FEMA was never intended for both emergency and disaster relief and migrant resettlements. That's why it's running out of money.

@1, why are you regurgitating Trump’s bullshit, feebs. FEMA is designed to respond to all kinds of national emergencies and migrant emergencies are paid through a completely different pool of money than natural disaster relief.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/10/04/trump-fema-claim-debunked-agency-not-running-out-of-money-because-of-migrants/

@1 FEMA's enabling act defines "emergency" as "any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States."

That definition, read in conjunction with the rest of the Stafford Act, makes clear Congress intended to allow wide discretion in how FEMA funding is utilized. If it was otherwise, you'd see every Republican AG bringing successful legal challenges to use of FEMA funding for migrant response.

something something ISRAEL!!!

[runs away cackling]

@3: I've long felt FEMA would be appropriate to address the crisis of Homelessness. But AFAIK, no Governors have ever asked.

@2: wait...do we actually know each other IRL? If your first name starts with the letter "J," then tell me what "The Short Stop" means to you. if not, nm!

What are the odds Sen. Dan Foreman knows the Nez Pierce tribe was based in NE Oregon around Wallowa Lake, not in Idaho?

@7: The histories of the peoples we now call Nez Perce are probably slightly more complicated than that 😀

Few things ring hollower than a white american telling someone else to go back where they came from.

"If I were Palestinian, I would fight Israel," declares Amichai Ayalon, the former head of Israel's Shin Bet and commander of the Israeli navy.

[..]

“Palestinians have nothing to lose, and when someone reaches that point, they become 'the most dangerous enemy' because they are fighting for freedom, which is the most sacred thing. This isn’t about religion or ideology; it’s about the person who sees themselves as part of a nation."

He references Ze'ev Jabotinsky, a leader of the Revisionist Zionist movement, who said much the same in his 1923 article The Iron Wall: "We took their land, and they will fight us."

Ayalon explains the harsh reality: "When I’m asked what I would do if I were Palestinian, I say: If someone came and took my land, the land of Israel, I would fight them without limits."

https://x.com/SinaToossi/status/1835707850061930609

but hey, he is just another "terrorist supporting antisemite" who can be dismissed

A sizeable faction of Bizarro Jesus death cult worshippers have hijacked what is the church, just as Henry VIII before them, in order to bend scripture to a material agenda and the vicarious submission to worldly iterests made business and money changing in the temple. The charlatans cannot be free of the Truth, and the Truth shall set thee free.

Trump is the Model T of Fordism.

compost yourself, please

@10: Found something in the Xitter, did you? Here, try a slightly more reliable source:

"U.N. Resolution 1701, passed during Israel and Hezbollah's last war in 2006, established that Hezbollah would have no armed presence in southern Lebanon." (https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-in-beirut-battles-hezbollah-in-southern-lebanon-14123636?mod=Searchresults_pos10&page=1)

Whoops! Looks like the international community decided to let the IDF enforce that one. Which it finally has started doing. Why didn't the Lebanese do it themselves?

"But what Hezbollah has clearly lost inside Lebanon is the aura of invincibility that has allowed it essentially to control the Lebanese state. The country has had no president since October 2022 because of obstructionism by Hezbollah and its allies that prevented the country’s parliament from holding a vote."

(https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-misjudged-israels-weakness-and-irans-might-b169e552?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1)

With Hezbollah (and therefore Iran) keeping Lebanon a failed state, and with the international community not interested (until now, of course), the IDF now enforces U.N. Resolution 1701 by default.

@10, How's that working out for the Palestinians?

@10 except they are not fighting for freedom. If they were they would accept that Israel has a right to exist. What they are fighting for is the elimination of all Jews in the area and the removal of Israel from the world map.

Early Zionists leaders had no qualm saying they were colonizers taking land away from a native population but try saying anything like it today and the goon brigade will attempt to tar and feather you:

"Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population – behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach."[1] from Zhabotinsky's Iron Wall mentioned above

@17, So how are these arguments of yours working out for the Palestinians? How about their tactics and strategy? What outcomes are they getting for themselves?

@17: Gal Backerman published a great interview in the Atlantic this morning with another Zionist whose name you may recognize: “Yuval Noah Harari Wants to Reclaim Zionism.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/10/yuval-noah-harari-q-and-a-isreal-palestine/680137/

Here’s a thought-provoking quote from the interview for the benefit of Averagebob:
“And many times, people don’t really understand the conflict. I see it especially with this projection of the colonialist interpretation. People take this model, which is very central in the United States and other Western countries, and impose it on a completely different situation. And they say, Okay, the Israelis are the white Europeans who came to colonize the indigenous Palestinians. And there are some kernels of truth in this, but it’s a wrong model. I mean, it denies the fact that there was continuous Jewish presence on the land, going back 3,000 years. For 2,000 years, Jews were one of the chief victims of European civilization, and suddenly now they become the Europeans?”

