The Evening Blues - 4-8-24
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues drummer and vocalist Sam Lay. Enjoy!
Sam Lay - Roll Over Beethoven, Whole Lotta Shakin', Hound Dog
"Biden and his cohorts aren’t mad at Netanyahu for committing a genocide, they’re mad at Netanyahu for not hiding a genocide."
-- Caitlin Johnstone
News and Opinion
As Support For Gaza Goes Mainstream, Don’t Let The Empire Co-Opt The Movement
Opposition to the slaughter in Gaza appears to be getting more mainstream, which is obviously great, but when political impulses go mainstream it means there’s going to be a massive and concerted effort to funnel public sentiment in a direction that doesn’t damage the interests of the empire.
They’re going to try to blame this all on Netanyahu.
They’re going to insist that Israel itself is fine and the only thing that went wrong was a fluke incident in which an aberrational right wing faction briefly got into power.
It's absolutely a good thing these stories are getting mainstream coverage in the US now.
It's also...weird...seeing stories that have been all over social media for months suddenly break into that ecosystem all of a sudden. https://t.co/AZWl2kduY1
— Mohammad Alsaafin (@malsaafin) April 6, 2024
They’re going to try to wash the western empire’s hands of the mass atrocities it directly facilitated in Gaza.
They’re going to try to frame Biden as a basically decent politician who found himself trapped in an impossible situation.
They’re going to keep pretending a two-state solution is right around the corner and doing everything they can to stall out meaningful change on Palestinian rights, while blaming any obstacles to peace on the Palestinian resistance.
They’re going to pollute the information ecosystem with a deluge of messaging which is all designed to counter the notion that Gaza means the entire status quo needs to be overhauled — with regard to Israel-Palestine, with regard to US foreign policy, with regard to the US government itself, and with regard to the western power structure in general.
They killed a white American and passive voice died instantly https://t.co/BTDp2elYDH
— Guns are Post-Birth Abortifacients (@ritaresarian) April 5, 2024
They’re going to say everything they need to say to ensure that everyone understands that the basic status quo in Israel, the United States and the western world is working perfectly fine, and this was all just an innocent little oopsie poopsie caused by a few bad apples.
They’ll justify, they’ll excuse, they’ll exonerate, and then they’ll distract, moving public attention on to the next big thing and allowing the amnesia of the daily news churn to wash Gaza from our attention — all while pretending to be on our side.
This messaging will need to be fought tooth and claw. We cannot allow them to neuter this political moment with spin and propaganda. We need to make sure their criminality remains front and center of public awareness, and we need to push for the real revolutionary changes that Gaza plainly proves are needed.
Let mainstream sentiment turn against the current Israeli regime and bring an end to the butchery in Gaza, but don’t let the imperial narrative managers co-opt anything. Don’t let them hijack the zeitgeist that’s been building.
View all words and actions of the western political-media class with aggressive skepticism, and push back forcefully every time they try to push public sentiment in a direction that advantages the empire.
"Killing People Around the Clock": Palestinians Mark Six Months of War on Gaza
As Palestinians starve, Netanyahu government attempts face-saving gesture following US-Israel murder of aid workers
In the aftermath of Monday’s targeted killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers by the Israel Defence Forces, the White House and media outlets internationally have gone into overdrive to convince everyone that a significant shift in Israel’s policy towards Gaza’s Palestinians is taking place. Friday’s announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an additional border crossing for aid deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip will be opened and temporary deliveries will be allowed to depart Israel’s Ashdod port was widely reported as a newfound humanitarian commitment to 2.3 million starving Gazans.
In reality, the move is a face-saving gesture aimed at quelling an eruption of popular outrage around the world to Israel’s barbaric war crimes, while allowing US imperialism to hypocritically posture as a restraining force in the ongoing genocide. Netanyahu’s announcement was closely coordinated with Washington, coming just hours after a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu.
Media reports presented the call as tense, with Biden supposedly urging the adoption of “specific, concrete and measurable” steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. However, leading Biden administration officials, including National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, made clear that there would be no change to the supply of weaponry to Israel and that Washington’s support was “iron clad.” Referring to Netanyahu’s announcement later Friday, Biden bluntly told a reporter, “I asked them to do what they’re doing.”
The opening of an extra border crossing and a temporary maritime route into Gaza is a moot point if there are no aid workers to deliver desperately needed food and medical supplies. The Israel Defence Forces stopped all aid deliveries to northern Gaza by the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) last week. Following the massacre of the World Central Kitchen aid workers, WCK, American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have suspended aid operations in Gaza. WCK was supposed to have played a central part in the maritime aid corridor from Cyprus that was touted by the Biden administration in March, when it announced plans to construct a floating dock off the enclave’s coast. The Cypriot government stated Monday that a ship organised by WCK returned from Gaza without offloading the 332 tons of humanitarian aid it was carrying.
Even if one accepts Israel’s propaganda about aid deliveries under Netanyahu’s latest announcement, they will continue to fall well short of what is required. Israel Army Radio reported that 350 aid trucks could now reach Gaza each day, up from the current level of 200. This would amount to just 70 percent of the 500 aid trucks that arrived in Gaza each day prior to Israel’s assault. The claim that 200 trucks are currently arriving each day is rejected by independent sources, with Oxfam stating that an average of 105 trucks reach Gaza daily.
Israel Moves Troops OUT Of Southern Gaza; Pro-Palestine Protestors VINDICATED
Biden Says Israel Is Doing What He Asked, Signaling No Change in US Support
President Biden said on Friday that Israel was doing what he asked, signaling he has no plans to alter his policy of full-throated support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza despite the killing of an American citizen and six other workers for the World Central Kitchen. ...
It’s unclear if the Israeli steps will bring any real relief, as Gaza’s entire population is facing crisis levels of food shortages, and the US State Department has acknowledged famine may already be occurring in some areas of the Strip due to the Israeli siege. But the half-measures appear to have placated Biden.
When asked on Friday before boarding Marine One if he threatened to cut off military aid to Israel, Biden said, “I asked them to do what they’re doing.” He was also asked if he was “abandoning” Israel and replied, “Are you serious?”
Israel withdraws troops from southern Gaza for ‘tactical reasons’
Israel has pulled all of its ground troops out of southern Gaza for “tactical reasons”, the country’s army has said, raising questions about the future direction of the war as Hamas and Israeli delegations travel to Egypt for a new round of ceasefire talks.
Two brigades will stay in the northern half of the Gaza Strip and the new corridor that now bifurcates the Palestinian territory at Wadi Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday, in order to “preserve the IDF’s freedom of action and its ability to conduct precise intelligence based-operations”.
It is believed the drawdown is primarily to relieve reservists after nearly four months of intense fighting in the decimated southern city of Khan Younis, rather than any significant shift in strategy.
An army official who spoke to the Israel daily Haaretz said: “There’s no need for us to remain in Khan Younis. The 98th Division dismantled Hamas’s Khan Younis brigades and killed thousands of its members. We did everything we could there.” Displaced Palestinians from the city may now be able to return to their homes, they said.
Military analysts said on Sunday that an Israeli ground offensive on Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, where about 1.5 million people were sheltering, was not off the table.
Europeans Have No Right to Tell Palestinians How to Escape Their Prison w/ Yanis Varoufakis
Chef José Andrés says Israel engaging in ‘war against humanity itself’ in Gaza
The White House has pushed back on comments by World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés that Israel is engaged in “war against humanity itself” following the Israeli drone strike attack that killed seven of his aid workers on 1 April, but ruled out putting US monitors on the ground in Gaza.
“There’s going to have to be some changes to the way Israeli defense forces are prosecuting these operations in Gaza to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told ABC’s This Week said on Sunday.
“There have to got to be changes in the deconfliction process, between aid workers on the ground and the IDF headquarters so that this kind of targeting can’t happen again,” Kirby said Sunday, but would not be drawn on claims that Israeli drone operators would have been able see the insignia three WCK vehicles carrying the workers that identified them as part of an aid convoy.
In an earlier interview on This Week, Andrés had said that the IDF attack on his workers “is not anymore about the seven men and women of World Central Kitchen that perished on this unfortunate event. This is happening for way too long. It’s been six months of targeting anything that seems – moves,” Andrés said.
“This doesn’t seem a war against terror,” Andrés added. “This doesn’t seem anymore a war about defending Israel. This really, at this point, seems it’s a war against humanity itself.”
Alastair Crooke: Western Thinking About War
Lawyers Sue Germany in Bid to Block Arms Exports to Israel
The Berlin-based Lawyers' Collective on Friday sued the German government in an effort to stop weapons transfers to Israel, whose government and military are waging a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second-largest arms exporter to Israel, providing 30% of its imported weaponry from 2019-23. The top exporter, the United States, provided 69% of Israel's imported armaments during that same period.
"As there is reason to believe that these weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes, the applicants are hereby demanding that the German government protect their right to life," groups supporting the lawsuit—including the European Legal Support Center, Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Law for Palestine, and Forensis—said in a statement.
Ahmed Abed, an attorney in the case who is representing Palestinian families, said during a Friday press conference in Berlin that "Germany has a constitutional responsibility to protect human life."
"The German government must stop its arms exports to Israel, as they are in violation of international law," he added. "The government cannot claim that it is not aware of this."
Pelosi FLIPS On Israel After Friend Jose Andres Aid Strike
After Months of Progressive Outcry Over Biden Israel Policy, Establishment Dems Pile On
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine on Friday became the latest centrist Democrat to display a shift in tone regarding the Biden administration's continued support for Israel—and despite months of intensifying demands from progressive lawmakers and the international community for President Joe Biden to push for a change in policy from Israel, the newly minted critics have appeared to have more success.
The Virginia Democrat, who serves on both the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, cited the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week in a lengthy statement in which he said Israel's "current approach is not working" and pushed back against the White House's opposition to an independent investigation into the attack.
"The United States should join in the call for an independent and international investigation into Monday's strike on World Central Kitchen volunteers, in which an American was killed," said Kaine. The senator also renewed his call for the administration to "prioritize the transfer of defensive weapons in all arms sales to Israel while withholding bombs and other offensive weapons that can kill and wound civilians and humanitarian aid workers."
Kaine's comments came a day after Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)—said to be Biden's closest ally in the Senate—told CNN that the U.S. is approaching a point at which it must consider placing conditions on military aid to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
"If [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale... and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, I would vote to condition aid to Israel," Coons said, referring to the southern Gaza city where Israel has threatened to start a ground offensive and where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are staying in shelters and makeshift tents. "I've never said that before, I've never been here before."
Late Thursday, Biden for the first time warned Netanyahu that the U.S. could condition military aid—of which the White House has provided billions of dollars in weapons since October in addition to nearly $4 billion annually—based on whether humanitarian aid is reaching Gazans, who have been starved by Israel's near-total blockade.
As Common Dreams reported, Israeli officials approved the reopening of the Erez crossing between Israel and northern Gaza soon after the call.
Also this week, former George W. Bush administration official Richard Haass told MSNBC that Biden's previous warnings to Netanyahu about ensuring civilians are protected from strikes sound "empty" and demanded to know why the White House hasn't responded to Israel's push for settlement expansion in the West Bank as he questioned the level of aid the administration has provided.
"Why does Israel need 2,000-pound bombs to be used in high-density populated areas?" Haass asked, echoing progressive outrage over the administration's repeated weapons transfers even as the death toll in Gaza has surged past 33,000.
While progressives on Friday expressed some relief that Biden's shifting approach to Israel could soon result in more aid getting to Palestinians, Palestinian rights advocates mourned the fact that Israel's killing of more than 33,000 Palestinians, the orphaning of at least 17,000 children, the deaths from starvation of more than two dozen children, and the displacement of over 75% of Gaza's population did not push the president's allies to join progressives sooner.
"It may seem wrong that, after more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza have perished, it took the deaths of just seven international aid workers to stir Western governments into a sense of outrage, but that is the reality," read the opening lines of The Independent's leading editorial on Thursday.
Our front page tomorrow @Independent
‘The moment has come to do whatever it takes to force Israel to end its war. It has to stop.’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/2EcNUfRvjp
— Alastair Jamieson (@alastairjam) April 3, 2024
"The least that can be asked is that Israel, as a member of the United Nations, complies with the resolutions of the Security Council and the instructions of the International Court of Justice," wrote the paper's editorial board. "That means no more massacres of innocent civilians or aid workers; a cease-fire now; no ground or aerial assault on Rafah; and full assistance afforded to the shipments of humanitarian aid."
Battle for Chasov Yar begins. NATO weapons shortage
The Ukie Nukie Kookies are at it again:
UN nuclear watchdog head condemns drone strike on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The head of the UN’s atomic watchdog agency has condemned a drone strike on one of six nuclear reactors at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, saying such attacks “significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident”.
In a statement on X, Rafael Grossi confirmed at least three direct hits against the ZNPP main reactor containment structures. “This cannot happen,” the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Grossi said it was the first such attack since November 2022, when he set out five basic principles to avoid a serious nuclear accident with radiological consequences.
Russian officials at the plant claimed the site was attacked on Sunday by Ukrainian military drones, including a strike on the dome of the plant’s sixth power unit.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency has denied responsibility for the strike. “Russian strikes, including imitation ones, on the territory of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant ... have long been a well known criminal practice of the invaders,” a spokesperson told local media.
According to the plant authorities, there was no critical damage or casualties and radiation levels at the plant were normal after the strikes. Later on Sunday, however, Russian state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom said three people were wounded in the “unprecedented series of drone attacks”, specifically when a drone hit an area close to the site’s canteen.
CHAOS: Ecuador STORMS Mexican Embassy In Israel Copycat
I guess April is the month that we all get to learn about the Vienna Conventions as barbaric governments violate them.
Mexico Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Ecuador After 'Intolerable' Quito Embassy Raid
Mexico on Friday night announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito and kidnapped former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who was granted asylum after being convicted of what he claims are politically motivated corruption charges.
"Alicia Bárcena, our secretary of foreign affairs, has just informed me that police from Ecuador forcibly entered our embassy and detained the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment he faces," Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on social media following the raid.
"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico, which is why I have instructed our chancellor to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally, and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Ecuador," he added.
Bárcena said that "given the flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador, Mexico announces the immediate breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador."
Mexican officials said multiple embassy staff members were injured during the raid. They also said that all Mexican diplomatic staff will immediately leave Ecuador, and that Mexico would appeal to the International Court of Justice to hold Ecuador accountable.
Roberto Canseco, head of chancellery and policy affairs at the embassy, told reporters that "what you have just seen is an outrage against international law and the inviolability of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador."
"It is barbarism," he added. "It is impossible for them to violate the diplomatic premises as they have done."
UN chief joins condemnation of Ecuadorian raid on Mexican embassy
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has added his voice to a torrent of criticism of Ecuador’s decision to storm the Mexican embassy in Quito in order to arrest the former vice-president Jorge Glas.
“The secretary general is alarmed at the forced entry of Ecuadorian security forces into the premises of the Mexican embassy,” Guterres said through his spokesperson on Sunday, adding that violations of the sanctity of diplomatic and consular property “jeopardise the pursuit of normal international relations”.
The decision by Ecuador’s young president, Daniel Noboa, to order Friday’s raid – portrayed as part of his three-month-old “war on crime” – has prompted an unusually intense outpouring of outrage from across the political spectrum in Latin America.
Dramatic footage of the police assault showed heavily armed officers scaling the building’s outer wall before a senior Mexican diplomat, Roberto Canseco, was wrestled to the ground as Glas was driven away. “This cannot be. This is madness,” Canseco was filmed shouting. “I’m worried, because they might kill him,” a visibly shaken Canseco added of Glas, who had been living at the Mexican embassy since seeking asylum there late last year.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, led the criticism, expressing solidarity with his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Brazilian foreign ministry said Ecuador’s move deserved “vehement repudiation” and was a “clear violation of the pan-American convention on diplomatic asylum and the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations”.Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, condemned the action as an “unacceptable infringement” of Mexican sovereignty.
OUTRAGE? Biden Says US Taxpayers Will Pay To Fix Baltimore Bridge
Joe Rogan: Dems Will YANK Biden From 2024 Race NEXT MONTH
Biden could be left off general election ballot in Ohio, Republican official warns
The Ohio secretary of state has sent a letter to the Ohio Democratic party warning that Joe Biden could be left off the November election ballot in 2024 unless the Democratic National Convention meets earlier or statutory requirements in the state are changed or exempted.
According to a letter sent from the Ohio secretary of state, Frank LaRose, a Republican, to Ohio Democratic party chair Liz Walters, the Democratic National Convention scheduled for 19 August where the party officially nominates its candidate for president is past the 7 August deadline to certify presidential candidates on the Ohio ballot.
In 2020, the Republican and Democratic parties held their conventions after Ohio’s deadline and state lawmakers reduced the requirement of 90 days to 60 days before the election to be named on the ballot.
Trump gets richer as DEMs try to make him poorer
Scientists confirm record highs for three most important heat-trapping gases
The levels of the three most important heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached new record highs again last year, US scientists have confirmed, underlining the escalating challenge posed by the climate crisis.
The global concentration of carbon dioxide, the most important and prevalent of the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity, rose to an average of 419 parts per million in the atmosphere in 2023 while methane, a powerful if shorter-lasting greenhouse gas, rose to an average of 1922 parts per billion. Levels of nitrous oxide, the third most significant human-caused warming emission, climbed slightly to 336 parts per billion.
The increases do not quite match the record jumps seen in recent years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), but still represent a major change in the composition of the atmosphere even from just a decade ago.
Through the burning of fossil fuels, animal agriculture and deforestation, the world’s CO2 levels are now more than 50% higher than they were before the era of mass industrialization. Methane, which comes from sources including oil and gas drilling and livestock, has surged even more dramatically in recent years, Noaa said, and now has atmospheric concentrations 160% larger than in pre-industrial times.
Noaa said the onward march of greenhouse gas levels was due to the continued use of fossil fuels, as well as the impact of wildfires, which spew carbon-laden smoke into the air. Nitrous oxide, meanwhile, has risen due to the widespread use of nitrogen fertilizer and the intensification of agriculture.
Earth Breaks New Records for Greenhouse Gases in Atmosphere as Climate Crisis Intensifies
‘Simply mind-boggling’: world record temperature jump in Antarctic raises fears of catastrophe
On 18 March, 2022, scientists at the Concordia research station on the east Antarctic plateau documented a remarkable event. They recorded the largest jump in temperature ever measured at a meteorological centre on Earth. According to their instruments, the region that day experienced a rise of 38.5C above its seasonal average: a world record.
This startling leap – in the coldest place on the planet – left polar researchers struggling for words to describe it. “It is simply mind-boggling,” said Prof Michael Meredith, science leader at the British Antarctic Survey. “In sub-zero temperatures such a massive leap is tolerable but if we had a 40C rise in the UK now that would take temperatures for a spring day to over 50C – and that would be deadly for the population.” ...
Poleward winds, which previously made few inroads into the atmosphere above Antarctica, are now carrying more and more warm, moist air from lower latitudes – including Australia – deep into the continent, say scientists, and these have been blamed for the dramatic polar “heatwave” that hit Concordia. Exactly why these currents are now able to plunge so deep into the continent’s air space is not yet clear, however.
Nor has this huge temperature hike turned out to be an isolated event, scientists have discovered. For the past two years they have been inundated with rising numbers of reports of disturbing meteorological anomalies on the continent. Glaciers bordering the west Antarctic ice-sheet are losing mass to the ocean at an increasing rate, while levels of sea ice, which float on the oceans around the continent, have plunged dramatically, having remained stable for more than a century.
These events have raised fears that the Antarctic, once thought to be too cold to experience the early impacts of global warming, is now succumbing dramatically and rapidly to the swelling levels of greenhouse gases that humans continue to pump into the atmosphere.
Three Indigenous American tribes to get funding to manage ocean and coasts
This month, three Indigenous American tribes on the west and east coasts will collectively receive nearly $755,000 in federal funding to manage ocean and coastal problems, as well as engage in partnerships to offset the effects of the climate crisis in their regions. The tribes’ projects will blend together Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to build innovative strategies around coastal resilience.
On Monday, the federal agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Department of Commerce announced that the Makah Tribe in Washington, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in California and the Penobscot Nation in Maine will be individually awarded between $200,000 and $290,000 for their two-year projects. The funding comes from the Biden administration’s bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which provided Noaa with nearly $3bn to facilitate environmental stewardship, build climate-resilient coasts and support infrastructure around weather forecasting from 2022 to 2026.
Amid warming waters and sea level rise, tribal engagement “is critical to be able to really benefit from that knowledge and round out our perspectives of how to act together in managing oceans and coasts”, Betsy Nicholson, the north regional director for Noaa’s office for coastal management, told the Guardian. “Tribes have a long history that we do not have in terms of having been through some of these changes before, so it’s an incredibly meaningful relationship.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
The Mutually Reinforcing American and Israeli Empires
Israel Lets Some Aid Into Gaza So The US Will Keep Giving It Weapons To Kill People In Gaza
‘All we think about is how to stay alive’: the horror of daily life for those trapped in Gaza
Aid Group Hit by IDF Strike Says Israeli Response ‘Cold Comfort’
Israeli drone in aid worker strikes may have used UK engine, campaigners say
Ukraine - Faking News Still Does Not Help Winning
Meet Centuria, Ukraine’s Western-trained neo-Nazi army
Glenn Greenwald: “What We Discovered Shocked Me.” The #TwitterFiles Brazil
Bidenomics and Its Discontents
Pizza Hut Faces Boycott OVER ISR@EL!
A Little Night Music
Sam Lay - Maggie's Farm
Sam Lay - Long Distance Call
Sam Lay - Sam Lay Shuffle
Sam Lay - I Got To Find My Baby
Sam Lay's Blues Band - Asked Her For Water
Sam Lay's Blues Band - Sam Lay & Mississippi John
Sam Lay - Key To The Highway
Sam Lay Blues Band - Ride em On Down
Siegel/Schwall with Sam Lay - Got my Mojo Workin
Sam Lay Blues Band - Tell Me Mama, Walking By Myself, I Can't Be Satisfied 1966
Comments
good mojo
-
heavy on the rocking blues
nuttin' to say about the news
thanks for the EB's
evening qms...
who needs the news when you have sam lay?
Kirby needs a nickname like Miller has Smirkula
.
Utter BS defense. The workers were traveling in a non war zone and had worked with Israel on the route they would take. But sure 3 cars traveling in that area might have been Hamas instead because they are stupid enough to travel in the open. I’m sure the on air airhead pointed that out to him.
Hey if it took 7 white people dying to get the world's attention to the genocide so be it. But if shouldn’t have taken that!
I woke up yesterday and thought that they ain’t gonna stop killing brown people in Gaza till they’re all dead.
Brenner has a long article on Sheer post about how many Yemens were killed by Saudi Arabia and NATO. 330,000 and the world didn’t protest. Well I’m pretty sure that was because no one knew it was happening. I did. Many others here did too and called it out. I was calling attention to it on daily kos, but was told to shush because….Obama was doing it.
ETA link. Article is good, but it goes on and on.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
evening snoopy...
smirkula is an outstanding nickname, i haven't yet had an idea that good for kirby.
i started that brenner article last night and what i read was very good, when i have some time i'll see if i can finish it.
that's "saint obama," dammit!
Careful….
Your attitude is showing. I love it! Especially the Ukie, nukie, pukies. Yeah it saint obama who could do no wrong. Lost the biggest number of his own party during the midterm and destroyed any chance that the Hellabitch could win.
Bailed out the banks and blackrock who just bought another rental company. Democrats are mad that hedge funds are buying up too many houses. I’m sure that letting in millions of immigrants will do wonders for the housing market. Especially when they’re getting tons of benefits that Americans can only dream of and have been asking for years.
Biden got tens of millions of people kicked off Medicaid and California and other blue states are giving it to immigrants.
Damn right that people are pissed!
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Gaza
The article on trying to reshape the message is already in full gear. The Washington Post has an article written by the leaders of three nations that did everything they could to keep their populace quiet about genocide. Egypt, Jordan, and France are now pretending they care about Palestinians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/08/macron-abdullah-sisi-...
evening mickt...
there are a bunch of nations (especially in the middle east) that are going to have to start humoring their populations who side with the palestinians. western countries like france just want this whole thing over so that they can get back to the usual integration of economies and militaries with israel.
Good evening Joe, thanks for the EBs.
Didn't expect Maggie's Farm, quite a plus.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
it's a pretty good version of maggie's farm, i think.
have a great evening!
South Korea: April 10 election
Overseas voting over. Early voting began April 5. Regular voting on April 10 last day. April 4 last day of polling. The polling is all over the map so to speak so I'm not going to speculate at the outcome. Most pollsters are predicting a a majority for democratic party with the Cho Guk reform party proportional candidates elected, which means at least 151 seats. This would be a significant drop from their previous 180 seat win four years ago. Some are hoping for a blowout win for the dems with a high turnout. This so they can override vetoes by President Yoon, and maybe impeach him. This would also allow special investigations of Yoon's wife and some of Yoon's ministerial appointees.
Below in the Hankyoreh, was the best opinion article on the issues, that I could find after browsing for a while. Most articles in English outside South Korea, mischaracterize the issues, with both siderism, as if there isn't anything critically wrong with the Yoon administration, it's just polarized extremists calling each other names. There is also mischaracterization of the so called "fake news" problem as if reports critical of the administration by non mainstream media on youtube are not reliable, when in fact these sources are the only place where real investigative reporting goes on.
So this Hankyoreh essay seems the most reasonable picture of the main issues at play-
In Korea’s midterm elections, it’s time for accountability
The article tried to avoid inflammatory language. There have been overt attacks by the administration (run by former prosecutors and prosecutors) on labor organizers and members of the press by targeted prosecutions. There have also been investigations and/or prosecutions targeted at major opposition figures such as democratic party leader Lee Jae-myung, and Reform party leader Cho Guk and their family members. Clearly this is an abuse of power. At the same time, highly placed officials, and business leaders involved in corruption have been shielded. The suspected criminal activities of the President's wife, have not been subject to even one subpoenaed appearance or search warrant, while opposition leaders have faced hundreds of warrants, repeated indictments and trials. Interfering in criminal cases is commonplace with Yoon and the party leader Han Dong-hoon. This is the significance of the reference to the President's wife who is alleged to have committed stock price fixing, taking bribes (designer bags), and having moved a planned highway extension unlawfully to enhance family property holdings. This is emblematic of a much broader problem. A recent LA Times article recounted prosecution/police activities against reporters and media who report adversely on the administration.
Raids, fines and digging through underwear drawers: Korean president’s war on ‘fake news’
Other news reports mostly on youtube have recounted how public broadcasting supervisory bodies have been purged and packed with Yoon supporters. It is clearly an authoritarian regime. It is commonly referred to as a "dictatorship of prosecutors." This is not much of an exaggeration.
This election and its outcome may be the only way South Korea can prove it hasn't already descended entirely into authoritarianism. Ironically, it will be the bread and butter issues, of unaffordable housing, run away food prices, and access to medical care, which may decide the election for otherwise middle of the road voters, who don't get especially excited about partisan politics unless its hurting them directly.
This is a version of the Korean national song Arirang adapted for Dokdo island. It's called Lonely Arirang. There are good English subtitles.
Thanks for the EBs Joe!
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
thanks for the sk elections update! i will cross my fingers that south koreans will vote against authoritarians.
have a great evening!
Thanks Joe!
...for all you do. We're hoping for the best in the So household. We have friends in South Korea who moved back there from the US.
語必忠信 行必正直
Evening joe and bluesters
Good on the human rights lawyers for bringing cases against countries supplementing the genocide of Palestinians. Looks like the Dutch are leading the way ...
Sam Lay! I'm only halfway through his 'Bluesland' album, so I have lots more entertainment to come!
Thanks for all joe.
Oh yeah, and
I recognised the name and face of the author of the Common Dreams article you linked about lawyers suing Germany. He was banned by what's his name.
heh...
he was one of them/us? cool. glad that he landed someplace a little better.
evening janis...
it's taking a while to ramp up and courts move slowly, but there is a movement around the world led by people with a revulsion for genocide. good luck to us all.