Thursday, October 26, 2023

Sicko Mike Johnson

So the GOP finally found their Speaker of the House and he's a massive loon.  He looks the part too.  In fact, he looks like he's wearing make up in all the photos I've seen of him today.  But he's a freak.  He tried to get the 2020 votes in Pennsylvania overturned.  Yeah, he's one of those nuts.  In addition, Jonathan D. Salant and Benjamin Kail (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE) report:


If the newly-elected speaker of the House wants to get a divorce, he'll have a harder time doing so than most Americans.

That's because Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the fourth Republican to be nominated for the position since Kevin McCarthy's ouster three weeks ago, entered into what's known as a "covenant marriage" in 1999.

An evangelical Christian, Johnson is also a long-time opponent of same-sex marriage and has championed a bill similar to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Law — known to critics as "Don't Say Gay."

Under Louisiana state law, couples sign a document in which they agree to seek marital counseling before getting a divvorce. Additionally, couples can only get divorced on a limited set of grounds, including for adultery, if one partner committed a felony or faces imprisonment, or physical or sexual abuse.


I think THE HUMANIST REPORT really nailed it on this sicko.



I've got a brother who's gay.  He'll joke about "gaydar" from time to time.  I don't think I have it.  But I think I have something like it.  I can't look at someone who is gay or lesbian and know that.  Except . . . If they're gay in the closet.  That will "ping" for me every time.  It's happened since I was probably 12 -- it started with a neighbor new to the area who moved down the street with his wife and I knew.  I just knew.  Happened many times after.  I don't even have to be around them in person.  For example, I knew it about Jim McGreevey.  My second oldest sister had a crush on him.  We were watching some program with him on it and she was like "he's cute" and I was looking at him sitting with his wife and I said, "He's gay."  I get that same feeling from Mike Johnson.


If he is gay, hopefully, he'll come out.  That's be the healthiest thing for him to do.  But being a sicko -- he also gives off a vibe of criminal insanity.


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Wednesday, October 25, 2023.  Who painted the target on the backs of Americans in the Middle East, the assault on Gaza continues, the assault on humanity continues.


Let's start with Iraq.  Nisha Zahid (GREEK REPORTER) reports:

In a recent announcement from the The Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), archaeologists have successfully unearthed a remarkable ancient Assyrian deity statue known as a “lamassu” in Kursbad, Iraq.

A lamassu is a special Assyrian guardian deity, usually portrayed as a mix of human, bird, and either cow or lion features. These unique beings typically have a human-like head, a body resembling that of a bull or lion, and bird-like wings.



In ancient Assyria, they often crafted pairs of lamassu sculptures and placed them at the entrances of palaces. These imposing figures faced both the streets and the inner courtyards.

What’s unique about these sculptures is that they were carved in high relief. When you look at them head-on, they seem still, but from the side, they appear to be in motion.

While we often see winged figures in the low-relief decorations inside rooms, lamassu were not commonly found as large figures in these spaces. However, they occasionally appeared in narrative reliefs. In these depictions, they seemed to take on the role of protectors for the Assyrians.

Ancient Assyrian deity statue in Iraq was discovered and then reburied

This discovery took place during their excavations at the 6th gate, situated in the western part of the ancient city of Khursbad.

Khursbad was originally built as a brand-new capital city by the Assyrian king Sargon II. He started this ambitious project shortly after he became king in 721 BC.


From historic to current, Laurie Mylroie (KURDISTAN 24) notes:

According to the count that [Pentagon Press Secretary Pat] Ryder provided on Tuesday, 10 of the 13 attacks were directed against U.S. forces in Iraq, while the other three targeted US forces in Syria.

Also on Tuesday, Reuters reported that there had been an attack that day on U.S. troops at Ain al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq. However, Ryder could not confirm that, and he cautioned against crediting the widespread misinformation circulating about this issue.

Following Ryder’s briefing, the Pentagon provided data on the injuries to U.S. troops in those attacks. 

“At least 24 U.S. troops were hurt”, The Washington Post reported. The vast bulk of casualties came from one incident: an Oct. 18 strike against al-Tanf Garrison in southeast Syria, in which 20 U.S. troops suffered “minor injuries,” when “multiple one-way drones targeted the base,” the Post reported. 




Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains (NBC NEWS) add, "An American civilian contractor died due to a cardiac incident during a shelter-in-place order, but it did not occur during one of the drone attacks."

So the policy US President Joe Biden is pursuing has put a target on the back of all Americans in Iraq and Syria if not throughout the Middle East?

I don't like Bully Boy Bush to this day.  He's a War Criminal.  And he deserved to be called out for his actions.  "Target on their backs"?  Remember that.  I believe THE NEW YORKER even did a cover illustration -- a drawing where a soldier in Iraq was depicted from behind with a red bulls eye target on his back.

Well that's what Joe's doing now.  

And it needs to be called out the same way it would if Bully Boy Bush were still occupying the White House.  

These knee-jerk policies are putting us all at risk.  And for what?  To destroy an indigenous people?  We object to that -- now, looking back -- when it comes to the Native Americans.  We object to that when we go see a James Cameron AVATAR film.  But we're okay with that when the native people being targeted, the indigenous people are Palestinians?


You know, there’s basically four global forces now that attract significant human political support across the entire world, and they’re climate change; #MeToo, gender equality; Black Lives Matter, which is antiracism; and Palestine. And Palestine is a global issue, and the Americans and the Israelis and most of the Europeans and now the Canadians, to a large extent, are too blinded to see this reality. So, they feel that we can send in more military force, be tough on TV, and it’ll work. But it doesn’t work. And so, there’s really time for a reassessment. And the Americans, of course, learned this in Vietnam. They learned it in Afghanistan. They learned it in Iraq. But they haven’t learned it. And the Israelis haven’t learned from their experiences, either.

So, resistance and defiance keep driving people in the Arab countries and elsewhere to push back against what the Israelis are doing. And we’re not saying get rid of all the Israelis or kill them. We’re saying let’s have a negotiated peace where there’s an Israeli state that’s predominantly Jewish, like it is now, with a Palestinian state, where the refugeehood and exile of the Palestinians has been resolved according to international law, and we have our sovereign state, and we live in peace. We have made this offer. The Arabs have made this offer repeatedly to Israel, but it’s not interested in that, because Zionism is a strategy, is an ideology, that wants to create a Jewish state in a land that was 93% Arab. And it succeeded. And it doesn’t want peace with the Palestinians. It wants all the Palestinian land, and they want it exclusively for the Jewish people.

You know, the world supported the creation of an Israeli state, and after the Holocaust, that was understandable. And not just the Holocaust, it was a century or more of white European, North American racism and antisemitism against Jews. The Jews were terribly mistreated by white racists in Europe and North America. And they came to the Middle East because they knew that they had always lived there. They were accepted in society as an integrated part of society. And the early settlers who came in the late 19th century and early 20th century up until around 1920, the Jews who came were very accepted in the region. There was no problem — they had always lived there — until it became clear, around 1930, that they wanted to create a state. They wanted to take over and drive out Palestinian Arabs and have a Jewish state. And this coincided with the rise of the Nazis in Europe, which significantly increased the migration of Jews out of Europe. And, of course, the United States and Britain refused to take them, refused to let the Jews come in.

So you have multiple dimensions of historical responsibility. But the final point is that we’re at a stage now where the world — we, and the world, increasingly, clearly see this as an anticolonial struggle aiming for a just peace, equal rights for an Israeli state and a Palestinian state and the other Arab countries whose lands have been ravaged or annexed or occupied by Israel. The Israelis are not interested in that. The Americans totally are uninterested in that. And so this is a real dilemma. What the world needs to study, more than, you know, what are Hezbollah’s motives, is what is the nature of North American and European white racist colonialism, because it’s still going on.


