Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Monday, March 11, 2024

Eric Carmen

Eric Carmen, who became an icon of early ’70s power pop as the frontman of the Raspberries before achieving solo success with hits like “All By Myself” and “Hungry Eyes,” has died at age 74.

“It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen,” his wife, Amy Carmen, wrote on the singer’s website. wrote. “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend. It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy. Please respect the family’s privacy as we mourn our enormous loss. ‘Love Is All That Matters… Faithful and Forever.'”

The latter quote from Carmen’s wife is a callback to the song “Love Is All That Matters,” from his 1977 solo album “Boats Against the Current.” No cause of death or exact date of death has been announced.

From WIKIPEDIA:

Carmen's first two solo singles were chart hits in 1976. Both were built around themes by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The first of these singles, "All by Myself" – based on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 – hit number 2 in the United States, and number 12 in the United Kingdom where it was his only charting hit. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in April 1976.^[8] The follow-up single, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again"^[1] – based on the main theme of the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 – reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and hit number one on the US Adult Contemporary Chart, as well as number nine on the Cash Box chart. In the UK, Dana took it to number 31 and in Australia Mark Holden took it to number 13. Those songs featured on his 1975 self-titled debut album, along with "That's Rock and Roll", a number 3 hit single for singer Shaun Cassidy. The album made number 21 on the Billboard album chart and was certified gold in 1977 for sales of more than 500,000 copies.

Carmen's second album, Boats Against the Current, came out in the summer of 1977 and received mixed reviews.^[9]^[10]^[11] It featured backup players such as Burton Cummings, Andrew Gold, Bruce Johnston and Nigel Olsson. The album spent 13 weeks in the Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 45. It also produced the Top 20 single "She Did It", but the title track only managed to scrape the bottom of the chart. The title track was later covered by Olivia Newton-John on her album Totally Hot. A third single taken from the album, "Marathon Man", became his first solo single not to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, Shaun Cassidy again made the Top 10 in 1978 with Carmen's "Hey Deanie". For several weeks in the fall of 1977, Carmen had three compositions charting concurrently on the Billboard Hot 100, Cassidy's two big hits and Carmen's own "She Did It".

Carmen followed up with two more albums. Despite declining chart fortunes, the single "Change of Heart" broke into the Pop Top 20,^[1] and reached number 6 at AC in late 1978, with this hit also being covered by Samantha Sang on her Emotion LP, but in 1980, after the release of the album "Tonight You're Mine" and single "It Hurts Too Much" (number 75 Billboard Top 100) he temporarily withdrew from the music industry.

In 1984, Carmen and Dean Pitchford co-wrote "Almost Paradise", the love theme from the film Footloose. The song, performed by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno, peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1985, Carmen resurfaced on Geffen Records with a second self-titled album and a sizeable comeback hit "I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips".^[5] The single hit the Adult Contemporary Top 10 as well as the Pop Top 40. The follow-up single, "I'm Through with Love", also climbed the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the Top 20 of the Adult Contemporary chart. Another track from the album, "Maybe My Baby", later became a Country hit for Louise Mandrell reaching number 8 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. "I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips" was also covered by Mandrell only managing to peak at 35 on the same chart.^[12] In 1987, Carmen's contribution to the hit movie Dirty Dancing, "Hungry Eyes", hit number 2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and also returned him to the Pop Top 10.^[1] "Reason To Try", a further contribution to the One Moment in Time compilation album of songs recorded for the Seoul Summer Olympics, kept Carmen's profile high in 1988, during which the nostalgic "Make Me Lose Control" also returned him to the number one position on the Adult Contemporary chart – where it stayed for three straight weeks – as well as number 3 on Billboard's Hot 100.^[1]

The year 2000 saw the stateside release of I Was Born to Love You, which had been released in 1998 only in Japan as Winter Dreams.^[5] Carmen eschewed the use of a band on the recording, playing most of the instruments and programming the drum parts himself. The album did not find a large audience, but Carmen has continued to enjoy success placing songs with other artists over the years. In 2000, he toured with Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band.^[13]

On December 24, 2013, the first new recording in over 15 years by Carmen titled "Brand New Year" was released. The track, written and recorded in November/December 2013 in Ohio and Los Angeles, was issued via a gratis download by Legacy Recordings as a special "Christmas gift", to herald the March 2014 arrival of a 30 track career retrospective entitled The Essential Eric Carmen..^[14]

I'm sure at least five out of every ten Americans who listen to music can conjure up "All By Myself." That's fame, that's impact. No, he wasn't Carole King or Joni Mitchell or John Lennon. But he was a huge success who put music out there that we all heard.

He achieved what he set out to do -- make music we sang along with and remembered.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, March 11, 2024. While Marianne Williamson addresses real issues a host of vanity campaigns distract from real issues, Ramadan starts and there's no cease-fire, and much more.

Let's start in the US with electoral politics. Vying for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination are President Joe Biden and self-made Marianne Williamson.

Marianne Williamson: I want to see a new beginning in this country. I want to see us cut the chord with this aberrational chapter of history by which corporate power has transgressed, has tyrannized the American people. I want to cut the chord with that aberrational chapter and I want to begin again. I want to begin a season of repair. This has ruined peoples lives. People have died in wars that should not have been fought. Children have asthma that they should not have. There are cancer rates -- such as in your own state. There is a homeless rate. There is a highest level of poverty rate of any advanced nation that is here in the United States. There are so many examples of stress on people's bodies, stress on people's minds and hearts, stress on communities and stress on the Earth itself. This is unsustainable. And this is the urgency of this message. This cannot continue. There are too many stress points. And my contention and what I submit to you is it's going to break one way or the other. It's like some people need to read about The French Revolution here. It's going to break one way or the other. It is either going to break in the direction of a radical rededication to democracy and to justice or it's going to break in the direction of dystopia, chaos, neo authoritarianism and possibly worse. I feel as Franklin Roosevelt said during The Great Depression. He said, "It has become clear to me that we must become radical for at least a generation." But radical is not a word that we should fear. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE is radical. The radicalism that we should fear is the radicalism of the last fifty years. It is radical that we have allowed corporate forces to dominate and tyrannize the American people the way we have.

If you're not getting the importance of Marianne's campaign, you might be an idiot.

Or a member of the Israeli government. For decades the Israeli government got away with persecuting Palestinians. It's probably a huge shock to Netanyahu and others in his right wing and corrupt government that people are pushing back. But that's what information does, it educates. It confronts pre-existing lies. It brings us to the point today where the world collectively watches in horror at the crimes taking place. That took years and years of work.

Need a more recent example?

From the White House transcript of President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address last Thursday:

With a law that I proposed and signed — and not one of your Republican buddies work- — voted for it — we finally beat Big Pharma.

Instead of paying $400 a month or thereabouts for insulin with diabetes — and it only costs 10 bucks to make — they only get paid $35 a month now and still make a healthy profit. (Applause.)

And I want to — and what to do next, I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it — everyone. (Applause.)

Senator Bernie Sanders has raised that issue for years and years. And he made it a big point of his 2020 campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. He was raising the issue before that -- and continued raising it after -- he introduced the Senate bill in 2023 and US House Rep Cori Bush introduced it on the House side in 2023 -- and by hitting on this issue and raising it, he ensured Americans knew about it -- about the outrageous overpricing of insulin. Now it's been confronted.

Real candidates use their campaigns to help others.

That's why Cornel West has never seemed a real candidate. What is his big issue? It varies as often as his candidacy -- the People's Party nominee, the self-proclaimed Green Party nominee (he was never the Green Party's nominee -- though he did get 0.8% of the vote in this month's Green Party primary in Pennsylvania) and now his independent candidacy. 'Brother' Cornel is useless and made himself that way.

Then there's no nuts Junior. Robert Kennedy Junior. He was going to run as a Democrat, then that was too much. So he was going to run as an independent but that proved too much work for little lazy Junior. Now he's doing everything he can to get the Libertarian Party's attention. Poor no nuts. It's not his fault that he has such tiny nads, he's a 70 year old man taking steroids so you know his elderly nuts have shrunken even further. Shrunken testicles -- is that his campaign slogan? Or just his campaign promise?

He'll have dottered along accomplishing nothing.

I bring it up for a reason. Another party has announced their candidates. No, not No Labels. I'm referring to the laughable Socialist Equality Party. They've been running candidates since 1984. From WIKIPEDIA:

The SEP has fielded electoral candidates in the United States for local, state, and federal offices. SEP candidates usually run as official SEP candidates on their own ballot line.

No SEP candidate has yet won an election.

What a great and proud accomplishment. All the candidates -- for local and state and federal offices and the political party has never produced -- in any election -- a winning candidate.

Well now they've announced their 2024 presidential team: Jerry White for vice president, Joseph Kishore for president.

Are you laughing yet?

Kishore was their 2020 presidential candidate.

If you're not getting how pathetic they are, Jerry White's been on this ticket how many times before? Four. Four times.

And they get 0.00% of the vote every time. In fact, you have to drop back to 1988 for them getting better than 0.00% -- then they got 0.02%.

They've got an entire publication behind them -- WSWS -- but they can't get it together ever to do videos regularly or anything at all regularly.

So they do their vanity run and they do nothing to raise attention or awareness. They are like Junior or, for that matter, Jill Stein. The 2012 failure returned in 2016 to fail again and now wants to sink the party in 2024. If Jill Stein is the face of the modern Green Party, they might as well pack it in.

The nominee will be determined at their convention this summer. Hopefully, it will be someone like 38-year-old Jasmine Sherman and not the then-74 year old Jill Stein. A fraud, a failure and someone who left the political party deeply in debt should have stepped aside for younger blood long, long ago.

It's amazing how we rail about the age of Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi or now dead Dianne Feinstein but we stay silent when a Jill Stein or a Susan "Medea" Benjamin should have stepped aside long ago.

Nothing changes if nothing changes. And if you want to see The Geritol Set lose their complete grasp on the levers of power, you have to be willing to do your part by demanding that across the board. You can't be okay with Susan Benjamin (mis)leading Code Pink -- by standing with Proud Boys, by her recent call (lie) that Donald Trump would be better on Gaza than Joe Biden -- and not join the call for younger candidates. Susan should have moved over to Raging Grannies about a decade ago. Code Pink should be an organization for young women.

Jerry and Joseph proclaim at their campaign website:

The Socialist Equality Party is organizing the working class in the fight for socialism: the reorganization of all of economic life to serve social needs, not private profit. The fight for socialism is at the same time a fight against war, authoritarianism, environmental degradation and all the consequences of capitalist society.

Oh, well that's something people can . . . not relate to. Nothing concrete. Nothing that says we will do _____ and this will make your life better. Just a list of large concepts to be against and no real plan for any of it.

This is how they are after they make their big announcement: Unprepared.

Once again, they'll spend an election year doing nothing.

Jerry's been doing nothing since he first became the presidential nominee back in 1996 -- restoring 'manhood' to the SEP after 1992 saw a woman as their presidential nominee -- their first and their last. Jerry sees to it. 'Manly' Jerry makes sure the ladies know their place in the SEP.

And not just the ladies, everyone. Remember, despite the attacks on LGBTQ+ members in this country for the last few years, SEP -- like their publication WSWS -- can't defend LGBTQ+ people -- that would be 'identity politics,' they insist. Which is why they write:

All the great problems confronting mankind are global problems that require global solutions. The fight for socialism, therefore, requires the unity and collaboration of workers in every country on the basis of a common program and perspective.

Can't use "humankind." No, that'd be too much for Jerry and Joseph -- they're probably still trembling from the ending of Tim Burton's BATMAN RETURNS (1992) when Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne speaks of "Good will toward men . . . and women."

"Identity politics!" screeched Joseph and Jerry as they threw their popcorn at the screen and stormed out telling everyone waiting for the next showing, "Catwoman dies!"

At last night's Academy Award ceremony, several individuals wore pins decrying the continued assault on Gaza including actors: Ramsy Youssef Milo Machado-Graner, Swann Arlaud, Eugene Lee Yang, nominee Mark Ruffalo; directors Ava DuVernay, nominee Misan Harriman and nominee Kaouther Ben Hania; and songwriters Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell who were nominated for -- and won for -- writing BARBIE's "What Was I Made For?"

THE ZONE OF INTEREST received five Academy Award nominations. Jonathan Glazer was nominated for adapted screenplay and for director. When the film won for Best International Feature Film, Jonathan gave the acceptance speech.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 157 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." NBC NEWS notes, "The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 31,000 , according to the enclave's Health Ministry, including at least 25 people who have died of starvation ." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

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

Meanwhile, instead of demanding Israel stop blocking food from getting it, Joe Biden wants to build a floating aid landing. Saturday saw a flurry of reporting. Eduardo Cuevas (USA TODAY) reported, "U.S. military personnel are scrambling to build a temporary floating dock off Gaza to help distribute food and other aid to Palestinians by way of the sea, a new route for supplies after months of Israel's intense restrictions on aid delivered by land. President Joe Biden announced the assistance to Gaza during his State of the Union Thursday night, as Army personnel were already pulling plans and equipment together." Meghann Myers (MILITARY TIMES) added, "Over the next 60 days, roughly 1,000 troops will deploy to the Mediterranean Sea to build a floating platform where cargo ships can offload aid onto smaller military vessels, which will transfer them to a causeway attached to the beach, where trucks can pick it up and distribute it within Gaza, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters." And Tiffany Wertheimer (BBC News) noted, "The support ship, General Frank S Besson, set sail from a military base in the state of Virginia on Saturday." NBC NEWS has video of the operation here. Yet here it is Monday and? NBC NEWS reports, "A U.S. army vessel carrying equipment to build a pier off the Palestinian enclave's coast has left for the Mediterranean, but the first ship carrying 200 tons of food aid remains docked in Cyprus. Aid agencies have criticized the plan for a maritime humanitarian corridor, saying it falls far short of meeting the needs of Gaza's population of 2.2 million." ALJAZEERA reports, "The executive director of the US arm of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, Avril Benoit, in a statement criticised the US plan as a 'glaring distraction from the real problem: Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate military campaign and punishing siege'."

Last night, the White House released the following statement from Joe Biden:

Tonight -- as the new crescent moon marks the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan -- Jill and I extend our best wishes and prayers to Muslims across our country and around the world.

The sacred month is a time for reflection and renewal. This year, it comes at a moment of immense pain. The war in Gaza has inflicted terrible suffering on the Palestinian people. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children. Some are family members of American Muslims, who are deeply grieving their lost loved ones today. Nearly two million Palestinians have been displaced by the war; many are in urgent need of food, water, medicine, and shelter. As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me.

The United States will continue to lead international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza by land, air, and sea. Earlier this week, I directed our military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments of aid. We are carrying out airdrops of aid, in coordination with our international partners, including Jordan. And we’ll continue to work with Israel to expand deliveries by land, insisting that it facilitate more routes and open more crossings to get more aid to more people.

While we get more life-saving aid to Gaza, the United States will continue working non-stop to establish an immediate and sustained ceasefire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases hostages. And we will continue building toward a long-term future of stability, security, and peace. That includes a two-state solution to ensure Palestinians and Israelis share equal measures of freedom, dignity, security, and prosperity. That is the only path toward an enduring peace.

Here at home, we have seen an appalling resurgence of hate and violence toward Muslim Americans. Islamophobia has absolutely no place in the United States, a country founded on freedom of worship and built on the contributions of immigrants, including Muslim immigrants. My Administration is developing the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, to take on hate against Muslim, Sikh, South Asian, and Arab American communities, wherever it occurs. No one should ever fear being targeted at school, at work, on the street, or in their community because of their background or beliefs.

To Muslims across our country, please know that you are deeply valued members of our American family. To those who are grieving during this time of war, I hear you, I see you, and I pray you find solace in your faith, family, and community. And to all who are marking the beginning of Ramadan tonight, I wish you a safe, healthy, and blessed month. Ramadan kareem.

###

ALJAZEERA's Maram Humaid reports:

Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims, with people decorating their homes, buying things for special Ramadan dishes, and planning gatherings with family and friends to break their fast together.

But in Deir el-Balah, as Israeli bombing continues and the list of civilians being killed gets longer by the day, there is little to indicate that the festivities are on the doorstep.

“This year’s Ramadan is starkly different,” said Atia Harb, 38, who had some old Ramadan decorations laid out in his market stall and was playing festive tunes, trying his best to attract customers despite the grim conditions.

“There is non-stop noise of bombs and racing ambulances.”

The following sites updated:

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Black Crowes are back -- why?

That's "Wanting and Waiting." It's the new single from the Black Crowes.

The who?

A 90s band that never understood who or what they were.

They had a few 'hits.' They weren't really hits. People kept waiting for them to get back to "She Talks To Angels."

That's their only true claim to fame. It's an amazing song. And we've all wanted them to offer something with a similar vibe again. They haven't.

They think they can do southern fried crap but nobody likes cold fried food that's been sitting out on the counter for years.

There new song may climb the charts a bit. But it's nothing to remember.

It's a real shame that they keep getting back together -- after failing over and over-and then breaking up over and over -- and can't grasp that we want a slow strummer that burns like "She Talks To Angels" did.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, March 8, 2024. Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union Address, Gaza remains his biggest problem, while he scored some successes last night and delivered the remarks perfectly he has still not seriously addressed Gaza, though the media hasn't noted it, Super Tuesday wasn't a bad day for Marianne Williamson, and much more.

In the US last night, President Joe Biden delivered the Constitutionally mandated State of the Union Address. How was it?

For Joe, pretty damn good.

It could have been the night he was destroyed. Some might feel it should have been. Yesterday's snapshot was up about a half hour before the first call came in -- from a DNC friend -- asking, "What the hell are you talking about?" I explained the FOX NEWS headline. We walked it through and it would have been the end of Joe's chances at re-election.

Fortunately for Joe Biden, the GOP is a bunch of idiotic malcontents. They had the way to take him down last night. They were too interested in performative and not in action.

Joe has a month or two where he can end the assault on Gaza (and should end it today) but if not don't be surprised if even idiots like the current make up of the Republican Party stumble upon to a victory strategy.

How can Joe demand a cease-fire, how can he make it happen?

That's what I heard over and over in the calls that followed.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were all pretending we still had our virginity.

Take Netanyahu out. That doesn't mean murder. That means we have information, we have a spy network, he's a shady character already facing corruption chares in his own country. He grows increasinly unpopular. Political murders are no longer done with bullets, they're done with gossip.

Tut-tuting from the newly chaste was the response -- to which I replied, "So you don't want to be part of my dinners this month?" That's right. That's where I go to DC and drop gossip.

For example?

You: A Republican star in Congress. So thrilled and focused on your future. Me? The celebrity you bothered at a wedding back when you were a young man. The celebrity your boyfriend bothered. Although I felt sorry for him because he was a little younger than you and I got the distinct impression that you affair began while he was underage. Donna the disgusting women who kept trying to get you in pictures with me. I meet millions of people. The joke is I know everyone. I don't. And I don't remember everyone. But too bad for you, you made it into a recent snapshot and there I was just spit balling, doing a little parody of you in the snapshot, giving you a home town in the snapshot and the person I'm dictating the snapshot to asks for a pause and he looks it up and that is your small town. How did I know it? That's when it all comes rushing back to me. And I have the photos. I don't throw out photos. I put them in my journals. I was there for a friend's wedding And you were there with your fifty-something hag and your boyfriend. And I have the pictures. I'll be dining out with various politicians over the next few weeks explaining who you really are when you're not verbally attacking LGBTQ+ people. Every time you speak to attack them, you're going to know that your colleagues know your full of crap and, most importantly, they're going to conclude -- like I have -- that your young life affair continues to this day since your lover is still around though you pass him off as something other than your lover of several decades. I like doing this. It tends to make the target a little jumpy, tends to hem them in and make them watch their vile little mouths a little more closely. Now at some point, this always happens, someone whispers to the press. That's not my problem. I didn't whisper to the press. I just made sure everyone knew that the man screeching about gay people was in fact a gay man himself -- despite the wife.

That's what I like to do.

I use the truth. (I used a lie once, for the Iraq War, I've told this story here before, we needed to remove a newspaper's support for Bully Boy Bush and I said we could do it in one dinner. On a dare, I proved it. But, yes, I did lie then. Again, we've talked about that before. The only time I've used a lie but we needed to strip him of support on the Iraq War and when I said how it could be done and several Dem heavyweights scoffed it became, "Oh, you think you know better than me? Let me show you how it's done." It took one dinner only. The paper immediately dropped its support for Bully Boy Bush and his illegal war.)

So the point is, I don't want to hear anymore excuses from or for the White House.

The assault needs to end. Netanyahu is in a weak position. Confront him with possible exposure over whatever US spy agencies have on him (I have no idea what they have him on but I know they've got stuff).

The US government regularly pressures leaders in Haiti to step down, they can manage to twist Netanyahu's crooked wrist.

And if they don't?

Republicans these days are very stupid but even they are eventually going to catch on with how to end Joe's political career. He dodged a bullet last night. I don't think he'll be that lucky again.

Could be wrong, though. Wouldn't have thought Marjorie Taylor Greene would show up to the State of the Union looking like the butchest lesbian at a tailgate party but there she was last night working some intense LOVE LIES BLEEDING mood..

Making a spectacle out of herself. The way the woman in Texas did. That's the loser that Elaine was writing about this week. I was able to call that race a few weeks ago because it was so obvious. You're a conservative woman and you're hating a man and forgetting the place you try to consign women to in your conservative world.

I'm a feminist. I believe women can do anything.

Marjorie's not a feminist and she is not for women's rights and does not believe in equality. Her core audience supports her on that. So when 'the little woman' forgets her place in public and starts booing and hissing a man, it doesn't always play the way they think. She was the fat girl getting laughs but now the pep rally's over and she has to deal with the fact that none of the guys like her or find her attractive in any manner.

Watching her act that way in public -- even forgetting that embarrassing outfit -- you really have to marvel over the self-denial of Marjorie Taylor Greene that allows her to think she can court the crowd she does while acting the way she does.

Jill Dutton thought just like Marjorie. She thought she was coming on 'ballsy' or something. Nope. She just looked like a woman attacking -- and, yes, nagging -- a man (Brent Money). These anti-women women don't seem to grasp that their natural constituency expects them to be 'respectful' of men and to 'know their place.' They get out there in the real world and want to act like fully empowered people. But their political statements and stances make that impossible for them to do. Jill came off like the nightmare image of every conservative man and she thought that was going to deliver her votes?

Here's Paul Rudnick's take on the the State of the Union Address.

Joe promised ROE V WADE would be restored -- most likely by codifying it -- if he were elected. That's a promise he better be held to. Barack Obama promised codifying ROE would be the first thing he did if elected president but he left the White House after eight years of being president without ever having even attempted to codify it. Joe gave a promise that the cost of a month's insulin would be brought down to thirty-something dollars a month. His speech had strong moments (and his delivery of it was perfection). Daniel Villareal (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address told transgender Americans, “I have your back.” He also spoke against book-banning and “erasing history,” and told Congress to pass the Equality Act, legislation that would enshrine LGBTQ+ civil rights into federal law.

“Stop denying another core value of America our diversity across American life,” Biden said, about midway through his speech. “Banning books — it’s wrong! Instead of erasing history, let’s make history! I want to protect other fundamental rights! Pass the Equality Act, and my message to transgender Americans: I have your back!”

His speech starkly contrasted the American “core values” of “honesty, decency, dignity, [and] equality” with that of “resentment, revenge, and retribution” held by “some other people my age,” a veiled reference to former President Donald Trump (whom he never mentioned by name).

“I know the American story,” Biden said. “Again and again, I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation: between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.”

“Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault at home as they are today,” he noted. Then, after mentioning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued invasion of Ukraine — something Putin has justified with anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry — Biden then mentioned the January 6, 2001 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol carried out by Trump’s followers.

“Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy,” Biden said. “We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots. They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people. “

“January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden continued. “But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed.”

Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) offers this take on SOTU address:

Progressive Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush raised signs calling on President Joe Biden to "stop sending bombs" to the Israeli military as he pledged during his State of the Union address Thursday night to provide more humanitarian aid to Gazans and decried the war's grisly death toll.

"This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas," Biden said. "Thousands and thousands of innocents, women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly two million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement."

As expected, Biden announced that the U.S. military will construct a temporary port on Gaza's coast to facilitate the delivery of food, water, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance as Israel obstructs aid shipments on the ground, fueling the spread of malnutrition and disease. Critics blasted the plan as a PR stunt that wouldn't do nearly enough to relieve one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in modern history.

"A U.S. port delivering meager amounts of humanitarian aid and empty rhetoric mean nothing when they are delivered alongside U.S. bombs," said Jewish Voice for Peace Action late Thursday.

The president also called for a six-week cease-fire—far from the "lasting cease-fire" that Tlaib and Bush demanded during Biden's speech.

"The only cease-fire that is morally acceptable is a lasting cease-fire," Bush wrote on social media. "It is inhumane to pause the violence for six weeks and then continue sending bombs right after."

While decrying the immense suffering in Gaza as "heartbreaking," Biden did not acknowledge the critical role that U.S. weapons have played in Israel's monthslong assault. Since the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, the Biden administration has quietly approved more than 100 separate arms sales to the Israeli government, which has used American weaponry to massacre civilians.

Ahead of Biden's speech, hundreds of activists demanding an arms embargo on Israel blocked the route of the president's motorcade as he traveled to the U.S. Capitol.

Gaza is not going away and needs to be addressed. Joe's speech succeeded because the GOP is so damn stupid and because he had certain things he needed to convey and did so. But Gaza is not going away. And this summary sentence from NBC NEWS highlights why Joe can't sell his actions on Gaza to the American people, "Biden also called for an immediate, temporary cease-fire in Israel's war with Hamas and pointed to hostages' families in attendance at the speech, but hopes for a new truce deal by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan have faded after no breakthrough in the talks in Egypt." He's calling for an immediate, temporary cease-fire. It's a pause, not a cease-fire, stop lying to us.

Jeremy Yurow (USA TODAY) reports:

President Joe Biden cruised to victory in Hawaii’s presidential caucus on Wednesday, receiving 66% of the vote with 99% reporting. However, just over 1,500 residents cast ballots, and “uncommitted” received 29.1% of the vote, the highest percentage in any statewide contest thus far.

While Hawaii Democrats acknowledged that Biden would almost certainly win the party’s nomination, the select handful of voters who took to the polls described the contest as a “referendum.”

IN THESE TIMES notes that March 12th will see the state of Washington vote in their primary and that "uncommitted" is on the ballot as it will be for the Democrats Abroad.

In Hawaii on Wednesday, Marianne got 3.2% of the votes. She could be relaxing by the pool. She knows she's not going to win. She didn't get back in to win, she got back in to make sure that certain issues are being raised.

Marianne Williamson: The possibilities are enormous. We have everything we need in this country. The possibilities are endless. We have the people and the best practices and the projects. People who know how to do organic and regenerative farming, who know how to reclaim the Earth, who know how to reclaim our food, who know how to reclaim our land, who know how to repair us after the ravages of 50 years of corporate dominance in which the very thought that short term corporate profits should take precedence over our safety, our health and our well being, that those economic ideas -- soulless as they are -- should take precedence over the will of the people. To the point that in the last 50 years there has been a transfer of wealth to the tune of fifty-trillion dollars. And it has ravaged American middle class. As soon as they started with this 'trickle down' economic paradigm and as soon as CITIZENS UNITED Supreme Court decision, gave those corporate interests the power to basically buy and sell and turn Washington into a system of legalized bribery. All that money was transferred into the hands of 1% of Americans. At this point, that level of economic injustice has ravaged us. It has ravaged our middle class. It has ravaged our environment. It has put carcinogens in our food, toxins in our air. We don't have universal healthcare like every other advanced democracy does because of the insurance companies. Over a million people in the United States, ration their insulin. You don't have that in any other advanced democracy because they have universal healthcare. But all of that because of the greed of the pharmaceutical companies. Look what has happened to Iowa because of the greed of Big Agriculture and big food companies and big banks. I don't need to tell you that there is no state in this country that is not experiencing the ravages of an old way of doing things and the possibilities of something new.

It's amazing that she's not news to the media. In Virginia this week? She got 7.8% of the vote. Do you realize how many Republicans who never got anywhere near that much have been shoved down our throats by the media? In Utah this week, she got 5.2% of the vote. 4.3% in Vermont, 4.5% in Texas, 9.12% in Oklahoma, 1.4% in Minnesota, 3.2% in Massachusetts, 2.9% in Colorado, 3.4% in California, 4.8% in Arkansas -- how is this not news?

It's not just better than she did in 2020 on Super Tuesday, it's better than Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, the repellant Tulsi Gabbard and others did in 2020 on Super Tuesday.

Hopefully, poli sci students are paying attention -- especially graduate students because this is a good topic for political science journals. This weekend, Marianne will be in Atlanta:

Atlanta, GA
[FREE] Come hear Marianne in Atlanta!

When: Saturday, March 9 at 5:00 pm EST
Where: Joie De Vivre Counseling & Therapy, Calcutta Conference Room (get directions)

Learn More

Atlanta, GA
[FREE] Join Marianne in Atlanta at Hillside International Truth Center!

When: Sunday, March 10 at 10:00 am EDT
Where: Hillside International Truth Center (get directions)

Learn More

Dropping back to yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

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

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Over the past few weeks, the Biden administration has been publicly voicing reservations over the mounting death toll in Gaza, calling on Israel to protect civilians and allow in humanitarian aid. But behind the scenes, the Biden administration has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate weapons sales to Israel over the last five months, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters and other lethal aid, this according to a new investigation by The Washington Post.

AMY GOODMAN: Only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made public since the launch of Israel’s assault on October 7th, amounting to over $250 million worth of tank shells and ammunition, which the administration authorized using emergency authority to bypass Congress. But in the case of the hundred other weapons sales, known as Foreign Military Sales, the arms transfers were made without any public debate, because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify Congress.

For more, we’re joined by Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest of a push to increase arms sales to Israel amidst its assault on Gaza. Josh Paul is the former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department, where he worked for 11 years. He’s now a nonresident at DAWN — that’s Democracy for the Arab World Now. He’s joining us from New Haven, Connecticut.

Josh, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this Washington Post exposé, what we’ve learned about the U.S. flooding Israel with weapons as President Biden talks about saying he’s putting pressure on Israel to let food aid in?

JOSH PAUL: Thank you, and thank you for having me.

I think what we’ve learned from this story shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. It is that the president continues to facilitate the flow of arms to Israel despite a change in tone. You know, we have certainly heard the administration call for more humanitarian assistance, for, you know, at least a temporary ceasefire. But at the same time, it continues to provide the arms that enable Israel to continue its operations. So, I think that’s pretty consistent, frankly, with what the White House has said, including John Kirby from the podium this week, that this remains U.S. policy.

I think many of your viewers may be shocked to hear that there have been a hundred sales in the last few months since October 7th. But here, I don’t think anyone in the State Department will be particularly moved by this story. Much of the process does, unfortunately, move like a production line when it comes to cases that do not require, under law, congressional notification. So what we really have here is both a policy problem but also a lack of transparency that is built into the system, and which can only be remedied by a change in law.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, let’s go to what national security communications adviser John Kirby said. He was questioned at the White House by the journalist Andrew Feinberg, a correspondent for The Independent in Britain.

ANDREW FEINBERG: What is preventing the president from communicating to the Israeli government that if they don’t allow aid, we will not continue supplying weapons? Why is that not a fair trade: no aid, no bombs?

JOHN KIRBY: Because the president still believes that it’s important for Israel to have what it needs to defend itself against a still viable Hamas threat. Maybe some people have forgotten what happened on the 7th of October, but President Biden has not.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Josh Paul, your response, both to the question and to Kirby’s response?

JOSH PAUL: I mean, there you have it. And I think the question could also have noted that under U.S. law, under Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, it is actually illegal to provide military assistance to a country that is restricting U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance. And we know that this is the case with Israel, because Jake Sullivan himself, the national security adviser, has said that this is a problem, and, of course, we would not be airdropping aid into Gaza, were we leaning on Israel to open the humanitarian aid routes. So, you know, I think there is a clear case to be made here that we are not in accordance with U.S. law, certainly out of step, I think, with international law. And at the same time, the Biden administration position remains: We will continue to provide arms to Israel, whatever it requests and requires.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, if you could explain, Josh: How much does this differ from the procedure that’s been in place regarding U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine? I mean, in this case, as we’ve said, only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made public. What about to Ukraine?

JOSH PAUL: Yeah. So, for the most part, the procedures and processes through which we provide arms to Israel versus Ukraine are different. Ukraine requires an authorization under presidential drawdown authority, as well as new and novel funding to, for example, Department of Defense’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Those have expired. We are out of, essentially, both of those. And so, without additional funding, we will not be able to provide arms to Ukraine.

Israel, on the other hand, is perfectly capable of using its own money to procure weapons through the Foreign Military Sales system, through the direct promotional sales system, which, by the way, The Washington Post didn’t touch on. And it’s quite possible that there’s a hundred more sales through that other channel to Israel that we don’t know about. And, of course, you know, we are providing Israel with military ground assistance, which it can also tap into and knows that it will be able to tap into, because it has a 10-year commitment from us to continue providing billions of dollars a year, unlike Ukraine. So it’s a slightly different situation and much easier, I think, for Israel to continue to receive weapons even in the absence of a supplemental, unlike Ukraine.

AMY GOODMAN: Democratic Colorado Congressmember Jason Crow told The Washington Post the Biden administration should apply, quote, “existing standards” stipulating that the United States, quote, “shouldn’t transfer arms or equipment to places where it’s reasonably likely that those will be used to inflict civilian casualties, or to harm civilian infrastructure.” Crow, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the Post, “I am concerned that the widespread use of artillery and air power in Gaza — and the resulting level of civilian casualties — is both a strategic and moral error.” Now, Crow is not usually a dove on all of these issues, but it’s very interesting to see him talk about his response, his critical response to the U.S. when it comes to Israel.

And this is particularly interesting on the day of President Biden’s State of the Union address tonight. We don’t know exactly what he’s going to say. We know there are a number of Americans who have family members who are being held hostage in Gaza. We don’t know if the Biden family or the administration will be inviting any Palestinians, and that Biden wanted to be able to announce a ceasefire tonight, which is clear, it looks like, will not be happening. But your response to all of this and how these weapons sales, do you feel, perpetuate the war?

JOSH PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I think that people who have served in the military or worked in the Middle East, people like Representative Crow, also, frankly, like Secretary of Defense Austin, understand that what Israel is doing is not going to lead to success on Israel’s own terms, as Secretary of Defense Austin has said. It will lead to strategic failure. And that is why I think the same is true on the Israeli side, where you have former heads of Mossad, for example, saying that this is a dead-end road, that what they are doing is damaging to their own interests.

But I think that is separate from the political question here. And the political question is one in which we have a president and, you know, a set of policies and, frankly, a Congress, as well, for the most part, that remains set on this course, regardless of the harm it is doing to Israeli security and to American global interests and, of course, to so many Palestinians.

AMY GOODMAN: Josh Paul, you were in the State Department for 11 years, and you were involved with these kind of arms deals. You resigned in protest of a push to increase arms to Israel. But I wanted to ask you: How much does protest on the ground affect what’s going on in the State Department, in the White House? How much do you hear it? I mean, there is a massive amount of protest in the United States. And no matter who wants to insulate Biden from it, almost everywhere he goes he is hearing the chants of “ceasefire.” I mean, tonight, one of his guests will be the UAW President Shawn Fain. The UAW was one of the early unions to call for a ceasefire. How much does it matter?

JOSH PAUL: I think protest is very important, I think particularly protest when it manifests at the ballot box, in terms of, for example, the “uncommitted” vote or the “other” vote that we have seen in states and will continue, I hope, to see in the coming days, because that signals to the Biden administration that they really have a political problem here. And that is really one of the only means we have of getting this administration to change course in the time that it has left. So I think that is very important. I think it’s most important when it manifests directly in the political process, and when it comes with organization. I think there is a momentum around this issue now, and we have to maintain that momentum for the, frankly, months and years ahead, because this is not going to be a long-term pole to shift where American policy is and has been for many years.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, you were inside for years the State Department. Now that you’ve resigned — and we sort of ask you this every time since then — how many people inside the administration have reached out to you? Do you feel that that’s increasing? And how many times do they tell you that they’ve been discussing this with Biden or the inner circle of Biden, and what their views on this are? I mean, Biden was no fan of Netanyahu from the beginning. And so, yet he is embracing him now. What they are saying?

JOSH PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I’m still hearing from people I had not heard from previously, to be clear, who are saying that, you know, “This is not working. I feel sick to my stomach of being involved in this. And, you know, I’m trying to make changes, and it’s just not working.” I had several of those conversations just in the last week with people I’ve not spoken to before on this issue. So I think the internal pressure, the internal disgust, frankly, is still there.

But I think, you know, the White House and the president have surrounded the president with, you know, a council of advisers who are, for the most part, like-minded with him. And I don’t know how much of that dissent is actually breaking through, and, even if it did, how much it would change the president’s decision-making. I think he is where he is. And, you know, absent significant political pressure, that is not going to change, unfortunately.

AMY GOODMAN: Josh Paul, we want to thank you for being with us, veteran State Department official, worked on arms deals, resigned in protest of a push to increase arms sales to Israel and its siege on Gaza. He’s the former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the State Department, where he worked for 11 years, now a nonresident fellow with DAWN — that’s Democracy for the Arab World Now.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 154 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." ALMAYADEEN notes, "The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported on Friday that 30,878 Palestinians have been killed and 72,402 wounded by the Israeli occupation as the genocide enters its 154th day." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

Today is International Women's Day. CNN's Celine Alkhaldi and Ibrahim Dahman report:

At least 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement Friday.

Here's what else the statement said about the conditions of women in Gaza:

About 60,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip suffer from "malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of appropriate health care"
About 5,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip give birth every month in "harsh, unsafe, and unhealthy conditions"

The UN's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is the main aid agency in Gaza, also posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying an average of 63 women are killed in the enclave per day. "On #InternationalWomensDay, the women in #Gaza continue to endure the consequences of this brutal war," it said.

UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said more work is required to support and protect women. "An immediate ceasefire is the minimum," he wrote.

The following sites updated: