Friday, June 21, 2024

THE BIKERIDERS is a must see movie

If you're going to the movies this weekend and want a live action film, THE BIKERIDERS is what you're looking for. This is an adult film. Not a porno, but a grown up one for grown ups. It's about a motorcycle gang and how they evolve -- or devolve -- over a period of time.

Tom Hardy is great in the film. I'm a big Tom fan so that didn't surprise me. How good Austin Butler is in the film was a surprise to me. I'm new to Jody Comer -- the third lead -- but she was very good as well.

Jeff Nichols delivers as the director; however, I think Adam Stone's cinematography should make him a lock not just for an Academy Award nomination but also for the award itself. The visuals are amazing.

I usually write Saturday or Sunday about a movie we see on Friday but this is such a good movie. It left me with the same kind of hyped up energy that I've only felt this intensely one other time: when I saw Scorsese's GOODFELLAS.

Oh, by the way, the press is starting to grasp what Ann and I have pointed out repeatedly -- the 'big' 'hit' BAD BOYS RIDE OR DIE is doing worse than the 2020 BAD BOYS FOR LIFE. For example, DEADLINE notes tonight, "By Sunday the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence fourthquel will be trailing about $4M behind Bad Boys for Life at the same point in time." The same article notes that INSIDE OUT 2 will, with tonight's ticket sales, become the highest grossing film of the year (domestic). Big surprise, it's a great movie and it did in 7 days what Little Willie Pinkett couldn't -- break box office records.

Adding this about a minute after I posted. Mike's "BURN IT DOWN WITH KIM BROWN, MAMA'S FAMILY, the sad fadeout of Mike Lindell" is a must read. I think he really captured why MAMA'S FAMILY didn't work the first season.

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, June 21, 2024. As the slaughter continues in Gaza, Junior and his campaign sputter out.

June 27th, the nation will suffer through a debate with Donald Trump onstage. It could be worse, yes, it could. Robert Kennedy Jr could be onstage as well. Instead, it will just be Donald and Joe Biden -- the Convicted Felon and the sitting President. But no Junior. Allison Novelo and Kathryn Watson (CBS NEWS) report:

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy has failed to qualify for the presidential debate with President Biden and former President Donald Trump. The debate will be hosted by CNN next week in Atlanta, on June 27. Kennedy had until 12:00:01 a.m. ET Thursday to fulfill the debate requirements.

Under CNN's criteria, a candidate must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to be eligible to win 270 electoral votes, the number needed to win the presidency. Kennedy is on the ballot in five states — Utah, Michigan, Delaware, Oklahoma and Tennessee — for a total of 42 electoral votes. He'll also be on the ballot in California as the nominee of the American Independent Party, and in Hawaii, on his We the People ticket, which adds up to 100 potential electoral votes.

Junior is stomping his feet and crying. It's so unfair!!!!

I'm sorry, did Junior first become famous this election cycle?

Because I'm not remembering him ever railing against the debate system ever before.

But now that he's a candidate, he wants to whine and scream:

“My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly. Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly,” Kennedy said in a statement. He also falsely claimed that debate is illegal.

In an effort to qualify, Kennedy filed a legal complaint to the Federal Election Commission. But the agency has not taken any action.

Junior's an idiot and a fool.

He's spent a fortune on this campaign and he's still not on all the ballots and he's not on enough ballots to qualify for the debate. He's so good at wasting time, isn't he? The election is less then five months away, when exactly does he plan on getting his campaign together?

He's sent out two e-mailings in the last 12 hours. The usual beg for money is one, the other "Urgent Call to Action: Report Censorship & Support RFK Jr." insists he's being deplatformed.

Begging for money and whining about a 'documentary' about himself allegedly being 'censored.'

Robert F. Kennedy is dead and no where is that more apparent than in the actions of his son Junior.

RFK didn't make his campaign for the Democratic Party's 1968 presidential nomination about himself. He made about the people and what they needed. But Junior, who's achieved far less in his 70 years than his own father did in 42, does not focus on people. He's self-centered and self-obsessed. His vanity is his destruction. And if that comes as a surprise to you, you do realize he's on steroids, right? He's 70 and he takes steroids for those topless photo shoots he loves so much.

Junior doesn't know anything oor care about anything unless it effects him.

Which is why he's acted as though he can wait until the day before the election to qualify for ballot access.

He's not in the debate, he didn't qualify, he needs to stop whining.

But this is Junior.

And Mike Levine (ABC NEWS) documents the tantrum:

"The new head of NPR is a CIA agent," Kennedy declared at a New York campaign fundraiser in April, drawing gasps from some of his supporters.

He was specifically referring to Katherine Maher, who nearly two months earlier became NPR's CEO and president after a long career in international development and digital advocacy. At the fundraiser, Kennedy said Maher's hiring at NPR was just the latest salvo in the CIA's "systematic takeover of the American press, particularly the liberal media."

Kennedy continues to amplify such claims at campaign events, in media interviews, and on social media, supporting them with what experts described to ABC News as "half-truths," "intimations," misinterpretations of law, and twisted historical anecdotes. He often cites widespread -- but utterly unsubstantiated -- allegations that a CIA program supposedly called "Operation Mockingbird" secretly recruited journalists decades ago to help brainwash Americans.

"Operation Mockingbird is alive and well today," Kennedy has said repeatedly in recent months.

And it's coming from inside the campaign!!!!

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy. That's his 43 year old daughter in law and campaign manager -- and former CIA officer!

Oh, Junior, it was all a deep CIA plot to plant Amaryllis into your campaign and deep six it!!!! In 2010, she officially left the CIA while secretly assigned to her new mission OUTFOX JUNIOR!!!! and she circled RFK III until he married her in 2018 thereby putting her in place to disrupt your 2024 campaign!!!!

As crazy as my sarcastic comments are, they probably make more sense than Junior's crazy ones.

He is not up to the job and that's clear by his sorry campaign and all the money he's wasted.

Nick Visser (HUFFINGTON POST) notes:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign raised $2.6 million in May and had just over $6.4 million in cash on hand at the end of the month, according to new filings, a paltry sum compared to the fundraising juggernauts behind his two major competitors.
Kennedy’s independent presidential bid announced the tepid fundraising haul in Federal Election Commission filings Wednesday. The documents show his team spent $6.3 million in May as he worked to gain access to ballots around the country and appear at next week’s presidential debate on CNN.

About $2.7 million of that figure went to a consulting firm that specializes in ballot access.

Those efforts appeared to be in vain on Wednesday before a midnight deadline, with the network requiring candidates to appear on enough ballots to have a shot at winning the White House, as well as receive at least 15% in four national polls.

Click here if you want to see Jesse Ventura explaining how he was almost Junior's runnig mate but then Junior chose money over people. At THE NEW REPUBLIC, Alex Shephard argues Junior should be happy that he's been left ouf of the debate:

He has been steadily declining in the polls for months and now sits at around 7 percent, down from nearly 20 percent in the fall. It’s possible, meanwhile, that many of his biggest fans may not even get the chance to vote for him—he currently only has enough signatures to appear on the ballot in just nine states. And he’s hemorrhaging cash. If not for his vice president—an unknown tech billionaire who may have been selected because her immense wealth has allowed her to fund their political operations—his campaign may very well be flat broke. It raised a paltry $2.6 million in May, suggesting that no one really wants to give him money. Kennedy is, in other words, spending millions to be on the ballot in a handful of states and is only getting less popular in the process.

On Thursday, Kennedy’s campaign got even more bad news. He would not be appearing at next week’s presidential debate due to his low poll numbers. The candidate was apoplectic. “My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly,” Kennedy Jr. seethed in a statement released soon after CNN announced that he didn’t make the count. “Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly. They want a President who will heal the divide, restore the middle class, unwind the war machine, and end the chronic disease epidemic.”

That may be true—at the very least Americans certainly say they want those things in a leader when polled. But it’s abundantly clear that they don’t want Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The candidate should be grateful he didn’t make the cut—appearing in next week’s debate would only accelerate his campaign’s demise.

The biggest problem with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign is that voters do not like him. That’s not an overstatement. Last October, his favorability rating, per 538’s average, was plus eight points; he was, around the same period, regularly polling in the 15-20 percent range. His favorability rating today is minus nine points; he has been polling in the high single digits for months.

On the upcoming election, let's note this from Tyler Walicek (TRUTHOUT):

During presidential primary elections this spring, a nationwide network of organizers under the banner of the Uncommitted movement rolled out a groundswell campaign across nine states urging participants to vote in protest of President Joe Biden’s role in the Gaza genocide. With November’s Trump-Biden rematch not yet an entirely foregone conclusion, the primaries offered an opportunity to send a message to elected officials. Uncommitted campaigners argued that instead of reflexively backing the presumptive Democratic candidate, the voting public, a majority of whom disapprove of the administration’s record on Gaza, should take the chance to register their distaste, aiming to motivate Biden to use the U.S.’s considerable influence on Israel to halt its attacks.

The organizers of Uncommitted campaigns cited both strategic and ethical arguments for the protest vote. The latter, in short, is that the Democratic establishment — which has been in many respects directly complicit with Israel’s perpetration of genocide — must not be rewarded for its involvement in a world-historical crime.

Now, at the conclusion of the primaries, it appears that the Uncommitted campaigners’ energies were well spent. After weeks of fevered organizing and turnout efforts, the “uncommitted” vote scored substantial percentages in multiple primaries, including 13 percent of the vote in Michigan.

Let's note this from yesterday's THE NEWSHOUR (PBS).

Excerpt.

Geoff Bennett:

Today, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated criticism the Biden administration calls untrue and unfair, that the U.S. has withheld weapons Israel needs to fight the war in Gaza.

The diplomatic spat between the prime minister and the Biden White House comes as simmering tensions between Netanyahu and his own military boiled over.

Nick Schifrin is here with more — Nick.

Nick Schifrin:

For months, even years, military officials in Israel have often disagreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but most military criticism of Israel's longest-serving leader is made anonymously or after retirement.

This week, though, Israel's Defense Forces' top spokesman made public the military's concerns about Netanyahu's repeated claim of total victory over Hamas.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces (through interpreter):

The political echelon has to decide and the Israel Defense Forces will implement. But this business, this business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear, it's simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public. If we don't bring something else to Gaza, then at the end of the day, we will get Hamas.

Nick Schifrin:

So how significant is this public criticism by the military of the prime minister? And how does it play into the diplomatic tensions between Netanyahu and the Biden administration?

For answers to that, we turn to Laura Blumenfeld, a former senior policy adviser on the State Department's Israeli-Palestinian negotiating team and currently a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Laura Blumenfeld, thanks very much. Welcome to the "NewsHour."

So, how significant is this public military criticism of the prime minister?

Laura Blumenfeld, Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies: I think it's very significant.

I think the IDF recognizes, while they may be winning militarily, they're losing morally, and that has long-term strategic implications for Israel's security.

This idea of indecision, I think what they're saying to the prime minister is, take a position and defend it. The prime minister cannot be an undecided voter. We need you to support our ask for Ultra-Orthodox fighters. Our forces are depleted.

Number two, we have a political horizon that we're looking for that we can aim for militarily, and we don't want to occupy the Gaza Strip after the war. I remember spending time with the last military commander of Gaza before Israel withdrew, and he wore what I recall was the Gaza mask.

It was this combination of dust, sweat, and the smell of regret. We rode around in a Jeep while kids were throwing stones at him, and he said: "This is the most morally corrosive thing for our state and ultimately for our security."

Nick Schifrin:

For Netanyahu, this is not only about what is now a public spot with the military. It's also tensions within his coalition.

And, this week, he released a statement saying — quote — I demand that all coalition partners get a hold of themselves and rise to the importance of the hour, put aside every other consideration, put aside all extraneous interests, line up as one together behind our fighters."

How fractious is this coalition, and how important are those tensions?

Laura Blumenfeld:

Well, look, he needs the coalition in order to exercise what he calls the cease-fire deal, which is the most important priority right now for the Israeli public.

And to get to that deal, he's going to have to keep his coalition together. There are sort of some behind-the-scenes assurances and winks from the United States that maybe Lapid and some of his opposition members will support him. But he's got to be able to pull this through for the Israeli public.

That is the number one demand and he's responding to it, or he's trying to.

Meanwhile ALJAZEERA notes, "Broadcaster Al-Aqsa TV announced via Telegram that one of its journalists, Salim al-Sharafa, was targeted in an Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip a short while ago." At least 108 journalists have already been killed in the ongoing slaughter. Salim is the latest.

ANADOLU AGENCY notes:

Israeli forces killed another journalist in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, bringing the total number of Palestinian media workers' deaths since Oct. 7, 2023, to 152.

The Government Media Office in Gaza identified the victim as Salim al-Sharafa, who worked as a presenter and journalist for local broadcaster Al-Aqsa TV. The statement, however, did not elaborate on how or where he was killed.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the war in Gaza has become "the deadliest for journalists" since it began documenting journalist killings worldwide in 1992.

In February, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, said the war in Gaza has seen the highest levels of violence against journalists in 30 years.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 259 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 37,431, with 85,653 injured." 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, how's that 'tactical pause' doing? THE NATIONAL notes this morning:

A "tactical pause" declared by the Israeli military in Gaza to enable aid flows has had no impact on deliveries of the badly-needed aid, the UN's health agency said on Friday.

"Overall, we the UN can say that we did not see an impact on the humanitarian supplies coming in since that, I will say unilateral, announcement of this technical pause," said Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation representative in the Palestinian territories.

"That is the overall assessment".

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Thursday, June 20, 2024

Donald Sutherland

Actor Donald Sutherland has passed away. The father of 24's Keifer Sutherland was a Canadian actor whose professional credits start in 1962.

Here's my pick for his top ten films.

10) STEELYARD BLUES

9) THE MECHANIC

8) THE FIRST GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

7) INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

6) LITTLE MURDERS

5) THE ITALIAN JOB

4) EYE OF THE NEEDLE

3) DON'T LOOK NOW

2) M*A*S*H

1) KLUTE

Those are ten great films and they're not the only classics he made.

He had a brooding quality that he could use for dramatic effect but he was also very effective in comedies as well. He had strong chemistry with the actors he worked with -- especially Jane Fonda and Elliott Gould -- and they're so natural together.

In THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE, he's evil. But he's fascinating and, honestly, when he's going towards the shore and Kate Nelligan's coming after him with a gun, I felt a little sorry for him (he's a Nazi in the film). Mood pieces like EYE OF THE NEEDLE and KLUTE are films he was especially effective in because it let him flood the screen with a gravitas that gave everything an even deeper layer.

He was probably the seventies actor. He represents the mood and feel of that decade better than any other male actor. Al Pacino comes close but Al's got that edge that really serves the cocaine eighties better.

In the 70s, before Steven Spielberg and JAWS destroyed film, things could explore and be moody and he arrived on the scene perfect for that. STEELYARD BLUES really is a good movie. For years, I'd say that and people would snicker. I did not know until tonight that Donald got nominated for a BAFTA for that film He and Jane Fonda and Peter Boyle are really great in it and I don't think it could have been made in any other decade -- not even during the independent film wave of the 90s.

Some of his other well known films include DISCLOSURE with Demi Moore, ANIMAL HOUse with John Belushi, the HUNGER GAMES films, THE EAGLE with Channing Tatum, HORRIBLE BOSSES with Jennifer Aniston, A DRY WHITE SEASON with Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon, JFK with Kevin Costner, REVOLUTION with Al Pacino, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST with Karen Black, LOST ANGELS with King Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys and S*P*Y*S with Elliott Gould.

He held his own in films with the actors noted above and with Susan Anspach, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Julie Christie, Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Sean Connery -- among others.

The last thing I saw him in was THE UNDOING. He played Nicole Kidman's father as she realized how awful her husband (Hugh Grant) was and how she really didn't know him at all. There are many scenes there where Donald just floods the space. He doesn't even need dialogue to convey everything that's going on in his character's mind.

Donald was vastly underrated as an actor. If his death results in any reflection on film, I hope it does two things: (1) drive home just how huge Donald's contribution to film was and (2) make people appreciate Elliott Gould a little more. Two different type of actors but two that really nailed the 70s and really delivered.

On INSTAGRAM, Jane Fonda posted:

I am stunned to hear that Donald Sutherland has died. He was my fascinating co-star in Klute and we loved working together. In this photo we are on the Klute set with director Alan Pakula. Donald was a brilliant actor and a complex man who shared quite a few adventures with me, such as the FTA Show, an anti-Vietnam war tour that performed for 60,000 active duty soldiers, sailors, and marines in Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan in 1971. I am heartbroken

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, June 20, 20224. Jonathan S. Tobin competes with Ben Stiller in the battle of the nitwits, Green Peace supports a cease-fire, and much more.

Not sure what to say but I guess: Hats off Jonathan S. Tobin.

We were all fooled. Everyone but him. As the neocon 'reveals' in his just published JEWISH NEWS SYNDICATE piece, there's no starvation in Gaza. No. We all got it wrong. The UN, aid agencies, medical workers, journalists, news consumers, we all got it wrong.

Suicide non-eaters! Slapping my forehead as I realize, they were suicide non-eaters -- those children who are dead now. They killed themselves. Jonathan's figured it all out!

What do we do with this nonsense?

Is he an idiot?

Yes.

Is he lying?

Yes.

How does anyone arrive at that point where they are so willing to lie? I don't get it.

If I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. I don't paint myself into a corner. But where do you go if you're Toobin now? When you're denying the starvation going on in Gaza? When you're ignoring the deaths of children in Gaza from starvation?

How do you think you come back from that?

And I also don't get how you think you look like an American?

That's not say that Americans don't lie, we lie all the time.

That is to say that Tobin's not lying for his country. Wouldn't make the lie more acceptable if he was but he's lying for another country.

I wonder about people like that. You know when Bully Boy Bush was pushing the Iraq War, where would someone like Toobin be? What do you think he would have been focusing on?

Oh, wait, we don't have to wonder.

September 30, 2002, here is talking about how a war on Iraq might impact Israel.

Isn't that cute, how he always has the government of Israel's back.

So is Tobin an American as he likes to bill himself or is he someone with dual citizenship who's actually an Israeli-American?

He may be worse than the right-wing Cuban exiles in Florida.

If you've missed him so far, you've been so lucky. Since October alone, he's called for street action and push back against any efforts at peace and he's 'explained' that sympathies and support for the Palestinian people (not, Hamas, the Palestinian people) is just someone who hates Jewish people (here for his column that someone's reposted in full on LINKED-IN -- byline is at the end of the column).

Today, The Idiot Tobin pushes past everyone else on the face of the planet to advance from village idiot to global idiot. Wear the crown well, Jonathan, wear the crown well.

Maybe loan it to Ben Stiller?

The acting career ended long ago and he's seen about as current today as Burt Reynolds was in the 90s but all that time freed from an actual acting career (yes, he produces a show on APPLE+ -- no, that's nothing to brag about) led him to write a piece for TIME. He's upset, people, Ben's upset.

What a time we are all living through. Like so many people, I have been watching the awful events happening in the Middle East over the last year and trying to determine how to react. I have been seeing the brazen antisemitic incidents in my own city and feeling a mix of anger, fear, and astonishment that we are at this place in our country. Saying nothing at this point feels like I am betraying my own conscience. But what do you say? How does one express the complicated and very real feelings in this scary world of social media, where it seems any sentiment opens you to online vitriol from one side or another? The issues we are dealing with are so nuanced and complicated that short statements cannot in any way express fully what I want to say from my heart. As a public advocate for refugees, I’ve been struggling to reconcile my silence with that work. Please bear with me as I explain. And to be clear, what I say here is my personal view, not that of any organization–it’s just how I feel.

Is Ben in shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo Sugar Town?

Yesterday it rained in Tennessee
I heard it also rained in Tallahassee
But not a drop fell on little old me
'Cause I was in shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo-shoo
Shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo Sugar Town

Wow, Ben, the Iraq War, didn't register on you, did it. No, not one drop fell on little old you but now you're concerned about an event.

And you don't realize how you are the problem.