I’m afraid there’s also a rage-provoking quote for AverageBob:
“ When I hear people compare Zionism with racism, this itself is a racist statement, because Zionism is simply the national movement of the Jewish people. And if you think that Zionism is racist and is abhorrent, you’re basically saying that Jews don’t deserve to have national feelings.”

Uh-oh, Bob! He’s glancing in your direction! 😉

“The era of militias with its sectarian and regional dimensions has cost the Arabs dearly and burdened the region,” Anwar Gargash, the UAE president’s diplomatic adviser, said on X, in an apparent reference to Iran-backed Shiite militias in the region.

CNN.com

If I become LDS does that entitle me to Mayan Zionism through my Lamanite lineage to Lehi. Asking for a friend.

Nationalism is bad actually. It’s not something people should envy or strive for.

@19 I promised myself I wouldn't get involved in the non-sequitur, and there are several above, that would inevitably follow my comment but you are now lying about what I said; a favorite goon tactics. I never said that Zionism was racism, what I said is that Zionists who deny the human rights of Palestinians, which includes you, are racists. I am perfectly aware there are Zionists who are also humanitarians and they despair at the way Palestinians are treated by Israel and hard line Zionists.

Now, regarding Zionism itself. I didn't say that Jews didn't have a right to national "feelings", or even a national homeland, in fact I welcomed it if they could manage without taking someone's else land, and I said so in these comment pages; however, if Zionism only is the movement leading the colonization of Palestine, a land with a native people (the Palestinians) then it most probably justifies colonization via racist arguments. Unsurprisingly anti-Palestinians racism is rife among Israelis today.

@23, Every land on this planet is occupied, to one degree or another, by non-native people. How far back do you take the recompense. How do you determine who was first to occupy any given land?

@23: Ha ha, Zionism except minus Israel! Nice one, Bob! 😄 You read about that Idaho senator up-thread, and you were like, “That guy makes a good point.” 😆

@21: False equivalence, in that it ignores the history of the Jews (a running theme among certain commenters, lol). Not to worry, cdizzle, Yuval Harari’s got an explainer for you too: “Zionism basically says three simple things that should be uncontroversial. It says that the Jews are a nation, not just isolated individuals. There is a Jewish people. The second thing Zionism says is that, like all other peoples, the Jewish people also have a right to self-determination, like the Palestinians, like the Turks, like the Poles. And the third thing it says is the Jews have a deep historical, cultural, spiritual connection to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, which is a historical fact.”

@35 Quit demonstrating your ignorance (fake laugh won't help): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_a_Jewish_state

This one is pretty humorous:

The Uganda Scheme was a plan to give a portion of the East Africa Protectorate to the Jewish people as a homeland.[..]The idea was brought to the World Zionist Organization's Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 in Basel. There, a fierce debate ensued. [..] In the end, the motion to consider the plan passed by 295 to 177 votes. The next year, a three-man delegation was sent to inspect the plateau. Its high elevation gave it a temperate climate, making it suitable for European settlement. However, the observers found a dangerous land filled with lions and other creatures. Moreover, it was populated by a large number of Maasai people, who did not seem at all amenable to an influx of people coming from Europe.

After receiving this report, Congress decided in 1905 to politely decline the British offer. Some Jews, who viewed this as a mistake, formed the Jewish Territorial Organization with the aim of establishing a Jewish state anywhere.[4]

@26: Uganda Scheme! Take that, thumpus! 🤣🤣🤣

@2 & @3 - pardon my gullibility!

BDAs from the Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this week are rolling in. One of the main clusters of impacts occurred at Nevatim Airbase, home of Israel's F-35 stealth fighters. At least 32 Iranian missiles, and likely as many as 40, appear to have penetrated the air defense and impacted the area around the F-35 hangars, as well as other, less significant areas of the base.

Aerial imagery:
https://x.com/dex_eve/status/1841986067458666640

The relatively large number of penetrations and hits in the vicinity of infrastructure worth protecting undermines the thesis that the Israelis deliberately allowed a substantial number of missiles to pass unchallenged because their trajectories did not pose a threat. Their trajectories did, in fact, pose a threat. The preponderance of the evidence, as I weigh it, is in favor of the Iranians having partially overwhelmed the air defense, in spite of the large number of successful defensive interceptions by the US and Israel (including several astonishing space-combat exo-atmospheric interceptions seen here: https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/1841346681918406942).

Despite the relatively large number of penetrations, damage to the airbase appears light. There is no evidence of any planes having been damaged. It is likely the Israelis put their precious F-35 stealth fighters into the air prior to the launch of the ballistic missiles. Almost the entire Israeli tanker took to the air prior to the missile strike and orbited offshore, a tactic that is difficult to explain except as a support measure to allow the F-35s to loiter safely in the sky during the missile strike. Certainly, there has been no evidence of any F-35 damaged on the ground, although the Iranians are all over Persian and Arabic social media claiming to have blown up dozens.

Tanker orbits:
https://x.com/kimhvik2/status/1841124340974133357

In conclusion, despite an extraordinary defensive performance by the American SM-3s and Israeli Arrows (seriously, space combat, that is absolutely freaking amazing), it appears the Iranians have at least some capability to overwhelm Israel's air defenses through saturation. I would take seriously the Iranian threat to launch a fresh wave of ballistic missiles in response to any Israeli retaliatory strike...although, of course, Israel's retaliatory strike itself might succeed in destroying the Iranian missiles on the ground. The possibility of destroying missiles on the ground will hinge on the size and speed of Israel's strike package and the accuracy and timeliness of Israel's ISR. You might ask the late Hizbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah for his take on that latter point! 😄 (And possibly already his cousin and successor, Hashim Safi-ad-din?? Confirmation pending... 🤭)

Sorry for the Xitter links. I am slowly boycotting, divesting, and sanctioning Elon Musk products to the greatest practical extent, but sometimes it's just unavoidable. The Tesla is next on the chopping block if I can find another EV that doesn't suck.

“But
when it
comes to my genetic data,
I really want to know what they [23&me] plan on doing.”

“For our customers, our focus continues to be on transparency and choice over how they want their data to be managed.”
--Andy Kill, a spokesperson for 23andMe

Translation:
Well, we’re gonna
Sell their stupid data to the Highest Bidder :

It’s a
Fucking
Gold Mine.
this always Was
Our Golden Parachute.

oh and by the Way?
this Is fucking America
this is NOT fucking Venezuela

suckers.'

*‘Kill.’
rather
brilliant
Name for
their Minister
of Propaganda

Thank you, Nathalie, for sharing another kickass soundtrack, Eurythmics Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, Here Comes the Rain Again. Perfect for today.

Hey, Dan Foreman--why don't you crawl back inside Trump's buttcrack where you came from?

Further thoughts on Iranian missile deterance. Iran is commonly said to possess 3,000 ballistic missiles. Most of those are short-range ballistic missiles, capable of threatening only Iran’s immediate neighbors. Precise numbers are hard to come by, but a reasonable and charitable estimate is that Iran possesses at most 1,000 medium-range ballistic missiles, 40 to 60 feet long, of the type capable of striking Israel. Of those, 120 were expended in April and a further 200 in October. However, Iran’s production rate for MRBMs is probably around 100 per year, so it is likely that Iran has replenished around 50 of the 320 missiles expended. Call it roughly 750 medium-range missiles remaining for Iran.

Iran’s MRBMs are difficult to deploy. The vast majority are liquid fueled, which require hours of specialized fueling immediately prior to launch. (Liquid-fueled missiles cannot be stored in a launch-ready state.) Iran does have a smaller number of solid-fueled MRBMs that can launched on minutes’ notice, but these are vastly more expensive to produce, and the heavily sanctioned Iranian economy apparently cannot afford them in large numbers.

Most analysts estimate Iran has around 300 transporter-erector-launchers. Thus, while Iran likely has around 750 MRBMs, it can only launch fewer than half of them at a time. After launch, there will be another hours-long delay while the TELs return to reload and refuel another salvo. All of this activity is easily visible to Israeli and US ISR assets, including especially satellites.

Iran proved in October that a salvo of even 200 MRBMs can partially overwhelm Israel’s air defense. It is likely that around a quarter to a third of the missiles in the October salvo penetrated the defense. As discussed yesterday, I am dubious of the theory that Israel deliberately allowed some of the missiles to pass. I think Israel got overwhelmed.

Still, Israel (and the US Navy) did shoot down around 120 to 150 of the missiles. That wasn’t cheap. Israeli Arrow interceptors are supposedly around $3 million apiece, and US SM-3 interceptors are around $10 or $12 million apiece. (I suspect the highest-end Arrows are actually more expensive than $3 mil, but $3 mil is probably a good average among the Arrow models.)

The US currently produces only 12 of the newest SM-3s per year, although past years have seen more production. Current inventory is probably around 500. However, the US Navy can’t deploy 500 SM-3s to the Middle East at once. Typically, only around half a dozen Arleigh Burkes at most are in Middle Eastern waters at any given moment, and the SM-3 forms only a small part of each ship’s armament. Most of the missile tubes have to be devoted to strike and anti-air defense. Each ship probably only carries 10 or so SM-3s, for a maximum of around 60 SM-3s in the Middle East at once…and that’s being generous to the navy. Even deploying more Arleigh Burkes, at enormous expense and at cost to our other strategic commitments, only marginally increases the number of SM-3s available in the Middle East.

The magazine depth of Israel’s Arrow missiles is not widely known. If we accept the $3 mil figure and look at related defense expenditures, I crudely estimate Israel probably has at most 500 Arrows. Like the SM-3s, however, not all 500 can be deployed at once. Looking at the recent defensive performance, I estimate only around 200 are deployed at once.

The US is probably thin on deployed SM-3s in the Middle East right now, but the Arleigh Burkes will reload or be relieved within the next couple of days, bringing us back up to around 60 SM-3s deployed. Israel is probably now down to around 300 Arrows, of which 200 deployed.

These numbers reveal a problem for Israeli missile defense. Iran can shoot two more waves of 300 missiles each, but Israel plus US can only fully respond to one more wave. Even the first wave will see dozens of missiles penetrate the defense, perhaps as many as a hundred. The second wave will hit a few hours or a day later against only a partial defense. Over 200 of the second-wave missiles will likely penetrate. (There could also be a depleted third wave of around 150 missiles against no remaining air defense, but that would fully exhaust Iran’s MRBM inventory, which Iran may not want to do.)

There is some good news for Israel. The Iranian missiles are not very accurate, certainly not accurate enough to hit a point target like a parked airplane or an intelligence center. The best use of such inaccurate missiles is against area targets, which for Iran probably means targeting Israeli population centers. But Iranian missiles will not be very effective against population centers. Based on the size of the craters in imagery, the warheads of a handful of the missiles are around the advertised 1,000 kg, but most of the missiles have much smaller warheads. Iran “cheats” with its MRBMs: it turns smaller missiles into long-range missiles by stripping down the payload to increase the range. You wouldn’t want one to land on your head, but if one hit somewhere down the block you would be OK. Israeli civilians can likely survive even very close hits by small warheads simply by sitting in bomb shelters. Even with Iran’s ability to overwhelm Israel’s air defense, we are looking at dozens or hundreds of dead Israelis, not thousands.

Still, even dozens or hundreds of dead Israelis is a really big deal. For Israel, hitting Iranian missiles on the ground is a very attractive option, as it breaks Israel out of the unfavorable missile-defense math. This comment is already vastly too long, but maybe I’ll do a write-up later on the possibilities and perils of an Israeli strike package aimed at wiping out Iran’s ballistic missiles before they can launch. We should also talk about Iran’s cruise missile inventory, but they’re a much less thorny problem than the ballistic missiles.

I’m not sure why any of this belongs in the comments section of a Seattle news blog, but it seems like Israel is all we talk about anyway around here, so there ya go! 😀

@32

WOW!

just Imagine!
all That's coming
from our Neslon Muntz

aka thumper
aka wormmy's arti-
fically 'intelligent' sidekick

Wormtongue's Chatterbot©'s
fucking PROLIFIC today*

I’m not sure why any of This
belongs in the comments section of
Seattle's only news blog either, but Here we Are

the Disinformation
campaign'll
Continue
til 11/5

Post-which it'll
No longer be
Necessary

*Haw haw
haw ha
ha ha
ha ad
infin-
itum.

@33: and now back to our regular program of name-calling and conspiracy theories! 😄

@34

just because it's a
'Theory' don't
make it Any
Less True

ha ha
ha ha
ha ha

see:
Gravity

and calling me a
'name-caller' is fucking
Rich when your alacracity
at calling Anti-Zionism anti-
semitism has insidiously littered
these pages for Weeks. ever since

your 'Birth day'
just three Short
weeks ago, thumper

@36: Kristofarian: “Just because I specifically oppose nationhood for Jews, and only for Jews, doesn’t mean I’m an anti-semite!”

Ha ha ha, OK! 😄

the
Echololia
is Strong in this one

sorry,
sorry Troll.

Increasingly loud rumors that Esmail Qaani may also have been killed in the Hashim Safi-ad-Din strike earlier this week. We went through this rumor mill once already following the Hassan Nasrallah strike last week. I wrote then that the rumors of General Qaani's death in the Nasrallah strike were too good to believe, which indeed proved to be the case.

The current spate of rumors seem more substantive than last week's. This time the rumors caught the attention of the New York Times, whose sources place General Qaani in Beirut as recently as last week, in the wake of the Nasrallah strike. Still, even Safi-ad-Din's death is unconfirmed at this time, much less a fish as big as General Qaani. The Israelis are reported to have dropped an astonishing 73 tons of bombs to crack open Safi-ad-Din's underground command bunker, so it may be the case that the Hizbos themselves have not yet been able to sift through the rubble and confirm the identities of the dead, if any. Video of the strike's aftermath shows a massive, rubble-filled crater: https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1842482362594005324

Lotta moles getting whacked recently 🔨 but don't shed a tear, they're exactly where they wanted to be. The Sunnah teaches us, in the Hadith of Sunan Abi Dawud 3111, that a martyr is not only one who dies fighting in the cause of Allah but also one who dies due to a building falling on him. If Esmail Qaani was in that bunker, he must, then, be a double-martyr! Just imagine his reward, lol! 🤔

The Iranians are denying Qaani's death, but these are the same people who claim to have wiped out entire squadrons of Israeli F-35s....squadrons that are highly likely to be "miraculously returning from the dead" to visit Iran very soon. I weight the odds at 2:1 in favor of Qaani's death and 4:1 in favor of Safi-ad-Din's death.

wowzer
Chattybotski!
that’s Quite the
Apologia/History lecture

and, in
Other News

nyt:
an Opinion:
Nicholas Kristof

Biden Sought Peace but Facilitated War

Oct. 5, 2024

some readers' comments on the article
including one by its Author,
Nicholas Kristof
[no relation]:

Where are the quotes from Hamas, Hezbollah, or even Fatah leaders who wish to have peace with Israel and live side by side? There aren't any because Kristoff can't find any. There are two sides to this conflict (more than two, actually), but reading this makes it seem like only one side has any agency.
--Mark F; Philadelphia

@Mark F
You're wrong on this. And dangerous.

Kristof did quote Issa Amro and link to a previous a column in which Amro and other Palestinian leaders work towards non-violent change in the region.

When you say there are no such voices, you're not only wrong, but you demean and degrade entire people, and give cover to those who think violence is the only answer, and that the only good Palestinian is a dead one.
--SHC; Virginia

@Mark F
Hamas has already said it would recognize Israel if Israel entered into a real peace agreement. So has Hezbollah and Iran.

Where are the quotes from Israel or its leaders, especially Netanyahu, about accepting a real Palestinian state? Netanyahu has publicly stated he will never do so.
--Gaius; Tampa

@Mark F

Look up the remarks made by Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi at the UN recently. He said all Arab nations are unequivocally willing to guarantee the security of Israel if they would allow the emergence of an independent Palestinian state along 1967 lines.

Rightwing rhetoric that there are no such voices is just that, lies to render Americans ignorant cheerleaders of unchecked Israeli counter-attacks against those who really just want a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu opposes. Yes, there are terrorist yahoos who say otherwise; but we ignore Safadi at our peril.
-- Sherry; Arizona

@Mark F Thanks for your comment on my piece, and you're certainly right that Hamas and Hezbollah were intransigent and presented a very difficult challenge for Biden.

But that's always true, and of course we don't arm Hamas and Hezbollah. In East Asia, Biden had to deal with an intransigent China and did a magnificent job. Reagan in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon had to deal with all kinds of intransigent parties, but he was tough on Prime Minister Begin and saved lives.

In contrast, dealing with an admittedly extremely difficult situation, Biden let Netanyahu walk all over him -- so we have 10,000 dead children in Gaza, a war in Lebanon, crisis in the West Bank and risks that the conflagration will get bigger. This is not what Biden wanted, and I don't see how it can be seen as anything but failure.

-- Nicholas Kristof; nyt Opinion Columnist, Oct. 5

Why was Israel caught so unprepared for last October's terrorist attack? Was it intentional by Netanyahu? Did he know there was an impending terrorist attack and did nothing to protect Israelis, just to give him cover to commit war crimes to destroy Palestine and Lebanon?

The way Netanyahu has so little regard for killing innocent Palestinians makes me believe he would be capable of such a treacherous crime, of sacrificing innocent Israelis in last October’s terrorist attack, just to justify his impending war crimes.
--Bob; Ontario

It's not that Biden didn't use influence effectively - that ship sailed months ago - it's that we are partners in mass slaughter, starvation, war crimes and terror. We have not only become the enemy, but have exceeded their inhumanity.

Stop now. I don't know whose "orders" we are "just following," but it has become manifest evil.
--Diotema1; Southwest

oodles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/opinion/biden-israel-war.html#commentsContainer

oooh
chattybotski
looks like Someone's
"got your number!" as they say

from my comment
directly above:

When you say
there are no such voices,
you're not only wrong, but you
demean and degrade entire people,
and give cover to those who think violence
is the only answer, and that the only good Palestinian is a dead one.

--SHC; Virginia

you're
a lying liar
and you have
No legitimate Place Here

spew your far right
nazi-loving spewery
far far Very far away

Mordor
beckons:

I think you'd Better
Take the Call.

nyt:

How
the Push
to Avert a Broader
War in Lebanon Fell Apart

Diplomats thought both Israel and
Hezbollah supported a call for a
temporary cease-fire. Then
Israel killed Hezbollah’s
leader.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/world/middleeast/israel-hezbollah-ceasefire-talks.html

bibi's gotta
keep outta prison
the Planet be Damned

and the
Reich Wing's
Totes on Board.

Why do they
Hate Planet
Earth? Or
is it Just
Earth's
peeps?

are they
somehow
on the Wrong
fucking Planet?

" Just imagine his
reward, lol!
🤔"

what's Your
'reward'?

from The New Republic:

The Appalling Attack
on Ta-Nehisi Coates Is
a Massive Media Failing

It is not antisemitic to defend Palestinian human rights.
And it’s past time for more American Jews to say so
to correct a media that’s lost the thread.

Coates’s treatment does not exist in isolation but rather as part of a pattern that systematically targets those who want to affirm the humanity of Palestinians or defend those who are fighting for that affirmation.

Is this the price we must pay for just having a shred of humanity? Who among us has the power to challenge what needs to be challenged to set the conditions of possibility for progress?

Who, ultimately, will bear the cost of silence?

To me, Coates’s calm in the face of the [CBS "news"] anchor’s aggression and willful misinterpretation of his work reminded me of the Passover parable of the four sons. In it, we are instructed on how to explain the story of the journey from Jewish enslavement to freedom to a son who does not even know how to ask a question, and our clear articulation to him of the meaning of freedom is what opens up our deepest understanding of the truth.

But what really struck me about this moment is that Coates’s treatment does not exist in isolation but rather as part of a pattern that systematically targets those who want to affirm the humanity of Palestinians or defend those who are fighting for that affirmation.

Is this the price we must pay for
just having a shred of humanity?

It is extremely disorienting to find yourself in the season of personal accountability described above while also reckoning with the total abdication of accountability from the institutions that hold the actual power to grapple with and correct the utter destruction this past year has wrought—from establishment Judaism to American politics and the mainstream media.

We have watched Israel kill civilians, parents, children, doctors, aid workers, journalists, and many more, ostensibly in the name of Judaism but more likely in the furtherance of Benjamin Netanyahu’s craven political career—and ultimately in the abandonment of every value our religion and basic human rights should uphold.

We have witnessed antisemitism get stripped of its meaning and used as a tool to silence legitimate criticism of these very structures and their failure to stop the killing.

We are told consistently that there is no right way to speak out against a clear wrong because systematically every method of protest, from campus demonstrations to essays to books to social media posts to peaceful marches on the streets, is framed as an amorphous attack on Jews everywhere as opposed to focused critiques of a specific wrong being perpetrated by a few powerful individuals.

--by Meredith Shiner; October 2, 2024

more:
https://newrepublic.com/article/186577/ta-nehisi-coates-media-antisemitism

the Wormtongues of the world've
Hijacked our Language, making
supporters of Human Rights
vicious Opponents of
Human Rights.

oh
how
Easy it
IS for some
to Manipulate
words into Weapons

and how
Slickly they
practice their
insidious 'Craft.'

“making supporters of Human Rights vicious opponents of Human Rights.”

That’s anti-Zionism for ya! 🤣

nelson muntz
aka wormmy's
lil Chatterbot®
strikes yet again!

haw haw
that's All
you Have?

sociopathy
is Not a
pretty
look.

It would be so wonderful if every white person who has ever told someone to go back where they came from were exterminated, because they are actually from nowhere, am I right?

Jesus,
xina, we
Whites're the Die-RECT
Descendants from God Almighty

that's just SO
Self-Evident:
White's the
Color of
Purity
ffs!

and we've spent
Eons (& Billions
of Lives!) in Es-
tablishing this.

Est. the Patriarchy's
just taking a
Smidgen
longer

But the "right" wing is busy,
working Overtime to Rectify
this rather Horrific Situation

Stockholm Syndrome's
sorta wearing Off but
OUR womenfolk'll
likely soon suc-
cumb to former's
Godly machinations:

HE's on OUR
SIDE ffs!

@40, @44: What’s better, your citing opinions as facts, or your posting yet another comment wherein you whine about having been “silenced”?

@48: Meanwhile, an explicit call for extermination in retaliation for speaking (!) gets not a word of criticism from you.

Priceless.

@47: “It would be so wonderful if every white person who has ever told someone to go back where they came from were exterminated”

Yikes, sounds like one mimosa too many at the company DEI seminar! 😂

we was Wondering
when you'd Pop in &
defend your sockpuppy
I find your lack of Punctuality
disturbing, though not Nearly as
Disturbing as your insidous complicity

cum Distractions.

now
What
Was it
you was
saying, @49?

