Thursday, July 25, 2024

When the Dweezil could make it pop

Dweezil Zappa is the son of Frank Zappa.  He's a good guitarist, not really so much of a singer.  I had to do the math.  Wow.  If I did it right, he was 15 when his HAVING A BAD DAY album came out.  Didn't realize he was that young at the time.  But that album was kind of a hit and that was due to his looks.  
 
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The 80s had a popular magazine called SMASH HITS that was little more than glossy 8 x 10s of various pop stars.  People would buy it for the photos of Corey Hart, George Michael (and Andrew when Wham was still together), Madonna, Jody Watley and others.  
 
 In the 1980s, Star Hits magazine helped kids rock out to the best bands -  Click Americana
 
At 15. Dweezil wasn't just made for the magazine, he was made for the cover.  So that's what I mean by his looks sold that 1986 album.  He's in the news:


Dweezil Zappa is headed to Phoenix to launch a tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of two career-defining albums that took his legendary father’s music to a wider mainstream audience than acts as willfully eccentric as Frank Zappa tend to reach — “Apostrophe,” his only Top 10 entry on the Billboard album chart, and “Roxy & Elsewhere,” which hit No. 27.

The Rox-Postrophy Tour is the latest step in a musical journey Dweezil started in 2006 with Zappa Plays Zappa: Tour de Frank to celebrate the legacy his father left when he died in 1993 of prostate cancer.



The photo with the article doesn't tell us much but I was wondering, "Did the looks last?"  They changed.  He's still an attractive guy but it's a different kind of attractive.  And let me repeat, back in 1986, I didn't know he was only 15.  I thought he was older than that.  But with SMASH HITS no longer around, it's left for me to do the updates. :D  (By the way, SMASH HITS paid very well for photos back in the day.)

 

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

 

Thursday, July 25, 2024.  The War Criminal Netanyahu spoke to the US Congress just as Americans learn more about the psyop operations Netanyahu has been carrying out against the American people, the GOP calls for more violence, talk of US troops leaving Iraq, and much more.




What happened when the war started?


I was immediately afraid for the safety of my family, my siblings and their families. This was compounded by the stress of being a new mother trying to shield my son from the impact of the bombings and the upheaval in our home, which was filled with noise and anxiety.

Within four days of the war starting, our home had become a refuge for more than 60 people, mostly relatives of my husband. Some were displaced due to the Israeli army’s threat to their neighbourhoods and some due to shelling on their homes that forced them out.

Ahmed had trouble sleeping. Calming and reassuring him was a challenge made more difficult by the [lack of food and nutrition] needed for breastfeeding.

What happened next?

My ordeal escalated on 19 October. By that point, there were 31 people sheltering in our house, as the rest had decided to move south. [The Israelis] targeted the entire street; at least seven houses including ours. Some of us were in a room together after I had fed Ahmed, kissed him and put him to bed in another room. I don’t know why, but my husband left the room we were in to do something.

Seconds later, the house was bombed and I saw total darkness. A few moments after that, men I did not know pulled me out from under the rubble. I screamed at them, begging them to save my son.

I couldn’t believe it. Ahmed was just there with me. When I put him to bed that day, I did not know it was the last kiss, the last embrace. Only six people survived.

I am so sorry to hear that. Were you injured?

I was in intense pain, so I was taken to Kamal Adwan hospital [in Beit Lahia], where I waited in bed all night hoping for news about my husband and son. The next morning, my father and mother came with pale faces. As soon as I saw them, I knew that a calamity had befallen my life for ever. They told me they had both died. I felt my world come crumbling down. My son was just five months and three weeks old. I had already bought him clothes that would last until he turned two or more. I was very excited to see him wear them. I wanted him to grow up quickly and become my companion and friend.


She now has to try to rebuild a life that's been destroyed and the War Criminal responsible for the deaths of her husband and child -- and so many other civilians -- spoke to the US Congress yesterday. Not present for the speech and disgusting spectacle were, per James Bickerton (NEWSWEEK):




Vice President Kamala Harris
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Richard Durbin
Senator Jeff Merkley
Senator Bernie Sanders
Senator Chris Van Hollen
Senator Tim Kaine
US House Rep Sara Jacobs
US House Rep Ilhan Omar
Us House Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 
US House Rep Robert Garcia
US House Rep Ami Bera
US House Rep Parmila Jayapal
US House Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost
US House Rep Jim Clyburn


That's the list NEWSWEEK published but, as COMMON DREAMS notes, there were many more: "More than 135 congressional Democrats, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) boycotted Netanyahu's speech."


  Following her call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's arrest during his visit to Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib protested the right-wing leader's Wednesday address before a joint meeting of Congress by holding up a sign reading "war criminal" and "guilty of genocide."

"They will not erase us. Palestinians exist and we deserve to live. Our presence today will be a reminder that we aren't going anywhere," Tlaib (D-Mich.) said on social media. "I will never back down in speaking truth to power. The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians."

Tlaib—the only Palestinian American member of Congress—brought a guest: Hani Almadhoun, "who has lost over 150 members of his extended family in Netanyahu's genocide" in Gaza.

"After witnessing his sister forced to eat animal feed, he and his family were determined to start a soup kitchen to feed their starving neighbors," the congresswoman said. "The Israeli apartheid regime is using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime."  


Brett quotes many members who boycotted including US House Rep Greg Casar who stated,  "I am boycotting Netanyahu's address. Today, families of Israeli hostages called the prime minister's speech a 'PR stunt' intended to cover up his own failures."


Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reports on the protests and demonstrations against the War Criminal being welcomed in the halls of Congress:

Hundreds of Jewish activists were arrested in the U.S. Capitol complex on Tuesday after staging a sit-in to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. and address to Congress this week, carrying signs and wearing shirts with slogans like “Not in Our Name” as they demanded an end to Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Protesters with Jewish Voice for Peace called for Biden to stop sending weapons to Israel and to push for an immediate ceasefire, occupying the Cannon House Office building rotunda — the same place protesters occupied in October to demand a ceasefire as Israel was first embarking on its genocide.

“No one is free until everyone is free,” “Jews say stop arming Israel” and “Jews say: stop the genocide,” read some of the banners hoisted by the crowd, who were clad in matching red shirts with a demand for an arms embargo.


Senator Bernie Sanders called out the open arms welcome to a War Criminal on Tuesday.


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday night spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming address to a joint meeting of Congress and the ongoing, horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched live here:

M. President, tomorrow, Wednesday will be a unique moment in Congressional history.

Throughout the many years of our country, leaders from dozens of countries with all kinds of political backgrounds and persuasions have been invited to address a joint meeting of Congress.

To the best of my knowledge, however, tomorrow will be unique: in bringing Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress, it will be the first time in American history that a war criminal has been given that honor.

Frankly, this invitation to Netanyahu is a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret. With this invitation, it will be impossible, with a straight face, for the United States to lecture any country on Earth about human rights and human dignity.

M. President, as you well know, along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several others, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been credibly accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC). That court may soon issue arrest warrants for Sinwar and Netanyahu.

The case against Sinwar and his Hamas accomplices are clear. They were the organizers of the horrific October 7th terrorist attack on Israel that began this war and involved the mass murder of 1,200 innocent men, women, and children, the taking of hostages, and sexual violence. These war crimes are well-documented, and very few people would dispute the merits of these charges.

The ICC prosecutor’s charges against Netanyahu are also well-founded. The charges focus on the starvation of civilians as a method of war, as well as intentional attacks against the civilian population. Specifically, the prosecutor says that Netanyahu is responsible for “depriving [civilians] of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.”

A separate UN independent commission of inquiry likewise found that both Hamas and the Israeli military have committed war crimes since October 7th, leading to widespread civilian deaths. The commission said the Israeli military’s “intentional use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population, particularly affecting women and children.”

M. President, I think we all agree that Israel had the right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas attack on October 7th. But Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has, since that attack, waged what amounts to total war against the entire Palestinian people, making life unlivable in Gaza and killing tens of thousands. These actions have trampled on international law, on American law, and on basic human values.

M. President, I understand that the mass media and many of us in Congress have been preoccupied in recent weeks with the awful assassination attempt against former President Trump and the changes at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.

But while all of this is going on, it is absolutely irresponsible for us to turn our backs on one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history, especially when that disaster has been aided and abetted by U.S. taxpayer dollars and weapons.

In other words, it’s not just the Israeli government. It is us and our money and our weaponry as well.

M. President, let’s be clear as to what’s going on in Gaza. Since this war began, among a population of 2.2 million people, at least 39,000 Palestinians have been killed and 89,000 injured – sixty percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. Most observers believe that death toll is much higher, because thousands of people remain buried under the mountains of rubble. Their bodies have not yet been recovered.

M. President, some 1.9 million people have been driven from their homes, 90% of the population. Take a deep breath. 90% of the population driven from their homes. The vast majority of these desperate and poor people have now been displaced not once, not twice – but in some cases four or five times – herded around like cattle. Just yesterday, Israel announced another evacuation order for Khan Younis, and 150,000 people were forced to flee on a moment’s notice. Just yesterday.

M. President, when we talk about housing, it’s not just that people have been displaced time and time again. More than 60 percent of Gaza’s housing has been damaged or destroyed – including 221,000 housing units that have been completely destroyed. Where are these people going to go to if and when this war ever ends?

And with that housing destruction, more than one million people have been made permanently homeless. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out. Today, more than a million Palestinians, almost half of the population of Gaza, are living in tents, trying to find shelter, trying to find protection from intense summer heat.

But M. President it is not just the housing that has been destroyed.

Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has also been devastated. Water and sewage systems have been made inoperable. And the result: raw sewage is running through the streets, spreading disease, and there is very little clean water. Many roads are impassable, and there is virtually no electricity.

But it’s not just housing and infrastructure that has been destroyed.

M. President, Gaza had twelve universities, schools of higher learning. Every single one of them has been bombed, and 88 percent of all school buildings have been damaged. In other words, under Mr. Netanyahu’s leadership, the entire educational system in Gaza has been annihilated. In fact, 540 people have been killed while sheltering in UN schools.

But M. President it’s not just the housing that’s been destroyed. Not just the infrastructure of Gaza that has been destroyed. Not just the educational system which has been destroyed.

At a time when almost 90,000 people are dealing with war-related injuries in Gaza – including many, many children who’ve lost their arms and their legs, who are suffering all kinds of diseases – the healthcare system has been systematically obliterated. 21 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are completely out of service, and the remainder can only partially function. The World Health Organization has recorded more than 1,000 attacks on healthcare facilities since October 7th.

As a result, disease is spreading due to shortages of clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. Cases of hepatitis, dysentery, and other infections are on the rise. And cases of polio have now been detected. Malnourished women struggle to breastfeed their newborns, formula is inaccessible, and even when available cannot be used without reliable sources of clean water. So, the tiniest children and their mothers suffer as well.

But, M. President, it is not just the displacement of 1.9 million people, it’s not just the mass destruction of housing, it’s not just the obliteration of the infrastructure, it is not just the destruction of the educational system, it’s not just the annihilation of the health care system in Gaza that we are seeing. It is worse than that.

And I hope that my colleagues who attend Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks on Wednesday remember this as they rise, time and time again, to give him a standing ovation.

As a result of Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid, people in Gaza are now starving to death.

So, remember when people stand up and applaud: children, women, innocent people in Gaza are now starving to death.

According to the best available research, drawing on leading experts from the UN and other aid organizations around the world, some 495,000 Palestinians face starvation. These groups estimate that more than 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition and are at risk of starving to death. At least 30 children – documented cases, and I suspect it’s a lot higher number than that – have starved to death.

So, as you stand up and applaud that guy, remember the starving children.

But even those who get the lifesaving care they need will carry the scars of this for the rest of their lives. As every psychologist will tell you, a child’s brain develops fastest in the first two years of life, and childhood malnutrition does lifelong cognitive and physical damage.

And I would ask my colleagues to stop for a moment and think about the psychological damage this war has done to the children there. Imagine being a child living with the constant buzzing of drones above your head, wondering if they are going to rain fire and bullets onto your home. Wondering if they might strike at any moment. Imagine being a little 5-year-old witnessing your relatives killed, your neighborhood destroyed. Imagine being a little 10-year-old: think about going hungry night after night, about searching for hours for water to drink. Think about being pushed from one place to another, carrying your belongings through streets running with sewage and amid piles of rubble and trash.

That is what Mr. Netanyahu – the man Congress is honoring tomorrow – has done to the children of Gaza.

According to the UN and virtually every humanitarian organization functioning in Gaza, Israel has intentionally blocked humanitarian aid – including food, water, and medical supplies – from reaching the desperate people of Gaza.

Let’s be clear: there is NO excuse for this. Blocking humanitarian aid, killing aid workers, and creating the conditions for starvation – these are not only acts of extreme cruelty, but they are clear violations of both U.S. and international law. They are war crimes. And Netanyahu heads the government that has enacted these policies.

So tomorrow, M. President, when members of Congress give Mr. Netanyahu a standing ovation, I hope for one second they will remember the starving children in Gaza.

I hope while they applaud, that they will think about the hundreds of aid workers killed, the dozens of hospitals bombed, the housing destroyed, and the universities obliterated.

M. President, when Mr. Netanyahu rises to speak tomorrow, I also hope that my colleagues remember that all this death and destruction is not just the unfortunate byproduct of a brutal war. Revenge and destruction are the explicit policy of this Netanyahu’s extremist government.

Two days into the war, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” And that is exactly how they have pursued this war. Let me repeat: the Israeli Defense Minister described the Palestinian people as “human animals” – and, tragically, they have acted consistent with that view.

Let us be clear: the Israel of today is not the Israel of the past. It is now run by a right-wing, extremist government.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, has long advocated for the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from the region. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the man responsible for the occupied West Bank, is also an extreme racist and has called for the expulsion of Palestinians from the land. He has called for segregated hospital wards for Jews and Arabs because, “Arabs are my enemies.” That is the current Israeli finance minister and the man in charge of the West Bank.

So it should be no surprise that this extremist government, in addition to destroying Gaza, has overseen record Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law and commitments to the United States. Israeli forces and vigilante settlers have killed more than 500 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7th, including 131 children.

Just last week, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. A panel of 15 accomplished judges from around the world confirmed what most of the world has long known: that occupation is illegal and must end.

I know that there are some here in Congress, not many, but some, who have condemned Netanyahu and his right-wing extremist government. But that is not enough. We cannot condemn a Prime Minister, who the ICC considers a war criminal, while at the same time continuing to provide his government with tens of billions of dollars in military aid. That is hypocrisy at its worst.

Just today, M. President, seven major unions, including the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), International Union of Painters (IUPAT), National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Electrical Workers (UE), some of the largest unions in America representing about 6 million workers, sent a letter to President Biden calling on him to immediately halt all military aid to Israel.

They are absolutely right.

Netanyahu is a right-wing extremist and a war criminal who has devoted his career to killing the prospects for a two-state solution and lasting peace. He should not be welcome in the United States Congress.

On the contrary, his policies in Gaza and the West Bank should be roundly condemned, and his right-wing extremist government should not receive another nickel of U.S. taxpayer funding. 



The U.S. has long ignored many commands of international law, but its casual disregard of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has come into sharp focus this week as the U.S. Congress extends a warm welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just five days after the ICJ notified all UN member states that they have a legal “obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The World Court’s historic 83-page advisory opinion, which was issued on July 19 and held that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal, was quickly hailed by Middle East political expert Nomi Bar-Yaacov as a “legal earthquake” and the strongest decision that the court had ever issued.

Unsurprisingly, however, both the Israeli and U.S. governments denounced the ICJ’s ruling and proceeded with their plans — including Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, D.C. — as if it had never occurred.

The purpose of Netanyahu’s trip is to shore up U.S. support for his ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza and for his crusade against Iran.




AMY GOODMAN: In Washington, D.C., thousands of protesters are planning to march on Capitol Hill today as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress as the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza tops 39,100 — and expected to be much higher.

On Tuesday, 400 Jewish activists, including over a dozen rabbis, were arrested during a sit-in inside the Capitol to protest Netanyahu’s visit and to demand an immediate U.S. weapons embargo on the Israeli government.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are boycotting Netanyahu’s speech, including Senators Dick Durbin, who is the majority whip, Chris Van Hollen, Jeff Merkley, Patty Murray, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who spoke Tuesday.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Netanyahu is a right-wing extremist and a war criminal who has devoted his career to killing the prospects of a two-state solution and lasting peace in the region. He should not be welcomed to the United States Congress.

AMY GOODMAN: Maryland Senator Ben Cardin will preside over the Senate during Netanyahu’s speech, after vice president, presidential candidate Kamala Harris declined to go.

In the House, Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib called for Netanyahu to be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court. In a statement, she said, quote, “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” unquote.

New York Congressmember Jerry Nadler, the most senior Jewish member of the House, said he’ll attend Netanyahu’s speech out of respect for the state of Israel, but Nadler said, quote, “Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago,” Nadler said.

A number of prominent Israelis have also criticized congressional leaders for inviting Netanyahu. Last month, The New York Times published an essay headlined “We Are Israelis Calling on Congress to Disinvite Netanyahu.” The essay was co-authored by six prominent Israelis, including former Israeli President Ehud Barak and former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo.

Another one of the co-authors joins us now. David Harel is the president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a professor of computer science and applied mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He’s joining us from Rehovot, Israel.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Professor Harel. Why do you think it’s wrong for Netanyahu, your prime minister, to address this joint session of Congress?

DAVID HAREL: Good afternoon here. Good morning over there.

I think Congress has made a terrible mistake in inviting Netanyahu. First of all, he does not represent the majority of Israelis. He clings to power because of a coalition which includes some very, very extreme people. We feel deeply, and many, many Israelis feel, that the actions of this government are bringing Israel downhill to the point that we may be losing our country. It’s not just a crisis. It’s not just some things that are happening that we are not happy with. We actually feel that the existence of the country, that we so love and all six of us have served for many, many decades in various capacities, is at a grave risk of collapsing the country down, down to nothing.

At the very, very least, we feel that such an invitation to Netanyahu should be — should have been contingent on his doing essentially three things. Returning the 120 hostages home, there was a way to do that six, seven, eight months ago. There’s a way to do it right now, which he seems to be pushing off, time after time. The second thing is to stop the war in Gaza. We here in Israel are bleeding daily, with members of the military getting killed almost daily. And I don’t even want to mention the scores of civilians in Gaza that have died and keep on dying. This war has to stop immediately. It should have stopped a long time ago. And the third thing, he should have called for elections. There is a clear majority of around 60, 70% of Israeli citizens who want elections to be called. I mean, if these three things were to take place, I would understand an invitation for Netanyahu to speak at Congress.

But right now the citizenship at large has lost faith in him and his government and their actions. And we feel — in fact, let me quote you a father of one of the hostages, I think it was yesterday or today in Washington, who said — and this is a very nice term — he said what Netanyahu is going to be doing in Congress is a political theater. He has really one main goal, and that is to speak before Congress to get the ovations — that always come with the act — and to strengthen his base in Israel. And by the way, strengthening the base in Israel might, sadly and terrifyingly, have the consequence of the war being prolonged even further and the return of the hostages being delayed even further, and that includes, of course, some of the hostages who are U.S. citizens. So, in any case, it’s not only kind of a farce or a political theater, as this person said, but it’s also something that might have very bad additional consequences on the situation here rather than making things even better.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor Harel, what has been the reaction within Israeli society to your letter, especially in light of the fact that just last week the Knesset overwhelmingly voted to reject a two-state solution and Palestinian statehood?

DAVID HAREL: Yes. Well, first of all, to your last point, what I failed to mention, and I’ll mention now, is that there’s really two things on the table right now that Netanyahu has to decide upon. One, of course, is the deal, that is very, very similar to the one he himself put forward some weeks ago, for returning the hostages. And the other is that would come together with some kind of normalization of the relationship with Saudi Arabia, letting a Palestinian setup rule Gaza and — this comes to the point that you just made — making the possibility of moves toward a two-state solution much more viable than they seem now. So, it’s not just a one act or one war or one hostage problem. This thing touches upon a much more global and significant issue of perhaps moving towards the so badly needed steps to peace in the Middle East.

As to the reactions here, well, of course, we got some flak from people who thought that — not only people who disagree with the contents of our essay in The New York Times, but people who say, “Even if you are right, you should not be washing your dirty laundry outside of the country.” Some people said, “These problems should have been solved within the country. You can raise your alarm and your voice here, but not outside.” And to that, I have two things to say. One is, Netanyahu himself goes abroad to voice his opinions, to put forward what he believes in, often to put forward things that are incorrect, in order to garner support. And if he and his government can take their laundry outside of the country and show what they want, then there’s no reason why ordinary citizens like ourselves should not be able to do so.

We’ve also, however, got a lot of support. I mean, I have hundreds of mails and WhatsApps and telephone calls following that New York Times guest essay that we wrote which support us, and some people even saying that the courage needed to do that is tremendous. I don’t know about courage. What I can say is that out of the six people who authored this essay, I’m the only one who holds a position and gets paid by the government, as president of our academy. And in that sense, I do want to say that it wasn’t easy for me to decide to join this effort and actually to lead the writing, in a sense. I could have said, you know, “No, I have this role, and I shouldn’t be doing this.” But I think the situation is just so terrible and a danger to the state of Israel, and therefore also to the Jewish people at large, is so devastatingly alarming that I would be willing to give up anything, including my post at the Israel Academy, in order to voice what I think is the absolute truth outside. And in terms of laundering dirty laundry outside, you know, this is not just dirty laundry. The situation is terrible. And, you know, sometimes you need a foreign-made washing machine to help clean your laundry. And I’m not saying this as a joke. And this is one of the reasons that we decided to do this.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor, you mentioned that you’re president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, which has urged academic institutions around the world to resist calls to boycott research institutions and scientists in Israel. Could you explain why?

DAVID HAREL: Yes. Well, it was actually — let me say, there are three narratives that I identify when I try to listen to the music that you hear on campuses in the United States and also in some places in Europe, you know, the riots, the slogans. And if we want to bring this down to the real essence, there are three things that you can hear people chanting or saying or shouting. One is antisemitism, which, very simply put, is, you know, let the Jews disappear somehow, to put very mildly. The other is anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism, which is almost the same thing, which is that the state of Israel disappear somehow. And I’m putting this mildly, too. And the third is anti what Israel is doing or what the Israeli government is doing. And I go around, at the top of my voice, in Israel and abroad, fighting against the first two of these. Whatever Israel is doing, and however much I disagree with what is happening in Gaza and the way our government is carrying itself, including internally, the judicial reform, the attacks on academia and on cultural institutions, that is no reason at all to call for antisemitism or even to call for the Israeli state to disappear. So I will fight with all my might against those two things, antisemitism and anti-Israelism. But I will also do whatever I think I should do personally as an Israeli citizen to bring about a better government around here with better things.

As to boycotts on science, science is universal. It’s borderless. I do not collaborate with a colleague in Britain or United States or France or Germany because I am a mediocre scientist and the person over there is a better scientist. We collaborate because collaboration, international collaboration, is the essence of science, especially in the natural and exact sciences. And boycotting Israeli science is really damaging science in general.

You know, just to give an example which I like to give, recently, Ada Yonath, a Nobel Prize chemist at our institute, Weizmann Institute, who deciphered the structure of the ribosome, she did not do her work alone in her attic. She collaborated with several collaborators in Europe. She did her work using international grants from international bodies that grant research money. And what’s even more important, the results of her research are not just going to bring about improvements locally. I mean, her work is poised to help medicine in general. It’s going to help not only me, but also you and people everywhere around the world.

Boycotting science has the opposite effect, because scientists and humanity experts and intellectuals, they very, very often lead the battle against fascism, against fake news, for reasonable and logical thinking, for critical thinking. And if you weaken science, you not only weaken — if you weaken science in Israel, you not only weaken science in general, but you weaken the kind of logic and critical thinking that is needed in order to counter the bad trends that one sees not only in Israel these days, but throughout the world. So, the other thing I go around asking for is to stop these boycotts. There’s no need for them. There’s no point in them. They’ll only do harm globally.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Harel, do you agree that the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Kamala Harris, is correct in not presiding over today’s joint session of Congress that Netanyahu will be addressing?

DAVID HAREL: Definitely. She’s definitely right. In fact, I don’t want to take any credit whatsoever, but our essay appeared a month ago, and since then, there have been a lot of follow-ups by Israelis calling for members of Congress not to appear, you know, to kind of boycott, if I may use the same word that we just used a few minutes ago, to boycott his speech in Congress.

I’m very happy that Kamala Harris will not be sitting behind him and having to clap every time he says something for which he will get some kind of ovation. I’m very happy that something, I presume, between 50 and 100 members will not show up. And I am happy that there will be protests outside the Capitol to protest his invitation and to protest his speech. And if we have made a minor, modest contribution to that by voicing our opinion a month ago, then I’m very happy about that.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor David Harel, we want to thank you for being with us, president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, professor of computer science and applied mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, speaking to us from Rehovot, Israel. We’ll link the New York Times article you recently co-authored, “We Are Israelis Calling on Congress to Disinvite Netanyahu.” Co-authors of the essay include the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo.

Coming up, on Tuesday, 400 Jewish activists, including a dozen rabbis, were arrested at a sit-in at the Capitol to protest Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Back in 20 seconds.


Congress welcomed in a War Criminal.  And that's a War Criminal, please note, who has overseen a psyop operation against the American people.  Jessica  Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

  Over two dozen organizations on Wednesday demanded that the Biden administration launch a multi-agency investigation into recent reporting that "the Israeli government is engaging in illicit social media influence operations targeting U.S. elected officials and U.S. civil society."

Pointing to June reports by The New York Times, Haaretz, and The Guardian, the groups—including the Center for International Policy, CodePink, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), National Iranian American Council (NIAC), U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) Action, and Win Without War—wrote to President Joe Biden and the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State.

As Israel began waging war on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7 attack, the country's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs "allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out," the Times reported June 5, citing related documents and unnamed Israeli officials.

 Although the Israeli ministry denied involvement in the campaign and Stoic didn't respond to requests for comment, the newspaper noted that "at its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans on X, Facebook, and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments. The accounts focused on U.S. lawmakers, particularly ones who are Black and Democrats."

As The Guardian reported on June 24, "That effort is only one of many such campaigns coordinated by the ministry."

The newspaper detailed "a sprawling relaunch of a controversial Israeli government program initially known as Kela Shlomo, designed to carry out what Israel called 'mass consciousness activities' targeted largely at the U.S. and Europe."

"Concert, now known as Voices of Israel, previouslyworked with groups spearheading a campaign to pass so-called 'anti-BDS' state laws that penalize Americans for engaging in boycotts or other nonviolent protests of Israel," The Guardian explained, referring to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

"Its latest incarnation is part of a hardline and sometimes covert operation by the Israeli government to strike back at student protests, human rights organizations, and other voices of dissent," according to the newspaper. "Voices' latestactivities were conducted through nonprofits and other entities that often do not disclose donor information." 


Speaker and Spitfire of the House -- and poster boy for conversion therapy -- Mike Johnson spent Tuesday and Wednesday attacking members of the US Congress and defending the War Criminal. 

For those who have had to endure that coverage, below is Mike Johnson and his adopted son in private moments.



From confused go-cart builder to menace in Congress, Mike Johnson.

Oh, I'm sorry.  Did people not know that Johnson had a passion for go-carts?  Or that he once cared about clean air?  There's so ver much that the American people do not know about Mike Johnson.


Gaza remains under assault. Day 293 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."   THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 39,145 with 90,257 wounded.." 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:

  



April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
 

As for 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 in US election news, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

March for Our Lives, which was launched six years ago after yet another U.S. mass shooting, announced its first-ever political endorsement on Wednesday, backing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' bid for the White House.

"The stakes couldn't be higher," said the group, which was founded in the wake of the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "As one of the largest youth-led movements in the nation, we are clear-eyed about the challenge ahead and we believe that Kamala Harris is uniquely suited to meet this moment."

Warning of the threat posed by Republican former President Donald Trump—who just survived an assassination attempt—and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), March for Our Lives said that "the country that young people will soon inherit stands at the precipice—on one side, authoritarianism that threatens our fundamental rights, including our right to live freely without fear of gun violence; on the other, a world where we can keep fighting to build the future that young people know we deserve."

"We need an ardent defender of democracy, a gun violence prevention champion, and a leader who will listen to young people, give us a seat at the table, and fight for our future. We believe that Kamala Harris is that candidate, and the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve," the organization continued, detailing how she has been "a forceful champion for gun safety and for young people" as vice president and a U.S. senator representing California.

"Young people are inheriting an increasingly precarious world," the group added, highlighting youth deaths from gun violence, Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, the escalating climate emergency, and far-right politicians pushing extremist policies. "We have been struggling to feel excited about voting in this election, and are increasingly pessimistic that change is possible. But we know that another Trump presidency is simply not an option that young people can afford—our lives are literally at stake." 


This as the party of violence and death continues to embrace it and to call for more violence.  Chris Walker (TRUTHOUT) reports on the GOP continued dry humping violence:

On Monday, an Ohio Republican lawmaker introducing GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance suggested that, should Vance and presidential nominee Donald Trump fail to win the 2024 election, their supporters should engage in a “civil war to save the country.”

State Sen. George Lang later apologized for his comments at the rally when it became apparent that he was going viral online for endorsing political violence in order to instill candidates of his own preference against the will of American voters.

Vance did not condemn Lang’s comments during the rally or acknowledge them in any statements since.


 Baghdad and Washington are closing in on a deal that would see the US-led coalition end its presence in Iraq after a decade of fighting ISIS.

An Iraqi delegation spent Monday and Tuesday in Washington for the latest round of talks to wind down the coalition and establish new bilateral security partnerships with each country that still has troops there.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani is under increasing domestic pressure to agree on a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces, most of which are American, but the US is wary about pulling out of Iraq amid a continued ISIS presence.

Iraqi politician Jawad Al Bulani, who is on the parliamentary security and defence committee, said Baghdad and Washington “are putting the finishing touches on the withdrawal deal of all foreign troops in the coalition in Iraq”.

“They are in the final stages now to go ahead with the deal,” Mr Al Bulani told The National.




The following sites updated:

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Cher

So Cher has a book coming out.  This is not her first memoir.  THE FIRST TIME . . . came out in 1998.  But she's written a new memoir.  AP reports:



Cher has long known only one person could take on the job of telling her story.

And she's telling it in two parts.

Dey Street Books announced Wednesday that “Cher: The Memoir, Part One” will come out Nov. 19, with the second volume to follow in 2025. Dey Street, a HarperCollins imprint, is promising a “true story, in intimate detail,” starting with her “often-chaotic” childhood and famed and troubled partnership with Sonny Bono.


I think the 2 volume is a good idea.  I wasn't bothered by the length of Barbra Streisand's recent book; however, a lot of people were complaining.  So it's probably best that Cher's splitting her memoir up into two different books.  Click here and you can see the cover for the book due out in November.  I like that cover.  I hope the book has photos of her because she started being a fashion trendsetter in the 60s and there are so many great fashion photos of her. 


Cher has tons of hits.  But she also has album tracks that are great but were never singles.  Of those, I think my favorite will always be "Love Is The Groove."



 

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

 

Wednesday, July 24, 2024.  Jill Stein has her Joe Biden moment in an interview that should alarm everyone (not just the Green Party), CNN says it practices journalism -- says that anyway, polio concerns grow in Gaza and much more.



Did you see that hideous Jill Stein on Jordan Chariton's equally hideous STATUS QUO yesterday?  Jordan was sputtering away about the DNC convention and the delegates and the vote and offering, "It's been cancelled.  They can say there's going to be an open convention but I haven't seen anything like this --"  Well whores gotta whore and whore gotta eat and Jordan will put his mouth around anything.

Which is how you got him presenting Jill as the Green Party's presidential nominee despite the fact that the party has no nominee until their convention in August.

Yes, that's right.  He's slamming the Democratic Party and their process while he advances a tired old liar who is not yet the nominee for her party.

Whore's gotta whore and Jordan and Jill were giving a 2-for-1 special.

"It looks like the anti-democratic party is doubling down on its ant-democratic [. . .]"  74 year old Jill Stein croaked out.  Explaining -- as she launched one attack after another in an 27 minute segment why she never gets anywhere and why her party never does -- Bitchy is not a campaign platform.  Trying to woo potential voters, Jill spent 27 minutes offering nothing -- but that's all she's ever offered: Nothing.

While America was looking elsewhere in the fall of 2012, Barack Obama was running for re-election on delivering his promise to get US troops out of Iraq when, in fact, he was actually sending US troops back in and then Tim Arango (NYT) reports on that reality  and 'anti-war' Jill says . . . nothing.

For those who don't know, she was the Green Party's 2012 presidential nominee -- and refused to raise the issue of the Iraq War -- and she was the same party's 2016 nominee.  

Eight years later, she's pushing to be the nominee again.





She wants to talk about undemocratic?  Her entire public life has been about destroying democracy and how sad for The Green Party that they're about to stand on the national stage and say: We got nothing.

That's what her becoming the nominee of the party will say.

It'll also say: We hate young people, we use them for our volunteers as unpaid workers but Kat Swfit and the younger Greens are never going to stand a chance at being presidential nominees because we are the true party of failed vision and gerontocracy.  
.  

Jill really turned on the  bitchy and racism because that is Jill Stein.  This is known within the Green Party, by the way.  She is a racist and she is a bitch.  But on the show she attacked Kamala and wanted to talk about the votes Kamala got during the 2019 to 2020 race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Hmm.

Long before Jill was failing as a candidate for president, she failed as a candidate for other offices.  


In 2002, she ran for office and lost.  In 2004, she ran for office and lost.  We'll skip her Town Meeting 'credentials' and move on to her run for governor 2002 where, yes, she lost.  In 2006, she ran for Secretary of the Common Wealth and . . . she . . . lost.  2010 found her again running for governor and again losting -- distant fourth place.  2012 found her running for president of the United States because five losing races in a row screams "I can do the job!"  and besides serial plagiarist Chris Hedges endorsed her.  Maybe that endorsement is why she lost?  In 2016, she again ran for president because, well, honestly, she didn't have anything else to do -- or anything else to do with her pathetic life.  She lost again.


For some perspective, in 2000, Ralph Nader was the Green Party's presidential candidate and received 2,882,955 votes.  The best Jill's ever done was in the 2016 with 1,457,216.  That's bad but for those who don't really get it, population increases (except in war torn countries).  In 2000, there were 209.1 million US adults but in 2016, the figure rose to 249, 372,462.  That was forty million more adults -- forty million more voters -- that a real candidate could have picked up.  Sloppy Jill didn't though.  She's never been able to match -- let alone exceed -- the number of voters Ralph Nader won.  

She's just that pathetic and just that awful.

But, hey, waste everyone's time and make her the presidential nominee for the third time.


Unlike Jill - -the wacko doctor that preached the anti-vaccine screed until it became a media liability for her -- Kamala held office.  Kamala won elections.  

In 2003, she won the election for San Francisco District Attorney.  In 2010?  Elected Attorney General of California and re-elected in 2014.  2016 saw her elected to the US Senate.  2020's election resulted in her becoming the vice president of the United States.

See, unlike Jill, Kamala is electable.


It must be sad for Jill that the only slugline by her name is "Putin's pal."  Where there are butchers, there is Jill Stein.

She snarled -- Jill, check and see if you've had an early stroke, "What does it say about the Democratic Party that they best they can do is Joe Biden or Kamala Harris?"

I think that's the question for your party:  What does it say about the Green Party that they keep making you their nominee.

You're 74 years old, grandma, shouldn't you have retired long, long ago.

Her mind says she's already sitting on the porch in her rocker which explains her speaking of Ralph Nader running for president and Democrats challenging him in court "in I think it was the 2004 or 2006 election to deplete his resources."


You think it was 2004 or 2006?


Ralph Nader ran for president.  There was no 2006 presidential election.  We all question your sanity and your slide into senility unless this is just another lie form you, Jill


She insists the Democrats are bad and "tying us up with trivia."  Isn't  it always great to hear a whore talk?  That's not trivia, dear, they're called laws.

She could have dedicated her many failed runs for office to the issue of ballot access but that wouldn't let her whine about what the Democrats are doing.

Here's the reality on that: She benefits from it.  The Republicans back her campaign.  They give money to it because the hope is that, as in 2016, she'll get just enough votes to help a Republican into the White House.  And while she whines about herself and her friend Robert Kennedy Junior, the reality is it's Republican Party money that's keeping both campaigns afloat.  They're non-starters and two losers, but thanks to the Republican Party, they can pretend they're real candidates.

The Democrats are not inventing rules and regulations to apply to you, Jill, they're insisting that you abide by the legal requirements in place.

Boo-hoo that you can't.  Boo-hoo that you hired people to, for example, gather signatures and because they're hired that don't do the quality of work that actual volunteers would do for you.  

I believe in ranked choice voting.  Maybe Jill should have spent the last 20 or so years working on that issue.  Wouldn't have gotten her into elected office, no, but none of her campaigns for elected office got her into office either.


Not being able to make the ballot because you didn't abide by the rules is not "authoritarianism" or "fascism" and you look like an idiot when you claim otherwise.  Around the world, real people struggle with fascist regimes and authoritarian ones and your whines come off as ridiculous and fake as everything else that has ever come out of your damn mouth.

She then made it worse.  Challenging her petition signatures or other requirements?  Jill informed, "This is as bad as Trump undermining the balance of power after the election."

Donald Trump led a failed coup, a violent coup, against the United States and Jill wants to say that legal challenges are "as bad"?  


She showed further stupidity by claiming the US could do what France just did.  No, that's not possible because the US doesn't have the French parliament system.  She's an idiot and that is her Joe Biden moment by the way, she's visibly stressed trying to come up with the term "united front" and she scratching her face in panic and doing something weird with her eyes and then trying to recover from her senility slip by mumbling, "There's a member of -- a former member of the Panthers.  Dhoruba -- I forget his last name."

Of course you do, White Karen, of course you do.

I believe she's speaking of Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad.   But who knows?  This was her Joe Biden moment and she looked as old and senile as she could.

She says Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are the same.   And then she slips into another Joe moment where not only does she stumble over words, she also has we

 
Kamala Harris, the genocider, the uhm cop uh protector uhm you know the uh  the uh mmmmh censorship advocate,   the assault on our civil liberties.  Everything, you know.  Whether it's Kamala Harris  leading the charge here or Donald Trump, in my view, it's not much different.   I see this very much as uhm Malcom X described it,  you know, with the   wolf at least, uh -- No, I'm sorry the wolf -- the wolf -- it can be hard to read uhm [long pause while she looks to her right}.  No, I have it backwards.

You have so much backwards, Jill, so much.



If you're not getting how senile Jill has become.  Seconds later, she will speak of this November's election and declare the need to fight them "remembering this is a three-way race among genociders.  You have RFK, Trump and Biden who are all leading the charge for genocide."

Uhm, no.

Someone call from granny's nurse.  She thinks RFK is in the race.  RFK died, granny Jill, sixty years ago.  Junior is the one running.  As for Biden?  Joe dropped out Sunday.  So you've lost your long term memory and your short term memory both.

And don't claim it was a one time slip.  Seconds later she repeated this nonsense,  "We have two greater evil choices or rather three.  Three greater evil choices between RFK, Trump and Biden."


If they nominate her next month, the Green Party is over as a political party but they can certainly continue as a comedy improv troupe. 


She also attacked Cornel West and that was what I was planning to write about when I streamed the video last night; however, this morning, as I'm dictating the snapshot, the things above are what come back to me.

Cornel is a real candidate.  Jill is not.  She liked Cornel when she planned to control him.  Cornel thought she was a friend.  Realizing the truth about her was hard for Cornel because he's too trusting.  But it was a learning experience for him and he's a better candidate for it.  She wants him to drop out but won't call for that because she doesn't believe in making that call, she says.  Then she whines, "Would you please think strategically here and take a look at France and see how we beat back the fascist chance." 

Again, that's not how it works in the US.  She's an idiot and she's senile.  

Let's change topics, I'm sick of that useless liar.

Okay, 

I'm unclear, after reading Chandelis Duster's report for CNN, why CNN exists.  I thought it was a news organization.  Chandelis starts out typing:


An author whose novel about book banning was removed from a Florida school district’s library shelves has asked the school board to reinstate his book, saying that its removal is “erasure of the highest order.”

Alan Gratz, author of “Ban This Book,” said in a letter read during the Indian River County school board meeting Monday night and obtained by CNN he was “disappointed” by the book’s removal. The school district’s decision to disregard a local review committee’s earlier recommendation to keep it on library shelves indicates it was “motivated by politics, and not what is best for the students and families,” Gratz also wrote.


I understand what Alan Gratz is stating.  And I believe him.  The record supports his claim.  But CNN's report doesn't.  Apparently, CNN is no longer doing journalism and that's how we get garbage like this:

In February, the chair of the county Moms for Liberty chapter submitted a challenge of Gratz’s book to the district’s book objection committee, claiming the novel “depicts or describes sexual conduct.” The chapter president, Jennifer Pippin, also told CNN she challenged the book because “basically it’s promoting banned books to children ages 4-12.”

The committee reviewed the book and voted in April to keep it on school library shelves, but the Indian River County school board in May voted 3-2 to remove the book from school libraries, agreeing with Pippin that the book was inappropriate.

[. . .]

Jacqueline Rosario, another school board member, said the decision to remove the book “had nothing to do with politics” but “everything to do with what was appropriate.”

“We have the legal right. Each district school board is responsible for the content of all – not some – all instructional materials and any other material used in a classroom made available in a school or in a classroom library,” she said, citing a Florida statute. “At the end of the day, it is the board’s responsibility that if any of these items are included … it is up to this board to take final action and vote. And we did.”




See the problem?  Moms For Bigotry are banning books.  And who is this Jacqueline Rosario?  Why she's a Moms For Bigotry quota.  Ray McNulty (VERO NEWS) explains what CNN couldn't or wouldn't:


Hours after Rosario received her education on the bylaws, she was at it again, this time putting on another clown show for her friends in the local chapter of the Moms For Liberty, the uber-conservative group that pretends to advocate nationally for parental rights and endorsed her candidacy in the 2022 election.

Rosario, for no good reason, pelted Moore with a series of questions – about the district’s planned implementation of the new state-approved “African-American history standards,” the Moms’ influence on the curriculum, and banning books that contain critical race theory – that nobody should’ve taken seriously.

There’s little doubt Rosario already knew the answers.

Moore, at best, appeared to tolerate the snarky tone and ridiculous content of her disrespectful barrage. He should’ve walked out.

That shameful scene, though, provided all the evidence needed to prove Rosario isn’t worthy of any leadership role on the board. And we’ve seen such boorish behavior before from her.

Don’t take my word for it.

Mara Schiff, who served on the board for four years before opting to not seek re-election in 2022, stated that she “never” considered voting for Rosario for chair during her term.

In an email sent in response to a request for comment from Vero Beach 32963, Schiff wrote of Rosario: “Her capacity to disrupt board processes, interfere with the work of the superintendent, misunderstand her role as a board member, and presume to act as a de facto legal counsel is a recipe for perpetual board dysfunction.

“Moreover, Mrs. Rosario caters to special political and religious interests at the expense of other community voices,” she added. “The chair’s job is to maintain a cohesive nonpartisan board, working together with the superintendent, as a policy governance team serving the interests of the Indian River County community, the school district, the staff and, most of all, the students.

So Moms for Bigotry attacked the writer's book and pushed to have it removed and then you're quoting a council member but forgetting to note that she plays a clown for Moms For Bigotry and that she is endorsed by them and works with them and . . .


Let's look at what CNN published one more time:

Jacqueline Rosario, another school board member, said the decision to remove the book “had nothing to do with politics” but “everything to do with what was appropriate.”

“We have the legal right. Each district school board is responsible for the content of all – not some – all instructional materials and any other material used in a classroom made available in a school or in a classroom library,” she said, citing a Florida statute. “At the end of the day, it is the board’s responsibility that if any of these items are included … it is up to this board to take final action and vote. And we did.”


That is what she said.  That is not what she is.  CNN should have reported her connection to Moms For Bigotry and the fact that 2024's biggest political failure Ron DeSantis endorsed her.  Instead, they leave out pertinent information which makes it appear that it's a he-said-she-said and who can ever know what's actually going on?  They do that by hiding her actual record.  

That's not journalism.




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

Israel’s military says it’s begun vaccinating its soldiers against polio after the paralytic virus was found in a number of wastewater samples in Gaza. The World Health Organization warns the risk of further spread remains high while Gaza’s children go unvaccinated during Israel’s assault, which has devastated Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure. Public health officials have called it a major setback for global efforts to eradicate polio.

For more, we’re joined in Be’er Sheva in Israel by Dr. Dorit Nitzan, professor and director of the masters program in emergency medicine-preparedness and response at Ben-Gurion University. She’s also the former regional emergency director for the World Health Organization’s European office. She co-authored a piece by eight Israeli doctors in Haaretz on Sunday headlined “Cease-fire. The Only Way to Prevent a Polio Epidemic Among Gazan and Israeli Babies.”

Thank you so much for being with us, Doctor. If you can start off by explaining what the situation is in Gaza right now and what you’re calling for?

DR. DORIT NITZAN: Thank you very much. And really, thank you for paying attention to this important public health risk and issue.

In Gaza now, we don’t — we are not there, and it’s hard for us to imagine what both babies, newborn babies, their mothers, kids are going through. But what we know is that sewage samples that arrived to Israel, collected in Gaza for analysis, revealed the existence of a vaccine-derived polio there. And this is something that is expected in such conditions.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Doctor, could you talk about what that potentially means, especially given the fact that infected individuals can show no symptoms for weeks?

DR. DORIT NITZAN: Yes. So, right now we don’t know — fortunately, we don’t know of any polio patients in Gaza. But we anticipate that it will come. We know that behind each polio patient, there are about hundred and more people that are not symptomatic, meaning that it takes time for the symptoms to appear. This sewage system is a very good, sensitive marker for that. So, knowing that it is there and it might appear, then the circumstances and the conditions of the healthcare, the health services is so bad that we are really, really worried for these kids.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Dorit Nitzan, the Israeli government has begun a major vaccination campaign for Israeli soldiers. They say there are some vaccines available for Palestinians, but throughout Gaza, hospitals have been destroyed, have been bombed. The healthcare system is in shambles. Talk about why you say that the prescription right now for what’s happening is a ceasefire.

DR. DORIT NITZAN: Yeah, the prescription is ceasefire, vaccines and good public health conditions. This is — you know, it’s a full prescription that comes in. What we know, that for the past 20 years, with Israel’s support, Gaza and the West Bank have succeeded very high rates of vaccinations, including for polio. So, the older kids should be OK. Those who were born just before October 7th and after are at risk. And for that, ceasefire is needed, because we need to get — the humanitarian workers, the health workers, the nurses need to get to each and every baby and each and every adult that has not been vaccinated in the past, and vaccinate them. And that should be done under secure conditions. It cannot be done under war.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you mentioned other global conflicts that have demonstrated the potential for the spread of polio. Can you talk about some of those conflicts that have occurred?

DR. DORIT NITZAN: Yes. We know that in every country where there is a conflict, there is a risk for outbreaks, including polio, cholera, other foodborne diseases, respiratory diseases, as well as exposure to chemicals and others. But polio is one of them. And we saw it in Ukraine, in Ethiopia and in many other countries, in Syria, etc. We know that the viruses and the bacteria and the toxic materials know no borders, and they actually go across borders, as we saw in Iraq from Syria, etc. Therefore, it’s not only the kids in Gaza. It’s also the Israelis. And it is important to vaccinate the kids as soon as possible, those who are exposed to them, the humanitarian workforce, the health workforce in Gaza and here in Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, Dr. Nitzan, as you know, your prime minister is in the United States. He’s going to give an address, joint session of the U.S. Congress. And I’m sure you follow the politics here. Now Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Your message to her and to him?

DR. DORIT NITZAN: Yes, my message is to go beyond politics. We do understand that there are deep, deep divides here. The 7th of October was terrible, and I do understand. Right now we do not want to risk the kids on both sides and in every place, in any place. We want to take a break and stop it and make sure that every child has access to the vaccines.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Dorit Nitzan, we want to thank you for being with us, director of the masters program in emergency medicine-preparedness and response at Ben-Gurion University, former regional emergency director for the World Health Organization’s European office. We’ll link to the article you co-wrote with a number of Israeli doctors headlined “Cease-fire. The Only Way to Prevent a Polio Epidemic Among Gazan and Israeli Babies.”




'


When the airstrike finally came, it did not hit al-Ghefari nor Haji Tower. Instead, it destroyed a third structure: a six-story residential building called Babel that lay directly on the road between the two towers. As Babel collapsed into rubble, at least nine people were killed, including three journalists who had moved into the building’s vicinity to report on Haji Tower from a safe distance.

“The bodies of the journalists flew into the air from the intensity of the bombing,” said Mansour Khalaf, the owner of Babel, who witnessed the attack from the street.

In a written statement, the Israeli military said that, on October 10, a “facility” used by a senior Hamas member was targeted “in the area in question.” It had issued “a warning to residents of the building and the area to evacuate,” the military spokesperson said. “Any claim that the IDF led people to evacuate to a strike zone is baseless and absurd.” The statement said that the case is being investigated.

International humanitarian law encourages armed forces to provide advance warnings prior to an attack when circumstances permit, but the warnings must be “effective.” In the Babel building attack, the call contained false information.

The following minute-by-minute account of the airstrike — based on analysis of videos, audio recordings, and photographs from the attack and its aftermath — is part of the monthslong investigation by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism. The investigation is being published in partnership with The Intercept as part of the Gaza Project, a collaboration of 50 journalists from 13 media organizations coordinated by Forbidden Stories to investigate attacks on journalists in Gaza.


Gaza remains under assault. Day 292 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."   THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 39,145 with 90,257 wounded." 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:

  



April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
 

As for 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."





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