You blather on about Israel over and over and whine like you've always whined throughout your adult life -- your inability to find a backbone goes along way towards explaining why audiences turned on you -- and then you write this:

I also see a troubling conflation in criticism of the actions of the Israeli government with denunciations of all Israelis and Jewish people. And as a result, we are seeing an undeniable rise in global antisemitism. I am seeing it myself, on the streets of the city I grew up in. It isn’t right and must be denounced.

Antisemitism must be condemned whenever it happens and wherever it exists. As should Islamophobia and bigotry of all kinds. There is a frightening amnesia for history in the air. We must remind ourselves that we can only manifest a more hopeful, just, and peaceful future by learning from the past.

You're the one conflating the two: The Israeli people and the Israeli government.

That's you and one single sentence in your excessive essay doesn't change that reality.

You're a piece of garbage sexist and we all know it in the industry and we've always known it. People who harm women are people who are deluded and your delusions are on full display.

A frightening amnesia? You mean the one that denies decades of oppression of the Palestinian people by the government of Israel?

He writes that he has to stand against terrorism?

Okay, Ben, do so. Call out the War Crimes being carried out by the Israeli government.

Oh, that's right, you won't do that.

And the world sees that. And so don't pretend you are not responsible for any public mental merger of the state of Israel with the people of Israel.

You are 100% responsible and it's all there you awful column -- a 1143 word column that only uses the term Palestinians twice.

Yeah, let's pretend like you really give a damn about the Paletinian people.

And before we close on your stupidity and lies, stop lying about your father: "My dad served in the U.S. Army at the end of World War II." That sentence is dishonest and you damn well know it. Your father is not someone who fought in WWII. Gary Susman (VANITY FAIR):

Stiller enlisted in the Army during World War II but wasn’t sent overseas until after the fighting was over; as he recalled, he spent most of his stint in Italy playing football. Through the G.I. Bill, he enrolled at Syracuse University, where he was one of the school’s first-ever drama majors. After graduation, he returned to New York City and spent years in bit parts on Broadway and TV.

In the real world, Amr Mostafa (THE NATIONAL) reports:

The humanitarian situation in southern Gaza is “quickly deteriorating” as people have been crammed in a “highly congested area along the beach in the burning summer heat”, the UN said.

Active conflict and lawlessness in the area have made it “near impossible” for the World Food Programme and its partners to meet the surging demand, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in its latest situation report issued on Wednesday.

There is also a critical lack of milk and formula for babies and nutritional supplements for children and pregnant and breastfeeding women, Ocha said.

“Many households report having only one meal every day, with some having one meal every two or three days, relying mostly on bread, food sharing with other families and rationing stocks,” it said.

WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau spent two days in Gaza this month. “The situation in southern Gaza is quickly deteriorating," he said.

"A million people have been pushed out of Rafah and are trapped in a highly congested area along the beach in the burning summer heat. We drove through rivers of sewage.”

More than one million people have been forced out of the southern city of Rafah since Israel began a ground operation there on May 7, the UN said.

Australia's ABC reports:

Israel's chief army spokesman has appeared to question the stated goal of destroying the Hamas militant group in Gaza in an apparent rare public rift between the country's political and military leadership.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the face of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) daily war briefings and military videos, made the comments during an interview on Israeli TV on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted Israel will pursue the fight to "destroy Hamas", the group running the besieged Gaza Strip, until its military and governing capabilities in the Palestinian territory are eliminated.

But with the war now in its ninth month, frustration has been mounting with no clear end or postwar plan in sight.

"This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear — it's simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public," Mr Hagari told Israel's Channel 13 TV.

ALJAZEERA adds:

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said Netanyahu’s office was “fuming” at Hagari’s remarks.

“This just gives you an idea of what Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies are in this war, and the army on the ground saying it is actually not realistic,” she added.

Netanyahu’s office responded by saying that the security cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, “has defined the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities as one of the goals of the war. The Israeli military, of course, is committed to this.”

War Criminal Netanyahu is supposed to address the US Congress next month. Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said late Tuesday that Democratic and Republican leaders should withdraw their invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak at a joint meeting of Congress next month after he released a video attacking the Biden administration for "withholding" weapons from Israel's military.

"This man should not be addressing Congress. He is a war criminal," Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media. "And he certainly has no regard for U.S. law, which is explicitly designed to prevent U.S. weapons from facilitating human rights abuses."

"His invitation should be revoked," she added. "It should've never been sent in the first place."

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) formally invited Netanyahu to address a joint meeting last month, roughly two weeks after the Biden administration all but acknowledged what leading human rights organizations had been saying for months: that Israeli forces have used American weaponry to commit war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The invitation also came roughly two months after Schumer criticized Netanyahu in a speech on the Senate floor, accusing the prime minister of being "too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza" and calling for new leadership in Israel.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 258 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, "The death toll in Gaza has increased to 37,431, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Thursday. It added that 85,653 had been injured since the war began on October 7. More than 35 were killed and 130 injured in the last 24 hours, the ministry said." 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:

Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) reports on a new development in calls for a ceasefire:

As part of its quest for "a green and peaceful future," Greenpeace International on Tuesday urged the Israeli government and Hamas to "unequivocally agree to support and abide by" a recent United Nations Security Council resolution and declare "an immediate and permanent cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip.

"We call for the bullets and bombs to be silenced so that the growing voices for peace can be heard," the environmental advocacy group said in a statement that acknowledges "the horrific events" of October 7—in which Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,100 people in Israel and took around 240 hostages—and the over 37,000 Palestinians who Israeli forces have slaughtered since.

In addition to the rising death toll and at least 85,523 Palestinians injured by the war, "the majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes," Greenpeace highlighted. "Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, famine and disease are rife, nowhere and no one is safe. Sanity and humanity must be restored in the face of this unfolding genocide."

"Beyond the urgent need to end the civilian suffering and ecological devastation, all parties must resume peaceful negotiations."

The organization pointed to South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice as well as a U.N. commission's report from last week that concludes the Israeli government and Palestinian militants have committed war crimes.

"We call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages," Greenpeace said. "We call for the Israeli government to immediately end the blockades on the supply of food, water, medicine, and fuel to the people of Gaza and release all illegally detained civilians."

"Violence is never the answer, it only brings more violence," the group emphasized. "Beyond the urgent need to end the civilian suffering and ecological devastation, all parties must resume peaceful negotiations towards a lasting peace built on safety, justice, and equal rights for all. International law must be upheld."

The United States and European countries that are arming Israel have faced international pressure to use their leverage to halt crimes by its forces. Greenpeace called for "a global embargo on all arms sales and transfers that could be used to further increase the toll of war crimes to be answered by both sides once this war and conflict ends."

"Greenpeace recognizes the deep historic roots that need to be discussed and negotiated if a permanent peace is to be established," the group said. "Greenpeace calls for an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine. Greenpeace supports the UNSC resolution ambition that 'Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions."

The Greenpeace statement was released the same day that the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) published a preliminary assessment of the "environmental impact of the conflict in Gaza," which features three main sections. The first part addresses the state of the environment and natural resources in the Hamas-governed enclave before October 7.

The second section discusses topics including water, wastewater treatment, and sewage systems; solid waste collection and treatment; destruction of infrastructure and related debris; energy, fuel, and associated infrastructure; marine and coastal environments; terrestrial ecosystems, soil, and cultivated lands; and air pollution.

The third section focuses on chemicals and waste associated with armed conflicts as well as construction, destruction, and flooding of tunnels in Gaza—which, as the report notes, "is a small, densely populated coastal area, the environment of which has been affected by repeated escalations of the decadeslong conflict, unplanned urbanization, and population growth."

"We urgently need a cease-fire to save lives and restore the environment."

Inger Andersen, UNEP's executive director, said in a statement that "not only are the people of Gaza dealing with untold suffering from the ongoing war, the significant and growing environmental damage in Gaza risks locking its people into a painful, long recovery."

The following cites updated:

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Mia's lies and liars

Does Mia Farrow think she's fools us just because some idiot is stupid enough to believe her lies? Jenni McKnight (HELLO US) is an idiot and a liar. I don't have time to go through everything but let's just start with this:

Mia has been estranged from her daughter Soon-Yi after her affair with her mother's then-partner, Woody Allen came to light. Soon-Yi and Woody began a secret relationship in the late 80s, and when Mia found out in 1992, she cut ties with the director and her daughter.

That's just two sentences.

Sentence one? No, Mia hasn't been estranged from Soon-Yi after she found out. First, she locked Soon-Yi in a bedroom. Then she beat her.

Here, "She phoned Allen, told him to stay away, and rushed back home with Satchel. Soon-Yi was there, and Mia attacked her, at one point reportedly breaking a chair over her daughter. Allen rushed over and declared his great love for Soon-Yi and his intent to marry her."

Sentence two "when Mia found out in 1992, she cut ties with the director and her daughter."

She cut ties with Soon-Yi when Soon-Yi and Woody continued their relationship (while Soon-Yi was at camp). But Woody?

This is why so many people have never believed her lies.

Even after she accused Woody of molesting Dylan, she still planned to make MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY with him:

Mia also kept on with her plans to star in Allen’s next movie, “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” and placed a call to meet with the wardrobe supervisor on Aug. 9.

“She accused me of child molestation on August 4th, right?” Allen told “60 Minutes” that November. “And August 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th — you know, the week after, she’s fully saying, ‘When do we begin our new movie? I’m going for my costume fitting next week’ . . . And I said, ‘Are you kidding? You’re accusing me of child molestation, and you think we’re just going to go on with the movie? . . . This is insane.’ ”

She's full of it. I could do this on every bad sentence in that awful article.

She's so pathetic, " In February 1992, she brought home a 6-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and mental retardation."

And it's a real shame because she has an awful filmography. She's garbaged in almost everything she ever filmed. She was good in ROSEMARY'S BABY -- though any actress could have done that role better. That's the film she made with her friend rapist Roman Polanski whom she's testified for.

And she says Woody's a child molester. Other than ROSEMARY, she's only done a good job in Woody's films. In fact, she got three Golden Globe nominations for Woody's films (BROADWAY DANNY ROSE, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and ALICE).

Without those films, her career is a sad joke with her ridiculous and disgusting in A WEDDING, something other than a human being in DEATH ON THE NILE, fake and vapid in AVALANCHE and THE GREAT GATSBY . . .

I'm just really sick of her and her lies.

I get it, her career ended when Woody stopped putting her in films.

And I know she plotted to snare Mike Nichols who wasn't interested.

But she needs to get honest before she dies.

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, June 19, 2024. BBC finds new propaganda to broadcast, Netanyahu stomps his feet and has a hissy fit on the world stage, Senator Bernie Sanders points out "We should not be honoring people who use the starvation of children as a weapon of war," and much more.

Let's start with a liar and then let's move to a person allowing themselves to be used as propaganda. The liar is in the US.

So many liars. Take Tom Chavez who ran a failed campaign for Elmhurst school board during which he boasted:

My parents instilled the values of hard work, commitment, honesty, compassion, treating others as you wish to be treated and emphasized the importance of education. They set expectations high, held us accountable to live up to them, and there were consequences when we fell short.

What a liar and an idiot. David Giuliani (PATCH) explains how Chavez started his work week:

An Elmhurst conservative activist on Monday criticized the city's mayor, saying he was under the influence of a "radical" LGBTQ group.

Resident Tom Chavez, who often addresses the local school board, spoke at Monday's City Council meeting.

Mayor Scott Levin did not respond to Chavez's comments. A representative for the Elmhurst Pride Collective said Tuesday that Chavez was "very confused" about what the group is and does.

[. . .]

In 2021, Chavez started regularly appearing at school board meetings. At the time, he contended local schools were teaching "critical race theory," though he provided no evidence.

He ran for school board last year, but lost by a wide margin.

And he had a lot of funding and created a professional looking website . . . that just revealed what an idiot he was.

I'm sorry, I don't care if you like Zora Neale Hurston's writing or not (I do), if you're ragging on one of her books, get your facts right. Yes, she did write THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD but, no, her name is not Ann Hurston.

The idiot chose to put a noted writer's name on his site and didn't even know her name but we're supposed to believe that he's going to lead the charge to improve education?

He's a lazy nit wit. Churned out by DePaul which doesn't say very much for that university.

He boasts at the website, "If elected to represent our community, I will bring the same energy, enthusiasm, and commitment. I will demand the same excellence and accountability of myself as I will from every other board member, administrator, and teacher." When? When would you demand accountability of yourself?

Zora Neale Hurston. I can't imagine any adult American reader hasn't heard the name. And of course Oprah turned THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD into a very high rated TV movie starring Halle Berry. But in case not, from WIKIPEDIA:

Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891^[1]^: 17^[2]^: 5 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo and Caribbean Vodou.^[3] The most popular of her four novels is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. She also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays.

Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, and moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida in 1894. She later used Eatonville as the setting for many of her stories. In her early career, Hurston conducted anthropological and ethnographic research as a scholar at Barnard College and Columbia University.^[4] She had an interest in African-American and Caribbean folklore, and how these contributed to the community's identity.

She also wrote about contemporary issues in the black community and became a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Her short satires, drawing from the African-American experience and racial division, were published in anthologies such as The New Negro and Fire!!^[5] After moving back to Florida, Hurston wrote and published her literary anthology on African-American folklore in North Florida, Mules and Men (1935), and her first three novels: Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934); Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937); and Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939).^[6] Also published during this time was Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica (1938), documenting her research on rituals in Jamaica and Haiti.

Hurston's works concerned both the African-American experience and her struggles as an African-American woman. Her novels went relatively unrecognized by the literary world for decades. In 1975, fifteen years after Hurston's death, interest in her work was revived after author Alice Walker published an article, "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston" (later retitled "Looking for Zora"), in Ms. magazine.^[7]^[8] In 2001, Hurston's manuscript Every Tongue Got to Confess, a collection of folktales gathered in the 1920s, was published after being discovered in the Smithsonian archives. Her nonfiction book Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo", about the life of Cudjoe Lewis (Kossola), was published in 2018.

Of course, what's so hilarious is Zora was deeply conservative and if Chavez actually read her, he might have found a kindred spirit and been less eager to attack her just because she was Black. Chavez is an idiot who has held many titles -- among them "coach" and even "Indian Princess Chief" (it's there at the website under "volunteerism"), I'm sure he made a very cute "Indian Princess Chief."

Turning to the propaganda, BBC NEWS tells us this morning that Israeli Ada Sagi, following her release as a hostage by Hamas, no longer believes in peace. At 75, she shouldn't have to, she won't be around much longer especially with all the weight she's packing on. I see nonsense like her story all the time and ignore it. But this time? Well, the BBC NEWS wants you to know she's "an Israeli peace activist." Really?

I never heard of her.

What actions did she organize, what marches did she participate in?

Oh. That's right. None.

Because she's not one and she's never been one. You can find everything about her online.

This TIMES OF ISRAEL article -- after her release -- tells you she's a "peacenik" -- self labeled. She could call herself thin and pretty but those descriptions wouldn't be accurate either. This October AP article is a little more clear in her 'peace' actions: "She moved to a kibbutz at the age of 18, not for religious reasons but because she was attracted by the ideals of equality and humanity on which the communal settlements were built." Not really a peace activist. She did teach other Israelis Arabic. Not really a peace activist. This lengthy GUARDIAN article quotes her son over and over as it provides her life history and, guess what, no peace activist. This December BBC article -- long though it is -- didn't try to pretend she was a peace activist. Ruth Kaplan's long article at JEWISH BOSTON makes no mention of peace activism and on this and the others when Ada was a hostage? That's the first thing you put out -- my parent is being held by Hamas and I want to stress that she is a long time advocate for peace.

No.

From everything written -- and I've read more than the above -- she's not a peace activist.

She is a Miss Millie.

Remember THE COLOR PURPLE?

That's who she is. Supposedly, she learned Arabic to speak to her neighbors. And it stresses to make them feel equal. How sweet. Did you honk the horn too, Ada, to let 'em know you were in the car waiting?

Miss Millie goes into her rage over her basic, substandard efforts not being treated as amazing gifts to humanity.

The same with Ada.

At 75, you're smart enough to know -- or should be -- where to live. Forget who has the right to what land or this or that, you're living a hot zone and you chose to. Sorry you were taken hostage but I'm even sorrier that you didn't have the brains -- and I'm looking at some of you in Florida on this as well -- to move. You should have been living with your son in London and you were honestly stupid not to. As weather in Florida gets worse and worse, don't expect sympathy from me for those who had the means to move and didn't. And when you're 75 and should damn well know better, don't expect a lot of sympathy from me when you're electing to live on a fault line. I live in California, I know the risks. A big earthquake comes and I'm dead, okay, maybe a few will be sad but there's no reason to pretend like I lived here and never heard of an earthquake before.

Ada's now a "peace activist" because that sells the continued assault on Gaza: LOOK WORLD -- they can scream -- EVEN THIS PEACE ACTIVIST HAS NOW DECIDED THERE CAN BE NO PEACE!

That's the whole point of the press created Ada and that's why we're bothering to spend time on the topic in the first place. She's propaganda meant to continue the genocide.

THE NATIONAL reports:

At least seven people were killed overnight in Israeli air strikes on tents in the Al Mawasi humanitarian zone in western Rafah, Palestinian Wafa news agency reported on Wednesday.

Scores of others were injured and tents occupied by displaced Palestinians caught fire, local sources said.

Al Mawasi area was designated as a “safe zone” by the Israeli army.

Seven dead in a "safe zone." I wonder when the BBC will speak to the families of the seven murdered Palestinians? Oh, that's right: Never.

RTE reports, "Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war and failed to distinguish between civilians and fighters in their Gaza military campaign, the United Nations human rights office said." THE GUARDIAN adds:

According to Reuters, the OHCHR report details six incidents that took place between 7 October and 2 December, in which the UN human rights office was able to assess the kinds of weapons, the means and the methods used in these attacks.

“We felt that it was important to get this report out now, especially because in the case of some of these attacks, some eight months have passed, and we are yet to see credible and transparent investigations,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for OHCHR.

“We call first on the Israeli authorities to take steps to ensure that proper investigations, transparent investigations are held.” She added that, in the absence of transparent investigations, there would be “a need for international action in this regard as well.”

Meanwhile War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu continues to face calls to step down as prime minister of Isreal. Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted yesterday:

In Jerusalem, at least one person was wounded and nine others arrested Monday night as thousands of protesters rallied near the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among those detained was a family member of an Israeli taken hostage by Hamas. It was one of dozens of protests taking place across Israel this week demanding immediate elections and a Gaza ceasefire. This is 26-year-old Yotam Cohen, whose brother remains a hostage in Gaza.

Yotam Cohen: “The last eight months have been an emotional roller coaster for me and the other hostage families. And I think that without a struggle and without the protest, this deal will also be put down. And we’re here to tell the government and shout for them to close the deal and to bring them home.”

Between facing mounting protests and overseeing a slaughter, you'd think the War Criminal would have his hands full but, turns out, he's still got time to whine. ALJAZEERA reports:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the administration of US President Joe Biden for “withholding weapons” to Israel in recent months as it presses its war on Gaza.

Netanyahu said in a video statement on Tuesday that it was “inconceivable” that the United States had been “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel” in recent months.

Barak Revid (AXIOS) notes, "A White House spokesperson responded bluntly on Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claim that the Biden administration is withholding weapons from Israel: 'We genuinely do not know what he is talking about'." Senator Bernie Sanders reponded to Netanyahu's claims.

His office issued a press release that provides a transcript of the above video.

WASHINGTON, June 18 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement in response to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claims that the United States should be supplying Israel with additional weapons and ammunitions in its war against Gaza:

Earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu put out a video attacking the United States for not sending him bombs fast enough. No doubt, we will hear similar complaints when he addresses Congress on July 24.

Virtually everyone recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism and respond to the horrific October 7th Hamas attack that killed 1,200 innocent Israelis and took hundreds of hostages. But the Israeli government did not and does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people. Yet that is exactly what has happened.

Let’s be clear: the right wing, extremist Netanyahu government has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and injured nearly 85,000, sixty percent of whom are women, children, or elderly.

After displacing nearly 1.8 million people from their homes, it has damaged or destroyed more than 60 percent of the housing stock in Gaza.

It has devastated the civilian infrastructure, including water and sewage systems. Today, despite extraordinarily high temperatures, there is virtually no electricity in Gaza.

The health care system has been decimated, with 19 hospitals knocked out of service and more than 400 healthcare workers killed.

The education system has also been devastated – 88 percent of all school buildings have sustained damage, and all twelve of Gaza’s universities have been bombed, leaving 625,000 students with no access to education.

According to humanitarian organizations, hundreds of thousands of people face possible famine. Already, more than 8,000 children under the age of five have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition, the result of the Netanyahu government’s restrictions on humanitarian aid.

Given all of this, it is easy to understand why Netanyahu is credibly accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. He is beholden to extreme racists in Israel and has devoted his career to undermining the prospects for a two-state solution and lasting peace.

It is absurd that Netanyahu has been invited to address Congress. We should not be honoring people who use the starvation of children as a weapon of war. Instead, the United States should be withholding all offensive military aid to Israel and using our leverage to demand an end to this war, the unfettered flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, a stop to the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank, and initial steps towards a two-state solution.

Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) adds:

Sanders and a growing number of Democratic lawmakers are planning to boycott Netanyahu's scheduled address to a joint meeting of Congress next month, citing his government's creation of one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in modern history and continued indiscriminate attacks on the Gaza Strip.

"I will not attend," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) toldNBC News on Sunday. "I said that if he wants to come to speak to members of Congress about how to end the war and release hostages, I would be fine doing that, but I’m not going to sit in a one-way lecture."

MIDDLE EAST EYE reports a disturbing development:

The number of US troops stationed in Jordan has soared to a two-decade high amid Israel's war on Gaza, according to a new congressional report.

US President Joe Biden informed Congress on 7 June that the US had deployed 3,813 to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a nearly 20 percent increase in troop numbers from December.

The troop levels are higher than at any time since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, according to US troop levels reported at the time.

The surge in troop numbers coincides with Israel's war on Gaza, which has seen the relatively stable Kingdom of Jordan cast into the centre of soaring tensions between the US and Iran.

Let's drop back to yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

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

We turn now to the acclaimed Holocaust and genocide scholar Raz Segal. Eight months ago, the Israeli American historian became one of the first scholars to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Professor Segal laid out his case in a widely read article for Jewish Currents headlined “A Textbook Case of Genocide.” The piece’s subtitle was “Israel has been explicit about what it’s carrying out in Gaza. Why isn’t the world listening?” Professor Segal went on to give numerous interviews, including to us on Democracy Now!

RAZ SEGAL: We need to recognize what’s going on around us, what’s unfolding in front of our eyes, which is really a textbook case of genocide, with the rhetoric, with the actions, with everything involved.

AMY GOODMAN: Raz Segal’s description of Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide has now cost him a job. Last week, the University of Minnesota withdrew an offer to Segal for him to head the school’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, after two of the center’s board members resigned to protest his hiring. The school’s decision also came after the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas launched a campaign to block professor Segal from getting the job. The group described him as a, quote, “extremist.”

Raz Segal joins us now. He’s currently associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, an endowed professor in the study of modern genocide. He’s joining us from Bulgaria.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Professor Segal. Can you explain exactly what happened? And is there a chance you will be reoffered this job?

RAZ SEGAL: Thank you, Amy, for inviting me again to the show.

What happened is that there was a completely regular hiring process in a public university. There was a public announcement of the job. There were applications. There were Zoom interviews. There were campus visits. There was actually significant community engagement also during this process. And then, eventually, the search committee deliberated and made a recommendation to hire me to the interim dean, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. I was then, on the 5th of June, sent an official job offer.

And then, as you described, two professors who were formerly on the advisory committee of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota resigned and, together with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, put a lot of pressure, which was really a hateful campaign of lies and distortions against me and based on their political position in support of Israel. And on 10th of June — so within days, right? — the interim president of the University of Minnesota sent me an email withdrawing the job offer.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in that letter of withdrawal, did the interim president give a reason?

RAZ SEGAL: Yeah. He said that due to the public-facing role of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and its director, community members have come forward with some concerns. And that was given as the reason for the withdrawal. And it’s important to say, of course, that this is a crude and very dangerous political — the legitimization — right? — of a political interference in an absolutely legitimate hiring process in a public university. It’s, you know, completely unacceptable that a political pressure group, the JCRC of Minnesota and the Dakotas here, and a political position, of support of Zionism and the state of Israel — right? — especially, of course, at a time when Israel is committing the crime of genocide for eight months now, right? But regardless, actually, any political position, any pressure group is not a criteria — should not the defining factor in a hiring process, and certainly once an official job offer has been made.

This actually might be a case of discrimination, because I’m targeted here specifically as an Israeli American Jew, and I’m targeted because of my identity as a Jew who refuses the narrowing down of Jewish identity to Zionism and to support of Israel, whatever it does, which is the position of the JCRC of Minnesota and the Dakotas in its claim to speak for all Jews in the Twin Cities, which is absolutely false. I mean, I’ve received hundreds, hundreds of emails in support, including from many Jews in the Twin Cities, who say explicitly that the JCRC does not speak for them, does not represent them. A community letter from within and outside the university in Twin Cities, again including many, many Jews, have now attracted more than 500 signatures. There’s also a letter of scholars from around the world, including many in the University of Minnesota, of course, that has attracted about a thousand signatures, maybe a bit more, in support of me. So, this idea that the JCRC speaks for all Jews — right? — is absolutely false.

But again, this kind of crude political intervention in the hiring process, and its legitimization by the university, is extremely dangerous. It joins this attack that we’re seeing in the academic world, that has intensified since October, of really suppressing academic freedom. And this is a very, very dangerous sign. That’s the reason that students and faculty members across the University of Minnesota, not only in the College of Liberal Arts, are furious at this decision of their interim president and are not willing to accept it.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And among the people who have been supporting you have been some scholars in Israel who may not agree with your characterization of what Israel is doing in Gaza as genocide but still believe that you’re being treated unfairly?

RAZ SEGAL: Absolutely. The letter of the scholars that I mentioned, that has, again, a bit more than a thousand signatures right now, has many, actually — many Jewish scholars, of course, but many Israeli Jewish scholars in universities in Israel. Many of them do not necessarily agree with my interpretation of Israel’s attack on Gaza, but understand the very dangerous precedent here, you know, and are very fearful of the implications. And, of course, what we’re seeing in terms of suppression of academic freedom in Israel is in many ways related to this, so I think that’s also in their minds. But, yes, many Israeli Jewish scholars also support me.

AMY GOODMAN: So, I’m just looking at Minnesota Public Radio. They said hundreds of professors have signed a letter condemning the university’s decision. The University of Minnesota’s chapter of the American Association of University, AAU, sent a letter to the administration. And then, looking at a response from the spokesperson for the University of Minnesota, they said, “Members of the university community have come forward to express their interest in providing perspective on the hiring of the position of Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Because of the community-facing and leadership role the director holds, it is important that these voices are heard.” So, if you can respond to that? And also, Professor Segal, they’re still offering you what? An assistant professorship at the University of Minnesota, but withdrew your offer as director, or not?

RAZ SEGAL: No, no, no, no. The day, on 10th of June, when the interim president withdrew the entire offer, all of it, I was still — the provost called me and said that the university is still interested in offering me the academic position in the history department of tenured associate professor. That’s what was in the original offer, as well. But I have not yet received any revised offer. So, currently, what — the situation currently is that the official offer was officially withdrawn, and there’s nothing besides that at this point. That’s one issue.

Look, the response of the university is ridiculous. This was a completely — of the leadership of the university. It’s important to say. As I said, faculty and students across the university, overwhelmingly — I mean, professor Painter and Chaouat, the two professors who resigned from the advisory board of the center and started this scandal — right? — are absolutely unrepresentative of faculty and students at the university. And they are furious at this, because everyone knows — everyone knows — that this was a completely legitimate hiring process. It was actually public. It also actually had a lot of community outreach — right? — for people to come to the job talk, which was public. People could come, and people indeed came, also joined via Zoom, and provide feedback, provide their responses. You know, I met with a lot of people when I was in the campus visits here. So, the response of the university as if now, after an official job offer, after a professional and academic hiring process had been concluded and the job offer was made, now we need community consultation is simply in order to blur a clear truth in front of everyone’s eyes that the JCRC here, again, claiming falsely to represent all Jews, is putting political pressure in a very dangerous way on a public university, which is absolutely unacceptable.

It’s also important to say that this is a — the center directorship, this is a center in Holocaust and genocide studies. It’s not only about Jews. What about Indigenous communities, Native communities, which are very important in Minnesota? What about Armenians, which we have many, many communities of forcibly displaced and refugees in the Twin Cities, right? Again, the idea — this also is very, very dangerous, because it feeds into antisemitic ideas about Jewish power and influence, right? So, the JCRC here is also doing a very dangerous thing, feeding into these ideas about Jewish power and influence and intervention here. And it’s simply false. They had an opportunity to provide feedback in the regular hiring process.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor, I wanted to ask you about their broader picture of the enormous damage done to American universities in the last year as a result of people speaking out against the Israeli attack and genocide in Gaza — for example, the university presidents hauled before Congress and basically all having to state that they believe that opposing Zionism is antisemitic, the clamp downs on student protests, the rights of students to even hold protests on universities, the mass arrests that have occurred in so many universities. What is the impact of all of this on the idea of a liberal university?

RAZ SEGAL: Yeah, I mean, it spells the end of this idea of free inquiry, of academic freedom, of research and teaching — and all in the service, of course, of supporting an extremely violent state, a state now conducting a destructive assault for eight months on Gaza, genocide or not. I mean, I firmly believe that we’re witnessing a genocidal assault. But even if we’re not, I mean an extremely violent assault. There is a case of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice. The chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has requested arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes and crimes against humanity. I mean, an international outcry. Dozens of Holocaust and genocide studies scholars, not only me, who have spoken about genocide in Israel’s attack on Gaza, or at least a serious risk of genocide in Israel’s attack on Gaza. So, all this in the service of supporting a violent state and also supporting, again, this very dangerous idea that the only way to be Jews today is to be Zionists and to support Israel.

And as I said, actually, the opposite is the truth. It’s not that criticizing Israel is antisemitism. Not at all. Criticizing the people who criticize Israel in this way, this is antisemitic. This is an attack on Jewish identities. This is an attack, actually, on people who are aiming to criticize a violent state in order to protect a group facing state violence, which is actually very much in line with the historical struggle against antisemitism. So, this is really a world turned upside down. And in the frame of this world turned upside down, we also see the end of the academic world, of academic freedom, of free inquiry, of teaching and research. It’s very, very, very dangerous. And that’s why so many people in the University to Minnesota, across actually the academic world in the U.S. and around the world — right? — within and outside academia, are actually mobilizing now in support of me. But this is, you know, not about me anymore, right? This has far more significant implications and consequences.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about Israeli politician, the former Likud member of parliament, Moshe Feiglin, who Sunday favorably quoted Adolf Hitler while arguing in a TV interview in Israel for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. He said, “As Hitler said, 'I cannot live if one Jew is left,'” Feiglin said during a panel discussion on Channel 12, Israel’s channel, he said, “we can’t live here if one Islamo-Nazi remains in Gaza.” Professor Segal, your response and the significance of these comments, as well as Netanyahu possibly coming to address a joint session of Congress in July?

RAZ SEGAL: I mean, what is there — what is there more — what is there more to say, right? It’s all in front of our eyes: the utter destruction of Gaza, this genocidal discourse, these expressions of genocide that we’ve been exposed to and we’re witnessing since October. This is really — Israel is a society awash now in genocidal discourse, full of war criminals.

And yet, the support of the United States in this genocidal state, in its attack on Gaza, just continues and continues. And, of course, the reason is that if we need to come to terms with Israeli settler colonialism, with this idea that there can’t remain Palestinians — right? — in Israel, that Moshe Feiglin has articulated via Hitler — right? — if we need to come to terms with Israeli settler colonialism since '48, and actually even before it, until Israel's destructive assault on Gaza, that really means that we have to come to terms with settler colonialism more broadly, also in the United States and in other places. And who wants to do — who wants to do that? And that’s why we’re seeing — that’s part of the reason also that we’re seeing this horrific attack also against Jews right now intensifying more and more, including against me in this case — right? — because anything in order not to really come to terms, to open this Pandora’s box for the West of settler colonialism and settler-colonial genocide that we’re all witnessing now. This is the reason that the Biden administration continues to support Israel, whatever happens.

AMY GOODMAN: Raz Segal, we want to thank you so much for being with us, Israeli American historian. Earlier this month, the University of Minnesota rescinded its offer to him to head its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He’s currently associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University and endowed professor in the study of modern genocide.

That does it for our show. A very fond farewell to our digital fellow Eric Halvarson and our interns Soledad Aguilar-Colón and Hannah Fitz. We will miss you so, so much. You are now part of our DNA, the Democracy Now! alumni. We’re currently accepting applications for director of development. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 257 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, "At least 37,396 people have been killed and 85,523 injured in Gaza during more than eight months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants, the Health Ministry in the territory said Wednesday. The toll includes at least 24 deaths and 71 injuries in the past 24 hours, the ministry said." 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: