Ann's Mega Dub

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

A hate merchant gets fired

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!"

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.

Bennett did not immediately return a request for comment.

The student, Max Hightower, a senior at Sherman High School, was removed in November from the lead male role in “Oklahoma!” after his family was notified of a new policy about casting by gender.

“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 said in a statement on Nov. 6.

On Nov. 10, "after further review," the district revised its original rule, saying "sex will not be considered when casting the new production."

Later that month, the district reversed the restrictions altogether after the school board unanimously voted to reinstate the original script and cast.

“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.

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.

I'm so sick of these adults who shouldn't be around children because all they want to do is attack children.

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

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.

Stephen Fowler (NPR) reports:

The general election rematch between former President Donald Trump and President Biden is now official.

Both men have now secured the required delegates to be their respective party's nominee.

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 Georgia, a key swing state for both parties, as well as Washington state and Mississippi.

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.

Marianne Williamson remains in the Democratic Party presidential race and she explains why in the video below.

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 MARIANNE2024.COM 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.

Marianne got 3% in the Georgia primary yesterday and 2.7% in Washington state.

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.

Did someone say Jill Stein? Apparently the 2024 Green Party platform is: We got nothing.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Junior's still a dirty joke but he's also become a tired one.

Dropping back to yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

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

We turn now to Gaza, where Al Jazeera is reporting 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.

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. UNRWA 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. 
Meanwhile, an aid ship bound for Gaza has set sail from Cyprus with 200 tons of food supplies. The UAE-funded mission was organized by two aid groups, World Central Kitchen and Open Arms.

Inside Gaza, Palestinians marked the first day of Ramadan Monday.

For more, we go directly to Rafah to Yousef Hammash. He is advocacy officer in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Welcome back to Democracy Now! 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.

YOUSEF HAMMASH: First of all, thanks for hosting me again and giving me the chance.

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.

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.

JUAN 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?

YOUSEF HAMMASH: 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.

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.

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.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to Khalil Abou Ziyada, a Palestinian currently in the Al-Shati Camp in Gaza.

KHALIL ABOU ZIYADA: [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.

AMY GOODMAN: 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?

YOUSEF HAMMASH: 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.

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.

JUAN 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?

YOUSEF HAMMASH: 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.

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.

AMY GOODMAN: Yousef Hammash, we thank you so much for being with us, advocacy officer in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council, joining us from Rafah.

Starvation as a tool of war is a War Crime. These are real people suffering. CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Sana Noor Haq report, "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."

The starvation is an intentional and planned outcome that the Israeli government has been seeking for months. James Gregory (BBC NEWS) reports:

Starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Gaza, the EU's foreign policy chief has claimed.

Josep Borrell described the lack of aid entering the territory as a "manmade" disaster.

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.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has meanwhile vowed to press on with an offensive in southern Gaza.

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.

THE GUARDIAN quotes Borrell stating, "This humanitarian crisis … is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade."

The Israeli government continues its attack on aid agencies. ALJAZEERA reports:

Palestinian journalists have shared footage documenting people bringing in victims of an Israeli bombing in central Rafah to the Kuwaiti Hospital.

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.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 159 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." ALJAZERA notes, "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, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

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

We started the snapshot with the US and we'll go back to the US for Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) report on what the hate merchants have been up to:

The Republican Party's hateful policies are having a predictable result: more hatefulness.

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.

According to FBI data analyzed by The Washington Post, 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.

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.

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.

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.

"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 Post.

"That... is absolutely unacceptable," he said. "That is shocking."

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.

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Jizzy Pants wants out of prison

Gizzy Pants is back in the news. Reuters explains, "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. AP adds, "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."

Gizzy Pants appears to believe that being a woman means she's not guilty. She is guilty and was found guilty. News Nation reminds:

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.”

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.

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

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.

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.

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, "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."

Yes, he's a War Hawk. Of course, he's also a chicken ass.

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.

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 -- don't use your position on the Pulitzer board to give your wife a Pulitzer) and that probably explains why this 'left' man is part of The Federalist Society.

Looking at his WIKIPEDIA history, my favorite item that fell out is this from September 16, 2009:

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.

Woah, Nelly!

Presumably, that was someone being creative -- for the sake of the horse, I pray it was someone being creative.

But this is accurate:

Atlantic contributor David Samuels criticized Coll's "shameful attacks" on Wikileaks head Julian Assange. According to Samuels, Coll "sniffed that 'the archives that WikiLeaks has published are much less significant than the Pentagon Papers 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 free media.'

And it was up for years before Steve had it pulled. Someone should restore it. Cindamuse is the one who pulled it from Coll's entry.

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.

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).

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.

Earlier this month, the United Nations issued the following:

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.

“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.

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.

“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.

She noted that if extradited, Julian Assange would be the first publisher to be prosecuted in the US under the Espionage Act.

“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.

“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.”

The expert urged the UK authorities not to extradite Assange and the US Government to drop the charges.

Yesterday, Kevin Gosztola published an essay about Julian and noted:

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.

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.

Biden officials still sidestep reporters, who ask why the US government won’t drop the charges against Assange. Biden’s National Security Council spokesperson said in October, “This is something the Justice Department is handling, and I think it’s better if you go to them on that.”

But the State Department has not always been so disciplined. On World Press Freedom Day in 2023, State Department spokesperson Verdant Patel endorsed the prosecution that was launched under President Donald Trump.

“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.

Patel added, “It put named human sources to grave and imminent risk and risk of serious physical harm and arbitrary detention.”

What the State Department uttered was familiar. This is how officials responded when WikiLeaks first published US diplomatic cables in 2010.

To be clear, Assange’s “role” was that of a publisher who received documents from Manning and engaged in standard newsgathering activities.

A 2011 Associated Press 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.”

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.

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.

Let's stay on Iraq for a minute more. REUTERS noted:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh, we're hailing it as historic now, are we, REUTERS?

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.

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. Jean Charles Putzolu and Lisa Zengarini (VATICAN NEWS) note:

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.

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.

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.

“Christians don’t want to restart their life in a place that is still unsafe for them and that the government can’t control”.”

Staying with Iraq and the Church, Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) reports:

The leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, Louis Sako, called for a complete overhaul of the country’s political process, which has been in place since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Cardinal Sako’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.

“There must be a reconsideration of the entire political process,” Cardinal Sako said, while extending his congratulations to Muslims on the start of Ramadan.

“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."

Turning to Gaza, Ramadan began Monday. The Israeli government celebrated the start of the holy month by killing 67 Palestinians.

THE IRISH TIMES notes, "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." Kendra Nichols, Cate Brown and Leo Sands (WASHINGTON POST) report, "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 social media. 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."

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 David Knox's article at FAIR 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.

On UNRWA, Binoy Kampmark (COUNTERPUNCH) notes:

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.

As the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, explained 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.”

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.

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 hearing was duly held titled “UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency’s Mission and Failures” with Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies frothing at an agency 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.”

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 began questioning the numbers.

The funding channels are resuming. Canada, for instance, approving “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, charged 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.”

The Swedish government was also encouraged 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)

ALJAZEERA notes:

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.

The UNRWA runs more than 150 shelters and has at least 3,000 working staff in Gaza, the agency said in a post on X.

“We are the backbone of the humanitarian response,” the statement said.

“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.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 158 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." ALJAZEERA notes, "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, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

This morning, CNN's Pauline Lockwood reports:

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.

In a report released on Tuesday, one parent told the organization:

"I wouldn’t even say that their mental health has deteriorated – it’s been obliterated. Complete psychological destruction.”

Another said:

"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.”

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.

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."

The following sites updated: