
case that South Africa filed, the complaint of genocide at the
International Criminal Court [<i>sic</i>] against Israel, especially in
terms of the jurisdiction or the powers of the court to have any direct
effect on Israel’s actions?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AHMED</span> <span class="caps">ABOFOUL</span>:
Yes, absolutely. I think you meant South Africa’s genocide case before
the very same court, the International Court of Justice, and these are
two different proceedings. The International Court of Justice can look
into advisory proceedings, where any organ of the United Nations can ask
the court to provide a legal opinion on what the court thinks of a
certain matter. Usually such rulings are nonbinding for states, but they
are of particular importance as they guide the whole United Nations and
the member states in how to approach a certain matter or a certain
question.</b></p>
<p><b>The other type of procedure is contentious cases, where states take
each other to court when they have a disagreement on a matter of
international law, so, for example, a disagreement on the interpretation
of a particular convention to which both are parties and have accepted
the court’s jurisdiction. And that’s exactly what South Africa did in
the genocide case against Israel on the interpretation of the Genocide
Convention, where it took Israel to court. So it’s a case between South
Africa and Israel, while in the advisory opinion proceeding, there are
no two parties. There is only the court that is deciding on the matter
of question. And all states around the world are invited to provide
their written statements, their oral interventions, to tell the court
what is their position, what is their interpretation of the law on that
particular matter, because international law is made by the practices of
these states and what states around the world have accepted to be
customary international law and have accepted to be the common
interpretation of international law.</b></p>
<p><b>So, the law on occupation, as I said, is clear that occupation was
not intended to last that long and is temporary in nature, but it didn’t
set any time limit in which occupation has to end. So, that’s how
Israel has been perpetuating this, often described as, prolonged
occupation — it’s the longest occupation in modern history — claiming,
under the mutual security pretext, that it needs to continue its control
and needs to continue its domination of the Palestinian people and its
violations of the peremptory norms.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And what is the role of the public in these cases? Is there any?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AHMED</span> <span class="caps">ABOFOUL</span>:
Of course, of course, absolutely. The public, you know, don’t have a
standing in procedure, or, like, civil society organizations, for
example, like the one I’m proudly associated with — that is, Al-Haq
— can always submit to the court, but these submissions are not part of
the proceedings. They are available at the seating of the court for
states participating in the proceedings, but also for judges to read
them and consult them. And we have already published a position paper
outlining the key legal arguments in this case and our view on how the
court should approach this case.</b></p>
<p><b>But if you’ll allow me, these rulings are usually of particular
importance to be used after, so how, for example, the state in question
will utilize this ruling in its diplomatic efforts, whether taking this
ruling to the General Assembly to adopt a resolution to the same effect,
or perhaps to the Security Council, although there will always be the
U.S. veto. So, what comes after that decision, I think, is also of
particular importance.</b></p>
<p><b>And historically, the <span class="caps">ICJ</span> cases have served
in a way to provide guidance on what international law says and how
states should behave. Obviously, not always the states have listened to
such rulings, or they tried to disobey them. But, for example, in the
situation in South Africa and the ruling on the illegal presence of
South African apartheid in Namibia, it served and it created momentum
for the mobilization on the ground which eventually led to the end of
that regime. So, hopefully, this advisory opinion is also another step
forward to ending Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid regime imposed
on the Palestinian people as a whole.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Can you talk, Ahmed Abofoul, about the response of the court? This is
when it was run by Joan Donoghue, and important to point out. She came
out of the State Department. She’s the head of the International Court
of Justice. But she is no longer the head of the Court of Justice, but
it was under her and it was her reading of the preliminary decision
around South Africa bringing its genocide case to the court. If you can
talk about who’s the new head of the court? And then I want to ask you
about what just happened in Israel in the Knesset, voting not to expel
Ofer Cassif, the lawmaker who’s a member of the Hadash party supporting
the genocide case against Israel at the <span class="caps">ICJ</span>. I just wanted to play a clip of the Knesset member, Cassif, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/12/ofer_cassif_israel_genocide_case_icj">speaking</a> to <i>Democracy Now!</i> about facing expulsion, which didn’t happen.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">OFER</span> <span class="caps">CASSIF</span>:
They want me and my friends to shut up. They don’t want us to raise our
voice against any kind of violence, because, as I said a million times,
as someone who continuously for years object and oppose the Israeli
occupation and siege against the Palestinian people, we said, I said,
explicitly, that even the crimes of the siege and the occupation cannot
and will never justify the massacre committed by Hamas. We added that
the massacre, the criminal massacre by Hamas, cannot justify the
massacre and assault of Israel on Gaza, in which around 30,000 people
are already dead, were killed. The vast majority, more than 70%, are
innocent civilians, around 10,000 children.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
So, that’s a member of the Knesset, who remains so because they lost
the vote to expel him, Ofer Cassif. And if you can respond to the new
president, Nawaf Salam, who’s replacing Joan Donoghue?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AHMED</span> <span class="caps">ABOFOUL</span>:
Yeah. Well, as you said, Judge Nawaf Salam, who’s a Lebanese judge, he
has been a member of the court since February 2018 and newly elected as
president of the court since 6th of February, 2024. He is now the
president of the court.</b></p>
<p><b>But if you’ll allow me, whether him or the American judge, judges before the <span class="caps">ICJ</span>,
they don’t serve as agents of their state of nationality. They serve as
independent judges who provide their personal views about international
law and the interpretation of international law, after hearing the
positions of the states. So, it’s not — it is not, in a way, usual to
presume that because of the nationality of the president of the court,
that the position would be aligned with the foreign policy of the state
of that judge. That is not the case, whether American or Lebanese or any
other nationality of the president of the court. It is presumed, and
the presumption is of their professional, you know, way of work and
deliver on their mandate in accordance with the law.</b></p>
<p><b>As to the voting to expel Ofer, the member of Knesset, it also — in
my view, it shows you how radicalized Israeli society has become. So,
even the very tiny minority that you have, where Israeli Knesset members
are calling for the end of the occupation, are calling for the bare
minimum of human decency — that is, a ceasefire — the rest of Knesset
members, from the Israeli members, are mostly against that, and such
tiny minority of those who call for Palestinian rights are often
attacked. And as you said, there was an attempt to even remove him from
the Knesset.</b></p>
<p><b>And I think it’s very telling to see also how supportive Israeli
society has been in the genocide against the Gaza Strip. Amy, we need
not to forget that right before the war, the Israeli society mobilized
hundreds of thousands in the streets because of Netanyahu’s plan to, you
know, attack the judiciary or to minimize their authority in reviewing
government’s decision. But when it comes to Palestinians who are being
oppressed, who are only a few meters away, the Israeli society somehow
is unable to mobilize or call for the end of the occupation. So, in a
way, it seems that the Israeli society has been radicalized into
believing that for them to enjoy the privileges of this apartheid
regime, they don’t mind the Palestinians being oppressed.</b></p>
<p><b>And unfortunately, the foreign policy of states that claim to be
friends to Israel, I think, have contributed profoundly to such
radicalization, simply because they’ve been ensuring impunity for Israel
and Israeli war criminals who have been committing crimes for the past
decades. So, I think, in a way, the reason that we have such extreme
government at the moment, one of the most extreme and right-wing in the
history of Israel, which has ministers who are proudly self-described as
Islamophobic and homophobes and fascists and racist ministers, like
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, is a result of — in my view, of the U.S. and
European foreign policy ensuring that Israel enjoys an exceptional
treatment, that Israel is untouchable. It enjoys prevailing impunity
where Israel can commit crimes, but no one is held accountable.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Ahmed, I’m so sorry that, well, when we last spoke, you had already
lost some 60 members of your family. Born and raised in Gaza, you are.
And I wanted just to ask, in this 30 seconds, about Benny Gantz’s
comments, part of the war council, saying if the hostages are not home
by Ramadan, which is like March 10th, the fighting will continue
everywhere, including Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AHMED</span> <span class="caps">ABOFOUL</span>:
Yeah, well, it shows you also the character and the behavior of Israel.
Israel is behaving like a pariah, is behaving like a rogue state, is
not listening to anyone, is not listening to its closest allies.</b></p>
<p><b>Israel needs to have the humility to understand that the Palestine
people are a free people, are not colonial subjects. They’re entitled to
their rights. And Israel at some point will need to sit and listen with
seriousness and consideration to the aspiration of the Palestinian
people. The Palestinian people, Amy, are not asking for a favor. They’re
asking for their unalienable basic human rights. And I think the world
for long has misunderstood the Palestinians. We’re not even asking.
We’re demanding those rights. We’re entitled to those rights, regardless
of what Israel think about that.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Ahmed Abofoul, we want to thank you for being with us, legal research
and advocacy officer at the Palestinian human rights organization
Al-Haq, speaking to us from The Hague.</b></p>
<p><b>Next up, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/20/dr_irfan_galaria_gaza_hospital">we turn to a surgeon who’s just returned from Gaza, wrote an <i>L.A. Times</i> op-ed headlined “I’m an American doctor who went to Gaza. What I saw wasn’t war — it was annihilation</a>.” Back in 20 seconds.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">Isaiah</a></b>'s THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/isaiahs-world-today-just-nuts-i-sabby.html">I Sabby The Fool</a>" went up last night. The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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Latino USA</a>
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How I Made It: Buscabulla
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1 day ago </div>
</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-44546440279512520802024-02-20T18:39:00.000-08:002024-02-20T18:39:47.368-08:00TV men always get a pass<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/194475523@N05/53541231242/in/dateposted-public/" title="sabby the fool"><img alt="sabby the fool" height="638" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53541231242_aa06134b60_z.jpg" width="549" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><p> <b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </b></p><p><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">Isaiah</a></b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">'s THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "</span><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/isaiahs-world-today-just-nuts-i-sabby.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">I Sabby The Fool</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">" went up earlier tonight. I love it. Read Ava and C.I.'s "</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/media-its-stupidity-stupid.html">Media: It's The Stupidity, Stupid</a>" if you haven't already. It inspired the comic.</span></p><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><a class="yiv0409024561ydp2a566c73yiv1166980280" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/home-improvement-star-zachery-ty-bryan-arrested-for-alleged-driving-under-the-influence/ar-BB1iwN5Q?cvid=d3fe05db27b34c22b0dc9bd8d9280a46&ei=7" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">USA Today notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>"<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/02/23/tim-allen-richard-karn-new-building-competition-show/4494435001/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Home Improvement</a>" star <a class="yiv0409024561ydp2a566c73yiv1166980280" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/10/26/zachery-ty-bryan-domestic-violence-case-pleads-guilty-avoids-prison/71325472007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zachery Ty Bryan</a> has been arrested in California for allegedly driving under the influence.</b></p><div><b><br /></b></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>The
Riverside County Sheriff's Office confirmed to USA TODAY that Bryan,
42, was arrested Saturday after La Quinta Sheriff's Station deputies
conducted a traffic stop at 2:01 a.m. on a vehicle suspected of being
involved in a traffic collision. The deputies "observed indications of
impairment" in the driver, Bryan, arresting him for driving under the
influence with priors, the sheriff's office said. He was booked into a
Riverside County jail and is also facing a misdemeanor charge of
contempt of court.</b></p></div><b>[. . .]</b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">This was the latest arrest for Bryan, who played Tim's (</span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2023/01/22/pamela-anderson-tim-allen-flashed-penis-home-improvement/11103877002/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" target="_blank">Tim Allen</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">) son Brad on the classic sitcom "Home Improvement." He was previously arrested for alleged </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/10/17/home-improvement-actor-zachery-ty-bryan-arrested-oregon/3695912001/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" target="_blank">domestic violence</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> in 2020 and </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/02/24/home-improvement-zachery-ty-bryan-convicted-domestic-violence-case/4572164001/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" target="_blank">convicted on two counts</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> before being arrested in </span><a class="yiv0409024561ydp2a566c73yiv1166980280" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/07/31/zachery-ty-bryan-arrested-domestic-violence/70498228007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;" target="_blank">another domestic violence incident</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> in
2023. The Eugene Police Department in Oregon said in a statement in
July that Bryan was booked in Lane County Jail with a charge of assault
in the fourth degree after officers "received report of a physical
dispute" between a man and woman.</span></span></b><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Why
has the press not made a huge issue out of him? Lindsay Lohan was
dragged through the mud for far less. Todd Bridges was smeared for his
troubles with the law.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Is it because most of us don't know him or "the classic sitcom"?</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I
never watched Home Improvement. Tim Allen's coke conviction was more
than enough to steer me away. He and Kelsey Grammer got a pass on their
crimes while Brett Butler was kicked off television.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">(Grammer's
crimes included more than drug arrests. He was accused of raping an
underage girl and he skated on the charge. He did it. And if the trial
took place today, the victim would be believed and there would be no 'we
can't believe her because it took her a year to report it.')</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Brett didn't even get arrested. She had a drug problem and ABC kicked her to the curb.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">But if you've been arrested for drugs and you're a man, you got a pass in the 90s.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">That pass obviously continues if the Home Improvement boy can keep getting arrested and not being bashed in the media.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_01912498362.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Tuesday, February 20, 2024. The world watches as the assault on Gaza continues.<div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/20/middle-east-crisis-live-israel-gaza-yemen-houthi-lebanon-hague-court-justice">THE GUARDIAN notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><header class="dcr-88va8u"><h2 class="dcr-1dco55w">WHO accuses Israel of hindering medical rescue missions to Nasser hospital, says destruction is 'indescribable'</h2></header><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>The
World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a lengthy statement on
social media this morning describing a mission to transfer patients
within the Gaza Strip, and reporting that its staff said “the
destruction around Nasser hospital was ‘indescribable’”. It accused <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel">Israel</a> of hindering and refusing its attempts to provide medical services to Gaza’s population.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/middleeast/gaza-nasser-hospital-doctors-strip-idf-intl/index.html"><span class="byline__name">Kareem Khadder</span>, <span class="byline__name">Alex Stambaugh</span>, <span class="byline__name">Richard Allen Greene</span> and Kareem El Damanhoury (CNN) report</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="source inline-placeholder" data-article-gutter="true" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/source/instances/clst9nuz6000qcgqegspkbf6i@published"><b><cite class="source__cite"> </cite>
</b></div>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="on" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9nuz6000rcgqea3qxck0v@published"><b>
Israeli troops forced doctors and other medical staff to leave the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/16/middleeast/gaza-nasser-hospital-israel-raid-intl/index.html">Nasser Medical Complex</a>
in Gaza, strip down to their underwear, and wait in the cold for hours
before the troops allowed five doctors to go back into the building to
treat patients, an eyewitness told CNN on Monday.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="on" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clstirtty000p3b6houmeblqj@published"><b>
The incident comes as the Israeli military said it had
arrested hundreds of militants at the hospital, which is in Khan Younis,
including some posing as doctors.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h400043b6h1xnhok2a@published"><b>
Israeli forces also said they found medications with the
names of Israeli hostages on them inside the hospital, releasing a video
of soldiers showing medicine boxes with inscriptions and sometimes
photos on the labels of who they apparently were prescribed to.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h400053b6h0hymna89@published"><b>
The eyewitness spoke to CNN in a rare telephone interview
from the area of Nasser hospital, where there are few ways to
communicate with the outside world.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h500063b6hyfc0y59n@published"><b>
The source said when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took
control of the hospital last week, they broadcast a message saying:
“Doctors, come outside.”
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h500073b6hwhn8j71r@published"><b>
When the medics came out and were ordered to take off their
clothes, they protested because of the frigid conditions.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h500083b6hvauu4e0g@published"><b>
“Take off your clothing,” the witness said the doctors were told.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h500093b6h4tugbc1u@published"><b>
The doctors then removed their clothes in the cold and were
kept outside for several hours before Israeli troops chose five doctors
to return to the complex to take care of patients. The eyewitness does
not know what happened to the other doctors.
</b></p>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-article-gutter="true" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/clst9u8h5000a3b6h2al3hapx@published"><b>
That left five doctors to treat dozens of patients in the
old building of the compound, said the eyewitness, who has been inside
the hospital and asked not to be named for fear of retribution.</b> </p></div><div><br /></div><div>The
world watches and the outrage builds. There is no high ground for the
government of Israel. Nothing redeems nor justifies its actions. <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/19/headlines">Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) notes</a>, "In the U.S., the African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishops Council
called on the Biden administration to end funding for what it called
Israel’s 'mass genocide.' In Michigan, Rashida Tlaib, the only
Palestinian American member of the U.S. Congress, is urging Democrats to
vote “uncommitted” in next Tuesday’s presidential primary to protest
President Biden’s complicity in Israel’s assault on Gaza." <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/uks-cameron-warns-fighting-in-gaza-must-stop-right-now/">Bethany Dawson (POLITICO) adds</a>,
"The U.K.’s top diplomat [David Cameron\ said conflict in Gaza must
stop 'right now,' amid mounting international pressure on Israel not to
launch a ground
offensive in Rafah." <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/lord-cameron-gaza-foreign-secretary-hamas-israeli-b1140174.html">David Hughes (THE STANDARD) quotes</a> Cameron stating, " “We are calling for a stop to the fighting right now, we think that
what we need is a pause in the fighting and the hostages to come out and
aid to go in. That should happen straight away." <a href="https://www.vox.com/24055522/israel-hamas-gaza-war-strategy-netanyahu-strategy-morality">Zack Beauchamp (VOX) observes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p id="OTcLyQ"><b>The blame for this failure lies with Israel’s terrible wartime leadership: an extremist government headed by <a href="https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history">Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu</a>, a venal prime minister <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/4/netanyahu-corruption-trial-to-resume">currently on trial for corruption</a> who has placed his personal interests over his country’s even during wartime.</b></p>
<p id="utGn0g"><b>“You couldn’t have had a worse government to respond to a worse moment,” says <a href="https://polisci.ucla.edu/person/dov-waxman/">Dov Waxman</a>,
the director of UCLA’s Center for Israel Studies. “People like to
separate the war from the government that’s running it, but I think you
can’t.”</b></p></div><div>For more on the Israeli government's attacks on medical facilities in Gaza, let's note <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/19/nasser_hospital_closed_dr_ahmed_moghrabi">this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br />
</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <i>Democracy Now!</i>, <a href="http://democracynow.org">democracynow.org</a>, <i>The War and Peace Report</i>. I’m Amy Goodman.</b></p>
<p><b>Israel’s unrelenting assault on the Gaza Strip has killed over 29,000
Palestinians and injured another 69,000 since October 7th. We begin
today’s show in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where the Gaza
Health Ministry is reporting one of Gaza’s largest hospitals, Al-Nasser
Hospital, is no longer functional amidst a dayslong Israeli raid on the
facility over the weekend. At least eight people at the hospital have
reportedly died since Israeli soldiers cut off electricity and oxygen
supplies.</b></p>
<p><b>The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, posted on X Sunday, quote, “Nasser hospital in #Gaza is not
functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing
raid. Both yesterday and the day before, the @WHO team was not permitted
to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and
critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to
deliver fuel alongside partners. There are still about 200 patients in
the hospital. At least 20 need to be urgently referred to other
hospitals to receive health care. Medical referral is every patient’s
right. The cost of delays will be paid by patients’ lives. Access to the
patients and hospital should be facilitated,” end-quote. The World
Health Organization says it’s still trying to evacuate the remaining
patients in the hospital in Khan Younis to other facilities.</b></p>
<p><b>On Friday, the Gaza Health Ministry said an aid convoy led by the
United Nations was detained for seven hours and prevented from reaching
the hospital. The ministry said Saturday Israeli forces, quote,
“arrested a large number of the directors and staff” of the hospital
while they were tending to the wounded. Up to 100 people were reportedly
arrested.</b></p>
<p><b>On Sunday, Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi at Nasser Hospital sent <i>Democracy Now!</i> a video describing what happened when the hospital was stormed by Israeli troops.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">AHMED</span> <span class="caps">MOGHRABI</span>:
At 1:30, I was at the third floor with my family at the surgical
building. We heard lots of quadcopters over our heads at the hospital.
They were asking us by megaphone actually to evacuate the hospital
immediately. Immediately. And after like five, 10 minutes, I heard a
very big explosion. Actually, they bombed and shelling the third floor,
where I’m staying. Exactly, they targeted the orthopedic department. And
I took my phone. I recorded some couple of videos, and I posted on my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dr.ahmed.moghrabi/?hl=en">Instagram</a> how did people as a result of this explosion. It was like chaos, everybody running there and there.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>So, I realized that it is invasion of <span class="caps">IDF</span>
as I started hearing some dogs at the hospital yards. And actually,
yeah, they destroyed the back wall of the hospital and released their
dogs. I changed my scrub immediately, and I took this, my clothes.
Actually, I brought this, my clothes. And I ran away from the hospital
with my family, with many of patients, many of people, some of my
medical staff there. And can you guess? It was like 2 a.m., early
morning. It was cold.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>And there was a checkpoint away from the main gate of the hospital,
about like 50 meters only. There was tanks, soldiers, dogs. And they
started checking everybody there. Everybody. So, it’s not allowed to
cross the checkpoint without checking you. So, when my turn comes, I —
actually, they asked me to go forward or to come to the checkpoint, me
and other four people. Actually, I told my wife, my children that I
might be arrested, so don’t worry. Maybe it will take two weeks, one
month. So, I’ll be fine, blah, blah, blah. And they asked us — they
asked us to look at the camera, big camera, in front for 30 minutes.
It’s not one camera; it’s lots of cameras are there. You have to look
forward for 30 minutes, half-minute. During this time, actually, they
told us actually to move and leave my nurse. My nurse was standing next
to me or beside me. And they took my nurse. They asked him to take off
all his clothes — all his clothes — at this cold. And they took him
inside. And they ordered me and others actually to go and to keep
moving, just keep moving.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>And I walked with my family about 10 kilometers that night. Ten
kilometers, nothing remain in Khan Younis. Nothing. It’s like horror
movies. No streets, no buildings are there. Only dead bodies all over
around. Only dead bodies.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>By the way, I was hearing my friend Rami was screaming. They were beating him, not only him, many, many, many. They took many.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>I managed to get to Rafah early morning, and I spent that day on the
street. On the street. Who remained of medical staff, actually, all of
them are arrested. They arrested all the medical team who remained at
Nasser Hospital. We don’t know the fate of my colleagues. Actually, from
my department, from my department, they took one GP doctor, my
assistant, Dr. Mahmoud. They took two nurses from my department, Rami
and Mohammed. They took, I think, around 100. Around a hundred of
medical staff already have been arrested by <span class="caps">IDF</span>.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Now I’m at Rafah. I came here actually to <span class="caps">IJH</span>
hospital — EJH hospital in Rafah to say hello to my friends, actually.
And this is the situation here. I built a tent, by the way, for my
family. I went to the <span class="caps">MSF</span> shelter with my wife and my children. I’ll keep you updated. Thank you.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
That was Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi, speaking Sunday from Rafah. He was forced
to leave Al-Nasser Hospital with the Israeli raid. He was the head of
plastic surgery there.</b></p>
<p><b>Last week, <i>Democracy Now!</i> was able to receive updates from
one of the last remaining surgeons inside Al-Nasser Hospital, Dr. Khaled
Alserr. This is the last video Dr. Alserr posted on his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/khaled_serr/">Instagram</a> page from Friday evening.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">KHALED</span> <span class="caps">ALSERR</span>: This <span class="caps">ICU</span>
patient have just died because they cut all electricity at Nasser
Medical Hospital. And aother six patients is awaiting the same fate.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
We are looking at a dead patient. During the dayslong Israeli raid on
Al-Nasser Hospital this weekend, people were unable to reach Dr. Khaled
Alserr, raising concerns he had possibly been abducted. This morning <i>Democracy Now!</i>
was able to reach Dr. Khaled Alserr’s cousin, Dr. Osaid Alser. He’s a
Palestinian refugee from Gaza and a surgeon resident in training in
Lubbock, Texas. We asked him if he’s heard anything from his cousin at
Al-Nasser. This is what he shared with us.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">OSAID</span> <span class="caps">ALSER</span>:
Hi. This is Dr. Alser. This is just an update about Dr. Khaled Alserr,
who’s my cousin. So, yesterday he texted in our group chat, where we
have a telemedicine group to discuss trauma cases. And he reported that
he is relatively OK, and he was not abducted, which is amazing. But it
sounds like some of his colleagues were abducted, and some of the
patients, as well. But he is still in Nasser Hospital taking care of the
remaining patients in the orthopedic and burn units.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: That is Dr. Osaid Alser, cousin of Dr. Khaled Alserr, still in Gaza.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-child-deaths">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>With malnutrition and infectious diseases spreading rapidly, United Nations officials warned Monday that child deaths in the <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a> Strip are set to surge if Israel's war and blockade are allowed to continue. <br /></b></p><p><b>In a <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.who.int/news/item/19-02-2024-children-s-lives-threatened-by-rising-malnutrition-in-the-gaza-strip" target="_blank">joint statement</a>,
the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program
(WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO) said that "food and safe
water have become incredibly scarce" in Gaza, imperiling the health of
children as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women.</b></p><p><b>The U.N. organizations cited a recent <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.nutritioncluster.net/sites/nutritioncluster.com/files/2024-02/GAZA-Nutrition-vulnerability-and-SitAn-v7.pdf" target="_blank">analysis</a>
by the Global Nutrition Cluster, which found that children in northern
Gaza and Rafah—a severely overcrowded city that Israel is preparing to
invade—are facing particularly severe malnutrition. But "while there are
differences in the data from different governates," the analysis
stressed, all the available evidence "indicates a dire nutrition
situation for the entire population of Gaza."</b></p><p><b>The Global Nutrition
Cluster found that more than 90% of Gaza children between the ages of 6
and 23 months are facing "severe food poverty," eating "two or fewer
food groups each day." At least 90% of children under 5 years old have
been impacted by one or more infectious diseases, the analysis
estimated.</b></p><p><b>Infectious diseases are spreading among children in
part due to the lack of clean water, a scarcity fueled by Israel's siege
and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/15/water-related-violence-russia-israel-report" target="_blank">attacks on the enclave's water infrastructure</a>.
"An increased number of infants now rely on formula milk for
survival—which requires safe and clean water," the analysis notes.</b></p><p><b>Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's emergencies program, said Monday that "hunger and disease are a deadly combination."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 137 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2024/02/20/live-israel-gaza-houthi-attack-rubymar/">THE NATIONAL notes</a>, "Gaza Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 29,195 Palestinians have been
killed and 69,170 wounded in Israeli air strikes on Gaza since October
7." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="sc-d63d5cd8-3 faMHro" data-testid="byline-name"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68346027">Nada Tawfik and James FitzGerald (BBC NEWS) report</a> a new development:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b class="sc-7dcfb11b-0 kVRnKf">The US has proposed a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which calls for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.</b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>It has also warned Israel against invading the overcrowded city of Rafah.</b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>The
US has previously avoided the word "ceasefire" during UN votes on the
war, but President Joe Biden has made similar comments.</b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>However, the US plans to veto another draft resolution - from Algeria - which calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.</b></p></section></div><div><br /></div><div>A
vote is expected to take place today. Again, the US government has
come out in favor of a 'pause' -- that is not a ease-fire. A pause is
what took place earlier this year. It did not last. I favor a
cease-fire, not a pause. However, a six week pause could allow some
food, medical supplies and other aid -- all of which is sorely needed in
Gaza -- to get in. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna139513">Chantal Da Silva (NBC NEWS) notes</a>, "Over 90% of babies ages 6 to 23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding
women are eating two or fewer food groups a day, according to the report
from the Global Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of humanitarian groups." <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/02/20/gaza-death-toll-hits-grim-milestone-as-un-votes-on-ceasefire" rel="nofollow">EURO NEWS also notes</a> the "<a href="https://www.nutritioncluster.net/sites/nutritioncluster.com/files/2024-02/GAZA-Nutrition-vulnerability-and-SitAn-v7.pdf"><b>report</b></a> released by the Global Nutrition Cluster" which has found, "Over
80 percent of households in Gaza have access to less than one litre of
safe water per person per day, according to the report, which also says
there has been an increase in food insecurity, lack of diet diversity,
and deteriorating infant feeding practices." <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2024/02/20/live-israel-gaza-houthi-attack-rubymar/">THE NATIONAL reports</a>, "The Palestine Red Crescent's Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis is running
out of essentials and only has drinking water for three days after
Israeli attacks, the organisation said."</div><div><br /></div><div>As the atrocities pile up, it's worth noting <a href="https://thewire.in/world/legal-foundations-of-the-world-are-collapsing-in-gaza">observations from Sukumar Muralidharan (THE WIRE)</a>: </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Every hospital in Gaza has been in Israel’s narrative, a Hamas control
centre where sinister terror acts are plotted in an underlying network
of tunnels. It is a story-line that even the credulous U.S. media has
had difficulty swallowing. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/21/al-shifa-hospital-gaza-hamas-israel/">An investigation by the <i>Washington Post</i></a>, published December 23, found Israel’s claims collapsing at the slightest scrutiny. There was nothing to suggest, the <i>Washington Post</i>
found, that the Al-Shifa tunnels were not for anything but routine
storage and internal transportation of kit and equipment. The rooms
connected to the tunnel network “showed no immediate evidence of
military use”. None of the five hospital buildings identified as Hamas
control centres “appeared connected to the tunnel network”, nor was
there any “evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside
hospital wards”.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/20/israels-war-on-gaza-live-un-fears-explosion-in-child-deaths-in-gaza">Zena al Tahhan (ALJAZEERA) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><p><b>Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, has
shared these updates at a news conference in Ramallah today:</b></p>
<ul class="spaced-bullet-spacing"><li><b>There are testimonies and indicators that Palestinian men and female
prisoners have been sexually assaulted. The statement issued by the UN
yesterday pointed out for the first time that female prisoners are being
violated in a grave manner, and serious crimes are being committed
against them.</b></li><li><b>There are at least two female prisoners from Gaza who were raped.
Many others threatened with rape, and have suffered sexual assault and
strip-searches.</b></li><li><b>This is in addition to testimonies we received surrounding male
prisoners who have been exposed to severe sexual assault including
extreme beatings on genitals and attempts of rape as well as humiliating
strip searches.</b></li></ul>
<p><b>Al-Zaghari called for an independent international investigation into
the developments, “one that will hold the occupation accountable and
prevent it from continuing to carry out these crimes”.</b></p>
<p><b>Palestinian prisoner groups also stress that these crimes are
happening in parallel and within the context of the horrific crimes
being committed as part of the aggression against people in Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>At least eight prisoners have died as a result of systematic torture policies, al-Zaghari added.</b></p></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div> </div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-16846669497286527432024-02-16T21:23:00.000-08:002024-02-16T21:23:49.311-08:00Disgusting and creepy Matt Gaetz<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/194475523@N05/53533820278/in/dateposted-public/" title="MTG"><img alt="MTG" height="387" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53533820278_28b83e7002.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><p> </p><p> </p><p><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">Isaiah</a></b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">'s THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "</span><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/isaiahs-world-today-just-nuts-charm.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Charm Free Marjorie</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">" went up tonight. Poor Marjorie and those ugly hairy upper arms.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Picking back up on the topic "</span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/little-matt-junior-bratty-congressboi.html">Little Matt Junior -- the bratty Congressboi who'll never be a man,</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">" US House Rep. Matt Gaetz. It just becomes more clear that he should not be in Congress. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/witness-told-feds-she-was-paid-for-sex-parties-with-matt-gaetz">Roger Sollenberger (Daily Beast) reports</a>:</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>When <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/house-panel-obtains-texts-allegedly-showing-gaetz-setting/story?id=107126493">ABC News</a>
reported on Wednesday that the House Ethics Committee had acquired text
messages between a young woman involved in the sex trafficking
investigation and Rep. <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/keyword/matt-gaetz">Matt Gaetz</a> (R-FL), a Gaetz spokesperson told ABC that the congressman “does not know anything about the woman you’re referencing.”</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>That seems extraordinarily unlikely.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span>The Daily Beast can now report that this woman told prosecutors in 2021
that she had sex with Gaetz at a drug-fueled party that she was paid to
attend, according to the woman’s attorney.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b>This attorney told The Daily Beast on Thursday that the woman, in
fact, received payments in connection with multiple sex parties with
people in Gaetz’s circle. Her lawyer said that, in response to a
subpoena, she testified about her experiences to the U.S. Attorneys
investigating Gaetz. And she turned over text messages, photos, and
other evidence to the Justice Department as part of its child sex
trafficking inquiry into the Florida congressman, the lawyer said.</b></span></span></p><div> </div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Daily Beast has obtained some of those messages and photos, which match the documents described by ABC News.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> So that's what passes for character in Congress now? <a href="https://www.salon.com/2024/02/16/witness-told-investigators-she-was-paid-for-parties-with-matt-gaetz-report/">Tatyana Tandanpolie (Salon) notes, "</a></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2024/02/16/witness-told-investigators-she-was-paid-for-parties-with-matt-gaetz-report/">On Thursday afternoon the lawmakers met privately to discuss the probe, which is investigating </a><a href="https://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/documents/Press%20Release_178.pdf" target="_blank">allegations</a>
that accuse Gaetz of public corruption, solicitation of prostitution,
exhibition of nude photos of sexual partners on the House floor, illicit
drug use, campaign finance violations and accepting bribes or
impermissible gifts." And <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/16/politics/gaetz-ex-girlfriend-subpoenaed-house-ethics-committee/index.html">Paula Reid (CNN) adds</a>, "</span></span></span>The House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz has
subpoenaed his ex-girlfriend who was a key witness in the federal
investigation into the Florida lawmaker, according to her lawyer Tim
Jansen. She is scheduled to testify, via a video call, on February
29, and Jansen said she will invoke the Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination.<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"</span></span><br /></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A functioning Congress would have expelled him long ago.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Kyle e-mailed asking what I was listening to lately? Right now, as I write this, I'm listening to An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May -- a 1960 comedy album. It's the only one by Nichols & May that we have on vinyl. <br /></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><h3 class="writer_name"><span></span>
<a href="https://www.salon.com/writer/tatyana-tandanpolie">Tatyana Tandanpolie</a></h3><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><a class="TrackingLink Byline__name-link StandardHeader__byline-name-link" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/roger-sollenberger"></a></p><h1 class="Byline__name StandardHeader__byline-name" itemprop="name"><a class="TrackingLink Byline__name-link StandardHeader__byline-name-link" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/roger-sollenberger">Roger Sollenberger</a></h1> <p></p><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_01086588801.html">Iraq snapshot:" </a>
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Friday, February 16, 2024. Will the world recoil from the horrible
findings about the deaths of journalists in 2023 or will they face up to
the need for accountability, the attack on Nasser Hospital left
patients dead, the insanity must stop.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2024/02/israel-gaza-war-brings-2023-journalist-killings-to-devastating-high/">At The Committee to Protect Journalists website, Kathy Jones explains</a> the latest findings:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>More than three quarters of the <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/all/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&start_year=2023&end_year=2023&group_by=year">99 journalists and media workers</a> killed worldwide in 2023 died in the <a href="https://cpj.org/full-coverage-israel-gaza-war/">Israel-Gaza war</a>, the majority of them Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. The<i> </i>conflict <a href="https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists/">claimed the lives</a> of more journalists in three months than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.</b></div><div><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis: 66.66%;">
<p><b>Investigating the circumstances of these war-related deaths – which also included <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/all/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&cc_fips%5B%5D=LE&start_year=2023&end_year=2023&group_by=year">three Lebanese</a> and two <a href="https://cpj.org/data/people/roee-idan/">Israeli</a>
journalists – was particularly challenging, not only because of the
large number of deaths in a short time, but also because of the loss of
those who could have provided more information. Many journalist victims’
families were killed along with them in Gaza, their colleagues died or
fled, and Israeli military authorities adamantly deny targeting
journalists or provide only scant information when they acknowledge
press killings. Critical information about their lives and work may have
been lost forever. (See more about our methodology for documenting
journalist deaths <a href="https://cpj.org/data-methodology/">here</a> and <a href="https://cpj.org/faqs-on-cpjs-data-about-killed-journalists-and-annual-prison-census/">here.</a>) </b></p>
<p><b>The 2023 global total – the highest since <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2015/12/journalists-killed-syria-france-most-deadly-countries-for-the-press/">2015</a> and an almost 44% increase on <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/all/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&start_year=2022&end_year=2022&group_by=year">2022’s figures</a> – includes a record number of journalist killings – <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/all/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&start_year=2023&end_year=2023&group_by=year">78</a> – that CPJ research determined were work-related, with eight more still under investigation. <a href="https://cpj.org/data/killed/all/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&start_year=2023&end_year=2023&group_by=year">Thirteen media workers</a> also were killed last year. </b></p><p><b>[. . .]</b></p><p><b>Almost all of the journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza war were Palestinian, and CPJ has<a href="https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists/"> raised concerns</a> about the deliberate targeting of members of the media by the Israeli military. </b></p><p><b>Cases include that of <a href="https://cpj.org/data/people/issam-abdallah/">Issam Abdallah</a>, a Lebanese visual journalist for Reuters. <a href="https://cpj.org/2023/12/cpj-calls-for-accountability-after-reports-find-israel-likely-targeted-journalists-in-lebanon/">Independent investigations</a>
by international news organizations and rights groups found evidence
indicating that Israeli forces targeted a group of reporters – killing
Abdallah<i> </i>and injuring six others – in southern Lebanon on October 13. The journalists, all wearing press insignia, were covering <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-hamas-gaza-war-b7bac0bb9890681b538ca95cd9d792b9" target="_blank">border crossfire</a>
between the Israel Defense Forces and pro-Hamas militants from
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in the days after Israel responded to Hamas’ <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67039975" target="_blank">deadly October 7 incursion</a>
by launching devastating retaliatory strikes on Gaza. The
investigations found that Abdallah’s group was reporting from a location
where no fighting was taking place when they were hit by two Israeli
shells.</b></p><p><b>In January 2024, journalists <a href="https://cpj.org/2024/01/cpj-calls-for-probe-into-whether-hamza-al-dahdouh-and-mustafa-thuraya-were-targeted-in-drone-strike/">Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya</a>
were killed in what Israel acknowledged was a targeted attack on a car
in which they were traveling. It accused Al Dahdouh, who worked for
Al-Jazeera, and freelancer Thuraya of being members of terrorist groups –
a charge <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/01/11/al-jazeera-rejects-israeli-claims-that-journalists-killed-were-terror-operatives_6424925_4.html#" target="_blank">strongly denied</a> by Al-Jazeera and the men’s family and colleagues. In CPJ’s May 2023 report <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2023/05/deadly-pattern-20-journalists-died-by-israeli-military-fire-in-22-years-no-one-has-been-held-accountable/">“Deadly Pattern,”</a> CPJ noted several cases in which journalists killed by Israeli forces were <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2023/05/deadly-pattern-20-journalists-died-by-israeli-military-fire-in-22-years-no-one-has-been-held-accountable/#accused-of-terrorism">accused of being terrorists</a> and in which no credible evidence was ever produced.</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>CPJ, along with other organizations, is now investigating whether a dozen other journalists – and, in some cases, <a href="https://cpj.org/2023/12/father-of-al-jazeeras-anas-al-sharif-killed-in-gaza-after-journalist-receives-threats/">members of their families</a> – killed in the Israel-Gaza war also were targeted by the Israeli military. These cases include Al-Jazeera cameraperson <a href="https://cpj.org/2023/12/al-jazeera-cameraperson-samer-abu-daqqa-killed-correspondent-wael-al-dahdouh-injured-in-drone-attack-in-khan-yunis/">Samer Abu Daqqa</a>, who <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/01/12/al-jazeera-journalist-israel-gaza/" target="_blank">bled to death</a>
after Israeli authorities blocked efforts to evacuate him. The probes
into these killings are taking place against the backdrop of the <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2023/05/deadly-pattern-20-journalists-died-by-israeli-military-fire-in-22-years-no-one-has-been-held-accountable/">“Deadly Pattern” </a>report,
which found that members of the Israel Defense Forces had killed at
least 20 journalists over the past 22 years and that no one had ever
been charged or held accountable for their deaths.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>With that in mind, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/15/rafah_update_akram_al_satarri">from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
The raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis comes as fears are mounting
that Israel will act on its plans to launch a ground invasion into
Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza that Israel had previously declared
a safe zone.</b></p>
<p><b>Over half of Gaza’s population, some 1.4 million people, including
over 600,00 children, are crammed into Rafah after being displaced from
their homes and driven south during Israel’s brutal assault. There are
now massive tent encampments pushing up to the Egyptian border.</b></p>
<p><b>International pressure is mounting for Israel to call off its ground
invasion. The U.N.’s top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, said
that an assault on Rafah, quote, “could lead to a slaughter.”</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: We go now to Rafah, where we’re joined by journalist Akram al-Satari.</b></p>
<p><b>Akram, welcome back to <i>Democracy Now!</i> We have just heard
these chilling reports from inside Nasser Hospital right before Israel
occupied it and the bombing of it. You’ve sent out a picture of some of
the ammunition used by the Israeli military. Explain what happened
inside and also what’s happening around you in Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
Well, the situation continues to be extremely dire in the vicinity and
inside Nasser medical complex. The Israeli occupation forces have been
targeting the vicinity of the area, including some of the <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
shelters not far away from the hospital. They are destroying and they
were destroying the walls of the hospital, the exterior wall of the
hospital. They targeted the wards of the hospital. They’re in wards of
the hospital. They targeted the surgery department in the hospital and
injured at least one surgeon while he was inside the surgery department.</b></p>
<p><b>They asked people to leave the hospital, and when they were leaving
the hospital, they shot them dead. They asked one guy, whose hands were
tied, and he was sent to the people inside the hospital, to the
internally displaced people, asking them to leave the hospital. And
then, when he ended up speaking to the people and returning to the
Israelis, because he was fearful from death, he was killed, and he was
left on the ground.</b></p>
<p><b>Around 80 bodies are laid right in front of the outer gate of the
Nasser Hospital, up to some 200 meters away from the hospital. Fear,
death and shock are enclaving and encircling the people in that area.
The Israeli occupation forces continue their operation, continue
targeting Nasser Hospital, continue to ask people to leave, and then
when they are leaving, they snipe them. There are some disturbing images
and footage of the people — of the bodies of the people being eaten and
devoured by the dogs and by the stray cats. People who were just
communicating with their relatives were describing the horrors, and they
were also documenting those horrors.</b></p>
<p><b>Israel continues to target the hospitals. They target Nasser
Hospital, and they are still targeting Al-Amal Hospital not far away
from Nasser Hospital, around one, 1.5, two, 2.5 kilometers, in Al-Amal
neighborhood. And they continue the very same policy, the policy of
targeting the medical complexes, targeting the medical personnel,
targeting the patients, targeting the escorts, and spreading the fear
and destruction in that area. Some of the people who were inside Khan
Younis were rushing, were pulling the beds of their dears, some of them
in the orthopedic department that was targeted, some of them in the
general surgery department. And they were carrying or pulling the beds
for around five or six or seven kilometers to reach Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b>As you can see, now the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital, where I am
located now, has been receiving numbers of the people who were inside
Nasser Hospital and Al-Amal Hospital. They received them. They are
trying to expand the bed capacity of the hospital. They are trying to
accommodate to the influx of people who are fleeing from Nasser
Hospital, who are fleeing for their safety, who are fleeing for their
life. And they end up staying in tents like those, where sanitation is
at question, where the quality of the medical care provision is at
question, too, where the large number of people who are already staying
inside the hospital prevent them from absorbing or accommodating any
other additional number of people injured. The health system at large
has been struggling.</b></p>
<p><b>The infrastructure of the whole city of Rafah cannot absorb or
accommodate the large number of Palestinians inside Rafah. Around 1.2
million Palestinians were staying in Rafah. Now tens of thousands of
them are leaving Rafah and heading towards Khan Younis and towards
Gaza’s central area, with doubts of the continuous and with fear of the
looming ground invasion that is likely to be a replication of everything
that was done in Gaza in the north and everything that was done in Khan
Younis.</b></p>
<p><b>People were hopeful that the <span class="caps">ICJ</span>,
International Court of Justice, would bring them justice or would at
least make Israel reconsider its tactics when it comes to protected
objects, human objects, and health facilities, also journalists. But it
looks like Israel is continuing the very same approach. It’s continuing
the very same way of targeting. We were hopeful, as journalists, that
Israel wouldn’t be targeting Nasser Hospital or Al-Amal Hospital. But,
unfortunately, the targeting is still continuous.</b></p>
<p><b>And a large number of people, tens of thousands of people, who were
stuck in Khan Younis, are now being targeted, either by the artillery
fire or by the quadcopters or by the F-16 or by all the other means, and
they are being killed, and they are being left — even the ones who are
injured are being left to die on the ground. People were describing the
atrocities they have been seeing. People have been crying over their
dears, who were screaming for help, but they couldn’t help them. People
are now crying over their dears who are still waiting in Khan Younis and
cannot be reached, cannot be rescued, cannot be saved, and they are
likely to lose their life, like many others who lost their life the very
same way.</b></p>
<p><b>As to Rafah, Rafah is the place now for around, as I said, 1.2
million Palestinians. The area is underserved, no good infrastructure,
no organized camping, no organized tents, no organized service of
provision. And the pressure resulting from this massive number of people
is overburdening the municipalities, is overburdening the civil
defense, is overburdening the Ministry of Health and is overburdening
the international organizations. The concern has been voiced by the <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, by the World Food Programme, by the <span class="caps">UNICEF</span>,
by the United Nations Development Programme. And they are all warning
that any ground offensive targeting Rafah is going to result in a
catastrophe, a catastrophe that is bigger and much, much more bigger
than the one that took place in Gaza in the north and the one that is
taking place right now in Khan Younis.</b></p>
<p><b>People in Gaza believe that no single international power is able now
to bring an end to the ongoing misery that has been caused by the
ongoing occupation and the indiscriminate — this indiscriminate
targeting, as described by some of the Palestinians. Some of them are
already on the beds recovering. Some of them are struggling for their
life. And some of them are deprived from the very basic humanitarian
need to food and water. Water is missing in Gaza. Food is missing in
Gaza. And people have been struggling, not for their own food need, but,
rather, for their children’s food need, for the elderly people’s food
need. So, the situation is dire. And it continues to aggravate into
something that is extremely life-threatening, that needs an imminent
— that needs an imminent intervention for the sake of stopping any
atrocities that are likely to happen and stopping the atrocities that
are taking place now.</b></p>
<p><b>And I’m quoting many of the Gazans that I spoke to, many of the ones
who are worried about their dears, many of the ones who are worried also
about their own safety, many of the ones who are worried about the
future and what it holds for them. They think it is about time that
something happens. They think they have suffered enough. They think they
have died enough. They think they have been hungry enough. They think
they have been thirsty enough. They think they have been homeless
enough. And this is the outcry not only of the 1.2 million Gazans who
are staying in Rafah, but also of [inaudible] million Gazans who are in
Gaza in the north, who are in [inaudible] in Khan Younis, and who are in
Rafah. People have been deprived from the access to very basic,
essential food supplies and water supplies. They have been struggling.
They have been facing famine. They have been seeing children who are
dying from the hunger. And this is an outcry from them to the whole
world that this needs to stop. And the madness that is taking place in
Gaza — and I’m again quoting the people who are talking to me — the
madness needs to come to an end.</b></p>
<p><b>As I’m talking to you, the unmanned drones are hovering all around
the Gaza Strip, day and night, continuous bombardment in different parts
of Rafah, in different parts of Gaza Strip at large, and they continue
to take the lives and hopes of the Palestinians. Palestinians who are
living in Rafah and who are living in Gaza alike have been exhausting
all the negative and positive coping mechanisms. The number of people
who are injured is unconceivable. The number of people killed, and the
way they are being killed, is also unconceivable. And people continue to
suffer. And they expect that more suffering is coming, if the
international community fails once again to protect them.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Akram al-Satarri, if you could — you, yourself, right now are standing
outside a hospital. We can hear possibly a drone overhead. If you could
describe the situation there? And you mentioned how people,
Palestinians, there are lacking even the most basic essentials — food,
water. Tell us what humanitarian aid is getting in, if any.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
Well, I can describe the situation. I will have to describe the way I’m
feeling about things and how things are unfolding. Every single time I
walk one step in Gaza, I always imagine myself being blown up by an
unmanned drone or by F-16 missile or by a quadcopter or by whatever
weapon that is used by Israel. Every time I’m walking and every single
home I pass by, I feel that this home might be targeted, and I might be
ending up dying and killed under the rubble of that house, every single
place I stay. I moved from my home six times. So I am homeless and
displaced six times now. And I’m waiting what would happen in Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b>People in Rafah, as I told you, people are deprived from everything,
even the very basic, essential things, the very essential things that
are needed to lead a normal life or a seminormal life or a life of
internally displaced people. Even the internally displaced people in
Gaza are unique and different than any other internally displaced people
all over the world. All over the world, people are receiving and
accessing food and water supplies, according to the Sphere book. The
Sphere book is a book that has been developed for the sake of just
identifying the quantities that are needed and the calories that are
needed for the people to stay alive at a time of famine or at a time of
conflict, man-made or natural disaster. So, people are not even
accessing that very limited — the threshold of food that is needed for
the people in Gaza is not met, because the U.N. agencies that have been
helping the Gazans are now tarnished, are now assaulted, are now
attacked, and now the funding that is going to them is suspended.</b></p>
<p><b>So, people in Rafah and other areas have to do what they — what would
they have to do to survive? Some of the people in the Gaza in the north
had to do to use to food — to feed, of the animals, to ground it, the
corn, to ground it, to make sure that they can bake some bread for their
families. They don’t have rice. They don’t have water. They don’t have
canned food. They don’t have anything.</b></p>
<p><b>And they have been calling for the world to stop that. And they have
been even — the very emotional thing about that is that everything that
is happening, including the most and profoundly shocking things, are
happening live on air. People are just documenting their death. People
are documenting their suffering. People are documenting their hunger.
People are documenting their thirst. People are documenting their
injury. People even documenting the hospitals when they are being raided
and stormed in by the Israeli occupation forces. And the whole world —
they have a feeling that the whole world is watching and that it’s not
doing anything. And that feeling of helplessness is another way to kill
the Palestinians. So, if they’re killed once, they are killed twice
— once by the ongoing bombardment that has been taking place, that has
been documented, and the second time by not offering the fitting homage
for those people by serving justice and by stopping aggression, like was
said by the many people that I talked to.</b></p>
<p><b>The situation is extremely dire. You will never be able to imagine
the things that are happening, when you’re walking down the streets;
when you see small children out crying for food; when you see lining up
hundreds of people for a very limited one pot of rice or one pot of
food, and they are struggling to get some of that to bring back to their
families; when you see small children staying unaccompanied because
they lost their whole family; when you see one man who buried his whole
family and who’s walking down the street, like, losing his mind because
he lost all that he dreamt would grow up with him, which is his children
— he lost his wife, he lost his father, he lost his mother, he lost his
house, he lost any hope in life that he can clutch to. I saw many
people talking to themselves down the streets. I saw many people crying
because they have no one to cry to. They have no shoulder to cry over.
They have no one to look after them. They have no one to console them.
They have no one even to offer them some kind word to look after them.
And they are going to — and they are driven insane because of that.
Situation is unconceivable. It has affected all aspects of life of
Gazans. And it continues to affect them. And it has destroyed many
lives, and it continues to destroy life. And it is likely to destroy any
hope that Gaza would survive. And I think this is the plan, to break
Gaza and to make Gaza uninhabitable and to destroy any possibility for
Gazans to relive or to rebuild or to just retake their life again.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Gaza now has the highest percentage of people facing acute food
insecurity anywhere in the world. Finally, Akram al-Satarri, as we watch
you on the ground there in Rafah — and we thank you and your cameraman
— we understand the very serious risks you face. I’m wondering if you
question whether even to wear the vest you are wearing that says
“press,” in light of the latest news just this week, bringing to
possibly over 120 the number of Gaza-based journalists killed. The
Israeli drones struck a pair of Al Jazeera journalists on Tuesday,
seriously injuring correspondent Ismail Abu Omar — he’s had his leg
amputated — and his cameraman, Ahmad Matar. They’re in European
Hospital. Then you have yesterday, Palestinian journalist Mutaz
Al-Ghafari killed in Gaza City in an Israeli airstrike that also killed
his wife and his child. Did you know these reporters? How are you
protecting yourself?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AKRAM</span> AL-<span class="caps">SATARRI</span>:
Well, as a matter fact, Ahmad Matar is a friend of mine. The last time I
shook hands with him was three days ago. He shook my hand. But,
unfortunately, he has no hand now, because his hand and his arm was
amputated, and he’s struggling for his life right now. He’s one of my
neighbors. He’s one of my friends. I know him very well. He’s such a
very nice and kind person. I know also Ismail Abu Omar, the one who’s
struggling for his life now because of unexpected hemorrhage because of
his injury. I know many other journalists who were targeted and killed
because of the Israeli ongoing bombardment. I know they have lives. I
know they have families. I know they have a career that should be
protected, according to Geneva Conventions. And I know they were
targeted and killed despite the fact that they are protected.</b></p>
<p><b>And I know also that it’s not only the journalists who were killed.
There are also some humanitarian aid people who were killed. There were
also some <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> people who were working to
serve the population that is displaced, and they were killed also. I
know many other people who were caring for other people, and they ended
up being killed. The killing is massive. The killing is thorough. And I
think no one in Gaza is protected, no safe haven. And I think there is
— every single person in Gaza now lacks that sense of safety and
security. And we all understand that we are going to be suspended killed
people, and we know it’s just a matter of time when Israel will reach
any one of us and would kill any one of us, either our dreams or
ourselves or our families or our friends or our acquaintances.</b></p>
<p><b>This is the situation. It is as dire as it sounds. But it’s different
when it’s felt. It’s different when it’s about the people you know.
It’s different when about the people you love. It’s different when about
the people who shake their hands, smile — shake your hands, smile at
your face, say “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” or even “Good night.”
It’s the personal stories of the people that makes us sometimes at the
verge of collapse and breaking.</b></p>
<p><b>But we understand that we have a mission to fulfill, which is to
communicate the voice of the voiceless in Gaza, which is to show the
real suffering the people has been enduring — they have been enduring,
without no guilt that have been committed by them. It’s a story of a
whole population. It’s not just Ismail or Ahmad. It’s not just Akram or
any other one. It’s a story of a whole nation that has been under
considerable fear and horror because of discriminate fire. And it’s the
duty of the world to continue to work towards ceasing the fire and
ending this atrocity now, because I think the consciousness of the world
has been stained by the ongoing atrocities. And I think the ones who
were killed, the ones who were guiltless, the ones who were hoping that
they would survive and build their life and continue growing and loving
their friends, and ended up killing, I think they deserve a fitting
homage, which is serving justice and ending this ongoing aggression and
enhancing and bringing about a ceasefire.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Akram al-Satarri, I want to thank you so much for being with us. I
can’t believe what we are talking about now, as you’re risking your life
to bring us this report. Akram is a Gaza-based journalist, joining us
from Rafah in southern Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>Next up, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/15/gaza_kenneth_roth">we speak with the former head of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth</a>. Stay with us.</b></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div><div>Yesterday, Akram
al-Satarri told DEMOCRACY NOW!, " I know many other journalists who
were targeted and killed because of the Israeli ongoing bombardment. I
know they have lives. I know they have families. I know they have a
career that should be protected, according to Geneva Conventions. And I
know they were targeted and killed despite the fact that they are
protected." And the facts back him up. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.euronews.com/2024/02/15/gaza-war-propels-journalist-deaths-toward-annual-record-report">EURONEWS notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The war in Gaza has seen journalists struggle to gain access to
crucial areas, making it hard to convey the scale of the conflict's
devastation while keeping reporters safe. But the CPJ also says that
there is evidence journalists have been specifically targeted by the
Israeli military.</b></p><p><b>"CPJ has raised concerns about the apparent
targeting of members of the media by the Israel Defense Forces and is
investigating whether a dozen journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza
war were deliberately targeted by Israeli soldiers," the NGO said in a
press release.</b></p><p><b>"As shown by CPJ’s May 2023 'Deadly
Pattern' report, the Israeli military has a long record of killing
journalists with impunity, with at least 20 journalists killed over 22
years and no one held accountable for their deaths. CPJ has demanded
swift, transparent, and independent investigations into all journalist
killings by the IDF and has repeatedly cautioned warring parties that
journalists are civilians under international law and deliberately
targeting them is a war crime."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/15/nearly-75-of-journalists-killed-in-2023-died-in-israels-war-on-gaza-cpj">ALJAZEERA speaks with CPJ president Jodie Ginsberg and reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="p1"><b>Ginsberg said she was “disappointed … at the lack of
public solidarity that we have seen” with Palestinian journalists during
the ongoing war.</b></p>
<p class="p1"><b>She said Western “hesitancy” to show solidarity with those
targeted and killed in Gaza was “sadly unsurprising” given that Israel
is “the country, the issue that has divided international media,
international politicians more than anything”.</b></p>
<p class="p1"><b>But she emphasised: “I think it’s really important that we
let our colleagues inside Gaza as well as in the region know that we
stand with them, that we are there to support them, so that we can make
sure that press freedom and journalists are protected not just at this
crucial moment in Gaza but also globally at a time when journalists are
under threat everywhere.”</b></p></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/16/israels-war-on-gaza-live-17000-children-torn-from-parents-un-says">ALJAZEERA also notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>The
number of journalists killed in Gaza has risen to 130 since the start
of Israel’s war on the enclave, according to Gaza’s press office.</b></p>
<p><b>It released the names of the two media workers recently killed.</b></p>
<ul><li><b>Zaid Abu Zayed – killed in the bombing of a house in the Nuseirat camp, along with his wife and children.</b></li><li><b>Yasser Mamdouh – killed by an Israeli sniper in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.</b></li></ul>
<p><b>“The immense loss suffered by Palestinian journalists in this war
will have long-term impacts for journalism, not just in the Palestinian
territories but for the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a
further blow to our understanding of the world,” said Jodie Ginsberg, of
the Committee to Protect Journalists.</b></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>It's
outrageous. And we have made clear here that we are speaking of the
Israeli government. We have made clear since this site started that a
government is not its people. (We started when Bully Boy Bush occupied
the White House and he did not represent my beliefs.) I'm bringing this
up now because to sell this criminal war a lot of supporters are trying
to make an abusive and corrupt right-wing government (that is what is
in place in Israel) synonymous with being Jewish. If you're worried
about the rise in hatred, then stop conflating the two. They are not
synonymous. Killing journalists is not something applauded by sane and
rational people of any race, any ethnicity, any country.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In his weekly column, <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/16/313485/">Jeffry St. Clair (COUNTERPUNCH) writes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>First Hind Rajab went missing, then her rescuers.</b></p>
<p><b>But missing isn’t the right word. Hind is missed. So are the people who tried to save her.</b></p>
<p><b>So much depends on using the right words now. On being precise.</b></p>
<p><b>Hind didn’t go missing. Her rescuers didn’t go missing.</b></p>
<p><b>Hind was trying to escape. Her rescuers were trying to save her.</b></p>
<p><b>But you can’t escape from a tank in a small
black Kia. Not a tank filled with soldiers who’d fire on a small black
Kia, driving away from them. Not a tank armed with the latest explosive
shells provided on an emergency order by the US government. Not a tank
that would shoot at a frightened young girl.</b></p>
<p><b>Six-year-old girls who like to dress up as
princesses in pink gowns don’t simply go missing in Gaza City these
days. They don’t just disappear. They <i>are</i> disappeared.</b></p>
<p><b>Hind Rajab was in her own city when the
invaders in tanks came. What was left of it. By late January, 60 percent
of the homes in Gaza City had already been destroyed by Israeli
missiles and bombs. Hind’s own kindergarten, which she’d recently
graduated from had been blown up, as had so many other schools, places
of learning, places of shelter and places of safety in Gaza City. (78%
of school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged amid
Israel’s incessant bombing, according to a new report by Relief.net. The
162 school buildings directly hit served more than 175,000 kids.)</b></p>
<p><b>But to be a child in Gaza City now is to be
a target. There are no safe streets, no sanctuaries. The places where
you once felt most at home are now the most likely to be bombed. There
are no escape routes. Every corner you turn might put you face-to-face
with a tank or in the laser-sights of a sniper or under a Hermes drone.</b></p>
<p><b>Hind was missed, but she wasn’t missing.
Hind was hiding. Hiding in a car shredded by shrapnel and bullets.
Hiding in a car with dead and dying relatives: her aunt, her uncle,
three of her cousins. Hiding in a car bleeding from wounds to her back,
her hands and her foot. Hiding with her 15-year-old cousin Layan
Hamadeh, who was also hurt, bleeding and terrified.</b></p>
<p><b>Layan had grabbed her dead father’s phone
and called the Red Crescent Society. She begged them to come rescue her
and Hind. “They are shooting at us,” Layan pleaded. “The tank is right
next to me. We’re in the car, the tank is right next to us.” Then there
was the sound of gunfire and the line went silent. The dispatcher asked,
“Hello? Hello?” There was no answer. The connection had cut out.</b></p>
<p><b>The Red Crescent operator called back. Hind
answered. She told them Layan had been shot. She told them everyone
else in the car was now dead. She stayed on the line for three hours.
The dispatcher read her lines from the Koran to calm her.</b></p>
<p><b>“I’m so scared,” Hind said. “Please come, come take me. You will come and take me?”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>No
sane person applauds the way Hind suffered or the way she died. And
the media needs to stop conflating the illegal and brutal actions
carried out by the Israeli government with the Jews of the world. They
are not one and the same. And this effort to portray them as such -- an
effort at propaganda to drive up support for the slaughter of Gaza --
only endangers Jewish people around the world. (The Debra Messings also
endanger the Jewish people around the world but there's no hope for the
criminally insane or, in Debra's case, the criminally stupid.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 133 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240215-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-canada-australia-nz-call-for-ceasefire-in-gaza-ahead-of-rafah-assault">FRANCE 24 notes</a>, "at least 28,663 people have been killed and 68,395 wounded in <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tag/israel/" target="_self">Israeli</a> strikes on the enclave since October 7, the vast majority women and children." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div><div><br /></div><div>The assault on Gaza includes the
assault on many, many hospitals. This week, we can especially
add Nasser Hospital to the list of medical facilities assaulted by the
Israeli government. <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/15/nasser_hospital_stormed_gaza">From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Israeli troops stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza today after a
dayslong siege. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was the largest
functional hospital in Gaza. Thousands of displaced Palestinians have
been taking shelter there among hundreds of wounded.</b></p>
<p><b>Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, said in a
statement that Israeli forces demolished the southern wall of the
complex and stormed the hospital, adding that they turned it into a
military barracks. He said troops targeted ambulances, tents of the
displaced, and bulldozed mass graves inside the hospital. Israeli troops
have also ordered medical staff to transfer all patients to another
wing of the complex, including patients in the intensive care unit and
the nursery. Hours earlier, Israeli forces bombed a wing of the
hospital, killing one patient and wounding several others.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: <i>Democracy Now!</i>
was able to receive updates from inside Nasser Hospital several hours
before Israeli troops stormed inside. Dr. Khaled Alserr is one of the
last remaining surgeons inside the hospital. He described the bombing of
the hospital, as well as an incident when a quadcopter drone opened
fire on doctors inside. You can hear the bombs falling in the background
as he speaks.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">KHALED</span> <span class="caps">ALSERR</span>:
There was a direct bombing to the hospital. They forced people inside
the hospital, including patients, relatives — oh, Allah — patients,
relatives and healthcare workers, to evacuate immediately. And you can
hear in the background the continuous bombing in the hospital.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Every minute and every hour, we have a new update. Just one hour ago
— now the time here is 3 a.m., after midnight. At 2 a.m., Israeli army
bombed the hospital directly with a rocket, which hit directly into the
patient wards. Six patients were injured again, and one of the patients
died on his bed.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Israeli army is trying to communicate with the people inside the
hospital every time to warn them and threaten them to evacuate
immediately, even if it’s after midnight. The speakers on the drone
shouting on people that they have to go out the hospital immediately, or
they will bomb the hospital. And unfortunately, they have committed
their warning and bombed the hospital directly just one hour ago.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>The situation here is getting worse every time and every minute.
Yesterday I tried to evacuate my parents from the hospital, because I
have them here with me inside the hospital, but through a secure
passage, as they claim that it’s a secure passage for people and
refugees to be evacuated through, in front of tanks and snipers and
soldiers. The bulldozer and a tank tried to approach the people, so they
were afraid and came back to the hospital here, as a lot of the
refugees.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Actually, the situation here in the hospital at this moment is in
chaos. All of the patients, all the relatives, refugees and also the
medical staff are afraid because of what happened. We could not imagine
that at any time the Israeli army will bomb the hospital directly, and
they will kill patients and medical personnel directly by bombing the
hospital building. Yesterday also, Israeli snipers and Israeli
quadcopters, which is a drone, carry on it an AR, and with a sniper,
they shot all over the building. And they shot my colleague, Dr. Karam.
He has a shrapnel inside his head. I can upload for you a CT for him.
You can see, <i>alhamdulillah</i>, it was superficial, nothing serious. But a lot of bullets inside their bedroom and the restroom.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Because I’m not easily getting internet access, you can share my
voices or edit them to spread the news and spread the truth and what’s
happening to us right now.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
That was Dr. Khaled Alserr, one of the last remaining surgeons inside
Nasser Hospital. Israeli troops stormed the hospital a few hours after
he sent in those reports.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div>On the continued assault on the hospital, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/oxygen-nasser-hospital">Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> Several oxygen-dependent patients at southern Gaza's largest hospital
died Friday due to a power outage at the facility, which Israeli forces <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/idf-storms-nasser-hospital" target="_blank">raided and shelled</a> 24 hours earlier as thousands of people who were sheltering at the complex scrambled to flee.
</b></p><p><b>
Gaza's Ministry of Health <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.facebook.com/MOHGaza1994/posts/pfbid02ZaXodRGfex7Krxw6wNpZDPY8aBH4pLhemEus1tR4E3xRKLQXakbLPCurTExU3QHkl" target="_blank">wrote on social media</a>
that at least five patients have died at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
"as a result of a power outage" and the shutoff of electric generators,
which medical facilities across the Palestinian enclave have relied on
to keep their operations running amid Israel's massive bombing campaign,
ground assault, and blockade.
</b></p><p><b>
Israel has only allowed <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-allow-two-fuel-trucks-day-into-gaza-official-says-2023-11-17/" target="_blank">limited fuel</a> into <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>, forcing many of the territory's hospitals to <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/21/no-functional-hospital-left-in-northern-gaza-who-says" target="_blank">shut down</a>.</b> </p></div><div><br /></div><div>This
insanity has to stop. The world is demanding it stop -- even when
world leaders aren't listening. It has to stop. This is going to be a
very shameful time when people look back at this. The right-wing,
corrupt government of Israel is terrorizing a people, is a murdering a
people, is targeting a people. In full view, as the world watches this
is taking place and it is outrageous. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68306915">Jake Horton and Daniele Palumbo (BBC NEWS) report</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b class="sc-7dcfb11b-0 kVRnKf">New satellite images reveal large craters in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza following Israeli strikes. </b></p></section><section class="sc-4e574cd-0 bhtqwj" data-component="text-block"><p class="sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe"><b>Some of the craters are only about 130m (426ft) away from rows of tents, where many people displaced by the war are sheltering.</b></p></section></div><div>It
is a densely populated area. There's no way you can be dropping bombs
there and keeping civilians safe. Let's all stop indulging the liars
and admit that this is terrorizing a people, this is targeting a
people. This is not an action of peace or, for that matter, a sane
action. This is criminal. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-16-24/index.html">CNN reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Displaced
Palestinian woman Daiana Al-Bukhari told CNN’s Michael Holmes on Friday
that people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were living in dire
conditions and she feared they were "all going to be wiped out."</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Rafah is the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/14/middleeast/rafah-international-opposition-israel-ground-offensive-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">last major population center</a>
in Gaza that is not controlled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The
city is now the enclave's most populated, with more than a million
people sheltering in tents and UN facilities facing severe shortages of
essentials.</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>“The
first thing I do, I think [whether] I'll get water today or not … Then I
think about food. Will we eat food today or not,” Al-Bukhari said,
adding she typically has to queue “for hours” to get bread, a shower, or
even to use the toilet.</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Al-Bukhari told Holmes she feared for the future of Palestinians in Rafah.</b></p><div class="sc-bdVaJa sc-RefOD bkVmOx"><blockquote class="sc-dnqmqq hJIoKL"><b>“I
think we’re all going to be wiped out. Can you imagine 1.5 million
refugees in such a small area like Rafah? ... I don't know what's gonna
happen. I hope [this] does not happen," 22-year-old Al-Bukhari said.</b></blockquote></div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Looming ground offensive: Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/09/middleeast/israel-rafah-evacuation-gaza-intl/index.html" target="_blank">directed the country’s military</a> to
plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah after saying the
IDF would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion."</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>His plan has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-16-24/h_82bf8655151c747ef1c02ab1551fe6a9" target="_blank">drawn</a> international <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-16-24/h_2fe29103f6a6acc97158aa5a7cea0cd4" target="_blank">criticism</a>. </b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Al-Bukhari’s
regular updates on life in Gaza have attracted a large following on
social media, including over 70,000 followers on Instagram. </b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>When
asked what she would like to tell people across the world, she said to
“trust the stories and evidence of Palestinians in Gaza.”</b></p></div><div><br /></div>
<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/15/gaza_kenneth_roth">That's Kenneth Roth on yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a>
and we don't have space or time for the transcript this morning. We
don't have space for a lot lately. Jon Stewart will be addressed at
THIRD. I did write about it this week to go up here -- well dictated it
-- and we tried to squeeze it in yesterday with no luck and again
today. So it'll just go to THIRD and be a post over there. Anyone
wondering or confused, no, I'm not piling on Jon and I'm bothered by the
nonsense some people are pulling.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />We have to deal with another issue and it'll be quick and way too brief. Trina's covered an appalling assault on a
child:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="widget-content" id="Feed1_feedItemListDisplay"><ul><li><span class="item-title"><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_01086588801.html" target="_self">Iraq snapshot</a></span></li><li><span class="item-title"><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/jess-glynne-enough-official-video.html" target="_self">Jess Glynne - Enough (Official Video)</a></span></li><li><span class="item-title"><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/israels-war-on-gaza-day-132-latest.html" target="_self">Israel's War on Gaza... Day 132... The LATEST UPDATES (02/15/24)</a></span></li><li><span class="item-title"><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/outside-of-their-damn-minds-tenn-house.html" target="_self">Outside Of Their DAMN Minds: Tenn. House Repubs BLOCK Black Grammy Winner
Resolution | Roland Martin</a></span></li><li><span class="item-title"><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/taylor-swift-celine-dion-matteo-lane.html" target="_self">Taylor Swift & Celine Dion - Matteo Lane & Nick Smith / I Never Liked You
Podcast Ep 11</a></span></li></ul></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Utah's
Natalie Cline, an adult, let her hatred run and free and targeted a
girl. She didn't think the girl was a girl. So she thought she'd put
her on blast and try to ruin her life. If the girl had been trans,
Natalie moves would still be disgusting. Adults do not target
children. Adults do not whip up a frenzy to create a mob that goes
after children. The girl's life became horrible and she required police
protection at school. There's no excuse for what Natalie Cline did. </div><div><br /></div><div>I would've liked to have had space here to cover
that and I'm glad that Trina covered it. Iraq has largely moved into
the community newsletters (my coverage of it) due to the assault on
Gaza. But I do want to weigh in on Moms For Bigotry and the others who
try to ban books and render LGBTQ+ people invisible.</div><div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I want us all to grasp what these parents are saying which is:</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>I
am the worst parent in the world. I can neither manage nor raise my
child. I need the nanny state to do the work for me. Yes, the nanny
state that I deride and mock and throw fits over. That's because I am a
lousy parent and my children will not listen to me -- not even on
something as simple as, "I don't want you to read this book." I am a
lousy parent who cannot set boundaries or deliver effective punishments
-- this despite the fact that my neighbors report me for beating my
children. I am just that lousy and that lazy. So since I'm not able
to do my job, I need all of you to do it for me. I'm a lousy parent and
a pathetic cry baby.</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">So
the next time you hear these Moms For Bigotry targeting a school library
or regular library, just grasp that they've failed as parents and offer
them a sympathetic nod while encouraging them to please, for the sake
of society, not have any more children.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"> The following sites updated:</div></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">
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7 hours ago
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<div class="item-time">
15 hours ago </div>
</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-23788606908866638032024-02-15T22:02:00.000-08:002024-02-15T22:02:00.132-08:00Marjorie's Stink is a threat to national safety<p> </p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/">BULLY BOY PRESS</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;">& </span><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="https://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/">CEDRIC'S BIG MIX</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> & <a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/">THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN</a> & <a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/">ANN'S MEGA DUB</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;"> & <a href="https://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS</a> &<span> </span><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/">THE COMMON ILLS</a> -- THE KOOL AID TABLE</span></b> </p><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/mtgs-fat-and-flabby-arms-paul.html">FLABBY, FAT ARMED MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE</a><span> </span>WAS SWEATING LIKE CRAZY TODAY IN THAT WAY THAT ONLY THE MORBIDLY OBESE CAN AND SHE WAS HUFFING AS SHE LUMBERED UP TO THE MICROPHONE TO EXPLAIN HER TWEET: "<a class="yiv2917877189ydp94fe4d5dyiv3817345784" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-warns-of-greatest-national-security-threat/ar-BB1ikFrN?cvid=f06c28b2bea249aeffc1a122cf60c496&ei=46" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ARE WE FACING A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT? IT'S MY DUTY TO BE HONEST WITH YOU. YES. IT'S REAL</a>."</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">WE ADVISED THE CRAZED CONGRESSIONAL MEMBER THAT ONE OR TWO SWISHES OF SCOPE AND THEN SPITTING IT OUT WOULD WIPE AWAY THAT NASTY HALITOSIS AND PROBABLY RESULT IN FEWER PEOPLE HOLDING THEIR NOSES WHEN SHE STEPPED CLOSER TO THEM. THIS IS IMPORTANT NOW MORE THAN EVER SINCE U.S. HOUSE REP.<span> </span><a class="yiv2917877189ydp94fe4d5dyiv3817345784" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-dem-instrumental-to-biden-s-election-will-step-down-from-leadership-role/ar-BB1ii68i?cvid=f06c28b2bea249aeffc1a122cf60c496&ei=51" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">JIM CLYBURN (83-YEARS-OLD) ANNOUNCED HE'LL BE STEPPING AWAY FROM LEADERSHIP ROLES</a><span> </span>WHICH MEANS MAJORIE WILL HAVE FEWER OPPORTUNITIES TO BLAME HER OWN "OLD MAN STINK" ON CLYBURN. </div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">MARJORITE TOLD THESE REPORTERS THAT SHE IS CONSIDERING CARRYING AROUND A PET PIG OR SMALL DOG THAT SHE COULD THEN SCAPEGOAT FOR HER OWN ODORS; HOWEVER, HER STINK WAS SO BAD LAST MONTH THAT WHEN SHE CROUCED DOWN TO POUR A BAG OF PURINA ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR -- "I JUST LEAVE A BAG OUT ON THE FLOOR AT THE START OF EACH MONTH" -- SHE WAS SHOCKED WHEN "APPARENTLY DUE TO THE ODOR, SNICKERS STARTED BARKING AND LUNGING AT ME." FOR THAT SECURITY THREAT, WE RECOMMENDED MASSENGILL.</div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS FOILED -- PLURAL! -- MUST CREDIT <b><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/">BULLY BOY PRESS</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;">& </span><span style="color: #999988;"><a href="https://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/">CEDRIC'S BIG MIX</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;"> & <a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/">THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN</a> & <a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/">ANN'S MEGA DUB</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 21.56px; position: static; width: auto;"> & <a href="https://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/">THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS</a> &<span> </span><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/">THE COMMON ILLS</a> <span> </span></span></b> -- AND U.S. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN MUST AWARD THESE OUTLETS THE PRESIDENTIAL CITIZENS MEDAL FOR ELIMINATING THE THREATS TO PUBLIC SAFETY THAT COME PART AND PARCEL WITH MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE.</div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_01278335499.html">FROM THE TCI WIRE</a>:</p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s<span> </span><span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span><span> </span>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." <span> </span><a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a<span> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a><span> </span>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<span> </span><a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a><span> </span>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." </div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><br /></div><div>Currently, Nasser Hospital is under attack. Yesterday, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/14/headlines">Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted</a>, "In the city of Khan Younis, the Israeli army has forced hundreds of patients, staff and displaced Palestinians to evacuate Nasser Hospital, which has been under an Israeli siege for weeks. Israeli snipers killed at least three people at the hospital on Tuesday." Today, <span class="Link"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-15-2024-d3a25caf6b60fe560e1a31d4f8f6b45e">Wafaa Shurafa and Bassem Mroue (AP) explain</a>, " Israeli forces stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex." <span> </span><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4d7e2894-e854-46a8-9d63-e08e30046feb">Two journalists at THE FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON manage to type</a>, "</span>During Israel’s retaliatory air, land and sea offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 28,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, Israeli forces have targeted numerous hospitals, accusing Hamas of using medical facilities for military purposes." If that's an attempt at context it's missing a phrase that would be "while denying they had attacked hospitals early in the assault." Because that is what happened.</div></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Grasp that.</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">An attack on a hospital is illegal. It is against all rules of engagement. And early on when the Israeli government was terrorizing Gaza and attacking hospitals, they denied it. And the gullible and whorish press would try to prop up the denial. But in a matter of weeks, the horrors have been so outrageous that the Israeli government doesn't even try to deny the assaults on hospitals anymore. And the world is just in shock. It's outrageous and people need to stand trial for it.</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/middle-east/2024/0215/1432413-gaza-israel/">RTE notes</a>, "Attacks on medical facilities in Gaza have caused particular concern throughout the conflict, including Israeli raids on hospitals in other cities, shelling in the vicinity of hospitals and the targeting of ambulances." <span> </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68304979">Per the BBC</a><span> </span>" the Israeli military had demolished the southern wall of the hospital complex and entered that way." The Israeli government wants to destroy all of Gaza and that's obvious by what they've done. If you're not getting how far from humanity these actions are,<span> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/15/middleeast/nasser-hospital-israeli-snipers-khan-younis-intl-hnk/index.html">Kareem Khadder, Lauren Izso and<span> </span><span class="byline__name">Sana Noor Haq (</span>CNN) report</a>, "The news [of the assault] came after doctors and medical officials in southern Gaza said Israeli snipers had shot dead a number of people as they tried to flee the Nasser Medical Complex. An eyewitness to the shootings, who is a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said at least two people were killed by snipers on Tuesday, with more shot and injured." Multiple press reports are citing an unnamed trauma surgeon at the hospital who states one of the at least two killed was a 16-year-old boy. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/15/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Adela Suliman and Claire Parker (WASHINGTON POST) add</a>, "Updates from the Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli troops were putting lives in danger by seeking the transfer of intensive care patients and by instructing employees to evacuate amid bombings. It said the emergency doctor was injured when a drone fired at the room in the surgery department on the third floor of the Nasser Medical Complex." <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/15/middle-east-crisis-live-rafah-offensive-ceasefire-talks-israel-gaza-latest-news">THE GUARDIAN notes</a>:</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><br /></b></div><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Humanitarian chiefs stressed that states and especially<span> </span><a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel">Israel</a><span> </span>could not “offload” responsibility for the horrors unfolding in Gaza onto aid workers.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>The Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric told a Geneva briefing for diplomats on events in<span> </span><a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza">Gaza</a><span> </span>that their countries were responsible for ensuring the Geneva Conventions are upheld.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>“It is not in your interest to offload (that) responsibility... onto humanitarian actors,” she said.</b></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>“If the way operations are conducted today limit our operational space to a minimum... we will not be able to resolve the problem,” she added. </b></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">And<span> </span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/15/israels-war-on-gaza-live-four-dead-as-israel-hits-city-in-lebanons-south">ALJAZEERA notes</a>:</div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; 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white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/israeli-teacher-who-was-locked-up-and.html">Israeli teacher who was locked up and persecuted f...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/no-more-money-for-netanyahus-war-machine.html">No More Money for Netanyahu's War Machine</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/dr-danett-bean-roe-is-dead-how-does.html">Dr Danett Bean: Roe is Dead - How Does That Impact...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/tommy-tuberville-may-want-to-worry.html">Tommy Tuberville May Want To Worry About His Own C...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/we-cannot-ignore-killing-of-27000.html">We Cannot Ignore the killing of 27,000 Palestinians</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/matteo-lane-emma-willmann-go-to-whole.html">Matteo Lane & Emma Willmann Go To Whole Foods NEW</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/if-you-criticize-netanyahu-you-will-be.html">If you criticize Netanyahu, you will be targeted.</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/report-exposes-israels-lies-to-keep.html">Report Exposes Israel's Lies To Keep Palestinian K...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/us-ramps-up-criticism-of-israel-over.html">US ramps up criticism of Israel over Rafah assault...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/israels-evidence-of-unrwa-hamas.html">Israel’s evidence of UNRWA Hamas allegations examined</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/six-year-old-hind-rajab-found-dead-in.html">Six year-old Hind Rajab found dead in Gaza days af...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/national-lawyers-guild-webinar-to.html">National Lawyers Guild Webinar to Recognize the Wo...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/how-to-motivate-disaffected.html">How To Motivate Disaffected Progressives In 2024</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/bern-nadette-stanis-reflects-on.html">Bern Nadette Stanis Reflects on Evolution of Thelm...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/irene-khan-gaza-genocide-in-making-talk.html">Irene Khan: Gaza, 'a genocide in the making' | Tal...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/mercenary-erik-prince-shows-his-racism.html">MERCENARY Erik Prince SHOWS HIS RACISM by wanting ...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/slanted-opinions-on-gazaone-familys.html">Slanted Opinions on Gaza/One Family’s Tragedy - Ra...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/genocidal-freak-john-fetterman-scolds.html">Genocidal Freak John Fetterman Scolds Ceasefire Pr...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-medias-shameless-islamophobia.html">The Media’s Shameless Islamophobia</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/israel-seeks-to-cause-civil-disorder-in.html">Israel seeks to cause ‘civil disorder’ in Rafah ci...</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/jason-gould-laws-of-desire-official.html">Jason Gould - Laws Of Desire (Official Music Video)</a></li><li><a href="https://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/volunteers-bring-comfort-to-traumatised.html">Volunteers bring comfort to traumatised Gaza children</a></li></ul><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/donalds-failed-attempted-crime-was.html" target="_self">Donald's failed attempted crime was still a crime</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/desperate-donald.html" target="_self">Desperate Donald</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/sad-man-donald-trump.html" target="_self">Sad man Donald Trump</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/hes-trumpster-fire.html" target="_self">He's a Trumpster Fire</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/trump-and-biden.html" target="_self">Trump and Biden</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-government-is-about-to-finally-kill.html" target="_self">The government is about to finally kill rap music</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/billy-joel-elle-king-dolly-parton-tracy.html" target="_self">Billy Joel, Elle King, Dolly Parton, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/mtgs-fat-and-flabby-arms-paul.html" target="_self">MTG's fat and flabby arms; Paul Westerberg and The Replacements solid music</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/californian-to-californian-let-me-hip.html" target="_self">Californian to Californian, let me hip you out</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/alyssa-milano-grown-woman-is.html" target="_self">Alyssa Milano, a grown woman, is an embarrassment as she continues to lie</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/instant-pot-shrimp.html" target="_self">Instant Pot Shrimp</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/slow-cooker-cajun-chicken-pasta.html" target="_self">Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Pasta</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/sheet-pan-fajita-shrimp-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Sheet Pan Fajita Shrimp in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/keto-ground-beef-casserole-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Keto Ground Beef Casserole in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/instant-noodle-soup-in-kitchen.html" target="_self">Instant Noodle Soup in the Kitchen</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/little-matt-junior-bratty-congressboi.html">Little Matt Junior -- the bratty Congressboi who'l...</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/silly-hobby-lobby-real-christians-dont.html">Silly, Hobby Lobby, real Christians don't steal</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/mother-tucker-carlson.html">Mother Tucker Carlson</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/why-is-this-creep-in-congress.html">Why is this creep in Congress?</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/wacky-whacker-josh-hawley.html">Wacky Whacker Josh Hawley</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/transphobes-cant-stop-lying.html" target="_self">Transphobes can't stop lying</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/la-brea-went-out-sucking-spoilers.html" target="_self">La Brea went out sucking (spoilers)</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/north-carolina-has-real-lunatic-who.html" target="_self">North Carolina has a real lunatic who wants to be governor</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-hateful-people-who-destroy-our-world.html" target="_self">The hateful people who destroy our world</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/discrimination-isnt-just-illegal-its.html" target="_self">Discrimination isn't just illegal, it's costly</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/trt-nailed-it.html" target="_self">trt nailed it</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/ignored-and-abandoned-by-us-government.html" target="_self">ignored and abandoned by the us. government</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/extreme-idiots.html" target="_self">extreme idiots</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/restore-roe.html" target="_self">restore roe</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-disrespect-never-ends.html" target="_self">the disrespect never ends</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/texas-ag-ken-paxton-needs-to-be.html" target="_self">Texas AG Ken Paxton needs to be prosecuted for attempting to violate HIPAA</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/paul-rudnick-paul-rogers.html" target="_self">Paul Rudnick, Paul Rogers</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/x-men-movies-cray-cray-gop-politicians.html" target="_self">X-Men movies; cray cray GOP politicians</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/idiot-of-week-mark-ruffalo.html" target="_self">Idiot of the week Mark Ruffalo</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/kylie-minogue-wins-grammy-elon-musk.html" target="_self">Kylie Minogue wins a Grammy, Elon Musk stinks up the world</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/jennifer-decker-og-karen.html" target="_self">Jennifer Decker The OG Karen</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/crooks-gotta-go-behind-bars.html" target="_self">Crooks gotta go behind bars</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/crooked-clarence_12.html" target="_self">Crooked Clarence</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-one-subject-josh-hawley-studied.html" target="_self">The one subject Josh Hawley 'studied'</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/they-brought-us-to-this-point.html" target="_self">They brought us to this point</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/donald-trump-and-his-insurrection.html" target="_self">Donald Trump and his insurrection petered out</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/oh-boe-boe.html" target="_self">Oh, Boe-Boe</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/that-disgusting-robert-kennedy-junior.html" target="_self">That disgusting Robert Kennedy Junior</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-shangri-las-and-chase-rice.html" target="_self">The Shangri-Las and Chase Rice</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-mincing-john-labriola-protests-too.html" target="_self">The mincing John Labriola protests too much</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/madam-web-alexander-making-of-god-la.html" target="_self">MADAM WEB, ALEXANDER: THE MAKING OF A GOD, LA BREA, TRUE DETECTIVE</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/247-is-sexist-outlet-sally-field.html" target="_self">24/7 is a sexist outlet -- Sally Field produced some great movies</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/weekend-box-office_12.html" target="_self">Weekend box office</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/dakota-johnson-didnt-come-to-play-and.html" target="_self">Dakota Johnson didn't come to play and Jonathan Majors more disgusting than we knew</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/madam-web_7.html" target="_self">MADAM WEB</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/tv-hate-spreaders.html" target="_blank">TV: The hate spreaders</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://theworldtodayjustnuts.blogspot.com/2024/02/josh-hawley-goes-through-lot-of-jergens.html" target="_blank">Josh Hawley goes through a lot of Jergens</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://cedricsbigmix.blogspot.com/2024/02/senator-smutty.html" target="_blank">Senator Smutty</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">"<a href="http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/2024/02/this-just-in-josh-hawley-is-obsessed.html" target="_blank">THIS JUST IN! JOSH HAWLEY IS OBSESSED WITH PORN!</a>"</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-32548527852542367362024-02-14T18:00:00.000-08:002024-02-14T18:00:00.137-08:00Little Matt Junior -- the bratty Congressboi who'll never be a man<div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let me ask it again: <a href="https://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/why-is-this-creep-in-congress.html">Why is Matt Gaetz still in Congress</a>? <a class="yiv4654640948ydp4ed860eyiv3311226809enhancr_card_8037174703" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/texts-allegedly-show-gaetz-setting-up-2017-trip-with-woman-his-associate-paid-for-sex/ar-BB1ihLQS?cvid=ddb611f4e2eb476db2c88553ceb7ab69&ei=42" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC News reports</a>:</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Congressional
House Ethics investigators have obtained text messages allegedly
showing that a few months after first joining Congress, Florida Rep. </span><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/rep-matt-gaetz" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Matt Gaetz</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> asked
a young woman, who at the time had received payments for sex from
Gaetz's then-close friend Joel Greenberg, to join him and others on a
three-day trip to the Florida Keys in May 2017, multiple sources tell
ABC News.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
the alleged text messages described exclusively to ABC News, the
then-freshman congressman appeared to message a woman, who ABC News is
not identifying, asking if she would fly on a private plane to the
Florida Keys for a trip with Gaetz, three other women, and one other
man.</span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Hey -- any interest in flying on a
private plane to the keys May 19-21?" Gaetz allegedly wrote to the
woman, who was older than 21 at the time, according to multiple sources
familiar with the messages.</span></span></b></div></div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">[. . .]</span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The
messages, if accurate, mark the first known example of alleged direct
private communication between the Florida congressman and a woman who
his one-time close associate Joel Greenberg told investigators he had
been paying to have sex with other men, according to documents and
interviews with multiple sources.</span></span><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let's all ask together: Why is this man still in the US Congress?</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And let's also remember Matt Gaetz Jr. back in August: Calling for school prayer while attacking LGBTQ+ people as "degenerate." </span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But traveling sex parties with prostitutes and making out with underage girls is ok?</span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
think Matt Jr. is the "degenerate" and I think it's time that we made
these bratty boys named after their fathers go by "Junior." That is his
name. Not "II." Junior. Just like Bobby Kennedy Jr., Matt's an
overgrown brat. I don't know why anyone would name their child
"Junior." You really want a "Junior" as an adult male? Forever feeling
inadequate and harming the world as he tries to overcompensate.
"Little Matt, you do what Big Matt says now!" We didn't add "Junior" to
any of our children's names. Nor would we. That's a form of child
abuse.</span></span></div><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_01652675892.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Wednesday, February 14, 2024. Hate merchant Selma Blair pretends to
apologize (and pretends it was a one time thing), Joe Biden has no plan
at all with regards to stopping the assault on Gaza, and much more.<div><br /></div><div>Hate
Merchant Selma Blair is back in the news and -- Sadly? I think that's
the term. Not for Selma, but for so-called news outlets. I see a ton
of them. I only see DEADLINE getting it right. Domnic Patten's "<a href="https://deadline.com/2024/02/selma-blair-apology-islam-comments-1235825073/">Selma Blair Now Claims Ignorance Was Cause Of Her Vitriolic Rant Against Islam & 'Terrorist Supporting Goons'</a>" explains, "<a data-tag="selma-blair" href="https://deadline.com/tag/selma-blair/" id="auto-tag_selma-blair_1">Selma Blair</a>
is trying to dramatically walk back her self-admitted rage filled rant
against Islam and members of the US Congress from a week ago." That's what it is. It's not an apology.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This is not an apology, "I mistakenly and inadvertently conflated Muslims with Radical Islamists
and fundamentalists, a terrible err in my words, and resulted in
hurting countless people I never meant to, and I deeply regret this." Mistakenly and inadvertently? Oh, was it a typo, dear? </div><div><br /></div><div>She typed up hate speech and this wasn't her first time attacking Muslims online. </div><div><br /></div><div><br />
</div><div><br /></div><div>All those favorites she did to Tweets
attacking Muslims. Inadvertent as well? "Islam: the religion of evil
created in hell"? Look at the Tweets she's been liking. This was not a
one time thing or even a one day thing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />Like
many around the world, I'm laughing at her claim to have received
feedback from her mythical Muslim friends. She slurred a people with
her racist stereotyping and called for their deaths. Quit acting like a
piece of correction tape is going to make things alright.</div><div><br /></div><div>You projected hate and you meant to. Here are some reactions.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div> </div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div> <br /></div><div>Let's move away from Selma for one second. Sunday, Ava and I wrote "<a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/tv-hate-spreaders.html" target="_blank">TV: The hate spreaders</a>."
And some people were bothered by that -- by one name included it.
Barbra Streisand. On Selma, people are sending e-mails with Tweet
suggestions and some contain Barbra's name. I have no trouble holding
Barbra accountable -- I did with her nonsense about "her" A STAR IS BORN
actually being about something as opposed to Bradley Cooper's (I know
Bradley and I know Barbra). No. As I noted here, that's exactly why so
many in the industry will not give her another Academy Award or even
nominate her. She can be an ego maniac. Joan Didion and John Gregory
Dunne were the ones who came up with the idea ("Carly Simon and James
Taylor in a rock and roll version of A STAR IS BORN") and wrote the
first screenplay and several more. What Barbra claimed credit for as
she attacked Bradley was not her credit to claim. She added the garbage
b.s. to that dreadful film -- it makes me physically sick to watch that
movie -- as she tried to include her abusive relationship with Jon
Peters in that film. As you can see, I'm not holding back. And I
didn't hold back when Ava and I reviewed her awful book ("<a href="https://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2023/11/media-my-name-is-barbra.html">Media: MY NAME IS BARBRA, my game is pity party</a>").</div><div><br /></div><div>So
I'm not rescuing her. Barbra has publicly and repeatedly called for a
cease-fire. For that I applaud her. If you're unaware of that, you may
be uninformed or you may be guilty of your own stereotyping ("She's
Jewish! She's not going to call for a cease-fire!"). She's made public
calls (plural) for one. I applaud her for that. She has been trashed
for doing so. It would be nice if those who want a cease-fire could
stop smearing her falsely.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was happily
surprised she called for a cease-fire. It is in keeping with her larger
view of the world; however, I was still surprised due to the parties
involved and the rhetoric and climate.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/">Amnesty International</a> is also calling for a cease-fire:</div><div><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div><h3 class="fw-bold"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Countless lives have been shattered, ripped
apart, and upended due to the crisis in Gaza, Israel and wider Occupied
Palestinian Territories. In the face of such devastation and suffering,
humanity must prevail.</span></h3></div>
<div class="d-none d-md-block js-cl-toggle-hide">
<div><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Right now, civilian deaths in Gaza are rising at a
staggering rate. The Israeli authorities' 16-year-long illegal and
inhumane blockade has trapped 2.2 million people in Gaza, including
children, the elderly, and disabled, under relentless bombardment by
Israeli authorities. With nowhere to go, they face losing everything.</span></b></p>
<p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">After horrific attacks in Israel by Hamas and other armed groups
that, according to Israeli authorities, resulted in 1,200 people killed
and the abduction of civilians, at least 200 hostages held in Gaza also
remain in danger, and ongoing indiscriminate rocket fire into Israel
places civilians at risk.</span></b></p>
<p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Humanitarian pauses of a few days will bring a brief respite. But
halting the fighting for a matter of days is nowhere near enough to
address the catastrophic suffering or relieve the horrifying harm to
civilians. We must act now.</span></b></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">A negotiated ceasefire would:</span></strong></p>
<ul><li><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Put a stop to unlawful attacks by all parties, halt the mounting
death toll in Gaza and enable aid agencies to get life-saving aid,
water and medical supplies into the strip</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Allow hospitals in Gaza to receive life-saving medicines, fuel and equipment they desperately need and to repair damaged wards</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Provide opportunities to negotiate the release of all hostages detained in Gaza</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Allow for independent international investigations to take place
into war crimes committed by all parties to help end long-standing
impunity, which continues to produce further atrocities</span></b></li></ul><p><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Palestinians and Israelis deserve a future where they can live
free from violence and see an end to the fatal human rights violations
that continue to destroy so many lives. Challenging the Israeli
authorities' system of apartheid over Palestinians is now more urgent
than ever.</span></b></p></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Again,
I have no problem calling Barbra out and have many times -- including
to her face -- but I hope I'm also the first one to give her credit when
she's earned it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Selma Blair is lying and has
not apologized. We see her for what she actually is. If there's any
further use to her in this discussion, it's in the crowd she plots
with. WASHINGTON MONTHLY, can you explain your journalists' Tweets? </div><div><br /></div><div>Let's move on. <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/13/dr_yasser_khan_gaza">From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: This is <em>Democracy Now!</em>, democracynow.org, <em>The War and Peace Report</em>. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.</b></p>
<p><b>We turn now to Gaza, to Israel threatening to launch a ground
invasion of Rafah, where over a million displaced Palestinians have
sought refuge. On Monday, President Biden hosted King Abdullah of Jordan
at the White House. During public remarks, Biden initially described
Israel’s operation in Rafah as, quote, “our operation.”</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PRESIDENT</span> <span class="caps">JOE</span> <span class="caps">BIDEN</span>:
As I said yesterday, our military operation in Rafah — the major
military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan, a
credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than 1
million people sheltering there.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Jordan’s King Abdullah condemned Israel’s plan to attack Rafah and
called for a ceasefire and the creation of a Palestinian state.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">KING</span> <span class="caps">ABDULLAH</span> II:
We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah. It is certain to produce
another humanitarian catastrophe. The situation is already unbearable
for over a million people who have been pushed into Rafah since the war
started. We cannot stand by and let this continue. We need a lasting
ceasefire now. This war must end. … Seven decades of occupation, death
and destruction have proven beyond any doubt that there can be no peace
without a political horizon. Military and security installations are not
the answer. They can never bring peace. Civilians on both sides
continue to pay for this protracted conflict with their lives.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
We go now to Toronto, where we’re joined by Dr. Yasser Khan. He’s a
Canadian ophthalmologist and eye surgeon who recently returned from a
humanitarian surgical mission at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in
Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Khan, welcome to <em>Democracy Now!</em> If you can describe what
you saw there in Khan Younis, the level of the injuries, how crowded
the European Hospital was, the threats people were facing there?</b></p>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">YASSER</span> <span class="caps">KHAN</span>: Thank you very much for having me.</b></p>
<p><b>Well, you know, I look at the impending invasion of Rafah and the
attacks on Rafah, and I know, because I’ve seen it — I know what’s going
to happen. I know the casualties, and I know how much worse it’s going
to get.</b></p>
<p><b>When I was in Khan Younis a few weeks ago — I’ve been to over 40
different countries, you know, doing humanitarian work, anywhere from in
Africa, Asia and South America. And what I saw in Khan Younis were the
most horrific scenes in my entire life, and I hope I never see them
again. It was just — you know, the bombings were going on every few
hours at that point in time. The Israeli forces were about a kilometer
away. And the mass casualties kept on coming in.</b></p>
<p><b>And it was mostly — I mean, the majority of the patients that I
treated were children, anywhere from the age of 2 to 17. I mean, I saw
horrific eye and facial injuries that I’ve never seen before, eyes
shattered in two 6-year-old children with shrapnel that I had to take
out, eyes with shrapnel stuck inside, facial injuries. I saw orthopedic
injuries where — you know, limbs just cut off and dangling. I saw
abdominal injuries that were just horrific. And it was just mass chaos.
There was children on the floor, unattended to, with head trauma, people
suturing patients without anesthesia on the ground. It was just mass
chaos and really horrific, horrific scenes.</b></p>
<p><b>And I know that now with the bombing going on in Rafah and scenes of
children hanging exploded and, you know, half their bodies cut off and
hanging on a wall because they’ve been exploded — I mean, those are
scenes going on now. So I know exactly what my colleagues are going
through right now in Rafah and in Gaza, basically.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ: And,
Doctor, you were working shifts of 12-, 13-hour days. Can you talk about
the conditions of the medical staff and the doctors you worked
alongside with? Where did you sleep? Were you able to eat? Could you
talk about those conditions you faced?</b></p>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">YASSER</span> <span class="caps">KHAN</span>:
Well, the doctors were amazing. I mean, the Palestinian doctors were
amazing. Their dedication and their will to resist dying and staying
alive was amazing. They’re talented. But they have nothing. There’s no
antibiotics. There’s no painkillers. On the last day I was leaving, we
ran out of morphine, which is very important in a lot of orthopedic
injuries.</b></p>
<p><b>So, patients were — I mean, the whole European Gaza Hospital was, at
the time — now everything I’m saying and — everything I saw is much
worse now. But, basically, it was overcrowded, about 300, 400% over
capacity. There was patients and bodies lying all over the hospital
floor, inside and outside. They had orthopedic devices coming from their
legs or their arms. They were getting infected, they were in pain,
because they were on the floor, so the conditions weren’t very sterile.
And if they survived amputation the first time, the infection would get
them, because then they’d have to be amputated after.</b></p>
<p><b>A lot of the kids that I saw — and more than 60% of the patients I
saw were children — they’re thin. They had no fat on them. They’re
starving, because, as you know, Israel has had a food blockade since
this war on Gaza started. And so, they’re all thin, with no fat,
starving. And they were coming in, and, you know, it was just — and we
didn’t have enough supplies, enough gauze, enough antibiotics, enough
instruments even — the instruments are rusting — to kind of, you know,
deal with the mass trauma.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Dr. Khan —</b></p>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">YASSER</span> <span class="caps">KHAN</span>: I stayed in the hospital — yes, please.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Dr. Khan, this is Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland
speaking Monday ahead of a vote on the $95 billion aid package to
Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">SEN</span>. <span class="caps">CHRIS</span> <span class="caps">VAN</span> <span class="caps">HOLLEN</span>:
Madam President, I want that to sink in. Kids in Gaza are now dying
from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of
that news, one other thing is true: That is a war crime. It is a
textbook war crime. … And that makes those who orchestrate it war
criminals.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
That’s Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on the floor of the U.S.
Senate. Dr. Khan, you’re talking about the thinness of the children, of
the whole population.</b></p>
<p><b>DR. <span class="caps">YASSER</span> <span class="caps">KHAN</span>:
Yeah. Well, you know, Amy, it’s — you know, from what I saw and what I
experienced when I was on the ground, speaking to officials, speaking to
the doctors there, and this whole — you know, one of the whole aspects
of this war on Gaza, you know, the genocidal intent of Israeli
politicians, the Israeli army has been clear. What is really bizarre is
they haven’t hid it. They have openly called for it. They have openly
called for epidemics.</b></p>
<p><b>And so, as a healthcare professional, the attack on the healthcare
system has been unprecedented. I mean, the viciousness of it, the
killing machine that Israel has unleashed on the healthcare system, I
think, is unprecedented. Hospitals have been bombed. When the doctors
have tried to repopulate them, they’ve been — you know, sniper fire with
drones has prevented them from going in.</b></p>
<p><b>They’ve attacked the sewage system, the water system, so the sewage
mixes with the drinking water. And you get diarrheal diseases, bacterial
diseases. You know, cholera, typhoid is not far away. Hepatitis A is
epidemic there now. They’re living in cramped spaces.</b></p>
<p><b>They have killed over 300 or 400 healthcare workers, doctors, nurses,
paramedics. Ambulances have been bombed. This has all been a systematic
sort of — you know, by destroying the healthcare system, you’re
contributing to the genocide.</b></p>
<p><b>What’s going on is now there’s 10,000 to 15,000 bodies that are
decomposing. So, it’s raining season right now in Gaza. So all the
rainwater mixes with the decomposing bodies, and that bacteria mixes
with the drinking water supply, and you get further disease.</b></p>
<p><b>They have kidnapped about 40, 45 doctors, that have been specifically
targeted. They have targeted specifically specialists who are, you
know, one-offs. So, like, the one nephrologist in the Gaza Strip was
targeted. The pathologists, hospital chiefs and directors have all been
targeted through drones or targeted missile strikes.</b></p>
<p><b>And, you know, so the whole thing is that if the bombings are not
going to get you, then disease will surely get you, because they’re all
malnourished. So, as you know, if you’re malnourished, your immune
system is weaker, so you’re more susceptible to disease. But there’s no
antibiotics.</b></p>
<p><b>You know, the amount of amputations I saw in children, for example —
both arms, one arm, one leg, both eyes gone, you know, both eyes
amputated, basically, out of their eye socket — you know, it’s amazing. I
mean, it takes about — you know, if this was done properly in a nonwar
scenario, one amputation in a child, a child will need about nine to 12
surgeries by the time they’re an adult, you know, for prosthetic fitting
and whatnot. Now, in this case, first of all, it’s a war situation.
They have not been done properly, fair enough, because you have to rush
it. But secondly, who is going to take care of these children? Most of
them mostly children. Because their parents are gone. Their uncles are
dead. Their grandfathers and grandmothers are dead.</b></p>
<p><b>And so, you know, the Israeli killing machine has been vicious. I
mean, they’ve used drones. When I was there, I was speaking to doctors
who were there, and they told me that they’ve used drones like the
Hellfire drone, that is an explosive drone. It fires off these discs
once it implodes or explodes. And these discs are very unique, and they
cause unique amputations. Most amputations occur at the weak points,
like the elbow or the knee. But they cause, you know, mid-thigh, mid-arm
amputations, which are much more complicated. And they fire off this
shrapnel.</b></p>
<p><b>And, you know, from what the doctors are telling me, that what I
believe is that they’re using weapons on the civilian population that
have never been used before, because from what I heard, based on my
experience, you know, Israel has a very strong defense industry, and
buyers like weapons that are battle-tested. So, if you can put a label
to your new weapon that it’s battle-tested, that increases the value of
it. And they’re experimenting with these weapons, from what I’ve heard
and from what I saw, in a civilian-dense population. So, it’s just —
it’s been vicious, really, really vicious.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Dr. Yasser Khan, I want to thank you for being with us, Canadian
ophthalmologist, eye surgeon, based in Toronto, Canada, just recently
returned from a humanitarian surgical mission at the European Hospital
in Khan Younis in Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>When we come back, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/13/climate_scientist_michael_mann_defamation_lawsuit">we’ll
be joined by climate scientist Michael Mann, just awarded a million
dollars in a defamation lawsuit against two right-wing critics</a>. Back in 20 seconds.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/14/my-son-asks-me-what-will-be-left-when-we-return-to-gaza-the-answer-only-rubble-and-memories">At THE GUARDIAN, Ghada Ageel writes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="dcr-vmkf2w"><b>Each Palestinian home has two hearths: the space
where the family eats and the kitchen, where the food is prepared. These
rooms are where the fires of life and hospitality burn most brightly.</b></p><p class="dcr-vmkf2w"><b>When I visit Khan Younis, one of the popular family meals we enjoy together is <a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/01/palestinian-upside-down-rice-recipe">maghluba</a><em class="dcr-vmkf2w"> </em>(“upside
down” in Arabic): a large, savoury cake of rice, vegetables and chicken
cooked in a large pot. When the meal is ready, the pot is turned upside
down and the family gather around to await the unveiling, when the pot
is lifted off to display the yellow rice, red tomatoes and deep brown
aubergines. Every dish of maghluba is a family celebration.</b></p><p class="dcr-vmkf2w"><b>Today,
with the destruction of Khan Younis, and of my family home there, it
feels like my life has been turned maghluba. My youngest son, Aziz,
cannot understand how a home can disappear. He still carries all the
emotions and the fond memories of his auntie’s kisses. “Mom?” he asks
incessantly. “Who will be left when we visit this summer? What will be
left?”</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 131 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/14/israels-war-on-gaza-live-afraid-to-leave-as-israel-fires-on-hospital">ALJAZEERA notes</a>,
"Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 28,576 people with at least
68,291 others wounded, Gaza Health Ministry says. The latest toll
includes 103 people killed over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement
said." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-israel-rafah-invasion">At COMMON DREAMS this morning, Jake Johnson writes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><p> <b>President Joe Biden and other leading American officials have publicly urged Israel not to invade the overcrowded <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>
city of Rafah without ensuring the protection of civilians, but the
administration reportedly has no plan to impose consequences if the
Netanyahu government launches the ground assault without heeding U.S.
warnings.
</b></p><p><b>
Three unnamed U.S. officials
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/02/13/us-wont-punish-israel-for-rafah-op-that-doesnt-protect-civilians-00141013" target="_blank">told</a><em>Politico</em>'s
"National Security Daily" newsletter on Tuesday that "no reprimand
plans are in the works, meaning Israeli forces could enter the city and
harm civilians without facing American consequences."
</b></p><p><b>
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/tparsi/status/1757518589123244285" target="_blank">wrote</a> in response to <em>Politico</em>'s reporting that "Biden can stop this but chooses not to."<br /></b></p><p><b>
"Instead, he only resorts to <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/biden-disparages-netanyahu-private-hasnt-changed-us-policy-israel-rcna138282" target="_blank">calling</a> Netanyahu an 'asshole' behind his back," Parsi added. "This is leadership?" </b></p></div><div><p><b> Around 1.4 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of
the Gaza Strip, are currently in Rafah, which is roughly a quarter the
size of the U.S. city of Baltimore.
Some are
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rafah-gaza-offensive-rcna138759/rcrd34034?canonicalCard=true" target="_blank">desperately trying to flee</a> ahead of an Israeli invasion, gathering their few remaining belongings and leaving the city without any clear direction or <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/netanyahu-evacuation-rafah" target="_blank">assurance of safe passage</a>.<br /></b></p><p><b>
"They need to be protected," Biden
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/02/12/remarks-by-president-biden-and-his-majesty-king-abdullah-ii-of-jordan-after-a-meeting/" target="_blank">said</a> of Rafah's civilians following a White House meeting with the king of Jordan on Monday.
</b></p><p><b>
But that same day, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a
<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/02/12/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-white-house-national-security-communications-advisor-john-kirby/" target="_blank">press briefing</a>
that "we are going to continue to support Israel" after a reporter
asked whether Biden has "ever threatened to strip military assistance
from Israel if they move ahead with a Rafah operation" that doesn't
protect civilians.</b> </p></div><div><br /></div><div>Clueless Joe? Try useless Joe. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-14-24/index.html">CNN's Niamh Kennedy reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Leo
Varadkar, Ireland's Taoiseach (or prime minister), strongly criticized
Israel Tuesday, accusing the country of becoming "blinded by rage" as it
doubles down on plans to launch a ground offensive on the southern Gaza
city of Rafah, where Israeli forces previously told hundreds of
thousands of displaced Palestinians to seek shelter.</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Speaking
to lawmakers in the Irish parliament, Varadkar said it was "very clear"
to him that Israel is "is not listening to any country in the world,"
even the United States. </b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>"They
[Israel] have become blinded by rage. And they are going to, I believe,
make the situation much worse for their own security in the long term
by going down the path they are going," the Irish leader said. </b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Varadkar
said an Israeli ground offensive on the border city of Rafah "should
not happen," drawing attention to the 1.3 million Palestinians who are
"taking refuge there." </b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Other members of the Irish government joined Varadkar in condemning
Israel this week including Trade Minister Simon Coveney, who accused the
country of acting like a rogue state and behaving "like a monster to
defeat a monster."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/14/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">Leo Sands (WASHINGTON POST) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>The
United States is monitoring Israel’s military activities in Gaza under a
recently established program that “systematically” tracks reports of
suspected civilian harm by forces using U.S.-made weapons, State
Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>“We
do seek to thoroughly assess reports of civilian harm by authorized
recipients of U.S.-provided defense articles around the world, including
under the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance, the CHIRG,” Miller
said during a <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-february-13-2024/" target="_blank">news briefing</a> Tuesday.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/13/state-department-chirg-civilian-deaths/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11" target="_blank">The Washington Post first reported</a>
in September, the CHIRG system provides a way for officials to formally
investigate reports of civilian harm by partner governments suspected
of using U.S.-origin arms and recommend penalties in response —
including the suspension of weapons sales. The system, which was
introduced before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s military response
in Gaza, is intended to reduce civilian collateral damage incidents.</b></p></div><div class="wpds-c-PJLV article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overrideStyles font-copy" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" dir="null"><b>In
Tuesday’s briefing, Miller specified that the process was “not intended
to function as a rapid response mechanism.” Instead, he said, the
system was designed to shape future policies and to pressure U.S.
military allies to follow international humanitarian law during warfare.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdUkXI8heE7hZ41HiBrpMLzodaWDAVjTECha46wFurCQ72xaUe_k102fQRBIOpv__Z_ddFmJvG5z0067GxYxmRRpg_Fk=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdUkXI8heE7hZ41HiBrpMLzodaWDAVjTECha46wFurCQ72xaUe_k102fQRBIOpv__Z_ddFmJvG5z0067GxYxmRRpg_Fk=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://kbla1580.com/" target="_blank">
KBLA - Tavis Smiley's talk radio</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://kbla1580.com/lifestyle-from-drug-offender-to-top-chef-hes-set-to-run-new-cafe-that-hires-former-convicts/" target="_blank">
lifestyle From drug offender to top chef, he’s set to run new cafe that
hires former convicts
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
2 hours ago
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</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdXr412_yTJNhpkE9zrXrpIflVq5_meSftuv_VgqzMES9VvgI6XfGmBbnlJ_cHMFrf6YV5B1nS5zbRZVn6HxBkrI6ZokXDH_l54xBdGqoY8t=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdXr412_yTJNhpkE9zrXrpIflVq5_meSftuv_VgqzMES9VvgI6XfGmBbnlJ_cHMFrf6YV5B1nS5zbRZVn6HxBkrI6ZokXDH_l54xBdGqoY8t=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1039" target="_blank">
Music</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/14/1231301265/beyonce-country-radio-station" target="_blank">
A radio station is now playing Beyoncé's country song after an outcry from
fans
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
5 hours ago
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<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVkNWjRkcJkWEFLwFnN7kMHa5Px9FbZL-vjm7AOKuIcNT6f1uGi4fHWtrzulVDt-sp3FP2LQ-vkaYhCEIWUtX_4acZxdc96oC818lYh30S7P6s6vA=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVkNWjRkcJkWEFLwFnN7kMHa5Px9FbZL-vjm7AOKuIcNT6f1uGi4fHWtrzulVDt-sp3FP2LQ-vkaYhCEIWUtX_4acZxdc96oC818lYh30S7P6s6vA=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Oh Boy It Never Ends</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://ohboyitneverends.blogspot.com/2024/02/247-is-sexist-outlet-sally-field.html" target="_blank">
24/7 is a sexist outlet -- Sally Field produced some great movies
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVG2PS7_2xNX5Gr4jb24jyjPrE16naIGrchdw_LzIS34CvExZ6Ah0rVAN9crMLXXiuhgQgPNjesma7H9FMvX_IJpHVTNaplLknYGm1jRRRPhQL7=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVG2PS7_2xNX5Gr4jb24jyjPrE16naIGrchdw_LzIS34CvExZ6Ah0rVAN9crMLXXiuhgQgPNjesma7H9FMvX_IJpHVTNaplLknYGm1jRRRPhQL7=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Mikey Likes It!</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://wwwmikeylikesit.blogspot.com/2024/02/paul-rudnick-paul-rogers.html" target="_blank">
Paul Rudnick, Paul Rogers
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVXPNhSyJe7KTW6efPyZdnp9VfY4v20uRfNAcN_vp-oqU0scAEkwBtwUT9MQIJ0pZxmp822N5ih8G15ly7eqw3FqITzN7MMHfT3BsXfr4GqXxZY7S1j2HAyhntDKQ=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVXPNhSyJe7KTW6efPyZdnp9VfY4v20uRfNAcN_vp-oqU0scAEkwBtwUT9MQIJ0pZxmp822N5ih8G15ly7eqw3FqITzN7MMHfT3BsXfr4GqXxZY7S1j2HAyhntDKQ=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Thomas Friedman is a Great Man</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://thomasfriedmanisagreatman.blogspot.com/2024/02/crooks-gotta-go-behind-bars.html" target="_blank">
Crooks gotta go behind bars
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
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<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdUjY6Jotq2owMKWuwtHO8gqxcbpLsP_n5wO9gdOFZOMW9dXv3JZKMBV7ZvvIbsYN2Ti_vGOP-FA3btSpJEZgw4qS5RqpT5_xLLzupUTLks=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdUjY6Jotq2owMKWuwtHO8gqxcbpLsP_n5wO9gdOFZOMW9dXv3JZKMBV7ZvvIbsYN2Ti_vGOP-FA3btSpJEZgw4qS5RqpT5_xLLzupUTLks=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Ruth's Report</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://ruthsreport.blogspot.com/2024/02/desperate-donald.html" target="_blank">
Desperate Donald
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWzciYy0Vbfoxzqcg7ndJrxpJVeUc8JaLjg0qNrhtecEjgDxbEqxts4pWBCFXaYHAJ_VVd4QKUd12e4PEAeff_EbfS7h67rv1rvpvoZeyyOf8ICWC_Pj3OlLHz79-7dXq_zo4NkQQ=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWzciYy0Vbfoxzqcg7ndJrxpJVeUc8JaLjg0qNrhtecEjgDxbEqxts4pWBCFXaYHAJ_VVd4QKUd12e4PEAeff_EbfS7h67rv1rvpvoZeyyOf8ICWC_Pj3OlLHz79-7dXq_zo4NkQQ=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://sexandpoliticsandscreedsandattitude.blogspot.com/2024/02/ignored-and-abandoned-by-us-government.html" target="_blank">
ignored and abandoned by the us. government
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWABdGrD3HSbfhyj8muhq4yOQXZxXoWaa5saKxyl1Z3-08HHrB27Na-xxhyg1k27sk2k_NmhVzywAjcQg7WlxK4X5XYe3-FEzvsN62fZTlYl7EA=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdWABdGrD3HSbfhyj8muhq4yOQXZxXoWaa5saKxyl1Z3-08HHrB27Na-xxhyg1k27sk2k_NmhVzywAjcQg7WlxK4X5XYe3-FEzvsN62fZTlYl7EA=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Like Maria Said Paz</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://likemariasaidpaz.blogspot.com/2024/02/oh-boe-boe.html" target="_blank">
Oh, Boe-Boe
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVTpSTs91k8I9HE7_OB2IRfbuvVpBCR2UvLz9ah4A0aRX32tPlAsQwzrRk5AvQYu1MVS3nT0t5IXWEceih099utFlw2-IPenAJWCxYWfNv0iSekUcNh8S0ulyZBeQ=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVTpSTs91k8I9HE7_OB2IRfbuvVpBCR2UvLz9ah4A0aRX32tPlAsQwzrRk5AvQYu1MVS3nT0t5IXWEceih099utFlw2-IPenAJWCxYWfNv0iSekUcNh8S0ulyZBeQ=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://katskornerofthecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/billy-joel-elle-king-dolly-parton-tracy.html" target="_blank">
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</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
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</div>
</div>
</li>
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<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVr7uKao7bkOpyrnUWPJlmwuNY2V35YS6fDpRsyUtXPW1vZF193A2q0p-J9oz1b7Cfg75Tr9rdjCuv6YcpJKlTgs0pfxxO71l8oWM-V-bo=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVr7uKao7bkOpyrnUWPJlmwuNY2V35YS6fDpRsyUtXPW1vZF193A2q0p-J9oz1b7Cfg75Tr9rdjCuv6YcpJKlTgs0pfxxO71l8oWM-V-bo=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
<div class="blog-content">
<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Ann's Mega Dub</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://annsmegadub.blogspot.com/2024/02/silly-hobby-lobby-real-christians-dont.html" target="_blank">
Silly, Hobby Lobby, real Christians don't steal
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
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<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
SICKOFITRADLZ</a>
</div>
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<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/la-brea-went-out-sucking-spoilers.html" target="_blank">
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<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
Trina's Kitchen</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="http://trinaskitchen.blogspot.com/2024/02/slow-cooker-cajun-chicken-pasta.html" target="_blank">
Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Pasta
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</span>
<div class="item-time">
6 hours ago
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://jodywatley.net/" target="_blank">
The Official Jody Watley Website</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://jodywatley.net/2024/02/13/listen-on-demand-to-the-jody-watley-show/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=listen-on-demand-to-the-jody-watley-show" target="_blank">
Listen On Demand To The Jody Watley Show
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
19 hours ago
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</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="display: block;">
<div class="blog-icon">
<img data-lateloadsrc="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVeeUk83sWGQJF-ETQk99U7zGdfeEixFSWlGKmG_XzRm97i6LU13eTuRJomQzT-YDcoVR1rQ9nPAMKm_y2razpHHNdtnhCyrA=s16-w16-h16" height="16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AJ0KDdVeeUk83sWGQJF-ETQk99U7zGdfeEixFSWlGKmG_XzRm97i6LU13eTuRJomQzT-YDcoVR1rQ9nPAMKm_y2razpHHNdtnhCyrA=s16-w16-h16" width="16" />
</div>
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<div class="blog-title">
<a href="https://www.latinousa.org/" target="_blank">
Latino USA</a>
</div>
<div class="item-content">
<span class="item-title">
<a href="https://www.latinousa.org/2024/02/13/lascafeteras-2/" target="_blank">
How I Made It: Las Cafeteras
</a>
</span>
<div class="item-time">
1 day ago </div>
</div></div></li></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-65559424501585587672024-02-13T22:26:00.000-08:002024-02-13T22:26:03.898-08:00Silly, Hobby Lobby, real Christians don't steal<div></div><div dir="ltr"><a class="yiv4134863195ydp52d0f1efyiv4179694173" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hobby-lobby-funded-jesus-super-bowl-ads-can-t-hide-the-hate-that-fuels-the-christian-right/ar-BB1icHOF?cvid=23ac9a1330394dbac13b13464b160da1&ei=3" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amanda Marcotte (Salon) reports</a>:</div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>O<span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">f
the many weird, cringeworthy, or confusing ads to run in the Super Bowl
on Sunday, one stood out as especially eyeroll-inducing: a footwashing
ad from the "He Gets Us" campaign. The commercial flashed a series of
images of people washing another person's feet, with most offering an
attention-grabbing role reversal of oppressor and oppressed: A cop
washing a young Black man's feet, a white woman serving a migrant, and,
for the one that made me guffaw the loudest, an anti-abortion protester
kneeling before a presumed patient of a family planning clinic. "Jesus
didn't teach hate," reads the tagline as an INXS cover plays. "He washed
feet." </span></span></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">The
funders of the ad were obscure to the audience, leaving open the
question: Are the people behind this simply naive? Are they the last
remaining liberal Christians, trying to convince Donald Trump-obsessed
evangelicals to stop the tidal wave of hate? Or is this ad a
bait-and-switch, trying to lure unchurched people in with a phony
message of love and acceptance, only to push them into joining up with
the MAGA movement?</span></span><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">There's
no point in phony suspense here: It's option number three. Jesus may
have been against lying, but his wealthiest self-appointed champions in
American society do not hesitate to use deceit to build up their army of
MAGA Christianity. </span></span><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">As many journalists have carefully detailed, the </span><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jesus-super-bowl-ads-hobby-lobby-billionaire-family-1234962817/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"He Gets Us" campaign is funded in large part by the Green family</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">, who owns Hobby Lobby. Their life mission, besides getting rich by selling cheap tchotchkes, is to </span><a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/hobby_lobbys_secret_agenda_how_its_secretly_funding_a_vast_right_wing_movement/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">push their brand of far-right Christianity on the country</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">. The Green-funded group that ran the "He Gets Us" ads last year has </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/us/he-gets-us-super-bowl-commercials-cec/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">.</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">, into </span><a href="https://www.advocate.com/religion/2019/3/19/christian-foundation-huge-funder-anti-lgbtq-hate-groups" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">anti-LGBTQ hate groups and organizations</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> opposing women's rights. The </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-15-biggest-controversies-in-hobby-lobby-history-2020-9" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">family has funded initiatives to put religious propaganda</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> into
public school classrooms, demanded the right to fire people for being
gay, passed off forgeries as the "Dead Sea Scrolls," stole antiquities
from Iraq, and, of course, refused to comply with COVID-19 pandemic
restrictions for fear of losing profits. They also </span><a class="yiv4134863195ydp52d0f1efyiv4179694173" href="https://www.salon.com/2014/06/30/there_was_nothing_limited_about_scotus_hobby_lobby_ruling_why_it_matters_for_everyone/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">successfully sued to block their employees</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;"> from using their own health insurance to cover contraception. </span></span></b></span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">Despite their opposition to birth control, however, Hobby Lobby isn't too keen on women who have babies, either. </span><a class="yiv4134863195ydp52d0f1efyiv4179694173" href="https://www.salon.com/2014/07/29/hobby_lobby_alleged_to_have_fired_a_pregnant_employee_who_requested_time_off_to_give_birth/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">When a Hobby Lobby employee fell pregnant in 2010</a><span style="color: #2b2b2b;">,
she alleges she was fired for asking for time off to have the baby.
Losing your job is the Christian "compassion" the people behind the
Super Bowl ads have on offer. </span></span></b></span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I
wouldn't trust a word the owners of Hobby Lobby said. They're evil and
they're thieves. The Justice Department had to force them to return to
Iraq the artifacts they stole. That's not minor. "Thou shall not
steal." That's a commandment in The Bible and Hobby Lobby has regularly
broken it. They're not of Christ or for Christ. </div><br /></div>For more on the thieving Hobby Lobby, see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby_smuggling_scandal">Wikipedia's "Hobby Lobby Smuggling Scandal</a>."<br /></div><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_0780923283.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Tuesday, February 13, 2024. Two Aljazeera journalists are attacked by a
drone, the Israeli government makes a mockery of Joe Biden, the Church
of England weighs in on the slaughter, and much more including you can
Tweet Debra Messing's buddy and the director of her upcoming
'documentary' on hate.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/13/israels-war-on-gaza-live-jordans-king-urges-ceasefire-in-biden-meeting">This morning, Hani Mahmoud (ALJAZEERA) reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>Our
colleagues, Ismail Abu Omar, an Al Jazeera correspondent, as well as
his cameraman Ahmad Matar in northern Rafah, were documenting the living
conditions of displaced Palestinian families.</b></p>
<p><b>They were documenting the horror that they experienced within the
past 24 hours as massive air strikes on major parts of Rafah city –
where close to 100 people were killed – when they were directly targeted
by a missile fired by a drone.</b></p>
<p><b>They were transferred to Gaza European Hospital, where they underwent immediate surgeries.</b></p>
<p><b>Unfortunately, Omar went through surgery where his leg had to be
amputated as the shrapnel fractured his bones to the point that [his
leg] was not attached properly. The doctors had to amputate his leg to
save his life.</b></p>
<p><b>This is not the first incident and we are expecting this is not the last one. There is ongoing, systematic, almost consistent <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/1/un-experts-condemn-disturbing-attacks-on-journalists-in-gaza">attacks on journalists</a> – there are more than 100 journalists since the beginning of this war who have been targeted.</b></p></div></div></div></div><p>The death toll continues to climb. At least 85 journalists have been
killed in Gaza. Ayat Khadoura was killed on November 20th and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/israel-gaza-war-journalists-killed-cpj/">THE WASHINGTON POST notes her and others killed</a>. </p><p><br /></p> <p><br /></p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/catcontentonly/status/1756358782769152174">Radio Free Amanda notes</a>,
"85 was the number two months ago -- CPJ tends to be slow at processing
and releasing these figures. According to UN reports and Gaza's own
Government Media office, the number is at least 122 journalists killed
by Israel at this point." <a href="https://rsf.org/en/gaza-four-months-war-palestinian-journalism-has-been-decimated-impunity">Reporters Without Borders notes</a>:</p><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-chapo field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p><b>The
toll of four months of war in Gaza on journalism is nothing short of
horrifying: Palestinian journalists killed, wounded, and prevented from
working without any possibility of safe refuge. Reporters Without
Borders (RSF) strongly condemns the eradication of journalism and the
right to information in Gaza by the Israeli army, and calls on States
and international organisations to increase pressure on Israel to
immediately cease this carnage.</b></p>
<p> </p>
</div><p>
</p><div class="field field--name-field-contenu-editorial field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden field__items">
<div class="field__item"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--texte-riche paragraph--view-mode--default">
<div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-texte-riche field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p><b>In
124 days of conflict, at least 84 journalists have been killed in Gaza,
including at least 20 in the course of their journalistic work or in
connection with it, according to RSF’s data. Journalists are being decimated
as the days of this interminable war go by, through incessant Israeli
strikes from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. Journalists who
have survived these four months are living a daily hell: In inhumane
conditions, they suffer shortages of all kinds, particularly of
equipment, as well as regular media blackouts.</b></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Just
a reminder that Selma Blair is trying to hide out after making her
anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim statements. While she hides out, let's
not forget that there are others. <a href="https://www.salon.com/2024/02/10/selma-blair-receives-backlash-for-islamophobic-comment-endorsed-by-fellow-celebrities/">Kelly McClure (SALON) notes</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>In the since deleted comment, Blair writes, “Deport all these
terrorist supporting goons. Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and
then they come here and destroy minds. They know they are liars. Twisted
justifications. May they meet their fate.”</b></p>
<p><b>In a series of replies beneath her own, actor Michael Rapaport chimes
in with "Love it," and actress Debra Messing adds her own endorsement
of the controversial sentiments with, "THANK YOU."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Like
Selma, Debra Messing also thinks she can pretend it never happened and
hide out. And, of course, no one wants to leave a Tweet for Michael
Rapaport because we all know any word having two or more syllables will
go right over his head.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what to do? What to do? </div><div><br /></div><div>As Ava and I noted in "<a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/tv-hate-spreaders.html">TV: The hate spreaders</a>,"
Debra Messing -- of all people -- is producing a 'documentary' about
the rise in hate. And, no, it's not called THE DEBRA MESSING SHOW:
WHERE I EXPLAIN HOW I HATEFUL AND ISLAMAPHOBIC I TRULY AM. It could be
called DEBRA MESSING: ANYTIME I TRY TO PART MY HAIR MY BALDNESS SHOWS.
She wants to call it PRIMAL FEAR and joining her in this 'documentary'
will be director Wendy Sachs. </div><div><br /> </div><div><br /></div><div>She's thanking her friend Todd Richman -- the one with the face only a mother could love, the one who is co-chair of <a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you Todd! <a href="https://t.co/KicmUNjGrX">https://t.co/KicmUNjGrX</a></p>&mdash; Wendy Sachs (@wsachs) <a href="https://twitter.com/wsachs/status/1755787927508894073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>">Democratic Majority For Israel</a> -- a UN hating body of Americans dedicated to another country. How sweet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wendy
Sachs will be directing Debra's fictional 'documentary' and I'm sure
Wendy's happy to hear all feedback and promote her 'documentary.' So
feel free to visit her <a href="https://twitter.com/wsachs?lang=en">Twitter base</a>.</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>On Twitter, the prosecutor at The International Criminal Court has left a lengthy Tweet:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
am deeply concerned by the reported bombardment and potential ground
incursion by Israeli forces in Rafah.
My Office has an ongoing and active investigation into the situation in
the State of Palestine. This is being taken forward as a matter of the
utmost urgency, with a view to bringing to justice those responsible for
Rome Statute crimes.
All wars have rules and the laws applicable to armed conflict cannot be
interpreted so as to render them hollow or devoid of meaning. This has
been my consistent message, including from Ramallah last year. Since
that time, I have not seen any discernible change in conduct by Israel.
As I have repeatedly emphasised, those who do not comply with the law
should not complain later when my Office takes action pursuant to its
mandate.
To all those involved: my Office is actively investigating any crimes
allegedly committed. Those who are in breach of the law will be held
accountable.
I also continue to call for the immediate release of all hostages. This
also represents an important focus of our investigations.</span></b></span></div> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/12/evacuation_from_rafah">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Palestinian health officials say overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah in
southern Gaza have killed at least 67 people as concern grows Israel
will soon launch a full-scale ground invasion. Over a million displaced
Palestinians have sought refuge in Rafah, which borders Egypt, after
Israel claimed it was a safe zone. Palestinians in Rafah say a mosque
and several houses were hit by the overnight Israeli strikes.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">KHALED</span> AL-<span class="caps">TAWEEL</span>:
[translated] It was an Apache firing with a really loud noise. The
F-16s fired, the Cobra, the drone, all kinds of aircraft. Terror,
terror, so much terror. They wiped out mosques, people, and displaced
people. They kept saying, “Go to Rafah. Go to Rafah.” And people came
here. And then you target them?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Over the weekend, Israel carried out numerous airstrikes on Rafah,
including one that leveled a five-story home, killing at least eight
people.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">ENAS</span> <span class="caps">AMER</span>:
[translated] My sister and her husband are sleeping in the room, and my
mother and my other sister with her children in the living room, me and
my father in the room over here. Suddenly, a rocket fell on us. My
sister, her husband and their children, including my niece, who is 2
months old, all gone.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
The overnight airstrikes came as Israeli forces carried out an
operation in Rafah to free two Israeli Argentine hostages, who were
found to be in good condition. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
faces increasing pressure at home to secure the release of the
remaining hostages in Gaza. Earlier today, a relative of the two men
freed in Rafah called for Israel to reach a deal now.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">EDAN</span> <span class="caps">BEGERANO</span>:
And we know about the discussions in Cairo, or in Paris, in others,
between the Hamas and between Israel, with the mediators. Please, be
serious and strike a deal. The Israeli people need the deal done — not
yesterday, not tomorrow, today. We want it done as soon as possible in
order for to give us some breath. We must breathe a little bit here.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
On Sunday, President Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, warning against Israel launching a ground invasion
of Rafah. Aid agencies fear the offensive would cause massive
casualties, while <span class="caps">UNICEF</span> has warned an
escalation of Israel’s attacks in Rafah will cause hunger and disease to
skyrocket. Hamas cautioned an Israeli invasion of Rafah will torpedo
ongoing negotiations for a truce. Authorities in Egypt have also
threatened to suspend a key peace treaty with Israel if Rafah is
invaded.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we’re going directly to Rafah to speak with Duha Latif.
She’s a 29-year-old teacher from Gaza trying to evacuate Rafah with her
young children, 6-year-old Ameer and 1-and-a-half-year-old Kareem.</b></p>
<p><b>Duha, welcome to <i>Democracy Now!</i> Especially under these
difficult circumstances, we appreciate you being with us. You are a
native of Rafah. Can you describe the situation there now?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>: Hello, Amy. Thanks for hosting.</b></p>
<p><b>I’m sure most of you saw the news yesterday. And what happened in
Rafah, it was the worst night in my life, and I really cannot believe
that I am still alive. And actually, situation here is very terrible.
Rafah is a small city, and now 1.5 million people in Rafah, and Rafah is
just 55 square kilometers, which means that per square kilometers in
Rafah, there are around 24,000 Palestinians. Just imagine this, Amy.
Therefore, it is very difficult to get food, water or medicine, in
addition to the spread of diseases, because of a large population. Also,
Rafah is a city with no hospital, no electricity, no bakeries since
four months. This is the situation here.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: You are 29 years old. You’re a teacher, Duha, in Rafah?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>: Yes, that’s right.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
The city has swelled to four times the population. Can you talk about
your attempts to get out with your two little ones, your
1-and-a-half-year-old and your 6-year-old?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>:
The issue of leaving Rafah and evacuation to Egypt is very complicated,
and it’s very, very expensive, because we need the approval of the
Egyptian side to grant us exit arrangements, which costs a large amount
of money. And this is what we don’t have at the present time. And this
is what got me created a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-evacuate-my-kids-from-gaza-war">GoFundMe account</a>, because we don’t have money to get out from Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: What do you mean? How much money does it cost to leave Gaza? What are you raising money for?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>:
In fact, I can’t determine that exactly, but I can tell you that’s the
amount required to be paid to exit Gaza. It’s considered somewhat high,
very high, especially in our current case. This amount includes the
travel cost and the expensive coordination, in addition to what is
required when we arrive in Egypt side — of course, if we’re still alive
— such as renting a place to stay and buy clothes and food and children
needs. Actually, we don’t know to whom this money goes, and I cannot
mention specific site. But what I know, it’s that we have to pay this
amount for one of Egyptian offices.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Can you talk about your little ones and how they are processing what’s
happening right now? Do you hear bombing, shelling around you?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>:
Yes, yes. Last night, maybe you see this in the news. And it was
terrible. And we are all — that my children was scared all the night,
and they’re crying. And maybe you see what’s happened in the news. And
what’s happened, really, is very, very hard and difficult.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
I’m wondering if you heard the relative of the two Israeli Argentine
hostages who the Israeli military freed in Rafah. Their relative said,
“Please, have a truce now. It is not enough that you have freed our two
loved ones.”</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>: Yes. No, I don’t hear of this. And I am like you: I hear this just from the news.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
So, if you can talk about, at this point, what message you have for
President Biden? You may have heard that his aides are saying that he’s
made mistakes in dealing with the Middle East. What message do you have
for President Biden?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>:
I will send a message. I have two children, and they are always nervous
and afraid from the voices they hear around us, and always ask me
questions I don’t have the answers for it: “Mom, when can we get out?
Mom, when we will eat burger? Mom, when we can go back to school?” And
it’s difficult to calm children while the mother needs somebody to calm
her. So, my message to President Biden: We are innocent civilians, and
we have no fault in what is happening. Our children deserve to live a
normal life like the rest of the world’s children. Just one word,
President Biden: ceasefire now. You have the power to make it happen
right now.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
And, Duha, do you have access to clean water? Also, have you taken in
refugees from other parts of Gaza at this point into your own home?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>:
And actually, Amy, yes, I have, but there is only canned foods, beans
and tuna, for four months. My children are in a growing stage and need
healthy and useful food, like an egg, milk, fruits. And all of this
doesn’t exist at the present time. There is no clean water. Because of
this, my young son Kareem, 1-and-a-half years, suffered intestinal <i>khatar</i>.
And also, there is also no medicine for this. Also, about the refugees,
yes, our situation like the situation of thousands people here in
Rafah. Yes, I have many refugees in my home. They are my relatives from
Gaza, in northern Gaza. Every home in Rafah is full of refugees.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Well, I thank you so much for taking this time, speaking to us from Rafah.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>: Amy, I want just to say a word. Can I?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Yes.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">DUHA</span> <span class="caps">LATIF</span>: We are urgently trying to leave Rafah, but we need money to leave. We have a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-evacuate-my-kids-from-gaza-war">GoFundMe account</a>, if people want to support us by donating or sharing or help my family. We need to leave to keep my family safe.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
Well, Duha Latif, I thank you so much for being with us, 29-year-old
teacher from Rafah, trying to evacuate there with her young children,
her 6-year-old Ameer and her 1-and-a-half-year-old Kareem.</b></p>
<p><b>When we come back, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/12/noura_erakat_rafah_gaza">we’ll
speak with Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat, as the U.S.,
the European Union, countries around the world warn Israel against a
ground invasion of Rafah</a>. Stay with us.</b></p></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1813874/irresponsible-illegal-and-inhumane-pressure-mounts-on-israel-for-gaza-ceasefire-following-raid-in-rafah">DAWN notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Pakistan has condemned Israel’s “military aggression against Rafah
city in Gaza and the resulting destruction and massacre of the
Palestinian people”.</b></p>
<p><b>In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “Israel’s offensive in Rafah violates the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1808971">provisional measures</a> indicated by the International Court of Justice to protect the people of Gaza from “genocide”.</b></p>
<p><b>“It will further aggravate the humanitarian disaster witnessed in
Gaza over the last four months and jeopardise the ongoing efforts for a
potential ceasefire,” the FO warned.</b></p>
<p><b>Pakistan urged the “international community, especially the UN
Security Council, to take urgent measures to bring an immediate end to
Israeli aggression and its incessant crimes against humanity”.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 130 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-cia-chief-gaza-cease-fire-deal-egypt-rcna138536">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "More than 28,400 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-hospitals-collapsing-rcna132439" target="_blank">More than 68,000 have been injured</a>, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><div><br /></div><div>As the assault goes on, US President Joe Biden tut-tuts and does nothing. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/13/middle-east-crisis-live-updates-israel-gaza-ceasefire-deal-truce-agreement-joe-biden-prevent-rafah-offensive-latest-update-news">Harriet Sherwood (THE GUARDIAN) reports</a>:</div><div><header class="dcr-88va8u"><div class="dcr-dzkvsd"><span class="dcr-1ewflve"><b><br /></b></span></div></header><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Church of England bishops have added their weight to calls for an immediate ceasefire in the war between <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel">Israel</a> and Hamas</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>In
a statement on Tuesday, the bishops said: "With the onset of Israel’s
ground offensive into Rafah, we call for an immediate ceasefire. The
relentless bombardment of <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gaza">Gaza</a>
and its huge cost in civilian lives and civilian infrastructure must
stop. The manner in which this war is being prosecuted cannot be morally
justified.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>"We urge Israel to adhere to the
ICJ order and to ensure that Palestinians have access to food, water,
healthcare, and safety, that have long been denied to them. We welcome
the [UK] foreign secretary’s recent call for an immediate pause in the
fighting and would also welcome further representation to the government
of Israel about the way that it is exercising its right to self-defence
and to affirm adherence to international law.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>"We continue to advocate for the release of the remaining hostages and an end to the missile attacks on Israel by <a data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/hamas">Hamas</a>.
All sides must begin to imagine a future beyond this conflict: for a
just peace for Israelis and Palestinians. This war can’t result in the
consolidation of a system of occupation that has for too long denied
Palestinians their rights and freedoms.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>"In
praying for all those in Israel and Palestine living in the midst of war
and the fear of war, we pray particularly for the Palestinian Christian
communities, that they may know strength and the presence of the Spirit
of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>"As we
consider the impact of the current conflict in the Middle East on
community relations here in the UK, we again condemn all antisemitic and
anti-Muslim sentiment. We are horrified by the growing threats and
abuses of Jews on university campuses, in our neighbourhoods, and
online. We appeal to our communities to be safe for all people whatever
their nationality, ethnicity or religion. For our own part, we commit to
working alongside our fellow faith leaders for the common good, despite
and with our differences."</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Of Namby Pamby Joe, the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68281213">BBC notes</a>, "<span class="sc-7dcfb11b-0 kVRnKf">US
President Joe Biden has said civilians who are 'packed' into Rafah in
the Gaza Strip are 'exposed and vulnerable' and must be protected. </span>Israel
must make 'credible' efforts to protect the more than one million
Palestinians sheltering in the southern Gazan city, he said." The Israeli government isn't even pretending to listen. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-13-24/index.html">CNN's Alex Stambaugh reports</a>,
"The Israeli military has not yet presented its plan to the government
for the evacuation of Rafah, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) told CNN on Tuesday." If no plan's been presented, Joe's
insisting (meekly) that a plan for evacuation needs to be in place
before the assault starts? They've blown off Joe. They're not
listening. </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>
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</div></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"><br /></div></li><li style="display: block;"><div class="item-time"> </div></li></ul></div></div></div>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-958356506622461412024-02-12T22:02:00.000-08:002024-02-12T22:02:02.795-08:00Mother Tucker Carlson<div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">That
Mother Tucker. If you missed it, Glynneth Greenwald's sex crush Tucker
Carlson got cozy with Vladamir Putin. Glynneth was too busy studying
Tucker's crotch to pay attention to the interview. <a class="yiv4544787530ydpe59e8fd5yiv8266566966" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chris-wallace-exposes-most-telling-part-of-tucker-carlson-s-putin-interview/ar-BB1i8SnK?cvid=27c802e011db4eef80f913c4fd75c00f&ei=40" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lee Moran (HUFFINGTON POST) reports</a> CNN's Chris Wallace paid attention and was not impressed:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><div><p class="yiv4544787530ydpe59e8fd5yiv8266566966ydp93fae914continue-read-break" style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>“A reporter can ask Putin a tough question if he wants a real interview,” Wallace argued, before airing a clip from his <a class="yiv4544787530ydpe59e8fd5yiv8266566966" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/business/media/chris-wallace-putin-interview-fox-news.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">own 2018 interview with Putin</a> when he asked the president, “Why is it that so many of the people that oppose Vladimir Putin end up dead or close to it?”</b></p><div><b></b></div><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>Wallace explained how during the Cold War, “Gullible Westerners who spread Soviet propaganda were dismissed as ‘useful idiots.’”</b></p><p style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: UI sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><b>“But
calling Tucker that is unfair to useful idiots,” he added. “Now he’s
made a cynical decision to chase MAGA’s affection for dictators, and
what better way to cash in than Putin’s Kremlin.”</b></p></div><br /></div><div>Outside of the fat, idiot, liar Tara Reade, no one's mistaking Tucker for a journalist.<br /></div><p>By the way, did she really s**t herself in public over in Russia and school children laughed at her? Poor Tara, respect is always so hard for her to find and project.<br /></p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_0343595742.html">Iraq snapshot:" </a>
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Monday, February 12, 2024. Hate merchants Selma Blair, Michael Rapaport
and Debra Messing take the masks off to go full KKK, a missing
six-year-old girl is discovered in Gaza days after the IDF killed her,
despite Joe Biden's begging the assault on Rafah has begun, and much
more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Saturday, <a href="https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-condemns-actress-selma-blairs-anti-muslim-remarks-invites-her-to-dialogue/">CAIR issued a statement</a>:</div><p><b> </b></p><p><b>The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s
largest Muslim civil rights organization, today condemned anti-Muslim
remarks made by actress Selma Blair and encouraged her to apologize and
dialogue with the Muslim American community.</b></p>
<p><b>CAIR also called on film studios and talent agencies to stop
punishing artists who express support for Palestinian human rights while
ignoring hateful remarks by artists who support the ongoing genocide in
Gaza.</b></p>
<p><b>In a comment on Instagram, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/selma-blair-facing-backlash-islamophobic-comment-goes-viral-rcna138185" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Blair reportedly wrote</a>: “Deport all these terrorist supporting goons. Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and then they come here and destroy minds. </b></p>
<p><b>They know they are liars. Twisted justifications. May they meet their fate.”</b></p>
<p><b>According to allegations posted online, Blair has also allegedly
liked other posts on social media that expressed anti-Muslim and
anti-migrant sentiment.</b></p>
<p><b>In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:</b></p>
<p><b><i>“No one is born a bigot, and we should never assume that someone is doomed to remain a bigot. </i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Based on the hateful and ignorant remarks that Ms. Blair made,
we doubt that she has ever engaged in any meaningful interactions with
her Muslim colleagues in Hollywood or other members of the American
Muslim community. We encourage Ms. Blair to apologize, and we also
invite her to dialogue with our community. </i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“We also call on Hollywood studios and agencies to stop punishing
artists who express support for Palestinian human rights while ignoring
hateful comments by artists who support the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”</i></b></p>
<p><b><a href="https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-new-data-shows-the-end-of-2023-was-a-relentless-wave-of-bias-community-resilience-is-impressive/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CAIR recently released new civil rights data showing that it has received 3,578 complaints</a> during
the last three months of 2023 amid an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and
anti-Palestinian hate. Most recently, in Austin, Texas, a man screaming
racist slurs attacked a group of Palestinian American Muslims who had
just attend a pro-ceasefire protest.</b></p>
<p><b>On Monday, Feb. 12, (noon ET), <a href="https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-to-hold-d-c-news-conference-with-family-of-u-s-citizen-kidnapped-beaten-by-israeli-forces-in-gaza/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CAIR plans to hold a news conference with the sons of Samaher Esmai</a>l,
an American citizen and grandmother from New Orleans who was recently
kidnapped, beaten, and denied access to medicine by Israeli forces in
the West Bank.</b></p><div><br /></div><div>Some may be saying "Who?"
because, yes, she is a little nobody. She's been wrongly billed, over
the weekend, as a star of CRUEL INTENTIONS. That film and the films
before it and the novel have three main characters, she's not playing
any of those three. She's a supporting actress in that film. She's a
hacktress who got fired by Charlie Sheen (from the TV show ANGER
MANAGEMENT). She rode her illness to something akin to fame and did so
while real disability activists were calling her into question. She
never had a career to speak of and now she probably never will because
hate doesn't sell a lot of tickets. In "<a href="http://sickofitradlz.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-hateful-people-who-destroy-our-world.html">The hateful people who destroy our world</a>,"
Marcia gathered some of the responses on Twitter to Selma. Speaking of
Marcias, Marcia Cross of MELROSE PLACE and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES fame is
in the news. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-planning-rafah-assault-as-talks-continue">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>Marcia
Cross, known for her role as Bree Van de Kamp on the popular TV series
Desperate Housewives, has written on her Instagram page: “I’m struggling
to comprehend how to live among people with eyes that don’t water,
hearts that don’t flinch, and voices that remain silent.”</b></p>
<p><b>She ended her statement with emojis of a broken heart and the flag of Palestine.</b></p>
<p><b>“There are no words for the horror that has and is being unleashed.
And the silence has me believing I am deaf,” she wrote in the post.</b></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Back to the trash that is Selma Blair, <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/selma-blair-faces-backlash-over-islamophobic-comments">THE NEW ARAB notes</a>:</div><div><p class="selectionShareable"><b>Blair was joined by controversial actors
Michael Rapaport, who commented on Hamra's video "Love it", and Debra
Messing, who posted: "THANK YOU".</b></p>
<p class="selectionShareable"><b><a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/debra-messing-slammed-mocking-gazas-motaz-azaiza-exit">Messing</a>
herself received backlash for ridiculing the exit of Palestinian
Journalist Motaz Azaiza from Gaza on Instagram, going as far as to
question Azaiza's journalistic credentials.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div>Michael
Rapaport is human filth and the best that can be said about his "Love
it" is that maybe typing that prevented him for a moment or two from
again beating up a woman. The most appalling thing is that hate
merchant Debra Messing is making a 'documentary,' as Ava and I noted in "<a href="http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2024/02/tv-hate-spreaders.html">TV: The hate spreaders</a>."
The mask is off, she's shown her true self -- she actually showed her
true self on the set of the WILL & GRACE reboot so grasp what Megan
Mullally had to work with and why Megan said, "No more." But now she
wants to be a documentary director and thinks she can show her hate
online but still trick people into believing she's worth listening to.
She is not. And anyone who participates in her garbage documentary --
I'm looking at you, Kirsten Gillibrand, especially -- should be ashamed
of themselves. And if you participate in it, you are signing off on
the hate hate Debra herself has applauded. You will own that look.</div><div><br /></div><div>US
President Joe Biden doesn't have a good look currently. Yes, there
have been multiple things in the last day. I'm just focusing on the
attack in southern Gaza, in Rafah. Joe warned the world that Israel
better have a plan for evacuation before the attack. They didn't. They
don't.</div><div><br /></div><div>The government of Israel just blew him
off. Just ignored him. Just treated him like a powerless, doddering
fool. Is that the look he was going for?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Sunday? <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-planning-rafah-assault-as-talks-continue">ALJAZEERA notes</a>,
"Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting that at least 63 people
were killed in strikes on two mosques in Rafah earlier tonight." Yes,
Israel is attacking Rafah -- home of an estimated 1.3 million people --
by ground and air. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-11-2014-785309c668e15728c6aac9905f290b4d">AP notes</a>,
"On
Sunday, the White House said President Joe Biden had warned Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should not conduct a military
operation against Hamas in Rafah without a 'credible and executable'
plan to protect civilians." They also point out that they witnessed a
strike on a hospital. They don't point out that that is a War Crime. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna138259">Chantal da Silva (NBC NEWS) reports</a>, "In photos captured by NBC News’ crew, multiple children could be seen
among with the injured, including a young boy with a bandaged head and
blood on his face and sweater."</div><p>They just blew him off and ignored him.</p><p><br /></p><p>Other governments haven't been as weak as Joe. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-12-24/index.html">CNN’s Catherine Nicholls reports</a> today:</p><p><br /></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>The
Netherlands must stop the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel
within seven days, a Dutch court ruled on Monday, citing concerns that
they could be used to violate international law as part of the Israeli
campaign in Gaza.</b></p><div class="sc-bdVaJa sc-RefOD bkVmOx"><blockquote class="sc-dnqmqq hJIoKL"><b>“The
court finds that there is a clear risk that Israel’s F-35 fighter jets
might be used in the commission of serious violations of international
humanitarian law,” The Hague Court of Appeal said in a statement. </b></blockquote></div><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>“This means that the export of F-35 parts from the Netherlands to Israel has to be stopped.”</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>Three
non-governmental organizations — Oxfam Novib, Pax for Peace, and The
Rights Forum — appealed a previous Dutch court decision that allowed the
continued export of F-35 parts to Israel.</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>On
Monday, The Hague Court of Appeal said that under several international
regulations that the Netherlands is a party to, the country must
prevent the export of military equipment if there is a “clear risk of
serious violations of international humanitarian law.”</b></p><p class="sc-gZMcBi render-stellar-contentstyles__Paragraph-sc-9v7nwy-2 dCwndB"><b>The
court said that Israel does not take “take sufficient account of the
consequences of its attacks for the civilian population,” adding that
its attacks on Gaza have resulted in a “disproportionate number of
civilian casualties.”</b></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/12/middle-east-crisis-live-updates-israel-gaza-hostages-freed-rafah-strikes-latest-news">Lisa O'Carroll (THE GUARDIAN) reports</a>, "The EU’s chief diplomat, <strong>Josep Borrell</strong>,
has said he is 'extraordinarily concerned' about Benjamin Netanyahu’s
threats to launch attacks on Rafah with no evacuation plan and no
prospect of refugee camps in Egypt." </p><p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/12/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-planning-rafah-assault-as-talks-continue">Doctors Without Borders is also objecting</a>:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>Doctors
Without Borders, a medical charity also known by its French initials
MSF, has said that “Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be
catastrophic and must not proceed”.</b></p>
<p><b>“As aerial bombardment of the area continues, more than a million
people, many living in tents and makeshift shelters, now face a dramatic
escalation in this ongoing massacre,” it said on X.</b></p>
<p><b>“Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and repeated forced displacements have
pushed people to Rafah, where they are trapped in a tiny patch of land
and have no options,” it added.</b></p>
<p><b>MSF also said that, since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, the
organisation’s medical teams and patients have been forced to evacuate
nine different healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip.</b></p>
<p><b>It said the MSF facilities have come “under fire from tanks,
artillery, fighter jets, snipers and ground troops, or being subject to
an evacuation order”.</b></p></div></div></div><p><br /></p><div><span class="byline__authors"><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-administration-jon-finer-gaza-communication/">Margaret Brennan, Richard Escobedo, Sophia Barkoff and Carol Joynt (CBS NEWS) report</a>:</span></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>A top Biden administration aide privately admitted failures and
"missteps" in the communication of US policy regarding Israel's ongoing
war in Gaza in a closed-door meeting with Arab American and Muslim
leaders in Michigan last week. </b></p><p><b>"We have left a very damaging
impression, based on what has been a wholly inadequate public accounting
for how much the President, the administration, the country, values the
lives of Palestinians," Deputy National Security adviser Jon Finer was
heard telling community leaders in a recording obtained by CBS News. "We
are very well aware that we have misstepped in the course of responding
to this crisis." </b></p><p><b>Finer also acknowledged that many in the Arab
American community believe Mr. Biden doesn't empathize with Palestinians
in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.</b></p>
<p><b>The audio recording was verified by a National Security Council official. </b></p><p><b>Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy responded to Finer's remarks Sunday during an interview on "<span class="link"><a data-invalid-url-rewritten-http="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-full-transcript-02-11-2024/">Face the Nation With Margaret Brennan</a></span>"<em> </em>and
said the administration plans to make changes. He pointed to President
Biden's Thursday statement that Israel has "gone too far" in Gaza, and a
recent call by Secretary of State Antony Blinken for Israel not to
dehumanize others as Israelis themselves had been dehumanized by Hamas
during the brutal attacks on Oct. 7 that began the current conflict.</b></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>How do you respond to that?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 129 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>,
"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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna138339">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "The war in Gaza has killed 28,340 people and injured 67,984, health officials in the enclave said today." Months ago, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP has noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/7/israel_propaganda_gaza">February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained</a>
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:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." <br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/hind-rajab">At COMMON DREAMS, Brett Wilkins reports</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><p><b>The decomposing body of a missing young Palestinian girl was found Saturday in <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza">Gaza</a>
surrounded by her dead relatives in a bullet-ridden, tank-crushed car
near a blasted ambulance and the bodies of two paramedics killed by
Israeli troops while trying to save the child.
</b></p><p><b>
The plight of 6-year-old Hind Rajab drew worldwide attention after the <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/palestine">Palestine</a>
Red Crescent Society published a recording of a desperate phone call
made by her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamadeh to the PRCS as her family
came under Israeli tank attack while trying to flee to safety in their
car in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of southern Gaza City at dusk on
January 29. </b></p></div><div><b>"They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We're in the
car, the tank is right next to us," Hamadeh said before screaming as
gunfire erupts and the call goes silent. </b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Along with Hamadeh, Rajab's aunt, uncle, and two other cousins were
killed. But Rajab—who was wounded in the back and hand—initially
survived.
</b></p><p><b>
"Come take me. Will you come and take me?" she <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/PalestineRCS/status/1753434287402004548" target="_blank">begged</a> PRCS dispatcher Rana al-Faqeh over the phone, telling her that she was afraid of the dark. "I'm so scared, please come!"
</b></p><p><b>
An ambulance was dispatched to rescue Rajab. But it, too, came under
Israeli attack, and crew members Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun were
killed.</b></p><p> </p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div>
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</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824812565617877289.post-44949771074531392012024-02-09T23:56:00.000-08:002024-02-09T23:56:06.100-08:00Why is this creep in Congress?<p>Matt Gaetz always looks like his face was smashed in -- or maybe got melted in the pits of hell. But that's not the most interesting thing about the 41 year old member of Congress. No, it's that he sleeps with 17 year old girls and tapes it on his phone to later show on the floors of Congress. </p><p><span class="viewsAuthors" title="Tom Boggioni"><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-ethics-committee-takes-major-step-in-matt-gaetz-underage-sex-investigation-nyt/ar-BB1i2Ypw?cvid=500a9524df3246cfa4a97600da0d14f2&ei=29">Tom Boggioni reports</a>:<br /></span></p><p><b>The House Ethics Committee is taking a major step in reviving an inquiry into <a data-t="{"n":"destination","t":13,"b":1,"c.t":7}" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/us/politics/gaetz-sex-trafficking.html" target="_blank">Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) alleged dalliances</a> with underage teens, <a data-t="{"n":"destination","t":13,"b":1,"c.t":7}" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/us/politics/gaetz-sex-trafficking.html" target="_blank">reports the New York Times</a>.</b> </p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}"><b>The
Department of Justice previously conducted its own investigation and
chose not to file charges, but that has not stopped the House committee
for requesting all materials <a data-t="{"n":"destination","t":13,"b":1,"c.t":7}" href="https://www.rawstory.com/matt-gaetz-minor-contacted/?utm_source=msn" target="_blank">to do their own inquiry</a>.</b></p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}"><b> As the Times is reporting, the lawyer for the chief witness against the
Florida Republican is now co-operating as the investigation ramps up.</b></p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}"> </p><p data-t="{"n":"blueLinks"}"> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/matt-gaetz-associate-cooperating-house-ethics-investigation-sources/story?id=107115444">Will Steaken (ABC News) notes</a>:<br /></p><p> </p><p class="Ekqk nlgH yuUa lqtk TjIX aGjv"><b>The House investigation, which was <a class="zZyg UbGl iFzk qdXb WCDh DbOX tqUt GpWV iJYz " data-testid="prism-linkbase" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/house-ethics-committee-requests-interviews-documents-reopened-gaetz/story?id=101229160" target="_blank">reopened last summer,</a>
continues to ramp up, as the committee in recent weeks has contacted
multiple new witnesses as part of its ongoing investigation into the
Florida congressman, sources said.</b></p><p class="Ekqk nlgH yuUa lqtk TjIX aGjv"><b>In
a statement, Greenberg’s attorney Fritz Scheller told ABC News that
Greenberg "has and will cooperate with any congressional request."</b></p><p> </p><p>Why is he in Congress? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#Legal_issues">From Wikipedia</a>:</p><p> </p><p><b>In January 2020, the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Secret_Service" title="U.S. Secret Service">U.S. Secret Service</a> reportedly received a tip that, in April 2018, Gaetz had accompanied <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_County,_Florida" title="Seminole County, Florida">Seminole County</a> tax collector <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Greenberg_(politician)" title="Joel Greenberg (politician)">Joel Greenberg</a> to a government office where Greenberg was producing <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_IDs" title="Fake IDs">fake IDs</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-text_245-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-text-245">[245]</a></sup>
Greenberg was indicted in August 2020 on an array of charges, including
sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl in 2017 and creating fake IDs to
facilitate sex trafficking.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT_2021-03-30_246-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-NYT_2021-03-30-246">[246]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Politico-2021-04-13_247-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-Politico-2021-04-13-247">[247]</a></sup> The investigation of Greenberg led federal officials to look into some of Gaetz's related activities.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-text_245-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-text-245">[245]</a></sup>
In late 2020, the Justice Department opened its investigation of Gaetz
for allegedly sex trafficking the same 17-year-old girl in 2017 and
whether he had violated federal sex trafficking laws by paying her to
travel with him across state lines.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT_2021-03-30_246-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-NYT_2021-03-30-246">[246]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-248"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-248">[248]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-249"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-249">[249]</a></sup> As part of his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plea_bargaining_in_the_United_States" title="Plea bargaining in the United States">plea bargain</a>, Greenberg cooperated with the investigation of Gaetz and others.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-250"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-250">[250]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-plea_251-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-plea-251">[251]</a></sup></b>
</p><p><b>On March 30, 2021, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axios_(website)" title="Axios (website)">Axios</a></i> reported that Gaetz was "seriously considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsmax" title="Newsmax">Newsmax</a>".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-252"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-252">[252]</a></sup> The same day, <i>The New York Times</i> reported the Justice Department's investigation of Gaetz.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT_2021-03-30_246-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-NYT_2021-03-30-246">[246]</a></sup> According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN">CNN</a>,
a person briefed on the matter said investigators also examined whether
Gaetz used campaign money in his relationships with young women for
travel and expenses and whether cash and drugs were involved.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-253"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-253">[253]</a></sup> By April 2, the Justice Department was examining whether Gaetz asked women to recruit others for sex.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT-2021-04-01_254-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-NYT-2021-04-01-254">[254]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-255"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-255">[255]</a></sup></b>
</p><p><b>According to the 2021 reports, federal investigators were looking into Gaetz's September 2018 trip to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bahamas" title="The Bahamas">Bahamas</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Politico-2021-04-13_247-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-Politico-2021-04-13-247">[247]</a></sup>
Gaetz was reportedly joined by marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon
Jason Pirozzolo, who allegedly paid trip accommodations, traveling
expenses, and escort services. Investigators were reportedly exploring
whether the escorts were sexually trafficked for Gaetz and whether Gaetz
accepted paid escorts in exchange for political access or legislative
favors for Pirozzolo, who at the time chaired the board of the Medical
Marijuana Physicians Association. Gaetz made two speeches for the
organization while in Congress, and Pirozzolo gave two separate
donations of $1,000 to Gaetz's campaign arm "Friends of Matt Gaetz", in
March 2016 and May 2017.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-256"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-256">[256]</a></sup> A spokeswoman for Gaetz denied the new allegations.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-257"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-257">[257]</a></sup>
A woman on the Bahamas trip—a Capitol Hill intern who did not work in
Gaetz's office but who was dating Gaetz—reportedly agreed in May 2021 to
cooperate with investigators, who believe she has information about
Gaetz's financial transactions on the trip.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-258"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-258">[258]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-259"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-259">[259]</a></sup></b>
</p><p><b>Investigators believe that Greenberg met women through a website
for sex and introduced them to Gaetz, who also had sex with them.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT_2021-03-30_246-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-NYT_2021-03-30-246">[246]</a></sup> Evidence including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment" title="Mobile payment">mobile payment</a> receipts reportedly suggesting Gaetz had illegally exchanged money for sex, such as May 2018 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venmo" title="Venmo">Venmo</a>
transaction records showing Gaetz sending $900 (with a memo referring
to a woman) to Greenberg, who then relayed the money (with the memos
"tuition" and "school") to three women, one of whom was 18.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-260"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-260">[260]</a></sup>
Joseph Ellicott, an associate of both Gaetz and Greenberg, pleaded
guilty in January 2022 to two charges related to this investigation and
is also cooperating with authorities.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-261"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-261">[261]</a></sup></b>
</p><p><b>Gaetz had argued in a November 2020 Fox News appearance that Trump "should pardon <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Flynn" title="Michael Flynn">Michael Flynn</a> [and] everyone from himself to his administration officials to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Exotic" title="Joe Exotic">Joe Exotic</a>".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-262"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-262">[262]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-pardon_263-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-pardon-263">[263]</a></sup>
In late 2020, Greenberg apparently attempted to secure a pardon from
the Trump administration via a confession letter (first reported by <i>The Daily Beast</i>
in April 2021), writing that he and Gaetz had had sex with a
17-year-old girl they believed was 19, and that payments had been made
on behalf of Gaetz to her and other women in exchange for sex.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-letter_264-0"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-letter-264">[264]</a></sup> Greenberg attempted to bribe Roger Stone with a $250,000 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin" title="Bitcoin">Bitcoin</a>
payment to secure a presidential pardon, texting Stone, "They know
[Gaetz] paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the
girl who was underage."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-letter_264-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-letter-264">[264]</a></sup>
By the end of the Trump administration, Greenberg was under indictment,
investigators had been questioning some Gaetz associates, and federal
agents had seized the phone of one of Gaetz's former girlfriends.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-265"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-265">[265]</a></sup> Gaetz's phone was also seized, and he changed his phone number in late December.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Politico-2021-04-13_247-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Gaetz#cite_note-Politico-2021-04-13-247">[247]</a></sup></b>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This is C.I.'s "<a href="http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2024/02/iraq-snapshot_02037832383.html">Iraq snapshot:"</a></p><p>
</p>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
Friday, February 9, 2024. Moms For Bigotry continues imploding, Joe
Biden makes a statement regarding what's taking place in Gaza (dispute
over what he was calling out), a Palestinian doctor stumbles upon his
own child who is brought to the e.r., and much more.<div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Let's start with a hate merchant. Bridget Ziegler the hateful hypocrite.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>She
helped found Moms For Bigotry -- when not in bed with women. Moms For
Bigotry targeted LGBTQ+ people with lies. And the whole time Bridget
was having sex with women. Was Moms For Bigotry just a clandestine
finger bang for closeted lesbians? Maybe so and it would explain 'dr'
Naomi Wolf's hanging on to the group by her own finger tips.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>My finger tips are holding on to the cracks in our foundation</b></div><div><b>And I know that I should let go</b></div><div><b>But I can't</b></div><div><br /></div><div>-- "Foundation," written by <a href="https://katenash.com/">Kate Nash</a>, Paul Epworth and Steve DaMar, first appears on Kate's MADE OF BRICKS</div><div><br /></div><div>Bridget can't but others can and have let go. Moms For Bigotry is leaving the building. <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/02/book-banner-humiliated-at-florida-school-board-meeting-she-fled-without-saying-a-word/">Bil Browning (LGBTQ NATION) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>Florida’s Brevard County School Board held their first meeting of the year and the agenda included a challenge to two books: <em>The Kite Runner </em>and <em>Slaughterhouse-Five</em>. But the meeting turned into a challenge for the anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty and their supporters.</b></p>
<p><b>Actually, only a single supporter of the group showed up. All the
other attendees came to oppose the Nazi-style book bans targeting the
novels.</b></p></div><div><b>While the group, which started in Florida, quickly rose to prominence
nationwide, its fall has also been meteoric: Chapters have <a data-wpel-link="internal" href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/09/former-south-park-writer-is-brutally-exposing-mocking-moms-for-liberty/">quoted Hitler</a>, making <a data-wpel-link="internal" href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/11/moms-for-liberty-called-the-cops-on-a-librarian-for-letting-a-17-year-old-check-out-a-ya-novel/">fake claims of criminal conduct to police</a>, and one of the founders has been involved in <a data-wpel-link="internal" href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/02/moms-for-liberty-co-founder-bridget-ziegler-was-on-the-hunt-for-threeways-with-women/">a threesome sex scandal</a> involving her husband and other women. </b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Associating with the far-right group <a data-wpel-link="internal" href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/11/anti-trans-platforms-lose-elections/">has become toxic</a>,
and it may have played a role in the recent board meeting. Their lone
supporter sat silently in a corner of the room and listened as dozens of
opponents spoke before the board, both condemning the idea of banning
the books and slamming the group itself.</b></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, slammed back under the rock crawled out from in the first place. <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/02/moms-for-liberty-chapter-implodes-after-humiliating-school-board-election-defeat/">Daniel Villareal (LGBTQ NATION) reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b>The anti-LGBTQ+ “parent’s rights” group Moms for Liberty (M4L) used
to have 200 members in its Lehigh County, Pennsylvania chapter. But now,
after an embarrassing defeat in a school board election, it’s dead —
and at least one school board member is celebrating.</b></p>
<p><b>The chapter’s three remaining members met at the Starbrite
Diner in Allentown on Tuesday night. None of them volunteered to lead
the group, so they voted to dissolve it instead. The group’s dissolution
also follows high-profile electoral defeats for M4L-backed candidates
in Pennslyvania’s Central Bucks County.</b></p></div><div><b> “Between homeschooling and working two jobs, it’s just a lot,” Janine Vicalvi, who founded the chapter around 2020, <a data-wpel-link="external" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-moms-for-liberty-are-tired-of-moms-for-liberty" rel="external noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told <em>The Daily Beast</em></a>. “I guess there wasn’t as much willingness to do the work that’s required to propel the movement forward.”</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I
guess it is tasking for hypocritical whores -- especially those
targeting schools despite the fact that they home school. Maybe the
next parental movement can be about addressing the glaring deficiencies
in the educations of so many poorly home schooled children.</div><div><br /></div><div>Turning to the continued slaughter in Gaza, this is from <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/8/unrwa_gaza_chris_gunness">yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="text"><p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>:
Fears are growing in Rafah over an imminent Israeli ground invasion
after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Hamas
proposal for a ceasefire on Wednesday and ordered the military to attack
the southernmost city in the territory. Over 1.2 million Palestinians
are sheltering in Rafah after being displaced in the Israeli assault.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said a ground invasion of Rafah
would, quote, “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian
nightmare with untold regional consequences,” he said.</b></p>
<p><b>Aid agencies are warning of famine amid profound food shortages, with
a quarter of a million people in Gaza already starving. The healthcare
system has collapsed, and the lack of water and sanitation has prompted
outbreaks of illness and disease. Most of the residents in Gaza have
been internally displaced, with more than half the population sheltering
in facilities run by <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.</b></p>
<p><b>Despite being the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza, <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
says it may run out of funds by the end of the month, after at least 18
states or institutions, including many of the agency’s biggest funders,
announced they were suspending their donations last month. The cuts
came after the Israeli government accused several <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
employees of participating in the Hamas attack on October 7th. Israel
made the allegations in a document it provided to foreign governments,
which apparently contain no direct evidence of the claims. Several news
outlets, including Britain’s Channel 4, the <em>Financial Times</em> and
Sky News, have all reported the document provided no evidence to
support the conclusions that the agency’s staff were involved in the
October 7th attacks. Meanwhile, Australia’s foreign minister said today
she did not have all the evidence about the allegations and that she was
working to bring an end to the suspension of funds. The government of
Canada has also not seen any evidence to back up Israel’s claim,
according to <span class="caps">CBC</span> News. <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> is set to lose $65 million in funding by the end of February as a result of the cuts, according to <em>The New York Times</em>.
The agency relies on government contributions to fund its operations in
occupied Palestine, as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.</b></p>
<p><b>For more, we’re joined in London by the former spokesperson for <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, Chris Gunness. He’s now the director of the Myanmar Accountability Project.</b></p>
<p><b>Chirs Gunness, welcome back to <em>Democracy Now!</em> If you could begin by responding to this news about <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> possibly running out of funds by the end of this month, losing $65 million?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">CHRIS</span> <span class="caps">GUNNESS</span>: It’s extremely sad, and it’s extremely regrettable, because <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
wants nothing more than to work, as it’s done for decades, with its
donors in a very cooperative relationship to restore funding. <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
has taken robust and resolute action. The commissioner-general,
Philippe Lazzarini, sacked these workers, even before the external
investigation and the internal, the <span class="caps">OIOS</span> report in New York, even before that had barely started. This was resolute action as part of a zero-tolerance policy.</b></p>
<p><b>And it’s with regret I say that I hope that the donors get onto the
right side of history and get onto the right side of humanitarian
principles and international humanitarian law. And I say with regret
that it’s possible, at least, that even the Genocide Convention, which
calls on state parties, including most of these defunders, to prevent
genocide. And what is happening is that this starvation, which the U.N.
correctly says is breaking out, the U.N. assesses that it’s possible
that more people will die of starvation than the actual military
assault. So, it’s with great regret I say that donors need to come back
into the fold.</b></p>
<p><b>And just if I can give you just one example. We’re seeing in <em>The New York Times</em>
these appalling pictures of these Abu Ghraib-style humiliating actions
by individual Israeli soldiers. Will American officials, will American
audiences judge the Israeli army by the action of a few? No, it will
judge the Israeli army by the response of the Israeli army to these
appalling, appalling images. And I say that is the basis upon which <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
should be judged, not the actions, which remain entirely unproven, as
we now stand, against a few bad apples; it must judge the agency by how
it responds. How has the agency responded? With robust and resolute and
swift action as part of a zero-tolerance policy that is inculcated in
the agency. And it’s been done in partnership with the donors. This is a
failure not of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>. If it’s a failure, it’s a failure of the donor community, as well, that’s been working so closely.</b></p>
<p><b>And even Mr. Blinken, the [U.S.] secretary of state, has said that
the Americans have not been able independently to corroborate this
evidence, the — what I’m calling, and what is now established in the
international discourse, the “dodgy dossier.” That’s a reference to the
dossier, the intelligence dossier, upon which Mr. Blair, former British
prime minister, took Britain to war in Iraq. It was the dodgy dossier.</b></p>
<p><b>Do the donors want to be judged by history as potentially adding to a
starvation, complicity potentially with the genocide against the crime
of — the crime of crimes, genocide? No. They need to come back onto the
right side of history and of the law and of humanitarian principles and
immediately resume the funding of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>. That’s the logical, that’s the humane, that’s the compassionate thing for the donors to do.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>: Chris Gunness, can you talk about what <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> does, how large it is? And, I mean, you talk about this Israeli dossier. We just saw <span class="caps">CBC</span>
said the Canadian government hasn’t seen the evidence of this. The U.S.
government says they haven’t seen actually the evidence, where they’re
talking about something like nine or 12 <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> employees, of, what, 13,000 in Gaza, over 30,000 overall. Talk about the history of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">CHRIS</span> <span class="caps">GUNNESS</span>: I think it’s important, in conceiving of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, both historically and its activities today, to think of it not as an aid agency, but as a government. So, <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
runs, in Syria, Jordan, West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, schools, 550
schools, so schools for 550,000 students. UNRWA’s primary health clinics
have 7 million patient visits a year. <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
has nearly 2 million food recipients across the region. That’s the core
budget. That’s the education, relief and social services, and the
primary health. As well as that, <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> has emergency programs. So, <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
does these core services — education, health, relief and social
services — for as many as 6 million Palestine refugees across the
region, in some of the most vulnerable, isolated, fragile communities.
But when emergencies happen — for example, the Gaza war — UNRWA has to
keep these life-saving, regionally stabilizing services ticking over,
while it turns to the emergency.</b></p>
<p><b>And that’s what it’s done historically. It became operational on the
ground in May 1950. And as its title suggests, it did relief,
humanitarian relief, for the 750,000 people who fled or were forced from
their homes fleeing in the 1948 War. And it also did works. It did job
creation programs, if you like. But when it became apparent that the
Israeli government was not going to grant them what the Universal
Declaration grants all people, which is the right to return home, <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
then realized that it had a huge refugee population whose children
needed education, that needed primary health, that needed all sorts of
services. So <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> gradually grew in response to the humanitarian need of the refugees that <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> was serving.</b></p>
<p><b>Cut to today, huge education program — that’s the biggest program
— and, by the way, offering children around the Middle East an escape
from the drudgery and the isolation, the vulnerability, the fragility,
the marginalization, and offering them the chance to be citizens of the
world, to put their refugee status behind them, rather than perpetuating
this refugee status, which, you know, that’s an accusation that’s often
thoughtlessly thrown at <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>. <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
offers refugees an escape from that narrative and that kind of life,
which is why it is such a tragedy that based on a dodgy Israeli dossier,
this huge existential crisis has been triggered within <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, perhaps the worst in its history, and the donors have become complicit.</b></p>
<p><b>As Penny Wong, the Australian foreign minister, has said, as you’ve
just quoted in the news, she hasn’t seen the evidence. No donor has seen
the evidence, because, as of now, the evidence simply does not exist.
There’s nothing that links these dozen or so former <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> workers — I stress the word “former” — with the alleged crimes.</b></p>
<p><b>So, let’s get the funding resumed. Let’s avoid a mass starvation. And
to be clear, starvation is a massacre in slow motion. And that
slow-motion massacre has already begun. The donors need to realize the
enormity of what they have unleashed, and come back immediately into the
fold, where <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> will embrace them and will work with them to deal with these issues, as it has always done throughout its history.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
I wanted to go to the news conference that Secretary of State Tony
Blinken held yesterday in Tel Aviv. A few journalists got to ask
questions, and this was the question on <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">SECRETARY</span> OF <span class="caps">STATE</span> <span class="caps">ANTONY</span> <span class="caps">BLINKEN</span>: On <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>,
look, we were deeply concerned by the allegations that were made about
the participation or involvement of some of its employees in the – in
October 7th. And it’s imperative that, as the U.N. has said it’s doing,
that there be a thorough investigation, that there be clear
accountability, and that there be clear measures put in place to make
sure that this can’t happen again, that personnel working for it were
not in any way involved in terrorism or the events of October 7th. We
know that the work that <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> performs, the functions that it performs, have to be preserved, because so many lives are depending on it.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
And I wanted to go back to Washington, D.C., where Karine Jean-Pierre,
the White House press spokesperson, was asked about the fact that
Channel 4, Sky News and the <em>Financial Times</em> found no evidence of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> involvement in the October 7th Hamas attack.</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">NADIA</span> <span class="caps">BILBASSY</span>-<span class="caps">CHARTERS</span>: One more question on Gaza: Did the White House receive an ironclad evidence that, actually, the <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> staff members, 12 of them, were involved in the October 7 attack? Because four news organizations, including <em>Financial Times</em>,
Channel 4 and Sky News, found no evidence to support the Israeli claim.
They said, actually, what they provided was just cellphone messages and
cards that had been found after Israel went to the —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PRESS</span> <span class="caps">SECRETARY</span> <span class="caps">KARINE</span> <span class="caps">JEAN</span>-<span class="caps">PIERRE</span>: You’re talking about <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">NADIA</span> <span class="caps">BILBASSY</span>-<span class="caps">CHARTERS</span>: Yes.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PRESS</span> <span class="caps">SECRETARY</span> <span class="caps">KARINE</span> <span class="caps">JEAN</span>-<span class="caps">PIERRE</span>: Well —</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">NADIA</span> <span class="caps">BILBASSY</span>-<span class="caps">CHARTERS</span>:
So, where are you in the process of reviewing that? And second,
considering the disaster humanitarian situation in Gaza, what’s the
alternative, if you’re waiting for the results to come out or the review
to come out?</b></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">PRESS</span> <span class="caps">SECRETARY</span> <span class="caps">KARINE</span> <span class="caps">JEAN</span>-<span class="caps">PIERRE</span>:
As you know, there’s an investigation happening, so we’re going to let
that investigation move forward. And look, you know, funding for
Palestinian civilians is a team effort. And so, for example, while we
continue to provide funding to organizations like <span class="caps">WFP</span>, other countries may continue to fund <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, which is their own sovereign decision. That is their right.</b></p>
</blockquote>
<p><b><span class="caps">AMY</span> <span class="caps">GOODMAN</span>:
So, that’s Karine Jean-Pierre saying that they think that they’re
continuing the investigation, yet they’ve already cut the funding.
Meanwhile, Australia, who did also defund, says they are now
reevaluating. Chris Gunness, you have called the cutting of aid to <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> — the U.S. most important, overwhelmingly gives the more than any other country — immoral and illegal. Why illegal?</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">CHRIS</span> <span class="caps">GUNNESS</span>:
Because it’s very clear that international humanitarian law, which
expressly prohibits the use of humanitarian aid, food aid, as a
political weapon. And the Genocide Convention makes it an obligation on
state parties to prevent genocide. And if you don’t prevent genocide,
then you are guilty of violating the convention. And the fact that mass
starvation is already breaking out suggests that the Genocide Convention
is being violated.</b></p>
<p><b>But if I may, Amy, just return to some of the things Mr. Blinken
said, notice — I mean, let’s be forensic about this. He used the word
“allegation,” not “evidence.” Now, there is a vast, gaping gap between
allegations, which anyone can make, frankly, and evidence, which needs
to be corroborated. And the fact that the American intelligence
services, the best, allegedly — certainly the best resourced, I should
say — in the world, has not been able independently to corroborate this
information, which has triggered this huge crisis, that is, I think,
very, very revealing. It’s also revealing, incidentally, at the end of
that soundbite you heard Mr. Blinken saying UNRWA’s work is
indispensable. And I think we can talk about this whole idea of
replacing <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>.</b></p>
<p><b>But you heard the spokeswoman talking about accountability. Well, let’s look at what <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
has done. Even before the internal U.N., at the highest level,
investigation had barely started, and certainly before the external
investigation had barely started, <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> took
robust action against this. It has in place — and it’s worked for years
with the donors — accountability frameworks and mechanisms. Staff are
screened. The very fact the Israelis know these names is because <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>,
as part of the zero-tolerance policy and its commitment to neutrality,
passed on to the Israelis last May — let’s be precise — the entire staff
list of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> in Gaza and the West Bank in
digital form to the Israelis. It had already been run through the
Security Council’s terrorism list. And Israel didn’t come back with a
single complaint. It was only until after the <span class="caps">ICJ</span> ruling, the day after the <span class="caps">ICJ</span> ruling, accusing Israel of plausible genocide, and the headlines were — we all saw them — that the Israelis leaked this.</b></p>
<p><b>So, what I would say is the news management is unraveling. It’s been
exposed. And what we’re now seeing is the spotlight turning to the
donors. And I would like to see some proper investigation into the
frameworks that are there for the donors who are accusing <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
of politicization. I would like to say: What are the donors doing, in a
way which is accountable and which is transparent, to show to the world
how they ring-fenced their humanitarian decision-making process and to
keep it immune from politics? Because they’re accusing <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
of politicizing, weaponizing. You know, there’s all this accusations
around UNRWA’s neutrality. What about the donor neutrality? Because it
looks increasingly as if the donor community, based on a very dodgy
dossier, was doing Israel’s political bidding. We heard Mr. Netanyahu
— we’ve heard him say several times that he would like to see <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
destroyed, dismantled. And it looks horribly — and I say this with deep
regret — that the donors are, on the face of it, going along with that
Israeli scheme to dismantle <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>, which is why I say they can reverse that.</b></p>
<p><b>They can reverse that this moment, by coming back and saying, “It was
a dodgy dossier. We don’t have the facts.” They’re now openly saying
they don’t have the facts. They need to come back and acknowledge what
is actually happening. It was a piece of news management. Treachery
happens in wars. It happens. You know, that’s what goes
on: misinformation, lies. The truth is the first casualty of war. All of
that. That’s what’s happened here. The truth appears to have been the
first casualty.</b></p>
<p><b>The donors have made this precipitous, regrettable, I would say, illegal and disproportionate decision to defund <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>. That can be reversed immediately by the donors coming back. And I would urge them to do this, because, you know, judge <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> by its response. Just as I say judge the <span class="caps">IDF</span> — I say to American audiences, judge the <span class="caps">IDF</span> by its response to these Abu Ghraib pictures, judge <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
by its response. Commissioner-General Lazzarini has been swift and
resolute as part of a zero-tolerance policy, which, by the way, has
worked throughout the region. Do you really think that 33,000 <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
workers could be actively doing this humanitarian, human development
work across the region if it weren’t implementing policies which were
absolutely impartial? There’s no question that <span class="caps">UNRWA</span>
would very quickly lose the trust of the communities and the donors if
they weren’t implementing this zero-tolerance policy. And that has to be
recognized. It’s the response of <span class="caps">UNRWA</span> that donors need to respond to, not a few bad apples who we don’t even know.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps">SHAIKH</span>: Chris Gunness, I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us.</b></p>
<p><b><span class="caps">CHRIS</span> <span class="caps">GUNNESS</span>: My pleasure. </b></p></div></div><div><div class="styles_authors-container__IX4r8"><div class="styles_chatCartByline__ivtPj" data-testid="chat-card-byline-container"><div class="styles_inner__ukqsN"><p class="styles_authors__quDSP" data-testid="chat-card-byline"><br /></p><p class="styles_authors__quDSP" data-testid="chat-card-byline"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna138044">NBC NEWS' Corky Siemaszko reports</a>:</p><p><b>The doctor treating the victims of an Israeli bomb attack on
the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah had been examining one patient
after another in the crowded emergency room when he saw him.</b></p><p><b>There,
amid the din of screaming children and moaning grownups, amid the cries
of medical workers for more medicine and bandages, Dr. Rami Abu Libdeh
spotted a paramedic carrying his 9-year-old son, Mohammad.</b></p><section class="inline-video" data-testid="inline-video"><div class="inline-video__background"><div class="inline-video__player"><div class="videoPlayer styles_videoPlayer__bL8AJ styles_adNotPlaying__Q51_C styles_alignDesktopBottom__4cHaO styles_alignMobileBottom__bhgkQ" data-testid="video-player"><div class="videoSlate"><a class="allowClicksOnPreview" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-gazan-doctor-discovers-son-among-wounded-patients-203869253606"><b><source media="(min-width: 1240px)"></source><source media="(min-width: 758px)"></source><img height="225" src="https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best/mpx/2704722219/2024_02/f_mo_lon_rafahfatherson_240208-6f3giu.jpg" width="400" /></b></a><div class="playButtonOuter absolute absolute-fill w100 dn-print"><div class="absolute absolute-fill w100 df items-center items-center-m justify-center justify-center-m"><div class="play inline-video__play-button"><b><svg class="play--icon" preserveaspectratio="xMidYMid" style="max-width: 30px;" viewbox="0 0 15 15" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></section><div class="inline-video__info"><h2 class="inline-video__title"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-gazan-doctor-discovers-son-among-wounded-patients-203869253606">Video shows emotional moment Gaza doctor discovers son among wounded patient</a>s </h2></div><p><b>Bursting into tears, Libdeh, 32, grabbed the boy, whose head
was bandaged and whose red top was covered with a layer of dust.
Falling to his knees, Libdeh peppered his weeping son with questions
about his missing mother and their house before surrendering the boy to
the other medics in the room for treatment.</b></p><p><b>An NBC News team was at the Kuwaiti Hospital when it recorded the heartbreaking father-and-son reunion.</b></p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-doctor-breaks-tears-seeing-injured-son-brought-er-rcna137936" target="_blank"><strong><em>Read the full story here.</em></strong></a></p><p class="styles_authors__quDSP" data-testid="chat-card-byline"><br /></p><p class="styles_authors__quDSP" data-testid="chat-card-byline"><br /></p><p class="styles_authors__quDSP" data-testid="chat-card-byline"><span class="styles_chat-card-byline__O7LeR" data-testid="chat-card-byline-name"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/author/corky-siemaszko-ncpn464906"><span class="styles_chat-card-byline--name__zNjqq">Corky Siemaszko</span></a></span></p></div></div></div><p>The
doctor treating the victims of an Israeli bomb attack on the southern
Gaza Strip city of Rafah had been examining one patient after another in
the crowded emergency room when he saw him.</p><p>There, amid
the din of screaming children and moaning grownups, amid the cries of
medical workers for more medicine and bandages, Dr. Rami Abu Libdeh
spotted a paramedic carrying his 9-year-old son, Mohammad.</p></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gaza remains under assault. Day 126 of the assault in the wave that began in October. <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/12/the-view-from-washington-let-the-killing-in-gaza-continue/">Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/index.html">CNN has explained</a>, "The Gaza Strip is '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-22-23/h_6b422f2abd54d7a1e3c9c9321c1dd103" target="_blank">the most dangerous place</a>' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas/gaza-strip-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-be-a-child-unicef-105520385?id=105348620">ABC NEWS quotes</a> 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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna125877">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-bidens-standing-hits-new-lows-israel-hamas-war-rcna125251" target="_blank">according to the latest national NBC News poll</a>.
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. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/conditions-in-gaza">Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out</a>, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-lawsuit" target="_blank">condemned</a>
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/01/gender-alert-the-gendered-impact-of-the-crisis-in-gaza">United Nations Women noted</a>, "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." <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna138044">NBC NEWS notes</a>, "More than 27,900 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-hospitals-collapsing-rcna132439" target="_blank">More than 67,400 have been injured</a>, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead." <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-21-2023-8db6dafbe39830c907f7c2db258c9875">AP has noted</a>, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div> <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And the area itself? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-gaza-israel-bombing-destruction-hamas-reconstruction-f299a28410b70ee05dd764df97d8d3a0">Isabele Debre (AP) reveals</a>, "Israel’s <span class="LinkEnhancement"><a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war" rel="noopener" target="_blank">military offensive</a></span>
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." <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/gaza-destruction-ukraine-iraq-vietnam-2776016">Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports</a>, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/gaza-strip-map-attacks-damage/">new study of satellite imagery</a>
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 <a href="https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-intolerable-humanitarian-situation-gaza-cannot-continue">45 per cent of housing</a>
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." </div></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/9/israels-war-on-gaza-live-fear-in-rafah-as-israel-prepares-ground-attack">ALJAZEERA reports</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="card-live__content"><div class="wysiwyg-content"><div class="wysiwyg wysiwyg--all-content css-1kw180w" id="wysiwyg"><p><b>Five
members of the same family were killed in an attack on their house in
Rafah in southern of Gaza. Several children and a woman are among the
dead.</b></p>
<p><b>The Palestinian health ministry says at least 107 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.</b></p>
<p><b>Survivor Hala al-Mashukhi told Al Jazeera her father, mother, and her
three-year-old brother were killed when an Israeli bomb targeted their
house in Rafah. Her sister Dima, 10, was the only other to survive the
attack.</b></p>
<p><b>“Every child in the world gets up happy. But we get up terrified to the sound of the shelling and explosions,” she said.</b></p></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/09/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/">THE WASHINGTON POST notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>President Biden called Israel’s military conduct in Gaza “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/08/biden-israel-gaza-speech-netanyahu/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2" target="_blank">over the top</a>,”
his sharpest rebuke yet and the latest critical comment from a U.S.
official in recent days. “A lot of innocent people are in trouble, and
they’re dying, and it’s got to stop,” Biden, who has generally avoided
criticizing the U.S. ally, said Thursday. In Gaza, airstrikes hit Rafah
overnight, as fears mount among displaced Palestinians crammed into the
city, where Israeli officials say the offensive will move next.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-calls-gaza-response-over-the-top-unclear-if-remarks-aimed-at-israel-or-hamas/">THE TIMES OF ISRAEL maintains</a> that it is "unclear if remarks [were] aimed at Israel or Hamas." <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-israel-over-the-top">At COMMON DREAMS, Jake Johnson notes</a>:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><p><b> President Joe Biden said Thursday that he believes Israel's assault on
Gaza has been "over the top" but did not indicate any substantive
changes to U.S. policy, which has been to support the war militarily and
diplomatically while pushing for humanitarian aid and pauses.
</b></p><p><b>
"A lot of innocent people starving, in trouble, dying," Biden said
during a press conference at the White House. "It's got to stop."
</b></p><p><b>
The president's remarks were characterized as perhaps his most direct
criticism of the Israeli military's conduct since it began its
large-scale war on the Gaza Strip just over four months ago, following a
deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
</b></p><p><b>
But critics argued that Biden's words will ring hollow as long as his administration continues to <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/u-s-aid-to-israel-2666833315" target="_blank">arm Israel's military unconditionally</a>, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-vetoes-cease-fire" target="_blank">oppose global efforts</a> to enact a lasting cease-fire, and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/south-africa" target="_blank">reject evidence</a> that Israel is committing genocide. Since October 7, the U.S. State Department has twice bypassed Congress to send <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://webassets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/Open_Letter_on_155mm_Artillery_Shells_Transfer_to_Israel.pdf?_gl=1*102eewd*_ga*MTk2MjIyNTQwMi4xNzA0MjMwMjgz*_ga_R58YETD6XK*MTcwNDIzMDI4Mi4xLjAuMTcwNDIzMDI4NS41Ny4wLjA" target="_blank">lethal weaponry</a> to Israel and is working to <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/progressives-push-back-as-biden-admin-works-to-bypass-oversight-of-israel-arms-transfers" target="_blank">gut lawmakers' oversight</a> of foreign military financing for the country.
</b></p><p><b>
"It's maddening to hear him say stuff like this," <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1755794254222225843" target="_blank">wrote</a>
journalist Mehdi Hasan. "Now he says Israel is going 'over the top.'
Before he said they were doing 'indiscriminate' bombing. But throughout
it all, he arms them, funds them, defends them, enables them, and
refuses to call for a cease-fire."</b> </p></div><div>Less confusing is the stance of the United Nations Hich Commission for Refugees. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/09/middle-east-crisis-israel-gaza-war-hamas-updates">THE GUARDIAN reports</a>: <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Volker
Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Thursday that
widespread destruction by the IDF of civilian infrastructure in Gaza
“amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Genevea Convention, and a war
crime”.</b></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2"><b>Türk
criticised the “extensive destruction of property, not justified by
military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly”.</b></p></div><div>In Jeffrey Cockburn's round up of the week "<a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/09/roaming-charges-110/">Roaming Charges: Comfortably Dumb</a>" (COUNTERPUNCH), he notes:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>A US drone attack on Wednesday struck a vehicle in a civilian Baghdad
neighborhood supposedly containing a commander from the Kataib
Hezbollah, the militia group in Iraq that the Pentagon has blamed for
attacking its troops. The Iraqi military angrily denounced the
assassination and said that it signaled the “termination of the US
mission in the country.” Finally, Mission Accomplished!</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The following sites updated:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><li style="display: block;">
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<a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1039" target="_blank">
Music</a>
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<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/09/1230071788/remembering-guitarist-wayne-kramer-founder-of-the-mc5" target="_blank">
Remembering guitarist Wayne Kramer, founder of the MC5
</a>
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4 hours ago
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</div></div></li></div><div><br /></div></div><p> </p>Ann Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784516694401153504noreply@blogger.com0