The policy is wrong -- it is criminally wrong.  UK SOCIALIST WORKER notes:

The United States is sending Israel military advisers who led massacres in Iraq. The intention is to pass on Western imperialism’s experience of urban warfare and how to destroy opponents.

One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt Gen James Glynn. He played a top role in the battles in the city of Fallujah.

In November 2004 the US dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the city killing Iraqi fighters and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.

The US government at first formally denied reports of its war crime. But a year later indisputable evidence emerged.


AMANPOUR & COMPANY (CNN) did a strong interview with Queen Rania of Jordan.  We noted that interview last night and we noted it from Rania's website because AMANPOUR & COMPANY have still not posted it online at their YOUTUBTE page..  



The points Rania's making need to be heard.  They especially need to be heard in the United States.  

"It's not about me, it's about speaking up for humanity," Rania rightly notes in the interview.


Palestinian health ministry officials reported Tuesday that 704 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes over the preceding 24 hours, making it the deadliest day since Israel’s bombardment of Gaza began over two weeks ago. The grim statistic coincided with statements by representatives of American and French imperialism underscoring their support for the savage slaughter of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Conditions in the enclave are worsening by the hour. Hospitals are being forced to reduce services due to a lack of fuel, which Israeli authorities are preventing from entering Gaza via the Rafah border crossing from Egypt. Even the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA) reported that its operations in Gaza may have to be suspended within 24 hours if fuel supplies fail to arrive.

“We are hosting 600,000 people in over 160 underground facilities, including schools, medical facilities, and other buildings like warehouses … We’re so stretched that we have to open warehouses to receive the displaced,” said UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma. “Supplies are also running out, so we will not be able to give any supplies to [Palestinians in Gaza]. We will not be able to do very simple things like start our fleet of cars or turn on the trucks and go pick up those supplies that are coming in from the borders.”

The World Health Organization called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” Tuesday to allow for fuel shipments to reach Gaza. Six hospitals across Gaza have shut entirely due to a lack of fuel, the WHO said, and the al-Shifa Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and the Turkish Friendship Hospital are struggling to maintain critical services. “Unless vital fuel and additional health supplies are urgently delivered into Gaza, thousands of vulnerable patients risk death or medical complications as critical services shut down due to lack of power,” the WHO warned.

The Israeli government reiterated yesterday its bitter opposition to any fuel shipments entering Gaza. Only eight trucks passed through the Rafah crossing late in the evening, five carrying water, two food, and one carrying medical supplies for 2.3 million people. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari asserted without providing any evidence that “Hamas uses it [fuel] for its operational needs.”

The Israeli military continued its indiscriminate bombing campaign throughout the day. It struck several targets in the south of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli government officials ordered over a million people to flee almost two weeks ago to ostensibly be “safe” from attacks. One air strike flattened a residential building in Khan Younis with dozens of casualties. Later in the day, a Gaza health ministry spokesman said that 50 people had been killed in air strikes within an hour.





AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

Health officials in Gaza say Israel’s unrelenting bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory has killed another 700 people over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll over the past 18 days to more than 5,800 Palestinians. Among them, 2,000 children are dead. One-point-four million Gazans, more than half of the territory’s population, has been displaced. Many say there’s no safe place to be in Gaza right now. The World Health Organization is pleading for far more aid to be allowed into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. We’re going to look now at Egypt’s response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the negotiations over aid coming through Rafah.

We’re joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, independent journalist working with the Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr. He won a George Polk Award for his Al Jazeera documentary, The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. His latest piece for The Guardian is headlined “Israel’s endgame is to push Palestinians into Egypt — and the west is cheering it on.”

Sharif, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about all that’s taking place right now around the Rafah border crossing? And explain who it’s controlled by, and explain what Israel is calling on Egypt to do.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Thank you, Amy.

I think, well, first of all, we have to understand Egypt is the only country other than Israel to share a border crossing with Gaza. And what we’ve seen since October 7th is a lot of negotiations around what’s going to happen at this border crossing. So, as it stands right now, Egypt has insisted on allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and has allowed multiple countries to deliver aid to Arish in northern Sinai. Countries like Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, the UAE have delivered thousands of tons of humanitarian aid that are kind of idling in these trucks at the border.

So far, since Saturday, something like 75 or 80 trucks have been allowed in, about 20 trucks a day. After a lot of negotiations, 20 trucks a day are being allowed in by Israel into Gaza. And this is nowhere near enough. You know, according to humanitarian organizations, they’ve called it a drop in the ocean. And just to give you a sense, 20 trucks a day amounts to about 4% of an average day’s imports before October 7th, before 1.4 million people were displaced, before 15,000 people were injured, before close to 6,000 people were killed. So, you know, the U.N. is saying that hundreds of trucks a day are needed. And on top of that, Israel has placed heavy restrictions on even that minuscule aid that’s coming in.

Well, firstly, Israel has bombed the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing four times since October 7th, even one time slamming into Egyptian territory at the border. But the aid, when it comes in, it travels to the Ouga-Nitzana border crossing with Israel, where it’s first inspected by Israeli authorities, and then it eventually gets into — goes back to the Rafah border crossing and goes into Gaza. This is a process that takes many hours.

But I think we have to understand that there’s two issues that really stand out on the restrictions. First of all, all deliveries of aid to northern Gaza are prohibited. So, none of this minuscule, even this like paltry amount of aid is getting to northern Gaza. You know, hundreds of thousands have evacuated from northern Gaza after Israel warned people to leave, but there’s still hundreds of thousands that remain. And just to give you a sense, the biggest hospital in Gaza is in Gaza city, Shifa Hospital. This is a hospital that usually, in normal times, has a capacity of about 700 patients. It’s currently overwhelmed with 5,000 patients. And you have something like 45,000 displaced people gathered in and around the hospital grounds seeking shelter. That’s according to the U.N. And none of the aid that’s coming in is getting to them.

But secondly, and very importantly, the aid that is coming in, none of it includes any fuel. Fuel is not being allowed to enter. And fuel is just absolutely crucial for so many things, perhaps most importantly for electricity to run generators. And without fuel, life-saving medical equipment, like incubators, ventilators, won’t work. And so this spells a death sentence for babies in neonatal wards and things like this. So, one official has called it, you know, that the aid coming in is more of a diplomatic symbol rather than actual meeting any humanitarian needs. But we have to see where this is going.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Sharif, I wanted to ask you: First of all, on the water situation, is all water still cut off by the Israelis? And secondly, isn’t the whole issue of Israel urging people to leave Gaza through Egypt a clear sample of ethnic cleansing? After all, Israel has many entrances on its side of the Gaza Strip, where it could allow women and children to come out of northern Gaza, possibly even bus them into the West Bank. But they’re clearly trying to get rid of the Palestinians, as many as possible, from their occupied territories.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Yeah, I mean, this is — I mean, first of all, on the issue of water, people have talked about there’s a real risk of dehydration to death. People are drinking now dirty water. The aid that’s coming in is not enough. You know, the first day, it provided water for about 22,000 people for a few hours, and we’re talking about a place which has 2.3 million people. And no water has been allowed in since October 7th. No aid at all has been allowed in, except for these small convoys. There has been a water pipeline that was — that is supposedly working near Khan Younis, but it’s not nearly providing enough.

And yes, this idea of — so, first of all, this order comes down from Israel — well, first of all, Netanyahu, when this all began on October 7th, took to the airwaves announcing a war against Hamas and telling people in Gaza to leave now, and saying — you know, he left unsaid where they’re supposed to go. But then there was this order to evacuate to the south: 1.1 million people were supposed to evacuate within 24 hours. And you see this kind of push towards the Egyptian border.

And from what we understand, reporting through Mada Masr, that Egyptian sources have told us that in those days in the beginning at least, there was a lot of pressure, and continuing, for Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing, to create a so-called humanitarian corridor and to allow for the forcible displacement of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza into northern Sinai, and that instead of the United States and other Western countries pressuring Israel for a ceasefire, pressuring Israel to allow in the necessary amount of aid, they have instead been pressuring Egypt to open the border and allow for this mass displacement, and have been offering economic incentives to Egypt to do so. We have to remember Egypt is undergoing a very severe economic crisis, with a massive amount of debt, with record-high inflation. And so, you know, there’s been talk of debt relief, of financial compensation, in order to allow for this kind of displacement.

Now, Egypt’s response has been kind of very staunch on this, actually. The president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has very publicly rejected this idea of having a form of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement and exile into Sinai. He has cited Egypt’s sovereignty in this. He has cited the Palestinian cause in all of this. He is even — you know, is drumming up and is riding a wave of public support for this, because Palestine, as we heard from Rami Khouri, is a touchstone issue for so many across the Arab world, for so many across the Global South. And this idea of what they call a second Nakba, a second catastrophe and a second mass displacement, is firmly rejected. So even Sisi called for protests on Friday, for people to take to the streets, and people did, in Cairo, in Alexandria and in other places, although some people carried on those protests into Tahrir, some were chanting revolutionary chants, and we haven’t seen that for many years. And actually, Egyptian authorities have arrested over a hundred people because of that. But, you know, I think many see Sisi’s stance as laudable, rejecting what is essentially an endorsement of a second Nakba.

But I think we have to remember that, you know, him citing the Palestinian cause really rings hollow. And we have to remember that Egypt, its concerns really are national security concerns, not wanting to have a mass population of Palestinians, who could launch attacks against Israel from northern Sinai, and not having to deal with a refugee crisis. Egypt, after all, has helped enforce the siege on Gaza for many years. It destroyed the tunnels that provided a lifeline to Gaza. It has allied with Israel in many different ways in security coordination. It has allowed Israel to conduct a covert air campaign, aerial bombing campaign in Sinai. And it also treats Palestinians coming in and out of Gaza, notoriously, with indignity. But so far, this idea of rejecting this kind of a mass exodus, I think a lot of people are supportive of that policy and, instead, trying to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid in.

AMY GOODMAN: Ultimately, Sharif, is it Israel, is it Hamas, is it Egypt, who is preventing that aid? As you said, we’re seeing dozens of trucks now, after weeks of not having anything, when in fact they’re talking about the need is something like 400 to 500 trucks a day. And also, when it comes to what happened this weekend in Cairo, the so-called peace summit of Arab leaders, what did they come up with?

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, the peace summit didn’t actually come up with anything. There wasn’t a joint statement that was signed. Sisi and King Abdullah and others repeated condemnations of Israel’s bombing, of Israel’s siege on Gaza, and Sisi again rejected this idea of a mass displacement to Sinai. And I think, you know, we have to also understand that this idea of resettling Palestinians in Gaza to Sinai is not a new one. It’s actually an old colonial fantasy. There has been numerous plans by Israel and others of this idea of resettling the Palestinians in Gaza, who 80% of which are refugees, by the way, who are refugees from 1948, of resettling them again into Egypt. In the mid-1950s, the U.N. devised a plan for this kind of mass resettlement, and it was met with popular outrage in Gaza —

AMY GOODMAN: We have 15 seconds.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: — and kind of crushed in a popular uprising. So, I mean, these kinds of plans are long-standing, and there’s a real fear that they will be realized. But for now, we have to see Egypt is rejecting it, but Israel is creating a situation where life is becoming unlivable in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Sharif Abdel Kouddous, independent journalist working with the Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr, produced the award-winning documentary, The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, about the Palestinian American journalist. We will link to your piece in The Guardian. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Thanks for joining us.


In the United States, people are protesting the assault on Gaza and calling for an immediate cease-fire.  

  As the death toll from Israel's relentless and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza approached 5,800 Palestinians—including over 2,300 children—a group of around 40 faith leaders calling for an immediate cease-fire led a Tuesday afternoon pray-in at the Washington, D.C. office of U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders and activists occupied the New York Democrat's office in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, where demonstrators opened their action with prayers for the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed since October 7.

Participants "highlighted the devastating impact of each bomb that has been dropped and each life cut short through a reading of nearly 200 names of those killed by American-made weapons, including entire families across generations," the organizers of the pray-in said.

"The actions send a clear message to the Democratic Party: You cannot continue with business as usual while Israel commits genocide in Gaza with full U.S. backing," the coalition added. "Cease-fire is the only moral choice, and the world is watching your next move." 


Mike Ludwig (TRUTHOUT) reports on some of the recent protests in the US:


As the death toll of Israel’s brutal siege and intensifying bombardment of the Gaza Strip surpassed 5,000 on Monday, dozens of activists blocked a major intersection in Chicago as mass protests against U.S. support for the Israeli military continue to erupt despite scant mainstream media coverage.

“Only a ceasefire can protect Palestinian and Israeli lives in this perilous moment,” said Eli Newell, an organizer with the Jewish peace group IfNotNow in Chicago, who participated in the direct action on Monday. “Collective punishment won’t make anyone safe — not Palestinian civilians, not Israeli hostages.”

The action was organized by a coalition of Jewish groups, including IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. About 50 protesters in downtown Chicago blocked rush hour traffic for over two hours on Monday and refused to leave until they were forcibly removed and ticketed by police. Organizers say the activists were flanked by a march of 500 supporters.

From Minneapolis to New Orleans, from San Francisco and Denver to Philadelphia and Skokie, Illinois, thousands of people are taking to the streets and calling for an emergency ceasefire as horrifying images and reports of widespread civilian suffering and death continue to emerge from Gaza. Thousands marched for a ceasefire in Brooklyn on Saturday, and more than 100 were arrested for blocking traffic at various demonstrations in the tri-state region over the weekend, according to local reports.

In Philadelphia, activists in solidarity with Palestinians are calling out local media for allegedly downplaying or outright failing to cover a march and rally over the weekend that attracted a giant mass of people (video below) to the steps of the city’s iconic art museum. The rally was organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition and its allies. Participants estimated that thousands of people showed up to the march and rally.



Staying with the United States.  Daniel Villarreal (LGBTQ NATION) reports:


Anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives now want to boycott Listerine because the mouthwash brand featured a progress Pride flag on its bottle.

Chaya Raichik, who goes by LibsofTikTok on social media, posted an image of Listerine bottles that included drawings of same-gender couples holding hands and displaying rainbow flags. She claimed the brand supports child “sex change surgeries” even though such procedures aren’t conducted on children.

The bottle also mentioned the “Care With Pride” initiative. Started by Johnson & Johnson, Listerine’s parent company, the initiative raises money for LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations fighting for “full equality, inclusivity, care, and representation.” In 2023, the initiative benefitted Family Equality, a group that champions education, public acceptance, positive depictions of, and policy initiatives protecting LGBTQ+ families.


Chaya Raichik.  Poor thing.  She became a public face and . . . well . . . you've seen that face, right?  It's kind of ended her movement.  Apparently, people don't want to be led by an ugly person, not even conservatives.  Since her face has become know, her ability to influence has lessened.  Maybe she could wear a mask?  Or even just a paper bag over her head?  She keeps one by the bed, right, for her husband's sake?

Probably a mask wouldn't help at this point.  The tide has turned.  She's flailing around now and people see her for the hate merchant she truly is as she cries for one boycott after another and as her lies get exposed.  These Carrie Nation types start with a flurry of attention but always end up repelling the majority of Americans.  Someone help her off the stage before people start tossing rotten eggs at her.





An Ohio neo-Nazi has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime charge for firebombing a church that was planning to host a pair of drag events.

Aimenn D. Penny, a 20-year-old member of an Ohio White Lives Matter group, submitted his plea on Monday, admitting to obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs and arson. According to Cleveland.com, he will be sentenced on January 29 by U.S. District Judge Bridget Brennan and faces at least 10 years in prison, with up to 15 on the table.

Penny admitted to throwing Molotov cocktails at the Community Church of Chesterland in Chester, Ohio on March 25. The attack, which left scorch marks on the church’s door, was allegedly in response to drag queen storytime events planned for April 1.
His admission came during a March 31st search of his homes when he told FBI agents he threw the Molotov cocktail with the intent of burning down the church.

How disgusting do you have to be to firebomb a church?  Remember that the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama back in 1963 that claimed the lives of 11-year-old Carole Denise McNair and 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley was carried out by terrorists who were White supremists as well -- Thomas Blanton, Robert Chambliss, Bobby Cherry and possibly Herman Cash. 


All these decades later and racists are still a scourge of America.  You would have thought basic humanity and common sense would have run them off long, long ago.  However, Robert Downen (TEXAS TRIBUNE) reports that they are very tight with some 'conservatives' in Texas:


In recent weeks, allies of the deep-pocketed conservative PAC Defend Texas Liberty have sought to downplay a meeting between the group’s former leader, Jonathan Stickland, and prominent white supremacist Nick Fuentes. They’ve cast the visit as a one-off mistake — and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he accepted an explanation that it was a “serious blunder."


Responding to calls for him to return the $3 million he received from Defend Texas Liberty this summer, Patrick initially said he would not do so because there was “no hint of any links” between the group and any “antisemitic organizations or other hate groups” when he took the funds in June.

There were, however, ample links.

While Fuentes’ unapologetic hate mongering has made him perhaps the nation’s best-known white supremacist, he was merely the latest in a line of people who have been embraced by Defend Texas Liberty and its close allies despite publicly espousing antisemitic views or partnering with extremists. That includes, among others, Ella Maulding, a social media coordinator for Stickland’s consulting firm who has praised Fuentes as the “greatest civil rights leader in history”; and Shelby Griesinger, the treasurer for Defend Texas Liberty who has claimed on social media that Jews worship a false god and shared memes that depict them as the enemy of Republicans.

Defend Texas Liberty is a political action committee and one of the state’s most influential donors to conservative groups and candidates, including Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton. It is a key part of a sprawling network of nonprofits, dark money groups, political campaigns and media companies that have received more than $100 million from three West Texas oil billionaires, Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, as part of a decadeslong project to push Texas to the far right.


And if you're wondering, yes, Defend Texas Bigotry has links to Moms For Bigotry.  What?  You thought crazy ass Naomi Wollf would get in bed with a group that wasn't entwined with racism?


Anti-vax idiot Michelle Evans is a Moms for Bigotry and that's all Defend Texas Bigotry needed to know to cut her a $30,000 check.  Even with that, the hate monger and liar lost.  She did share, however, that she was okay with lying on Twitter ("she made headlines for spreading a false rumor that the district had lowered cafeteria tables at a middle school for children who identify as dogs") because she doesn't feel like it harmed anyone.  I'm really bothered that these serial liars and racists and homophobes keep thinking they're the people to teach America's children.


These people are disgusting -- and go down in history as disgusting -- no sane person in 2023 is defending, for example, terrorist Thomas Blanton.  No, in 2023, sane Americans are applauding Heman Bekele and others making real contributions to this country.  Sarah al-Arshani (USA TODAY) reports:


"America's Top Young Scientist" is a 14-year-old who invented a soap that treats skin cancer.

Heman Bekele, a ninth grader from Annandale, Virginia, won the prestigious award from 3M and Discovery Education, considered one of the country's top middle school science competitions.

"I believe that young minds can make a positive impact on the world," Heman said in his submission for the award.

"I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas," he said.



Good for him and good for the country.  That's what these hate merchants don't get as they attack people due to their skin color or whom they love or what country they were in before they came to the US, these people they attack are the people who do so much to make this a better world.  These hate merchants?  They don't do a thing to improve the world and we'd all honestly be better off without them.

Fairfax County Schools has a page up about Heman Bekele.  Take a moment to grasp what a difference he's making:


Heman, newly crowned “America’s Top Young Scientist” after winning this year’s 3M Young Scientist Challenge, says the memories of people working long hours outside under the glaring sun in Ethiopia stayed with him as he made his way through the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) school system. A graduate of Wakefield Forest Elementary School and Frost Middle School, Heman was struck by the dramatic differences in skin cancer survival rates in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa compared to places where high tech cancer treatments are available.

“Skin cancer is mostly found on people who live within developing countries,” Heman says. “But the average price for an operation is $40,000. I was devastated by the idea of people having to choose between treatment and putting food on the table for their families. There are so many preventable deaths.”

He was determined to find a better way. So Heman researched skin cancer, learning about dendritic cells, which he says help protect skin by boosting immune response. Then he spent months playing with salicylic acid, glycolic acid and tretinoin, trying to find the right combination to help treat skin cancer. He developed SCTS, which stands for skin cancer treating soap, and works by reactivating dendritic cells.


On the topic of hate merchants, Nick Mordowanec (NEWSWEEK) points out, "[Ronald] DeSantis has taken flack this year for multiple incidents related to neo-Nazis, including a campaign video released in July that featured a far-right circular symbol known as the 'sonnenrad' which is often affiliated with neo-Nazi groups. Such groups have drawn scrutiny for being openly brazen about their anti-Jewish sentiments, with one incident in September involving 40-some individuals waving swastikas, giving fascist salutes and chanting 'Sieg Heil' on a bridge in Orlando, Florida."


A better world is possible.  "I believe in a better way" as Ben Harper sings.



 


Imagine: “It’s the year 2050…and racism has ended,” and so posits the newly published book How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation.
In the book, Justin Michael Williams and his co-author Shelly Tygielski divulge a concrete eight-part framework for how we can make this radical idea an actual reality.

“You don’t fix racism,” an excerpt from the book reads, “You don’t fight it. You don’t make it better. You end it. We learned how to bridge any political or ideological divide—inviting liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between to cocreate a future worth fighting for.”

Ahead of the release, Williams sat down with ESSENCE to discuss what inspired the book, the writing process, and what a post-racism world looks like.

A multi-hyphenate, Williams, who is also a Grammy-nominated recording artist, had already penned a best-selling book, Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us in February 2020. He revealed that it all started “after George Floyd was murdered and the world was exploding with social justice books. So, I started reading all the things that were coming out, and I just had this epiphany.”

“I just thought—hold on a second—why does every single book start on the first page or two saying something along the lines of ‘racism is this thing that’s going to be passed down for a lifetime, generation after generation?’” shared Williams.



The following sites updated:


Posted by at

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

House Republicans still can't get it together.

Lenny e-mailed asking if there was any song burrowing its way into my mind lately?  Always.  Today there were two songs I kept humming all day.

First was "I Met Him On A Sunday" from Laura Nyro's GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE album that she recorded with LaBelle.



Second is Laura Nyro's "Beads of Sweat" from her album CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT and that's Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers on guitar.

  
I love those songs but don't why they've been on my mind all day. 

News?  House Republicans still can't elect a Speaker.  People are talking:


In a biting opinion column published on October 23, MSNBC's Steve Benen laments that even House Republicans themselves are admitting how much of an embarrassment the speaker debacle is.

Benen opens the column by arguing that although Republicans have "fallen on hard times" in the past — from Watergate to the Iraq War — "today's GOP has reached a new low."

"As ugly as Republican politics became in these earlier eras," Benen explains, "the party at least had the capacity to elect its own leaders and bring legislation to the floor. As things stand, the GOP can't even clear this low bar."


Brad Reed notes a similar conclusion:


House Republicans have now been trying for three weeks to elect a new speaker, which is the most basic of tasks required by members of the House of Representatives.
In taking stock of multiple weeks of futility, Eastern Connecticut State University historian Thomas Balcerski believes that the GOP may finally be on the verge of cracking up for good.

Writing at CNN, makes the case that the current turmoil by House Republicans goes beyond the usual intraparty dispute and could portend something much more stark: "The possible collapse of the Republican Party as we know it."

As historical precedent, he looks back to the Whig Party of the 19th century that collapsed in spectacular fashion due to its internal divisions over slavery.

Just FYI, US House Rep. Tom Emmer won an election today to be the nominee for Speaker of the House and then . . . hours later . . . he announced he was dropping out of the race.  You read that right.  They can't get it together.

Now let's check in on Doo-Doo Ron Ron DeSantis.  THE DAILY DIGEST reports:


Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was once the darling of Republican primary voters and he posed a serious risk to Donald Trump’s control of the party. However, recent polling handed DeSantis a nasty dose of political reality. 
The Florida Governor is no longer as popular as he once was among Republican voters and DeSantis has seen a stunning decline in his polling numbers. January saw a high of 34.9% to Trump’s 43.7% according to FiveThirtyEight. 
Unfortunately for DeSantis, he no longer commands the same amount of support more than ten months into the Republican primary. The Florida governor has seen a marked decline in his popularity and may no longer be the number two. 
DeSantis has seen another major slip in support according to a new poll conducted by the Emerson College Polling Center, which found that the Florida Governor was sitting at an 8% share of support among those surveyed. 


Don't worry, Doo-Doo, you'll always be a number two in my toilet.  More on Doo-Doo, Carl Gibson reports:


Homeowners in Florida are finding themselves on the hook for thousands of dollars more than they budgeted for this year, as home insurance premiums continue their precipitous climb.

According to a new report in Courier Newsroom's Floricua publication, insurance premiums in Florida now hover around $6,000 annually, which is more than three times the national average of $1700 per year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. 54-year-old Arnaldo Pérez-Miró told Floricua that he's considering selling his property due to excessive insurance costs.

"My property insurance almost tripled. That is insane! How can I retire and afford almost $7,000 a year in home insurance?" Pérez-Miró said. "For me and my wife, leaving the home we love, where we saw our children grow, where we made memories, where we’ve celebrated every birthday, every Christmas, is heartbreaking."

Floricua noted that these premium hikes cam after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — also a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — and his Republican legislature passed an overwhelmingly pro-industry legislative package in May of 2022. That legislation provided both a $2 billion taxpayer-funded reserve for insurance companies to prevent bankruptcy that they typically bought on the open market, and provisions that limited insurers' liability in court. The insurance reform bill also shortened the window of time in which homeowners could file lawsuits against insurance companies, and ended homeowners' ability to recoup attorneys' fees — even in cases they won.


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Tuesday, October 24, 2023.  The Israeli government continues to the assault on Gaza while in the United States some people think they don't have to do their damn jobs -- that would include a judge who ran for the position well after marriage equality was the law of the land but thinks now that she doesn't have to follow the law.  Despite being a judge.  Despite being on the bench.  She doesn't have to follow the law.  That and much more.

Starting with the assault on Gaza,  ALJAZEERA reports:

The emir of Qatar has called on the international community to restrain Israel in its fight against Hamas, saying Israeli forces should not be given a green light for unconditional killing in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In his opening speech at the Shura council’s annual session on Tuesday, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also said the continuing war was a dangerous escalation that threatened the region.

“We are saying enough is enough,” he said. “It is untenable for Israel to be given an unconditional green light and free licence to kill, nor it is tenable to continue ignoring the reality of occupation, siege and settlement.”


And this is before the ground invasion of Gaza is truly underway.  Owen Jones (GUARDIAN) points out:

If I knew then what I know now. For many of the guilty men and women who plunged Iraq into blood and chaos, this became something of a stock phrase. When, in 2004, the then Tory leader, Michael Howard, was asked if he would still have supported the British government’s motion backing the war – only 16 Conservative MPs rebelled a year earlier – he replied: “If I knew then what I know now, that would have caused a difficulty. I couldn’t have voted for that resolution.” “If I knew then what I know now, I would not have voted that way,” protested Hillary Clinton during her doomed first campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. “If I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn’t have voted for it,” said Labour’s then deputy leader, Harriet Harman, a few weeks later.

Prepare yourself for the revival of this phrase. As the calamity of Israel’s onslaught against Gaza becomes apparent, those who cheered it on will panic about reputational damage and plead their earlier ignorance. Do not let them get away with it this time.

The claim was nonsense even in the context of the Iraq cataclysm. As the Chilcot inquiry later concluded, Blair was warned that an invasion “would increase the threat from al-Qaida” and other groups. As a result, the inquiry did “not agree that hindsight is required”, noting that everything from “internal strife in Iraq” to Iranian intervention to the rise of al-Qaida was “explicitly identified” before the war. Warnings of the disaster to come were not confined to private intelligence briefings to Blair. From the lack of weapons of mass destruction – as former foreign secretary Robin Cook detailed in his resignation speech – to violent strife to a boost for al-Qaida, the coming disaster was widely predicted in public. There was no shortage of evidence to justify the then-secretary general of the Arab League warning that the war would “open the gates of hell”.

[. . .]

Israel is dropping leaflets on northern Gaza warning that civilians who remain there may be considered an “accomplice in a terrorist organisation”, self-evidently arguing that non-combatants can be considered fair game. Leaving aside that southern Gaza is itself being bombed, contrary to Israeli claims that it’s a safe zone, and that many are unable to flee – not least the injured and infirm – this is a public confession of what could amount to future war crimes.

When the supposed relative “moderate” foreign minister, Eli Cohen, declares that Gaza’s territory will shrink thanks to Israeli annexation, he is simply stating a longstanding open Israeli commitment. After all, when Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, declares her support for Israel’s territory compromising the biblical territory of Judea and Samaria – that is, the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – she merely echoes Netanyahu’s promoting a map of “Greater Israel” before the UN.

From collective punishment – by depriving innocent people of water, food, energy and medicine – to indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, there are no excuses. The UN is warning of “mass ethnic cleansing”, has denounced “crimes against humanity” and is even arguing that “there is a risk of genocide” against the Palestinians. A ground invasion has not even begun, but what will happen next is clear. So here is a prediction. As it is, just 3% of Britons say there “definitely should not be an immediate ceasefire”, the same proportion as those who believe the Earth is flat. As the atrocities mount, the public mood will be a mixture of horror and fury at those complicit in one of the great crimes of our time.


They should have to face reality and their responsibilities for the killings.  But that group never does.  That group, remember, includes Glenneth Greenwald who restyled himself -- after the Iraq War turned out as deadly as so many of us knew it would -- as an opponent and would spend years attacking anyone who pointed out that he was cheerleader for the Iraq War.  He has blood on his hands.  Chris Hedges never ever notes, "Hey, I'm the guy who lied on the front page of THE NEW YORK TIMES and falsely linked Iraq to 9/11 in October of 2001."  They don't take accountability.  They don't do admissions of guilt.  They just lecture and hector everyone else while pretending that's not blood we see dripping from their hands.

Don't let anyone who pushes for violence and further attacks on the Palestinian people get away with covering up and denying their roles in this.



Helen Regan, Kareem El Damanhoury and Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) report, "Aid agencies are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as doctors warn an Israeli blockade on fuel means many more vulnerable babies and wounded people in hospitals will soon die. One agency says at least 2,000 children in Gaza have been killed in the past few weeks."  There is no denying what's going on and there's no excuse for cheering it on.  Any who do are doing so with full knowledge of what's going on.  


  A U.K.-based Palestinian journalist took a Sky News presenter to task during a weekend interview in which the 23-year-old Gaza native challenged the Western media's misleading framing, double standards, and lack of critical context during coverage of Israel's war on the Gazan people.

Yara Eid—who is from Gaza City but lives in Edinburgh—pushed back after the Sky newsreader said that "it has been two weeks since Hamas first launched its attack on Israel that saw 1,400 people killed," and "since then, Palestinian officials say more than 4,000 people have died in Gaza."

Eid noted that the presenter referred to the Israelis murdered by Palestinian militants as being "killed," while describing Gazans slain by Israeli bombs, missiles, and artillery as having "died."

"I think language is really important to use because, as a journalist, you have the moral responsibility to report on what's happening," she said.

"Palestinians don't just die, they get killed," Eid stressed. "They are actually being subjected to ethnic cleansing, to genocide for the last 75 years."

"And you also mentioned that this is a Hamas-Israel war. This is not it," she said. "And framing it as such is very misleading because it poses the thing that Israel is an equal power, but it's an occupying power and it has the responsibility of protecting all civilian lives and children in Gaza."

"You need, as a journalist, to report on what's happening and say it as it is," Eid asserted.

Eid shared that 30 members of her immediate family—including 17 children—were killed by Israeli occupation forces.

The young journalist also said her best friend, Ain Media photographer Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi, was shot dead by Israeli troops. He is one of at least 20 journalists and 35 United Nations personnel who have been killed by Israeli bombs or bullets since the start of the war. 



Again, what's happening is happening in full view of the world.  THE DAILY PRINCETON notes the following open letter by some members of Princeton's faculty and student body:


Dear President Eisgruber, 

We write as bereaved members of the Princeton community — faculty, students, alumni, and staff — to express our unequivocal outrage over the tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives during the past week as the region seems to careen uncontrollably towards an all-out regional conflagration. There is never any justification for the targeting of civilians, whether it be assaults on Israeli towns or the aerial bombardment and total siege of the Gaza Strip. 

We firmly believe that the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a political one. The ongoing Israeli assault upon the Gaza Strip must be stopped. We call upon the leadership of the University as well as that of elected officials in New Jersey and Washington D.C. to do everything possible to bring an end to the targeting of civilians by the relentless bombing of hospitals, homes, roads, schools, universities, and infrastructures of survival in the Gaza Strip. The international community must force Israel, Hamas, and all parties to the conflict to adhere strictly to the letter of international law, first and foremost by putting an immediate and complete halt to the unchecked collective punishment currently being deployed against Palestinians in Gaza. The free flow of humanitarian assistance must be assured for the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza who currently have no access to food, clean drinking water, fuel, electricity, and medical relief. 

We write to voice our profound concern over the widespread dehumanization and erasure of Palestinian life in the United States and throughout the Western world, in the media, public discourse, and official governmental statements. This political environment constitutes a clear and present danger to Palestinians, while also serving to justify rising threats to and criminalization of free speech and academic freedom around the demand to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories. University students and student organizations who issue statements critical of Israeli policies or express solidarity with Palestinians are continuously subjected to harassment, intimidation, imperiled job prospects, and threats to their personal safety. We demand continuous and ironclad guarantees of the freedom of speech for our faculty but especially for our students, including concrete protections from harassment, intimidation, and discrimination. Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students have been attacked for their views, whether expressed or imputed, whether online or in the real world, but also on the basis of their identity alone, as we recently saw in the heartbreaking case of a six-year-old Palestinian-American child in Illinois being stabbed 26 times in his own home. 

We welcome your statement of October 10 emphasizing that Princeton embraces both Israelis and Palestinians as part of its community, and that the situation is deeply distressing for us all. We appreciate the efforts made by the administration to reach out to Jewish community members as well as those with Israeli citizenship to check on their well-being. We find it unacceptable, however, that Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students were not and have not been accorded a similar show of respect and care. We call upon the University administration to do everything in its power to ensure that all Princetonians are recognized and feel safe and seen in this moment of accelerating grief, horror, and outright danger. 

This is an epochal moment in the history of the Middle East. “In the nation’s service and the service of humanity,” we affirm. We call upon the University administration to uphold the values that Princeton stands for. We serve the nation and serve humanity by collectively working for peace and justice.

This list is as of 4:30 PM on October 21, 2023. To view a full list of signatories, please see this continuously updated document. To sign the letter, please see this link. 






AMY GOODMAN: We have just been joined on the phone by Raji Sourani, who put this message out after Israel bombed his home in Gaza City. He said, “By a miracle, I survived with my family. My house destroyed tonight by [an] Israeli bombing, at 8:25 p.m. The area I’m living in Gaza city Tal Al Hawa was subject to bombing for almost two hours by F16 rockets. I lived with my beloved wife and son the [longest two] hours and the most horrific time in my life, where the three of us sure we are not going to survive and we will surely die in any coming bomb. We hear the F16. We hear the rocket launched roaring and the explosion whom for 25 consecutive times thinking will take our life.”

Raji Sourani, we have just reached in Gaza. Can you hear us? Raji Sourani is the award-winning —

RAJI SOURANI: Yes, yes, yes, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: — human rights lawyer —

RAJI SOURANI: I can hear you.

AMY GOODMAN: — and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza.

RAJI SOURANI: I do hear you very well.

AMY GOODMAN: Hi, Raji. We can hear you, as well. Can you tell us what happened? People all over the world expressing concern, as you are a renowned human rights attorney, with your family, not knowing what had happened. What happened?

RAJI SOURANI: I think the world should be worried about the crimes going on against Palestinian civilians, who are for the 18th consecutive day in the eye of the storm. They are the target. They are the target of the F-16s, of the cannons, of the gunships, day or night, 25 hours a day. They almost destroyed — they destroyed Gaza. I mean, it’s unbelievable, this army targeting only civilians and civilian targets — towers, houses, hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, shelter places, ambulances, nurses, doctors, journalists. This is the most political army — this is the most political army in the world. This is the mighty Israel, its might and power targeting civilians. They are doing war crimes, crimes against humanity, persecution for 2.4 million people for the last 18 days.

Unfortunately, this colonial, racist West supporting them by all ways and means. They are supporting them with money, with guns, with airplanes, with all what they need to do this crime. They are complicit by supporting them politically and militarily and politically. It’s shame this is happening in the 21st century, while these war crimes not secret enough. It’s projected live on air, and the entire world see it. And the ICC prosecutor, who issued warrants against Putin because he committed war crimes against civilians, because he invaded and made occupation to Ukraine, and here we have this prolonged military occupation, we have prolonged blockade, which is criminal, suffocated people here, we have five consecutive wars, and this is the sixth, and he is doing nothing. He is doing nothing except, you know, freezing the investigation of the war crimes committed by Israel and the Israeli army.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji, you’re talking about the —

RAJI SOURANI: Gaza in unprecedented crisis —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji, you’re talking about the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan?

RAJI SOURANI: Yes, yes. He is complicit. He is selectively dealing with the Rome Statute, with the investigations, and he’s politically charging the International Criminal Court. Shame on him. He didn’t say one statement, since day one 'til this moment. He should be the backbone of the victims who are suffering in this part of the world. And he sees that, and he knows that, and he receives reports about that. And he's doing nothing.

So, U.S. and Mr. Biden — I’m saying to him — you are complicit. You are part of these crimes, because you are allowing, with your arms, civilians to be targeted and killed. We have almost 1,200 people for almost two weeks under the wreckage and under the destroyed houses, unable to be recovered. We have 57 families deleted, don’t exist anymore, because 20, 25, 30 of them have been killed in one second. We have churches targeted, and people died in it. We have mosques, people sheltered in it, and they were killed. Why you are allowing this to happen? Why you are seeing, watching, supporting Israel? Israel right of defense? Or it should be protecting civilians at the time of war. IHL, international humanitarian law, and human rights, Rome Statute, it’s there —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: — simply, Amy, to protect —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: — civilians at a time of war. And nobody is protecting us. We are the target of the Israeli army. They want to evict Gaza, and they create a new Nakba. They don’t want anybody in Gaza. They want us to leave. We are not leaving. We are the stones of the valley. We have been here since ever, and we will continue forever. We will not be part of the Israeli plan to evacuate Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji, if you can tell us what happened to your own family? When was your house bombed? And were you dug out from the rubble?

RAJI SOURANI: I’m living in Rimal area, Tal Al Hawa, the nicest place in Gaza. I have my own villa, and it’s nice, with very nice garden. It’s a two-story building. It’s me and my wife Amal and my son Basel. And we were, like everybody, I mean, you know, at our home, watching what’s going on. And out of the blue, the bombing began, began in our area — nothing special, nothing unique, nothing consist danger; otherwise, my sense will tell me, I mean, you know, I have to leave, or I will ask my wife and son, I mean, at least, to leave. But there is nothing, I mean, in that part. It’s entirely civilian, and I can tell — and I have always the reason, I mean, to say that.

And I have — the bombing began, and we thought, yes, I mean, this might be one bomb here or there. But it was very close. And the second, and then we began to realize and feel, you know, there is something big wrong happening, because sound getting closer, closer and closer. We were holding — I mean, we were not thinking or realizing that we are going to survive. That’s not easy. And I was thinking of a lot of things, I mean, my life, how I didn’t really, you know, leave like everybody leave. Should I leave, or should I stay? Why we move just in that place two minutes before the rocket of F-16, GBU-38, hit? And I felt the heat of the flame, and I saw the ball of fire. And every time, especially this one, I thought it’s our end. And this was last one, I mean, with the hit directly to my house, and the house was literally destroyed. Lucky enough, I just moved from the place where we are staying, upon the request of my son, to one tiny corridor inside the house. And if we were where we were, we are gone. We are gone.

So, we waited almost half an hour, unable to speak any words, unable to do anything. And we were really, I mean, a state of human shock. And I waited 'til, you know, there was some siren of ambulances remotely, and that means usually the bombing stopped, and they get the green light to come in. Then we began to climb our way out. But it was rather a mission impossible. And we were lucky, I mean, you know, to get out. And when we get out of the place, we just moved to my brother's house, which is like 800 meters away from the place we are staying. This happened on the 18th. But since then 'til today, I can assure you one thing, that the entire area is of Tal Al Hawa completely abolished almost. Two-thirds of it doesn't exist. This really beautiful area of Gaza doesn’t exist anymore.

So, we survived. We were lucky. But our neighbors, I mean, they lost 29 members, Habboush family, and others and others and others and others and others. We are collecting data. We are collecting information. This is unprecedented. I never, ever thought in my life civilians can be the target of war. They are not with Hamas.

Hamas insulted them, insulted their intelligence, insulted their military. We can understand that. In two hours, they were able to destroy the security wall, which America — which U.S. took it as the standard, and many other countries. And they destroyed it in 15 minutes, and they were able to enter. And they took over 11 military strongholds of Israel, and they killed and captured many of them. And they get back to them in Gaza, and we can understand why they are angry with them. And they took the headquarters of Gaza commandment of the Israeli military army, and they arrested generals, colonel and others, and they brought them, I mean, to Gaza. Israel has the right to be angry, absolutely angry, because Hamas showed their intelligence and their military capability means nothing, and they destroyed this illusion in two hours.

But why they are revenging from us? They should rebel from Hamas. Hamas still, I can assure you, functions like a Swiss watch in Gaza, and they are not affected. I can tell that. I can see that. We feel that. They are unable to minimize their power. They are unable to silence them. They are unable to locate where their soldiers are who were taken as prisoners of war. They are unable to do anything for them. That’s why they are revenging from us. This is the shame on the army. I mean, there is rules of engagement between the army, between the resistance movement and any army. But why civilians are the target? This is the big question. This is shame this is happening, I mean, to us. And I’m telling you —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: — the reason they wanted — yes.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you — the leaflets that were dropped this weekend on Gaza, addressed to residents of Gaza, reading, “Urgent warning to the residents of Gaza: Your presence north of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization.” These on leaflets. I don’t know if you saw these leaflets, but you have made a decision with your family not to move south. Can you respond to what they’re saying, that anyone who chooses not to evacuate may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization?

RAJI SOURANI: We have been here since ever, and we will stay forever. And no power on Earth will take me from here. We are the stones of the valley. They have to understand that. And even if they destroy once and again houses on our heads, even if they took our life, we are not moving anymore. Simply, we suffered from the Nakba 75 years. They committed massacres. They killed thousands of Palestinians. They pushed us out. And now it’s time for us not to do that again, at least willingly. We cannot be part of Mr. Bibi’s plan to evacuate Gaza. He said it, from a written statement, in a press conference day one: Gazans should leave Gaza. Where to? Where to? If anybody should leave, people like Mr. Bibi, not us. Enough for the occupation. We want dignity, freedom, end of this belligerent, criminal occupation. Now people from south of Gaza began to come back to north in thousands, because there is no safe haven in Gaza, no safe place in Gaza. And we are not going to be a tool in the hands of racist, criminal, rightist Israeli prime minister. No way. We are not going to do that. We are going to stay in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji Sourani, I want to thank you so much for taking this call, human rights attorney, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Please be safe. I know that it’s extremely difficult, with now the death toll at 5,000. Raji has chosen to stay in Gaza City near his home. People should go to our interviews with Raji over these last two weeks, of course, and beyond, before that. I also want to thank Jehad Abusalim, scholar and analyst from Gaza, executive director of The Jerusalem Fund. Thank you so much both for being with us.

Next up, “Do not use our death and our pain to bring death and pain of other people and other families.” The message of Noy Katsman about their brother Hayim, an Israeli peace activist killed in the Hamas attack. We’ll speak with Noy, as he says, “Not in my name. Not in my brother’s name.” Stay with us.


Turning to the United States . . . 

Karen Danao (QUOTE AMBITION) reports on Nausicaa who decided last summer to see a doctor because she felt she was a trans woman in a male body.  Instead, she found out she was born intersexed which cleared up a lot -- at 14 she was bothered by lumps in her chest and thought she had cancer.  Now, she's able to see that was her breast developing and why.  At the time, the doctor had told her that sometimes the body's hormones got confused.  It also explained why she had a woman's hairline and a woman's hands. 



No, idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, life is not as simple as your simple and ignorant minds think it is.  It's never that simple.  And I pray that the hate you toss out comes right back at you 100 times greater.


Let's turn to another idiot, Dianne Hensley.  She's a judge in Texas.  Let's make clear, Texas elects their judges.  Dianne, a very strange looking woman who has rough skin on her cheeks that looks like rug burns, chose to run for the office of judge.  And some idiots elected her to that office.  She now has a problem with that office as Debapriva Bhattacharya (MEAWW) explains:


Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley has refused to perform wedding ceremonies for same- couples and decided to take her fight over religious beliefs to the state's Supreme Court.

The Texas Commission on Judicial Misconduct sanctioned Hensley in 2019 for conducting marriages exclusively between heterosexual couples. Shortly afterward, Hensley filed a lawsuit arguing that the commission punished her because of her faith, reported Daily Mail.


Idiot, you ran for public office.  You have to perform your public duties as required by the government.

You know there was a mayor a few months back, in another state (not my state California or Whack Job Dianne's) who announced he wasn't going to sign the permit for a Pride parade due to his personal beliefs.  

Hmm.

As the ride at Disney Land says, "It's a small world after all."  I didn't know him.  But . . . I did know his boyfriend.  And conveyed that the closet case could stop grandstanding and sign the damn permit or I'd be happy to out and closet case who was using his office to harm the LGBTQ+ community.

I don't get where anyone thinks that they can run for elected office and then insist that they need to discriminate and break the law because of their religion. 

November 8, 2022.  That's when Dianne last ran for election.


2015.  What's that?  When the US Supreme Court decided OBERGEFELL -- the verdict that granted marriage equality.


Meaning?

Dianne knew the law before she was a judge and she knew the law after she was a judge.  


A justice of the peace performs marriages.  The law says marriage equality.  If she didn't want to perform them, she shouldn't run for office.  A justice of the peace is supposed to follow all the laws -- not pick and choose.  

She chose to run and she needs to uphold the law.  Anything other than renders her unfit for office and she needs to be removed from the bench.



On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court decided to take up the case of a Texas justice of the peace who was sanctioned because she refused to marry same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs—and she’s planning to take her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.



Wait, you must be asking yourself, Haven’t we been here before?
Yep.

[. . .]

Fast forward to 2023, and that is not so clear anymore. The current Supreme Court—with Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh, put on the court by Trump—has ruled in favor of blatant discrimination, all in the name of religious freedom. And Thomas and Alito may now have the chance to “fix” yet another “problem” they claim the court created.

The Waco, Texas, justice of the peace at the center of the current case, Dianne Hensley, refused to perform same-sex marriages in 2019 based on her religious beliefs as a Christian. She was formally sanctioned by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. She filed a lawsuit, arguing her rights were violated under the Texas Religious Restoration Freedom Act. The case was dismissed by a state district judge, and that decision was upheld upon appeal. Hensley then appealed to the very right-wing Texas Supreme Court, and it decided on Friday to take her case.

Hensley’s lawyers at the First Liberty Institute, a Christian nationalist law firm with ties to corrupt, viciously anti-LGBTQ Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, are using the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision last June in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in which the court’s conservatives ruled that a Colorado web designer can’t be forced to serve same-sex couples seeking wedding websites based on her religious beliefs—even though no same-sex couple had actually sought the web designer’s services. Per the Texas Tribune:

Justin Butterfield, an attorney for Hensley at First Liberty Institute, has maintained throughout the lawsuit that religious liberty is Hensley’s right as a citizen.




Her rights as a private citizen do not trump her elected responsibilities and duties as a public servant.   A judge who refuses to follow the law should not be on the bench.  And this is a very slippery slope.  Some people insist that their religion, for example, renders them opposed to the death penalty.  So could a judge on a bench in the US refuse to follow the laws regarding the death penalty by citing 'religious freedom'?  Hell no.  Nor could he or she get away with saying, "God told me to rule innocent on this mass murderer so that's what I'm going to do."  You do not get to break or ignore the laws when you're a judge.  And if she can't comply with the law, she needs to take herself off the bench immediately.  

In fact, since we're all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law, she should resign.  Her homophobia is the same as racism or sexism.  If she can't treat all US citizens the same, she shouldn't be trusted to rule from the bench.


That also applies to pharmacists, by the way.  J Lysikatos (WEALTHY LIVING) reports:


A transgender man in Kansas City has alleged that a pharmacist at the retail giant Costco refused to sell him insulin syringes, which did not require a prescription, upon learning he intended to use them for testosterone injections. This incident is the latest in a series involving pharmacists allegedly denying medical supplies to transgender patients.



Did the pharmacist skip the oath?  There is an oath:


"I promise to devote myself to a lifetime of service to others through the profession of pharmacy. In fulfilling this vow: I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns. I will promote inclusion, embrace diversity, and advocate for justice to advance health equity.



The Supreme Court should never have sided with hate merchant and LIAR Lori Smith to begin with.  Her case was made up and she's a proven liar who will probably rot in hell or some equivalent for pretending to be a Christian while lying to the Court.  To pretend that she had a right to discriminate based on her religion was bad enough.  But we're no longer talking some dingy idiot who fancies herself a wedding planner.  We're talking about judges and medical professionals.  

You don't want to sell insulin syringes to some people?  Then quit.  You took an oath and you're not following it.  You need to be fired and fired immediately.  I'm insulin dependent and I'm sure there's something about my life that hate merchants like Lorie Smith would attack me for.  But if they're judges or they're medical professionals, they aren't allowed to use any prejudice to deny me my equal rights or my healthcare needs. 




Mark Burns, a MAGA supporter and pastor, announced he’s opening a Christian military school despite fabricating details of his military experience. 

During the 2016 presidential election, Burns was a fierce supporter of former President Donald Trump. He spoke at the RNC and was a dedicated surrogate for the former president.

Burns had claimed that he served in the Army Reserves but in 2016, it was revealed that Burns actually served in the South Carolina National Guard, Politico reported. 

He had also claimed to be a graduate of North Greenville University, but the school confirmed he had only attended the institution for one semester, according to Politico.

Earlier this month, Burns announced plans to open the Burns Military Academy, writing in a Facebook post that the school’s mission is to provide “an affordable, pro-American education with a strong emphasis on biblical teachings.” 



I'm sorry, I've read the article 3 times now and I'm not finding anything in it where he takes a moment to apologize for lying about his service.  Second, "a strong emphasis on biblical teachings"?  Googling tells me that "lying is generally considered a sin in Christianity."  Did Mark Burns get a waiver on that?  It would appear that instead of opening any type of school, he should be working on his beliefs with some member of the clergy because he clearly has failed the Lord and the Lord's teachings.  Third, calling it "Burns Military Academy"?  That's bearing false witness.  It will have no connection at all to the US military.  Confronted on that, noted liar Mark Burns insists "we are in the Army of the Lord."  Well the kids may be, but I kind of think your past lying and your current lying would result in you getting kicked out of "the Army of the Lord."  The liar insists that 'we' (he's royalty?) "believe in teaching our students good morals" -- apparently lying is a moral act.

I wouldn't know.  I'm concerned with ethics, not morality.  

The great comedy team of Nichols & May used to send up that nonsense.  Elaine May would say, "It is a moral issue.  And to me that's so much more interesting than a real issue."



Exactly.

Charlatans needs 'moral' issues to distract from their many failures at real issues.  Case in point, Ronald DeSantis who has destroyed Florida as he has attacked the LGBTQ+ community, the African-American community, women who believe in using their brains and education itself.  Lauren Lassabe Shepherd (TIME MAGAZINE) reports:




New College of Florida, the small liberal arts college historically ranked among U.S. News and World Report’s top 75 institutions, has fallen 24 places. Now it risks dropping out of the top-100 category entirely.

This double-digit tumble is due in part to Governor Ron DeSantis’ overhaul of the school to transform it into a decidedly right-wing institution—a “Hillsdale of the South,” in reference to the conservative college in Michigan. DeSantis appointed right-wing activists to the board of trustees, replaced the college’s president and other administrators with political allies who have no experience in higher education, and gutted one-third of the faculty along with the diversity and equity department. The board has even relocated students to hotels to accommodate incoming athletes’ use of campus living spaces.

This type of college takeover is a new, more sinister development in a longstanding conservative practice. The right has spent decades creating parallel and competing structures in areas including political news, social media, and even consumer goods. This time, instead of offering students a conservative alternative in higher education, DeSantis and his allies are gutting an existing institution from the inside.

And they hope this is just the beginning. The right-wing activists behind New College’s transformation are encouraging other governors and administrators to replicate their example, stressing that all public colleges can be “captured, restructured, and reformed” if conservative leaders embrace their model. This push will imperil students’ access to a comprehensive college education, especially in the liberal arts and social sciences where the right’s attacks are targeted.




I've said it before and I'll say it again.  If your a parent paying for your child's education at New College of Florida, I would immediately file a lawsuit against Ronald DeSantis.  He has plunged the value of a diploma from that college.  I paid for my kids' college.  I paid for my college because my parents didn't like my major and just knew that if they told me, right before I started freshman year, that they'd only pay if I majored in what they wanted, that I'd fall in line.  I never fall in line and I don't let anyone bully me.  So I worked two and three jobs every semester.  One semester I worked four jobs.  (Don't cry, by junior year, the trust fund kicked in.) So if you're someone in the same boat I was and you're paying your own way, I would also immediately file a lawsuit against Ron DeSantis because you were paying for a college in the top 75 of all colleges in the nation.  Thanks to Ronald DeSantis, however, you're no longer getting that.  In fact, parents and students might want to get together and consider a class action lawsuit.


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