Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

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.
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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.”

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.

Let's note this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

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.”

Hoda Osman, Farah Jallad, Firas Taweel (INTERCEPT) report:

The clock had not yet struck midnight on October 9, when Said Al-Taweel fell into a deep sleep in his office in al-Ghefari Tower, Gaza City’s tallest building. Alaa Abu Mohsen, Al-Taweel’s colleague, heard him snoring.

It was the early days of Israel’s war on Gaza, and Al-Taweel wasn’t getting much sleep. Neither, for that matter, was Abu Mohsen.

Al-Taweel, the 37-year-old editor-in-chief of Khamsa News Agency, had been more or less living in his high-rise office, working constantly, late into the night, to cover the Israeli onslaught.

More than an hour after Al-Taweel drifted off to sleep, sometime after 1 a.m., word began to spread that Haji Tower, another high-rise near the al-Ghefari building, was going to be attacked by the Israelis. Haji Tower is home to local and international media offices, including Agence France-Presse. The rush of people leaving the 12-story tower came after an Israeli military officer spoke by phone to at least four people to order the evacuation of Haji Tower, according to the accounts of two direct recipients of warnings as well as video of a call.

As people streaming from the building scrambled to get into their cars and flee, several of the journalists in the area instead drew nearer to Haji Tower. They wanted to get the story: An Israeli attack on a building known to house so many reporters would resonate internationally.

Abu Mohsen had by then drifted off to sleep himself and, when he awoke, he didn’t see Al-Taweel, he later recalled. He glanced at his phone. He had missed two calls from Al-Taweel. “I’ll see him downstairs,” Abu Mohsen thought to himself, resolving to go down to check things out at street level.

Though many Israeli attacks come unannounced, the military also sometimes issues warnings before striking buildings where civilians could be present. In the early hours of October 10, such a warning was issued, but what unfolded nonetheless proved tragic.

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."

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

'Wife of' really isn't an occupation and it comes with no fan base

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Mansplaining Manchin" went up last night.

Can someone explain to Brittany Aldean that (a) she's stupid, (b) she's a hate monger and (c) she's a nobody. I really hate these wives who do nothing with their life but try to leech onto their husband's fame. Chrissy Teigen also comes to mind. Brittany is such a nothing that she has no WIKIPEDIA entry of her own but you can find this 'credit' at her husband's entry:

Aldean married Jessica Ann Ussery on August 4, 2001.^[50] Together, the couple have a daughter born in 2003, and another born in 2007.^[50] On September 30, 2012, Aldean admitted to having "acted inappropriately at a bar"^[51] with former American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr, responding to reports linking her and Aldean. In a statement, Kerr said she had suffered "a lapse in judgment" and "would like to sincerely apologize to everyone that has been affected by this."^[52] Aldean filed for divorce on April 26, 2013, citing irreconcilable differences and listing the filing date as the formal separation date.^[50]

Okay, then, she's a slut who breaks up families. Got it. Jessica had two kids with Aldeen and trashy Brittany went after a married man and a father no less. Hey, Britney, try that in a California town and it will get that fake weave you're wearing pulled out.

Do Memphis and Navy know how trashy Mommy is?

She and her grossly obese husband were seen last week sitting with Donald Trump so you get, right, that they're complete trash. Jason likes to sing racist songs because he's got a micro and he's jealous of African-American men.

Brittany's jealous of anyone and everyone. Which is why BILLBOARD reports that trashy gal who'll rot in hell for stealing a woman's husband has now decided to again attack Maren Morris. She wants the world to know that Maren isn't pro-woman! It's not pro-woman to call out a former coochie dancer who shook her goods across the floor for cheers. She wants the world to know that to call her out for her transphobia is not feminism!!!!

Dear, if you're a transphobe, you're not a feminist. I know Martina doesn't grasp that reality but it is basic and American feminists grasp that.

She whines that "I'm a wife and I don't have a stage as a platform!" Get a job you lazy home wrecker.

"Aren't" feminists "supposed to be all peace, love and all inclusivity and all the things?"

No, we're not. We're supposed to be the ones that call the s**t out when it needs calling out. You're an idiot, Brittany. You're also very ugly. Don't be surprised when your fat husbands strays on you -- once a cheater, always a cheater. Looks like Jolene's about to find out what happens when someone steals the man she stole.

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

Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Kamala Harris is scaring a lot of people (grifters), polio is a serious threat in Gaza, and much more.

From the coffin in her political grave, Trashy Garbage (Trina's nickname for cult member Tulsi Gabbard) took to FOX "NEWS" yesterday to (a) pretend she doesn't belong to a religious cult (when she does) because that won't fly with FOX "NEWS" viewers and (b) to attack Kamala Harris. No one cares what you have to say, Trashy. You're a turncoat who left the Democratic Party. You are now a raging homophobe after insisting in 2019 that serving in the military opened your eyes and turned you against your father's raging homophobia -- for public consumption. Please note, I do own a home in Hawaii and I know all about the Gabbard family and their say one thing in public and then rush off to the cheapest motel in private.

Also attacking Kamala is vile sexist Michael Tracey who's hated her forever. In the last race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination there were 29 candidates and many people dropped out of the race. This required one or two Tweets from Michael. Do you remember how many times he Tweeted to attack Kamala when she dropped out? Let's drop back to the December 4, 2029 "Iraq snapshot:"

Let's close this discussion with numbers.

24.

That's the number of Tweets Michael Tracey has done about Kamala Harris since the news broke that she was dropping out of the race.

1.

That's the number of Tweets Michael Tracey did about Steve Bullock since the news broke that he was dropping out of the race.

24 and 1. It's an obsession and, yes, it's Bash The Bitch. As Ava and I noted when Katie Couric was the target in 2006:

For some of the left, though not all, that's at the root of their pursuit of Couric. It's the gift of impunity that allows them to operate in a fact-free environment as they compose the charges against Couric. But those who hear such a statement and nod agreeably are also engaged in the national pastime of bash-the-bitch.
Bash the bitch is as American as apple pie and rush to judgement, so who are we to complain? If it makes us "America haters" to say "Just a minute now" then so be it. Let all the ones partaking in bash-the-bitch wrap themselves in Old Glory, we'll call it the way we see it.
Here's what we see. A woman's trashed. For what she did?
Oh cookie, please, it's for being a woman. Read the commentaries. "Cheerleader" is a trumped up charge -- as usual, the true crime is gender.

Michael Tracey and a lot of others need to look at their actions in the last 24 hours. There's a lot of latent sexism bubbling up.

Michael has never taken a look at his actions and why should he when our 'left' friends enable and embrace him?

As Katie Halper continues her descent into the land of loving MAGA Republicans, grasp that she had Michael on her lousy YOUTUBE show last week. That's what 'feminist' Katie did. She's already platformed a convicted pedophile and registered sex offender, she's never called Uncle Fester (Matt Taibbi) out for his transphobia or for his grifting or for his praise for Donald Trump, we all get now, don't we, that Katie joined the grift. She's not left, she's a grifter.

I also love Tracey's 'logic' that Joe was done in by elites -- we may come back to that -- and explains that Joe has the support "of Blacks" -- well, no, he didn't. Younger African-Americans had rejected him. Did Michael attend no campus protest this year? At any rate, he says "elites" did it and 'explains' that older African-Americans aren't on social media. So people on FACEBOOk are now 'elites'? And does he actually know any Black people? It's funny too how he decries the 'elites' and then rushes to insist that only one member of the Black Caucus had called for Joe to step down. He does get that members of the Black Caucus are elites, right? You can't be more elite than a member of Congress. Especially these days, when they all enrich their own pockets and the pockets of their family members.

In the real world, a place Michael lurks but can't participate in, Joy Sewing (HOUSTON CHRONICLE) reports:

Just hours after President Biden announced Sunday he was ending his reelection campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, more than 40,000 Black women joined a virtual call to discuss mobilizing efforts to support her.

The call was initially intended for 1,000 participants, but it quickly increased as word spread. By midnight, the group, Win with Black Women, raised more than $1.5 million for Harris' campaign.

It's not happenstance that Black women are rallying quickly for this historic moment: a chance to show that a Black woman who is also Asian American could be president of the United States. They have been at the helm of Democratic organizing for decades — a steady, consistent force in politics. Torchbearers of democracy.

Only once in our history has a Black woman sought the presidency. That was Shirley Chisholm in 1972.

Sunday night's call was both strategy and empowerment, as women friends swapped group texts with positive emojiis and words of enthusiasm.

"Just being on a call with 40,000 Black women who are about business is uplifting," said Houston strategist Laurel Rutledge. "Kamala Harris is not the perfect candidate, but she's sharp and comes with the facts."

More than a dozen of my friends across the country joined the call. One shared that she was pulling out her pearls and pink and green accessories, the symbols of Harris' sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Some were energized as graduates of historically Black colleges, such as Howard University, where Harris earned an undergraduate degree in political science and economics. Many friends quickly made donations to Harris' campaign.

War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is currently in the US having arrived on Monday. While courts debate his actions, he plans to speak to the US Congress during his three visit. Some members of Congress have stated they will not attend his speech. Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) reports that a campaign has started and it's calling on more members of Congress to skip the speech -- that should in fact be the title of the action (Skip The Speech):

The groups—American Friends of Combatants for Peace (AFCFP), Win Without War, T'ruah, Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, Israelis for Peace, Halachic Left, and three local chapters of Supporters of Standing Together—"will come together in Washington this week to urge members of Congress to skip Netanyahu's speech, sponsor community events with peace activists from the region, and amplify the voices of those in Israel, Palestine, and around the world who reject Netanyahu's failed leadership."

"The bloc, made up of hundreds of Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, and allies, will unite to demonstrate that collective struggle and liberation are possible, and there is a growing movement that embodies it," the coalition added. "We must act now to ensure that the voices for a just peace are louder than those of division and bloodshed."

A larger protest by a coalition of groups including Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine, CodePink, ANSWER Coalition, the People's Forum, International Peoples' Assembly, Al-Awda-N.Y., and the Palestinian American Community Center-N.J. is also planned for Wednesday, when Netanyahu is set to speak. Organizers are planning to surround the U.S. Capitol.

"A visit by Netanyahu to Congress and the U.S. confirms something we already knew: The United States of America financially and morally supports the slaughter of Palestinians happening in Gaza," said CodePink Palestine campaign coordinator Nour Jaghama, who was arrested outside the Republican National Convention last week after being falsely accused of assaulting a Republican lawmaker. "They are no better than Netanyahu and every single Israeli official who orders the dropping of bombs on sieges on hospitals."

Also at COMMON DREAMS, Julia Conley notes:

Three days after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful, the United Nations children's rights agency said that after decades of being "exposed to horrific violence," the number of children who have been killed in the West Bank since last October has skyrocketed.

Since Israel began its bombardment of the Palestinian territories nearly 10 months ago—with Gaza the primary target of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacks, but with West Bank communities also subjected to raids and other violence—143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The number represents a 250% increase compared to the nine months preceding the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, after which the IDF began retaliating in the occupied territories.

"The situation has deteriorated significantly, coinciding with the escalation of hostilities inside Gaza," said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. "We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the streets. The violence needs to stop now."

More than half of the killings have been reported in the cities of Nablus, Tulkarm, and Jenin, the latter of which was the site of a major raid by Israeli forces earlier this month, in which 12 Palestinians were killed. All three cities have seen a rise in "militarized law enforcement operations" over the last two years, said UNICEF, as Israeli soldiers and settlers have stormed parts of the territory " to scare Palestinians out of" their homes, as the International Crisis Group reported last year.

Some of the killings of children in the West Bank over the last 10 months have received international attention, like the Israeli forces' shooting of two children, Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa and Adam Samer al-Ghoul, during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in November.

Al-Ghoul, who was nine, was shown on CCTV footage trying to run away from IDF soldiers when he was gunned down.

The International Court of Justice's decision was discussed on yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman.

We end today’s show in The Hague, where the International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, should come to an end, quote, “as rapidly as possible,” unquote. Israel’s illegal military occupation of the territories began in 1967, has since forcefully expanded, killing and displacing thousands of Palestinians. ICJ Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam read the nonbinding legal opinion Friday, deeming Israel’s presence in the territories illegal.

JUDGE NAWAF SALAM: [translated] Israel must immediately cease all new settlement activity. Israel also has an obligation to repeal all legislation and measures creating or maintaining the unlawful situation, including those which discriminate against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as all measures aimed at modifying the demographic composition of any parts of the territory. Israel is also under an obligation to provide full reparations for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all natural or legal persons concerned.

AMY GOODMAN: The court also said other nations are obligated not to legally recognize Israel’s decadeslong occupation of the territories and, quote, “not to render aid or assistance,” unquote, to the occupation. The 15-judge panel said Israel has no right to sovereignty of the territories and pointed to a number of Israeli actions, such as the construction and violent expansion of illegal Israeli settlements across West Bank and East Jerusalem, the forced permanent control over Palestinian lands, and discriminatory policies against Palestinians — all violations of international law, they said. The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki praised Friday’s ruling.

RIYAD AL-MALIKI: All states and the U.N. are now under obligation not to recognize the legality of Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to do nothing to assist Israel in maintaining this illegal situation. They are directed by the court to bring Israel’s illegal occupation to an end. This means all states and the U.N. must immediately review their bilateral relations with Israel to ensure their policies do not aid in Israel’s continued aggression against the Palestinian people, whether directly or indirectly. … [translated] All states must now fulfill their clear obligations: no aid, no collusion, no money, no weapons, no trade, nothing with Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: In 2022, the U.N. General Assembly issued a resolution tasking the International Court of Justice with determining whether the Israeli occupation amounted to annexation. This all comes as the ICJ is also overseeing an ongoing genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and as the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Despite mounting outcry over Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed some 39,000 Palestinians — more than 16,000 of them children — Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington, D.C., to address a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

For more, we go to Brussels, Belgium, where we’re joined by Diana Buttu, Palestinian human rights attorney, former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Thank you so much for being with us. Diana, first respond to this court ruling. Since it is nonbinding, what is the significance of it?

DIANA BUTTU: Even though it’s nonbinding, Amy, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any weight. It simply means that Israel is going to ignore it. But what it does set is it sets out the legal precedent for other countries, and those other countries do have to respect the opinion of the highest court, the highest international court.

And so, what we see with this decision is that it’s a very important and a very necessary one, because we see the court makes it clear not only that Israel’s occupation is illegal, but it also says that all countries around the world have an obligation to make sure that Israel doesn’t get away with it, that they have an obligation to make sure that this occupation comes to an end. And this is very important, because over the years, and in particular over the past 30 years, we’ve seen a shift in international diplomacy to try to push Palestinians to somehow give up their rights. And here we have the highest international court saying that that isn’t the case and that, in fact, it’s up to Israel to end its military occupation, and it’s up to the international community to make sure that Israel does that.

AMY GOODMAN: And exactly what is the extended decision when it comes to how other countries should deal with Israel at this point?

DIANA BUTTU: Well, there are some very interesting elements to this case. The first is that the court comes out very clearly and not just says that the occupation is illegal, but they also say that the settlements have to go and the settlers have to go. They also say that Palestinians have a right to return. Now, we’re talking about over 300,000 Palestinians who were expelled in 1967, and now there are probably about 200,000 Palestinians who have never been able to return back — we’re just talking about the West Bank and Gaza Strip — because of Israel’s discriminatory measures.

The other thing that the court says is that it’s not just the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are occupied, but also Gaza, as well. And this is a very important ruling, because for so many years Israel has tried to blur the lines and make it seem as though they’re not in occupation of Gaza, which they are. And so, what this requires is that the international community not only not recognize the occupation, but that they take into account measures or they take measures to make sure that Israel stops its occupation. That means everything from arms embargo to sanctions on Israel — anything that is necessary that can be done to make sure that Israel’s occupation finally comes to an end. And this is where we now see that instead of the world telling Palestinians that they just have to negotiate a resolution with their occupier, with their abuser, that the ball is now in their court. It’s up to the international community now to put sanctions on Israel to end this military occupation.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about what’s happening right now in Gaza. You’ve got the deaths at — it’s expected to be well over 39,000. But you also have this new report by Oxfam that finds Israel has used water as a weapon of war, with Gaza’s water supplies plummeting 94% since October 7th and the nonstop Israeli bombardment. Even before, their access was extremely limited. And then you have this catastrophic situation where you have, because of the destruction of Gaza’s water treatment plants, forcing people to resort to sewage-contaminated water containing pathogens that lead to diarrhea, especially deadly for kids, diseases like cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid. Meanwhile, the Israeli army has started to vaccinate the Israeli soldiers after Palestinian health authorities said a high concentration of the poliovirus has been found in sewage samples from Gaza. It’s taking place, the vaccination program of soldiers, across Israel in the coming weeks. The significance of this, Diana?

DIANA BUTTU: This is precisely what we’ve been talking about, which is that Israel is carrying out genocide, they know that they’re carrying out genocide, and we don’t see that anybody is stopping Israel in carrying out this genocide. So, here now we have yet another International Court of Justice ruling. This one — the previous ones are actually binding, saying that Israel has take all measures to stop this genocide. And yet we just simply don’t see that the world has put into place measures to sanction Israel, to isolate Israel, to punish Israel. Instead, it gets to do whatever it wants.

But there is something very important, as well, which is that Israel somehow believes that it’s going to be immune, that somehow this polio or all of these diseases aren’t going to boomerang back into Israeli society. They will. And the issue here now is whether we are going to see some very robust action on the part of the international community, now that we have a number of decisions from the ICJ saying to Israel that it’s got to stop and that this genocide must come to end. Israel must pay a price for continuing this genocide.

AMY GOODMAN: Diana Buttu, I wanted to end by asking you about Netanyahu coming here. The Center for Constitutional Rights tweeted, “Before @netanyahu lands in DC, we demand @TheJusticeDept investigate him for genocide, war crimes & torture in Gaza. Nearly 40k killed, including more than 14k children, 90k injured, 2 million displaced, & an entire population subject to starvation. This cannot go unanswered.” If you can talk about the significance of Netanyahu addressing a joint session of Congress? Also, it’s expected that the person who President Biden has said he is supporting, as he steps aside, to run for president, Kamala Harris, is expected to be meeting with Netanyahu. And what you would like to see happen here?

DIANA BUTTU: You know, it’s repugnant to me to be hearing that a war criminal, a person who has flattened Gaza, who said that he was going to flatten Gaza, who has issued orders to kill more than 40,000, upwards of 190,000 Palestinians — we still don’t know the numbers — who has made life in Gaza unlivable, who’s using Palestinians as human pinballs, telling them to move from one area to the next, who’s presiding over a genocide, and unabashedly so — it’s going to be shocking to see the number of applause and rounds of applause and the standing ovations that this man is going to be receiving. It very much signals exactly where the United States is, which is complicit in this genocide. And Palestinians know this. If anything, he should have not had received an invitation. He should simply be getting a warrant for his arrest, not be receiving applause and accolades in Congress.

AMY GOODMAN: Diana Buttu, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Palestinian human rights attorney, joining us from Brussels, Belgium.

That does it for our show. Democracy Now! is currently accepting applications for a director of development to lead our fundraising team. You can learn more and apply at democracynow.org.

Democracy Now! is produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud and Hana Elias. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Hugh Gran, Denis Moynihan, David Prude, Dennis McCormick. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.

On the topic of War Crimes, Freddie Clayton (NBC NEWS) reports:

Independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council renewed calls on Friday for Israel to investigate the killing of 6-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, along with six members of her family and the two paramedics who tried to rescue her, in what the experts said “may amount to a war crime.”

Hind became one of the conflict’s most high-profile victims when, on Jan. 29, her final pleas over t he phone t o be saved were recorded by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and heard around the world. Her case highlights the difficulty in bringing accountability for the deaths of civilians in Gaza.

The experts first raised the issue in a letter to the Israeli government on March 19, expressing alarm at the "apparently unlawful killing, of a seemingly targeted nature," and asked for information on what measures had been taken to conduct an "independent, impartial and transparent" investigation, and to ensure the protection of Gaza's civilian population.

The letter had received no response by July and, in "the absence of proper investigation and accountability," on Friday the experts issued a news release citing forensic analysis that show the car Hind was trapped in was shot at “from very close range using a type of weapon that can only be attributed to the Israeli forces.”

In response to a request for comment from NBC News on the allegations and on what measures the Israel Defense Forces had taken to investigate the case, the IDF said the incident was "under review," without providing further details.

The experts said the family members "were shot dead while fleeing," in what they said appears to be a “broader pattern of indiscriminate killings of civilians attempting to find shelter and escape the fighting in Gaza.”

Immediately following the incident, the IDF said that its troops were not in the area where Hind was killed, a claim the experts denounced as "unacceptable," given the evidence of Israeli munitions on the vehicle.

The Israeli government has done nothing but repeatedly lie over the last months -- to the point that even the western media is now skeptical of their absurd claims.

The CBC notes, "The Israeli military on Monday ordered the evacuation of part of an area in the Gaza Strip it has designated a humanitarian zone. The military said it is planning to begin an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to launch rockets toward Israel." Oh, so they were given a heads up? Not really. As ALJAZEERA notes, the evacuation order was issued and Israeli forces "then started attacking moments later, killing dozens of people." Moments later. ALJAZEERA also notes:

At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded in Israel’s latest assault on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza as Palestinians fleeing Israeli tank shelling and air strikes have described the situation as “doomsday”.

“Due to the Israeli occupation’s attacks and massacres in Khan Yunis governorate from the early hours of this morning until now, 70 people have been martyred and more than 200 wounded,” Gaza’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Monday, adding that the dead included women and children.

Meanwhile AFP notes:

A senior World Health Organisation official on Tuesday said he was "extremely worried" by the possibility of disease outbreaks after poliovirus was reported in sewage, warning that communicable diseases could cause more deaths than injuries.

Ayadil Saparbekov, the WHO’s head of health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, said that, "We have not yet collected human samples," so it is unclear if anyone has been infected with the virus.

But he acknowledged that "I am very much worried".

"I'm extremely worried about outbreaks happening in Gaza," he said, pointing to the confirmation late last year that Hepatitis A was spreading, "and now we may have polio".

And the Israeli government is responsible for that because it is their actions that have created hot stpots for super-spreading diseases. David Gritten and Rushdi Abualouf (BBC NEWS) note, ""They were instructed to go to the humanitarian zone - which stretches along the coast from al-Mawasi to the central town of Deir al-Balah - despite warnings from the UN that it was already overcrowded with tents and lacking basic services and critical infrastructure." Helen McCue (PEARLS AND IRRITATIONS) explains, "The virus spreads through contact with faeces, lack of access to water for hand washing and through contaminated food or water. The lack of water, the summer heat, poor and mostly non existing food storage facilities and mountains of untreated human garbage make children in Gaza at very great risk of catching polio." Sharon Zang (TRUTHOUT) notes:

Advocates for Palestinian rights are demanding that the Biden administration take urgent action to stop a potential outbreak of polio in Gaza after the virus that causes the deadly disease was found in Gaza’s wastewater, threatening an epidemic that would be nothing short of catastrophic.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that Biden bears responsibility to respond to the crisis after funding Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems, which has created conditions ripe for a deadly epidemic.

“Having enabled the wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure and medical facilities in Gaza, the Biden administration has a duty to ensure that polio vaccines reach all those who need to be vaccinated,” said CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper in a statement Sunday.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 291 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 39,090, with 90,147 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: