I always looked for articles by Robert Fisk - his reporting is sorely missed. Though, I believe if he was still alive and working, the Israelis would have killed him in this latest orgy of violence of theirs.
Chris Hedges has often spoken of his nightmares and PTSD from his years of covering the wars in the Balkans and elsewhere. I assume Mr Fisk suffered the same. With all the pampered members of the MSM who sit on their ample bottoms in DC, we tend to forget those brave souls who pay their own price for bringing back the facts from where the business of empire is really done.
Your excerpt from Antiwar noted that part of the criminal Biden administrations' final shipment(s) to Israel include AMRAAM missiles - given neither Hamas or Hezbollah has even Piper Cubs, I assume this is in preparation for the planned war against Iran.
Guess they can't produce enough missiles "domestically" and need to supplement them with Yanky AMRAAM's! (Which BTW, are old school compared to the latest Russian missiles)
And to my knowledge the F35I has never fired an air-to-air missile at a worthy adversary. Shot down a few 200mph drones maybe! LOL
In the IDF's highly touted and only raid into Iranian airspace, the F35I pilots encountered the formidable Russian/Iranian SAM air defense systems - shit their pants, and turned and ran away firing their missiles into the wild blue yonder.
And wait until Putin gets the Iranians trained in their superb SU-57's - oh dear!
Dennis, I always like reading articles like the one you linked - ha.
Written by people with no technical or military operational background, quoting self-styled experts, and writing trash like "Aviation buffs and military experts largely agree that the F-35 Lightning II is unparalleled.." Without, of course, mentioning who these people are, or what makes its capabilities unparalleled.
If western BS was a weapon, Russia would indeed tremble.
But the F-35I excels at bombing refugee camps and hospitals. Its unparalleled on those missions. Wonder if we will ever see this in LM advertising propaganda, eh? LOL
As I have discussed with our scribe before, I don't know how these pilots can look in the mirror and live with themselves. Shooting fish in a barrel. Except the "fish" are Palestinian kids. Surely this will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Neither Hezbollah nor Hamas nor the Houthis possess an air force, of course. So those air-to-air missiles clearly ARE indeed intended for use against another designated foe. What will Trump do in the coming weeks? Occasionally his non-stop mouth lets slip an "antisemitic" comment in public (who knows what hatred for Jews he expresses behind closed doors??), but GOP ideology compels The Donald to maintain support for the Zionist Apartheid Regime in Tel Aviv. There is no dawn for the Middle East, all will remain in darkness as long as the last drop or cubic meter of crude oil or natural gas remains to be exploited. Meanwhile, let's do more damage to the environment here at home! "Drill, baby, drill!" Right, Mr. President-Elect?
Thank you Auntie Jean for making me take a 2nd look, and saw Chris Hedges's interview with the Wife of Robert Fisk.
A few articles back in BV, I cited 1 line in the Message I sent Pope Francis Christmas Eve. Here is another Line in that Message, "Israel wants the US West MSM to cover October 7 as the Beginning of Jewish-Palestinian History, ignoring all that came before it."
Naturally it was interesting for me to hear Fisk's Wife in the Interview just now say these same words, "Israel wants the US West MSM to cover October 7 as the Beginning of Jewish-Palestinian History, ignoring all that came before it."
America’s emphasis on human rights only exists/existed when clobbering an “enemy” and never for itself. I know because we Germans became the poster child of modern evil incarnate while conveniently overlooking America’s SS practices towards Indians in the “modern” 19th century. America’s behavior in the Philippines is another example. Hitler admired the USA as an example to follow. He even had German lawyers visit America to study America’s race laws in preparation for the Nürnberg Laws which became the foundation for disenfranchising German Jews. My mother’s cousin committed suicide because she had committed “Blutschande”by being in a relationship with a Jew in 1936. In addition to the Fisk video read his two massive literary master pieces THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILIZATION and his recently published (2024) THE BETRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST. The last one I have managed to read about half.
That was one of the worst (saddest!) "jokes" during the Gaza crisis. How long was that shipment held up, a day or two?!? Unreal! But sadly all too believable.
It couldn't be stated more clearly than this: "But what’s happening there today to the Palestinians isn’t complex. In Israel, Zionism has run amuck as Israel grabs land, water, oil and gas rights, indeed everything it can, in the cause of creating a Greater Israel. It just doesn’t matter to most Israelis, and the U.S. government as well, that two million Palestinians will be killed, wounded, or displaced. Might makes right here, accentuated by media spin and government propaganda."
I am glad to say I attended a Fisk lecture at Northwestern University. I recall him noting that in the US press the Israeli settlements were referred to a "neighborhoods" to give the thievery a nice warm take for Americans that would put them in mind of their own communities - how dare anyone challenge that!
As for the right to exist, as with most places on earth, it is something said only after might has made right. Do we in the US have the right to all the land we took from the Indians? This explains the long time effort of Israel to create "facts on the ground", in other words, settlements, that once in place cannot be removed.
A man came out from the synagogue where I maintain my vigil and got into a good conversation with me, clearly hoping to convince me to leave. I offered him one of my electric hand-warmers as we talked. He could not understand why I was at the synagogue, after all, US Jews are not Israelis. How dare I question US Jews!
I gave him the analogy of myself as an American. The President has said "we stand with Israel" and that implicates me. If I were silent it would show assent. I would not think it odd if someone said to me, "You are an American, where do you stand on Israel?" and far from resenting the question would answer it.
Netanyahu claims Israel is the home for all Jews worldwide and he thinks they should come home. He claims to represent them, just as Joe Biden claims to represent all Americans. As I just mentioned, silence means assent. I would think synagogues across the US would be making statements that they are for liberty and justice for all and not for ethnic cleansing Israel. With only one exception that I know of, this has not happened anywhere, but it is precisely what I am asking the rabbi and congregation of the synagogue before which I stand to do.
We have to get over the idea that Jews are a special protected group that is free from all responsibility. That idea is prominently behind what we allow Israel to do and our atrocious unlimited support of the killing and land grabbing. We are all human beings before we have any group identity and that is what the terrible slaughter in Gaza is highlighting, that we must not ask anything of American Jews, not even for them to say that as Americans they are against ethnic cleansing. That Biden would proudly call himself a Zionist is proof to me of how far we have fallen from liberty and justice for all.
Tomorrow it is going to be snowing. I will be on duty at the synagogue with a replacement Palestinian flag for the one stolen the other day.
BTW, the congregation member and I departed on friendly terms. I am not doing this in anger but in sorrow, despair and defiance of the government of my country. I am sure the congregation wishes I would go away, to join them in culpable silence. That I will not do because the Palestinians now having babies die of hypothermia in cold wet tents are by their plight asking me to stay. I am ashamed of my fellow Americans that I stand alone.
"The Leahy Laws are U.S. human rights laws that prohibit the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign forces that violate human rights with impunity. It is named after its principal sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).
The U.S. Department of State vets potential recipients of "security assistance". If they are found to have been implicated in a serious abuse of human rights, assistance is denied until the host nation government takes effective steps......to cease and desist........blah blah blah........
The United States is the largest provider of assistance, including funding, training and weaponry—to foreign forces.
In 2012 it spent $25 billion on equipping foreign militaries of more than 100 countries around the world.
The Law provides the necessary flexibility to allow the US to advance its foreign policy objectives in these countries......oh I see.... never mind then!
Besides, Israel is not a foreign country.
It is the 51st State and well represented in Congress.......sarcasm.
Here is Alexis de Tocqueville, in the first volume of Democracy in America, which he brought out in 1835:
“There are at the present time two great nations in the world, which started from different points but seem to tend towards the same end. I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed; and whilst the attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly placed themselves in the front rank among the nations, and the world learned their existence and their greatness at almost the same time…. Each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world.”
A dozen years later Charles Augustin Sainte–Beuve, the historian and critic, made a more daring case:
“There are now but two great nations — the first is Russia, still barbarian but large, and worthy of respect…. The other nation is America, an intoxicated, immature democracy that knows no obstacles. The future of the world lies between these two great nations.
One day they will collide, and then we will see struggles the like of which no one has dreamed of.”
There's enough to digest, regurgitate and discuss in this Report generally spelling it out like we're already in the Matrix with AI.
'The Deep State’s Triumph: 2024 and the Erosion of Liberty'
We have become a nation adrift in a sea of government overreach, abuse and corruption.
The following is a sobering account of the challenges we faced in 2024, which were marked by the government’s never-ending power grabs and relentless assaults on our civil liberties.
2024 saw a continued rise in government overreach and abuse of power. The militarization of police forces continued unabated, with local departments increasingly resembling extensions of the military. Schools, meant to be places of learning and growth, became more prison-like with the implementation of “safety” measures that criminalize minor infractions and create an environment of fear.
The right to private property was further eroded, with the government increasingly empowered to seize assets under various pretexts. The plight of the homeless worsened, with cities criminalizing homelessness and implementing policies designed to make their lives even more difficult. Military veterans, once hailed as heroes, were increasingly treated with suspicion and subjected to surveillance.
On almost every front this year, the government overreached and abused its powers.
With every new law enacted by federal and state legislatures, every new ruling handed down by government courts, and every new military weapon, invasive tactic and egregious protocol employed by government agents, we were reminded that in the eyes of the government and its corporate accomplices, “we the people” possess no rights except for that which the Deep State grants on an as-needed basis.
Surveillance eroded what little privacy we have left. The Surveillance State grew even more pervasive. Facial recognition technology expanded into new areas of our lives, with vast amounts of our biometric data collected, often without our knowledge or consent, eroding our anonymity and enabling unprecedented tracking of our movements. Data breaches continued to expose the vulnerability of our personal information.
Free speech continued to be under attack. Protest laws, free speech zones, and other restrictions made it more difficult for citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights. Social media companies, often in collusion with the government, engaged in censorship of viewpoints they deemed unacceptable. This online censorship creates an echo chamber and limits the free flow of information..................................................................
Bill, unfortunately the link to the Robert Fisk Documentary is only the trailer.
I think of Peter Beinart as being a Righteous Jew, advocating the highest Ideals of Judaism.
In New Orleans, 14 People were killed by a truck, and 88 Palestinians are killed by US-Israeli bombs just yesterday. The MSM judges that's not news worthy enough to be repetitive every hour for a few Days so the Reality sinks into the Public Mind.
Every War the US has been involved in over the last 80 years has been the Enemy's Cap Guns versus American Bazookas. Starting with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And America has lost every one of those Wars.
But because "Bazookas" are so much more expensive to make, deploy, use, and replace, America's MICIMATT has been doing quite well ever since in terms of profits and returns-on- investment.
Again: The purpose of America's Wars is not to win them, but to have them. And to lay the foundation for the next War against somebody else someplace else after the current War is lost.
And meanwhile in other News: Given how much Trump is pissing, moaning, bitching, and complaining about flags daring to be flown at half-mast during HIS Inauguration, one can only wonder how soon he'll be putting pressure on the NCAA to move the College Football Championship Game now scheduled to start a couple of hours after the Coronation on January 20.
How dare anybody plan to do Anything that will divert Anybody's attention from the ascendency to Power of POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII?
There several words one can use to characterize this man; and all of them are obscenities.
And all the words that you would use are a product of your TDS!
And no doubt all your words would be obscenities.
Why do you have to bring your TDS into every blog topic, Jeff?
That soon he'll be putting pressure on the NCAA to move the College Football Championship Game now scheduled to start a couple of hours after the Inauguration on January 20 is a product of how your brain thinks with chronic TDS. Has he ever asked for that?
He's your elected President, Jeff. Get used to it old man.
Or are you going to piss, moan, bitch, and complain about it for 4-years?
What good will that do for you? Who will want to be in your company? LOL
First of all, Dennis: Trump is not My elected President.
He is, in fact, not the elected President of 50.1% of the Americans who voted in November. Get used to THAT fact and what it says about any kind of "Mandate" to do Anything about Anything that Trump and Team are proclaiming from on high.
And second of all: Is wondering about why Trump is pissing, moaning, bitching, and complaining about the Flags being flown at half-mast during HIS Inauguration another symptom of my Trump Description System [TDS]?
And yes, Dennis: i do plan to piss, moan, bitch, and complain about Trump and what he and his owners, operators, commanders, controllers, and script writers do over the next 4 years [if he or the US survives that long]. Along with whatever the Democrats come up with as a Solution to EveryBody's Problem: Them.
And if it will keep people like You away from me, that sounds like a very good idea, eh? For us both, eh?
The popular vote does not determine who is your President.
The Electoral College is how the president of the United States is elected. In the U.S., there are 538 votes up for grabs between all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To win the election, a candidate needs to secure 270 electoral votes which is the majority of the College.
Trump got 312. A huge mandate. Harris got 226. That candidate you voted for got 0.
"I do plan to piss, moan, bitch, and complain about Trump ~ and what he and his owners, operators, commanders, controllers, and script writers do over the next 4- years. Also, about whatever the Democrats come up with and what their owners, operators, commanders, controllers, and script writers do over the next 4-years to solve folk's problems."
Hahaha. You and your old chum Cornell West! And Jill Stein; only she is way smarter than the both of you. She has figured out how to make the big bucks by only working 4-months every 4-years and being responsible for nothing!
But, phew, sounds like a pretty exciting life!
*
The origin of the term TDS is traced to Charles Krauthammer, a conservative political columnist, commentator, and psychiatrist, who coined the phrase Bush derangement syndrome in 2003 during the presidency of George W. Bush. That "syndrome" was defined by Krauthammer as "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency—nay—the very existence of George W. Bush".
In a recent op-ed commented that in addition to general hysteria about Trump, the "Trump Derangement Syndrome" was the "inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology".
Sounds to me like that description fits you to a "T", eh my friend?
The popular vote may not determine who the President is, but it shows very clearly who what numbers of which Voters did and did not want to be President. The Electoral College vote has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with any kind of "Mandate."
And if You actually think that West and Stein are my "old chums," You are completely ignorant of what i think and believe about politics, economics, political economy, and the proper function and purpose of government.
And finally, the term "Trump Description System" is traced to somebody who Describes Trump based on standard, normal criterion of Human activity and behavior: Intelligence, Knowledge, Honesty, and Integrity, for starters.
So, you don't like the "old chums" smear eh! Then stop using it on me; as you did just yesterday, Jeff. It's a pejorative. And you know that!
If the popular vote shows "very clearly" who and what numbers of Voters did and did not want to be President ~ why is it not used to decide who is going be the President? Go and educate yourself on the concept of the Electoral College and then we will chat, eh!
You certainly don't have "Trump Description System". You never describe Trump as having normal behavior, intelligence, knowledge, honesty, and integrity. You describe him as having none of these criteria. You can't see the truth because of your deranged hatred for the man and your ignorant branding of him as a conman. As psychiatrist Krauthammer puts it: an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of (your own) psychopathology. Classic Trump Derangement Syndrome. DTS.
And just to clarify something, Old Chum: i have no "deranged hatred" of Trump.
Any more than i derangedly hate Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, Tojo, Pol Pot, Franco, Pinochet, and other Dictators ~ Left and Right ~ of the 20th century.
i merely see Trump as an aspiring Dictator-For-Life Wannabe following in the footsteps of those folks.
What will it be? Another 9/11? Another Pandemic [Bird Flu just took its first American fatality]? Another "Too Big To Fail" 2008-esque financial "¢risi$"? A False Flag attack on US military assets and personnel in the Middle East?
All kinds of opportunities for POTUS Maximmuss XLVII to make a Real name for himself in History.
And, typically, You have ignored my questions about Trump and his Bullshit Brain Farts about the flags being flown at half-staff when HE ~ THE DONALD, Himself ~ is being coronated as POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII.
If ever there was a "Gotcha Question," i guess that has to rank near the top of the List of some of the very Best ones ever, eh?
i wonder if, in his Inaugural Address, the very first thing he will do will be to issue an Executive Order that ALL American Flags everyplace on the Planet are to be IMMEDIATELY raised to full-staff in proper acknowledgement of and honor to his ascendency to The Throne at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and down in Mar-a-Lago. IMMEDIATELY.
i don't care one way or another about "old chums" as a smear or pejorative, Dennis. i object to having West and Stein referred to as old chums of mine.
Again, You are displaying Your complete and total ignorance of my politics, economics, political economy, and thoughts and beliefs about the proper function and purpose of government.
And if You know so much about the Electoral College, why don't You enlighten us as to exactly why the Founders wrote the Electoral College into the Constitution?
Do You think it might have had anything to do with the fact that if it wasn't in the Constitution, that document would have never been ratified by enough State-level governments and put into effect?
Just like why the Fugitive Slave Law was written into it. Without that, the Constitution would have been a Dead Letter, as well.
And tell You what: You call it DTS [sic] by Your terms, and i'll call it TDS on mine.
What Annoys Me is that the Israelis, and IDF Claim to be the most Moral Country, and Armed Forces is the World... A recent posting in 'Air Wars', revealed that in order to kill one Militant, the IDF killed over 500 Gazans, mostly Women, and Children... This was an 'On-The-Ground', count the Bodies Study... Last Week the Washington Post published an Article describing the A.I. Driven Israeli Targeting Machine, net: It is largely Autonomous, and if You & Yours have Heartbeats, You & Yours are a Target... It seems that the Israelis, and their IDF, have exceeded the NAZIs in their Brutality...
EDIT: March 28 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers have been posting photos and videos of themselves toying with lingerie found in Palestinian homes, creating a dissonant visual record of the war in Gaza as a looming famine intensifies world scrutiny of Israel's offensive.
In one video, an Israeli soldier sits in an armchair in a room in Gaza grinning, with a gun in one hand and dangling white satin underwear from the other over the open mouth of a comrade lying on a sofa.
An authenticated posts include a photo of a soldier holding a bare female mannequin from behind with his hands on its breasts and one of a soldier handling a half-naked doll.
One photo shows a soldier posing with his gun, making a thumbs-up gesture, in front of a double bed strewn with packets of women's underwear.
I always looked for articles by Robert Fisk - his reporting is sorely missed. Though, I believe if he was still alive and working, the Israelis would have killed him in this latest orgy of violence of theirs.
Chris Hedges has often spoken of his nightmares and PTSD from his years of covering the wars in the Balkans and elsewhere. I assume Mr Fisk suffered the same. With all the pampered members of the MSM who sit on their ample bottoms in DC, we tend to forget those brave souls who pay their own price for bringing back the facts from where the business of empire is really done.
Your excerpt from Antiwar noted that part of the criminal Biden administrations' final shipment(s) to Israel include AMRAAM missiles - given neither Hamas or Hezbollah has even Piper Cubs, I assume this is in preparation for the planned war against Iran.
Good catch on the AMRAAM, Tom. Could be.
In the documentary, Fisk says he rarely suffered from nightmares, which is remarkable, really, given what he saw.
From Lockheed Martin and Israeli propaganda,
The Israeli developed version of the 20-year-old F-35, the F-35I Adir “Mighty One”, carries DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED AIR-TO-AIR missiles........
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/08/f-35i-adir-israel-has-stealth-fighter-even-america-doesnt-have/
Guess they can't produce enough missiles "domestically" and need to supplement them with Yanky AMRAAM's! (Which BTW, are old school compared to the latest Russian missiles)
And to my knowledge the F35I has never fired an air-to-air missile at a worthy adversary. Shot down a few 200mph drones maybe! LOL
In the IDF's highly touted and only raid into Iranian airspace, the F35I pilots encountered the formidable Russian/Iranian SAM air defense systems - shit their pants, and turned and ran away firing their missiles into the wild blue yonder.
And wait until Putin gets the Iranians trained in their superb SU-57's - oh dear!
Dennis, I always like reading articles like the one you linked - ha.
Written by people with no technical or military operational background, quoting self-styled experts, and writing trash like "Aviation buffs and military experts largely agree that the F-35 Lightning II is unparalleled.." Without, of course, mentioning who these people are, or what makes its capabilities unparalleled.
If western BS was a weapon, Russia would indeed tremble.
But the F-35I excels at bombing refugee camps and hospitals. Its unparalleled on those missions. Wonder if we will ever see this in LM advertising propaganda, eh? LOL
As I have discussed with our scribe before, I don't know how these pilots can look in the mirror and live with themselves. Shooting fish in a barrel. Except the "fish" are Palestinian kids. Surely this will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
No it will not haunt them, they will gloat in it.
Neither Hezbollah nor Hamas nor the Houthis possess an air force, of course. So those air-to-air missiles clearly ARE indeed intended for use against another designated foe. What will Trump do in the coming weeks? Occasionally his non-stop mouth lets slip an "antisemitic" comment in public (who knows what hatred for Jews he expresses behind closed doors??), but GOP ideology compels The Donald to maintain support for the Zionist Apartheid Regime in Tel Aviv. There is no dawn for the Middle East, all will remain in darkness as long as the last drop or cubic meter of crude oil or natural gas remains to be exploited. Meanwhile, let's do more damage to the environment here at home! "Drill, baby, drill!" Right, Mr. President-Elect?
A remarkable man. Like this interview with his wife: https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/robert-fisk-and-the-great-war-for
Thanks for bringing up the stories of truly good people.
Thank you Auntie Jean for making me take a 2nd look, and saw Chris Hedges's interview with the Wife of Robert Fisk.
A few articles back in BV, I cited 1 line in the Message I sent Pope Francis Christmas Eve. Here is another Line in that Message, "Israel wants the US West MSM to cover October 7 as the Beginning of Jewish-Palestinian History, ignoring all that came before it."
Naturally it was interesting for me to hear Fisk's Wife in the Interview just now say these same words, "Israel wants the US West MSM to cover October 7 as the Beginning of Jewish-Palestinian History, ignoring all that came before it."
America’s emphasis on human rights only exists/existed when clobbering an “enemy” and never for itself. I know because we Germans became the poster child of modern evil incarnate while conveniently overlooking America’s SS practices towards Indians in the “modern” 19th century. America’s behavior in the Philippines is another example. Hitler admired the USA as an example to follow. He even had German lawyers visit America to study America’s race laws in preparation for the Nürnberg Laws which became the foundation for disenfranchising German Jews. My mother’s cousin committed suicide because she had committed “Blutschande”by being in a relationship with a Jew in 1936. In addition to the Fisk video read his two massive literary master pieces THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILIZATION and his recently published (2024) THE BETRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST. The last one I have managed to read about half.
Fisk‘s second book is actually titled NIGHT OF POWER - THE BETRAYAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
Thank you, Prof. Astore, for this article - in a better world it would be front page in the NYT.
And yet, when Biden stopped the shipment of 2000-lb.bombs last year, he was, "drawing a line." A line so thin as to be invisible....
That was one of the worst (saddest!) "jokes" during the Gaza crisis. How long was that shipment held up, a day or two?!? Unreal! But sadly all too believable.
It couldn't be stated more clearly than this: "But what’s happening there today to the Palestinians isn’t complex. In Israel, Zionism has run amuck as Israel grabs land, water, oil and gas rights, indeed everything it can, in the cause of creating a Greater Israel. It just doesn’t matter to most Israelis, and the U.S. government as well, that two million Palestinians will be killed, wounded, or displaced. Might makes right here, accentuated by media spin and government propaganda."
Thanks, John.
I am glad to say I attended a Fisk lecture at Northwestern University. I recall him noting that in the US press the Israeli settlements were referred to a "neighborhoods" to give the thievery a nice warm take for Americans that would put them in mind of their own communities - how dare anyone challenge that!
As for the right to exist, as with most places on earth, it is something said only after might has made right. Do we in the US have the right to all the land we took from the Indians? This explains the long time effort of Israel to create "facts on the ground", in other words, settlements, that once in place cannot be removed.
A man came out from the synagogue where I maintain my vigil and got into a good conversation with me, clearly hoping to convince me to leave. I offered him one of my electric hand-warmers as we talked. He could not understand why I was at the synagogue, after all, US Jews are not Israelis. How dare I question US Jews!
I gave him the analogy of myself as an American. The President has said "we stand with Israel" and that implicates me. If I were silent it would show assent. I would not think it odd if someone said to me, "You are an American, where do you stand on Israel?" and far from resenting the question would answer it.
Netanyahu claims Israel is the home for all Jews worldwide and he thinks they should come home. He claims to represent them, just as Joe Biden claims to represent all Americans. As I just mentioned, silence means assent. I would think synagogues across the US would be making statements that they are for liberty and justice for all and not for ethnic cleansing Israel. With only one exception that I know of, this has not happened anywhere, but it is precisely what I am asking the rabbi and congregation of the synagogue before which I stand to do.
We have to get over the idea that Jews are a special protected group that is free from all responsibility. That idea is prominently behind what we allow Israel to do and our atrocious unlimited support of the killing and land grabbing. We are all human beings before we have any group identity and that is what the terrible slaughter in Gaza is highlighting, that we must not ask anything of American Jews, not even for them to say that as Americans they are against ethnic cleansing. That Biden would proudly call himself a Zionist is proof to me of how far we have fallen from liberty and justice for all.
Tomorrow it is going to be snowing. I will be on duty at the synagogue with a replacement Palestinian flag for the one stolen the other day.
BTW, the congregation member and I departed on friendly terms. I am not doing this in anger but in sorrow, despair and defiance of the government of my country. I am sure the congregation wishes I would go away, to join them in culpable silence. That I will not do because the Palestinians now having babies die of hypothermia in cold wet tents are by their plight asking me to stay. I am ashamed of my fellow Americans that I stand alone.
Thanks for what you are doing Clif.
But...but... but..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy_Law
"The Leahy Laws are U.S. human rights laws that prohibit the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign forces that violate human rights with impunity. It is named after its principal sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).
The U.S. Department of State vets potential recipients of "security assistance". If they are found to have been implicated in a serious abuse of human rights, assistance is denied until the host nation government takes effective steps......to cease and desist........blah blah blah........
The United States is the largest provider of assistance, including funding, training and weaponry—to foreign forces.
In 2012 it spent $25 billion on equipping foreign militaries of more than 100 countries around the world.
The Law provides the necessary flexibility to allow the US to advance its foreign policy objectives in these countries......oh I see.... never mind then!
Besides, Israel is not a foreign country.
It is the 51st State and well represented in Congress.......sarcasm.
Here is Alexis de Tocqueville, in the first volume of Democracy in America, which he brought out in 1835:
“There are at the present time two great nations in the world, which started from different points but seem to tend towards the same end. I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed; and whilst the attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly placed themselves in the front rank among the nations, and the world learned their existence and their greatness at almost the same time…. Each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world.”
A dozen years later Charles Augustin Sainte–Beuve, the historian and critic, made a more daring case:
“There are now but two great nations — the first is Russia, still barbarian but large, and worthy of respect…. The other nation is America, an intoxicated, immature democracy that knows no obstacles. The future of the world lies between these two great nations.
One day they will collide, and then we will see struggles the like of which no one has dreamed of.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/01/06/patrick-lawrence-our-world-of-wars-our-war-of-worlds
There's enough to digest, regurgitate and discuss in this Report generally spelling it out like we're already in the Matrix with AI.
'The Deep State’s Triumph: 2024 and the Erosion of Liberty'
We have become a nation adrift in a sea of government overreach, abuse and corruption.
The following is a sobering account of the challenges we faced in 2024, which were marked by the government’s never-ending power grabs and relentless assaults on our civil liberties.
2024 saw a continued rise in government overreach and abuse of power. The militarization of police forces continued unabated, with local departments increasingly resembling extensions of the military. Schools, meant to be places of learning and growth, became more prison-like with the implementation of “safety” measures that criminalize minor infractions and create an environment of fear.
The right to private property was further eroded, with the government increasingly empowered to seize assets under various pretexts. The plight of the homeless worsened, with cities criminalizing homelessness and implementing policies designed to make their lives even more difficult. Military veterans, once hailed as heroes, were increasingly treated with suspicion and subjected to surveillance.
On almost every front this year, the government overreached and abused its powers.
With every new law enacted by federal and state legislatures, every new ruling handed down by government courts, and every new military weapon, invasive tactic and egregious protocol employed by government agents, we were reminded that in the eyes of the government and its corporate accomplices, “we the people” possess no rights except for that which the Deep State grants on an as-needed basis.
Surveillance eroded what little privacy we have left. The Surveillance State grew even more pervasive. Facial recognition technology expanded into new areas of our lives, with vast amounts of our biometric data collected, often without our knowledge or consent, eroding our anonymity and enabling unprecedented tracking of our movements. Data breaches continued to expose the vulnerability of our personal information.
Free speech continued to be under attack. Protest laws, free speech zones, and other restrictions made it more difficult for citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights. Social media companies, often in collusion with the government, engaged in censorship of viewpoints they deemed unacceptable. This online censorship creates an echo chamber and limits the free flow of information..................................................................
https://off-guardian.org/2025/01/06/the-deep-states-triumph-2024-and-the-erosion-of-liberty/
Bill, unfortunately the link to the Robert Fisk Documentary is only the trailer.
I think of Peter Beinart as being a Righteous Jew, advocating the highest Ideals of Judaism.
In New Orleans, 14 People were killed by a truck, and 88 Palestinians are killed by US-Israeli bombs just yesterday. The MSM judges that's not news worthy enough to be repetitive every hour for a few Days so the Reality sinks into the Public Mind.
As a free subscriber I get a new video from Peter Beinart every Monday, and I think he is entirely correct in Today's dose of Reality: https://open.substack.com/pub/peterbeinart/p/antony-blinkens-mental-prison?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Every War the US has been involved in over the last 80 years has been the Enemy's Cap Guns versus American Bazookas. Starting with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And America has lost every one of those Wars.
But because "Bazookas" are so much more expensive to make, deploy, use, and replace, America's MICIMATT has been doing quite well ever since in terms of profits and returns-on- investment.
Again: The purpose of America's Wars is not to win them, but to have them. And to lay the foundation for the next War against somebody else someplace else after the current War is lost.
And meanwhile in other News: Given how much Trump is pissing, moaning, bitching, and complaining about flags daring to be flown at half-mast during HIS Inauguration, one can only wonder how soon he'll be putting pressure on the NCAA to move the College Football Championship Game now scheduled to start a couple of hours after the Coronation on January 20.
How dare anybody plan to do Anything that will divert Anybody's attention from the ascendency to Power of POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII?
There several words one can use to characterize this man; and all of them are obscenities.
Google: The POTUS has the option to raise or lower the Flag.
He's not bound by the US Flag Code.
So, Genocide Joe Biden could raise the flag for Trumps Inauguration.
But he won't because he's an insufferable vindictive prick.
So goes his legacy.
And all the words that you would use are a product of your TDS!
And no doubt all your words would be obscenities.
Why do you have to bring your TDS into every blog topic, Jeff?
That soon he'll be putting pressure on the NCAA to move the College Football Championship Game now scheduled to start a couple of hours after the Inauguration on January 20 is a product of how your brain thinks with chronic TDS. Has he ever asked for that?
He's your elected President, Jeff. Get used to it old man.
Or are you going to piss, moan, bitch, and complain about it for 4-years?
What good will that do for you? Who will want to be in your company? LOL
First of all, Dennis: Trump is not My elected President.
He is, in fact, not the elected President of 50.1% of the Americans who voted in November. Get used to THAT fact and what it says about any kind of "Mandate" to do Anything about Anything that Trump and Team are proclaiming from on high.
And second of all: Is wondering about why Trump is pissing, moaning, bitching, and complaining about the Flags being flown at half-mast during HIS Inauguration another symptom of my Trump Description System [TDS]?
And yes, Dennis: i do plan to piss, moan, bitch, and complain about Trump and what he and his owners, operators, commanders, controllers, and script writers do over the next 4 years [if he or the US survives that long]. Along with whatever the Democrats come up with as a Solution to EveryBody's Problem: Them.
And if it will keep people like You away from me, that sounds like a very good idea, eh? For us both, eh?
Have a Great day.
The popular vote does not determine who is your President.
The Electoral College is how the president of the United States is elected. In the U.S., there are 538 votes up for grabs between all 50 states and the District of Columbia. To win the election, a candidate needs to secure 270 electoral votes which is the majority of the College.
Trump got 312. A huge mandate. Harris got 226. That candidate you voted for got 0.
"I do plan to piss, moan, bitch, and complain about Trump ~ and what he and his owners, operators, commanders, controllers, and script writers do over the next 4- years. Also, about whatever the Democrats come up with and what their owners, operators, commanders, controllers, and script writers do over the next 4-years to solve folk's problems."
Hahaha. You and your old chum Cornell West! And Jill Stein; only she is way smarter than the both of you. She has figured out how to make the big bucks by only working 4-months every 4-years and being responsible for nothing!
But, phew, sounds like a pretty exciting life!
*
The origin of the term TDS is traced to Charles Krauthammer, a conservative political columnist, commentator, and psychiatrist, who coined the phrase Bush derangement syndrome in 2003 during the presidency of George W. Bush. That "syndrome" was defined by Krauthammer as "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency—nay—the very existence of George W. Bush".
In a recent op-ed commented that in addition to general hysteria about Trump, the "Trump Derangement Syndrome" was the "inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of psychic pathology".
Sounds to me like that description fits you to a "T", eh my friend?
Take care.
The popular vote may not determine who the President is, but it shows very clearly who what numbers of which Voters did and did not want to be President. The Electoral College vote has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with any kind of "Mandate."
And if You actually think that West and Stein are my "old chums," You are completely ignorant of what i think and believe about politics, economics, political economy, and the proper function and purpose of government.
And finally, the term "Trump Description System" is traced to somebody who Describes Trump based on standard, normal criterion of Human activity and behavior: Intelligence, Knowledge, Honesty, and Integrity, for starters.
So, you don't like the "old chums" smear eh! Then stop using it on me; as you did just yesterday, Jeff. It's a pejorative. And you know that!
If the popular vote shows "very clearly" who and what numbers of Voters did and did not want to be President ~ why is it not used to decide who is going be the President? Go and educate yourself on the concept of the Electoral College and then we will chat, eh!
You certainly don't have "Trump Description System". You never describe Trump as having normal behavior, intelligence, knowledge, honesty, and integrity. You describe him as having none of these criteria. You can't see the truth because of your deranged hatred for the man and your ignorant branding of him as a conman. As psychiatrist Krauthammer puts it: an inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and signs of (your own) psychopathology. Classic Trump Derangement Syndrome. DTS.
And just to clarify something, Old Chum: i have no "deranged hatred" of Trump.
Any more than i derangedly hate Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, Tojo, Pol Pot, Franco, Pinochet, and other Dictators ~ Left and Right ~ of the 20th century.
i merely see Trump as an aspiring Dictator-For-Life Wannabe following in the footsteps of those folks.
Now all that needs to happen is for Trump to have his very own Reichstag Fire. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire ]
What will it be? Another 9/11? Another Pandemic [Bird Flu just took its first American fatality]? Another "Too Big To Fail" 2008-esque financial "¢risi$"? A False Flag attack on US military assets and personnel in the Middle East?
All kinds of opportunities for POTUS Maximmuss XLVII to make a Real name for himself in History.
And, typically, You have ignored my questions about Trump and his Bullshit Brain Farts about the flags being flown at half-staff when HE ~ THE DONALD, Himself ~ is being coronated as POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII.
If ever there was a "Gotcha Question," i guess that has to rank near the top of the List of some of the very Best ones ever, eh?
i wonder if, in his Inaugural Address, the very first thing he will do will be to issue an Executive Order that ALL American Flags everyplace on the Planet are to be IMMEDIATELY raised to full-staff in proper acknowledgement of and honor to his ascendency to The Throne at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and down in Mar-a-Lago. IMMEDIATELY.
i don't care one way or another about "old chums" as a smear or pejorative, Dennis. i object to having West and Stein referred to as old chums of mine.
Again, You are displaying Your complete and total ignorance of my politics, economics, political economy, and thoughts and beliefs about the proper function and purpose of government.
And if You know so much about the Electoral College, why don't You enlighten us as to exactly why the Founders wrote the Electoral College into the Constitution?
Do You think it might have had anything to do with the fact that if it wasn't in the Constitution, that document would have never been ratified by enough State-level governments and put into effect?
Just like why the Fugitive Slave Law was written into it. Without that, the Constitution would have been a Dead Letter, as well.
And tell You what: You call it DTS [sic] by Your terms, and i'll call it TDS on mine.
What Annoys Me is that the Israelis, and IDF Claim to be the most Moral Country, and Armed Forces is the World... A recent posting in 'Air Wars', revealed that in order to kill one Militant, the IDF killed over 500 Gazans, mostly Women, and Children... This was an 'On-The-Ground', count the Bodies Study... Last Week the Washington Post published an Article describing the A.I. Driven Israeli Targeting Machine, net: It is largely Autonomous, and if You & Yours have Heartbeats, You & Yours are a Target... It seems that the Israelis, and their IDF, have exceeded the NAZIs in their Brutality...
From the most "Moral Army" in the World; to the most "Immoral Army" the World has ever seen ~ and in 15-short months.
Exceeding the NAZIs in their savagery by any criteria, Apache.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-soldiers-play-with-gaza-womens-underwear-online-posts-2024-03-28/
EDIT: March 28 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers have been posting photos and videos of themselves toying with lingerie found in Palestinian homes, creating a dissonant visual record of the war in Gaza as a looming famine intensifies world scrutiny of Israel's offensive.
In one video, an Israeli soldier sits in an armchair in a room in Gaza grinning, with a gun in one hand and dangling white satin underwear from the other over the open mouth of a comrade lying on a sofa.
An authenticated posts include a photo of a soldier holding a bare female mannequin from behind with his hands on its breasts and one of a soldier handling a half-naked doll.
One photo shows a soldier posing with his gun, making a thumbs-up gesture, in front of a double bed strewn with packets of women's underwear.