@50

it
sounds
Like You.

nyt:

In Talking About ‘Freedom,’
Harris Hopes She Has a
Winning Message
on Guns

The vice president
is talking about firearms
in a new way for a Democrat —
by co-opting the language of Republicans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/us/politics/harris-guns-campaign.html

And!

Walz goes on Fox News
for his first Sunday show ap-
pearance since joining the ticket.

Mr. Walz, who has kept a relatively low profile since becoming Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, appeared on Fox News Sunday.

Mr. Walz is expected to make other prominent media appearances in the coming days. The Harris campaign said he would appear Monday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/us/politics/tim-walz-fox-news-sunday.html?searchResultPosition=1

now
There’s
some Must
See fucking TeeVee!

20,000,000 million'll
watch Walz & Jimmy K'll
bring out The BEST in Walz

sans an
October
Surprise
perhaps
we've got us
a Tipping Point

and who Better
to bring it Home than
Jimmy K. and Guillermo

they'd be Fun af to Party
with on November the Fifth
shots with fucking Guillermo!

one for the AGES

who
Ever
WINs!

"20,000,000 million" ?

that includes Alpha
Centauri evidently
they LOVE them
Out There!

locally,
20fM
+/-.

84% of Palestinians support the 10/7 attacks of Hamas.

86% of Israelis support Israel's current actions in Gaza.

Source: PBS Newshour Weekend 10/6

@55

pen 'em up
for Seventy years
and you're Surprised!?

like to see
How you'd
fare ~ maybe
give it a Shot?

“Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece?

Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany.

That is understood.

But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.

That is easy.

All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.

It works the same in any country.”

and it's working just Fine
in the middle east right Now

--Hermann Göring, Luftwaffe Reichsminister
and whose Hubris had a Great Deal to Do
with the Nazis running outta 'Gasoline'

@56: Another interesting observation about Herman Goring, actually taken from that very same post-war conversation in Nuremberg that you’re so fond of quoting Kristofarian, is that he claimed not to be an anti-semite himself and to harbor no personal animus toward Jews.

The nazi commander doesn’t hate the Jews! Ha ha ha! And he is saying this in all sincerity, he is offended that anyone would think that about him! He is genuinely convinced that he, personally, is not an anti-semite!

A similar phenomenon of denial is widespread among the “anti-Zionist” left today. Anti-semitic politics for miles, but when you so to their face, they become enraged and deny harboring any personal feelings of ill-will toward Jews. They are as sincere in their denial as Herman Goring was in his. They are not trying to fool anyone. They have already fooled themselves.

@57

your insight
is as phenomenal
as your ha ha has thumpfy

your
credibility
on a par with Hermann's

@55: It is the morning of October 7 in the Middle East right now, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that started the war. It is instructive to compare Al Jazeera's English-language commentary with its Arabic-language commentary.

Al Jazeera's English-language website is full of tales of Palestinian suffering on this anniversary. Al Jazeera's Arabic-language website is full of Palestinian feats of arms on this anniversary. One provocative article asks, "Al-Aqsa Flood.. Was It an Achievement or a Disaster?"

https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2024/10/6/طوفان-الأقصى-هل-كان-إنجازا-أم-نكبة

The author concludes that it was an achievement. "Despite the bleakness and pain of the scene [in Gaza], according to many observers what the Resistance has achieved during this past year has exceeded the expectations of both supporters and enemies."

The author cites the same high levels of Palestinian support for both continued resistance generally and for Al-Aqsa Flood specifically. According to the author's analysis, Hamas has prevailed militarily against Israel in Gaza and is likely to enjoy further military successes ahead. Long-term trends favor a Hamas victory. "The war between the two sides will be resolved only once one side is unable to continue it and agrees to the other sides' conditions."

I think the Arab world generally and the Palestinians specifically are spoiling for a fight. "Ceasefire now" is a Western demand, not an Arab one.

@59: Hizbollah's Arabic-language media, al Manar, is calling outright for all Arabs and Muslims around the world to take action on their own in every city, square and capital "against the interests of the [Israeli] occupations and its supporters, in revenge for Palestinian and Lebanese blood."

https://www.almanar.com.lb/12571253

Globalize the intifada indeed! Hizbollah accepts foreign recruits. It will be interesting to see the extent to which Hizbollah can become a magnet for foreign fighters to come fight jihad, in the manner of al Qaida and the Islamic State. Hizbollah's Shia theology and Iranian state sponsorship might limit the scope of its appeal to the broader Islamic world's mujahideen, who tend to follow a salafist fiqh hostile to Shi'ism. Qital is only valid as jihad if it is in service of Allah. If you screw up the theological component, you certainly aren't a martyr and might even be a sinner! So think twice before joining Hizbollah! 😄

@56: After 10/7, immediately followed by a year of Israelis getting driven by their homes by Hezbollah (in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 -- passed 'way back in 2006, averagebob must be just apoplectic about that by now!!), I somehow do not believe the Israelis need anyone to "... tell them they are being attacked..."

"One year after the brutal Hamas attack that ended Israel’s two-decade golden age of relative peace, expanding wealth and growing diplomatic ties, the country is now firmly on the counterattack and preparing to be at war for years." (https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-sees-future-at-war-oct-7-770d67ee)

Looks like all of those pro-Palestinian protestors in Seattle, on campuses nationwide, and in cities worldwide, who chanted openly for war after 10/7, may now get their wish. Congratulations?

nyt: Nowhere to Go:
How Gaza Became
a Mass Death Trap

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been prevented from fleeing the narrow strip of land even as bombs have rained down, famine has loomed and disease has spread.

Of all the grim distinctions of the yearlong war in Gaza that followed the savage Hamas attack on Israel last Oct. 7, one may stand out for its deadly singularity: Palestinian civilians there have nowhere to go.

Barricaded by barbed-wire fences, tanks and soldiers, they have been effectively imprisoned for 12 months in a 141-square-mile strip of land between Egypt and Israel that has become a killing zone.
--by Mark Landler; Oct. 7, 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/07/world/middleeast/gaza-civilians-deaths-israel-war.html

& we, the Peeps’ve
been $ponsoring this
Massacre for a fucking
YEAR Now -- just to keep
one nutnyahoo tf Outta prison

Money well $pent?

You tell Me.

it seemed like this'd
bear repeating nyt:

an Opinion:
Nicholas Kristof

Biden Sought Peace but Facilitated War

Oct. 5, 2024

some readers' comments on the article
including one by its Author,
Nicholas Kristof
[no relation]:

Where are the quotes from Hamas, Hezbollah, or even Fatah leaders who wish to have peace with Israel and live side by side? There aren't any because Kristoff can't find any. There are two sides to this conflict (more than two, actually), but reading this makes it seem like only one side has any agency.
--Mark F; Philadelphia

@Mark F
You're wrong on this. And dangerous.

Kristof did quote Issa Amro and link to a previous a column in which Amro and other Palestinian leaders work towards non-violent change in the region.

When you say there are no such voices, you're not only wrong, but you demean and degrade entire people, and give cover to those who think violence is the only answer, and that the only good Palestinian is a dead one.
--SHC; Virginia

@Mark F
Hamas has already said it would recognize Israel if Israel entered into a real peace agreement. So has Hezbollah and Iran.

Where are the quotes from Israel or its leaders, especially Netanyahu, about accepting a real Palestinian state? Netanyahu has publicly stated he will never do so.
--Gaius; Tampa

@Mark F

Look up the remarks made by Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi at the UN recently. He said all Arab nations are unequivocally willing to guarantee the security of Israel if they would allow the emergence of an independent Palestinian state along 1967 lines.

Rightwing rhetoric that there are no such voices is just that, lies to render Americans ignorant cheerleaders of unchecked Israeli counter-attacks against those who really just want a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu opposes. Yes, there are terrorist yahoos who say otherwise; but we ignore Safadi at our peril.
-- Sherry; Arizona

@Mark F Thanks for your comment on my piece, and you're certainly right that Hamas and Hezbollah were intransigent and presented a very difficult challenge for Biden.

But that's always true, and of course we don't arm Hamas and Hezbollah. In East Asia, Biden had to deal with an intransigent China and did a magnificent job. Reagan in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon had to deal with all kinds of intransigent parties, but he was tough on Prime Minister Begin and saved lives.

In contrast, dealing with an admittedly extremely difficult situation, Biden let Netanyahu walk all over him -- so we have 10,000 dead children in Gaza, a war in Lebanon, crisis in the West Bank and risks that the conflagration will get bigger. This is not what Biden wanted, and I don't see how it can be seen as anything but failure.

-- Nicholas Kristof; nyt Opinion Columnist, Oct. 5

Why was Israel caught so unprepared for last October's terrorist attack? Was it intentional by Netanyahu? Did he know there was an impending terrorist attack and did nothing to protect Israelis, just to give him cover to commit war crimes to destroy Palestine and Lebanon?

The way Netanyahu has so little regard for killing innocent Palestinians makes me believe he would be capable of such a treacherous crime, of sacrificing innocent Israelis in last October’s terrorist attack, just to justify his impending war crimes.
--Bob; Ontario

It's not that Biden didn't use influence effectively - that ship sailed months ago - it's that we are partners in mass slaughter, starvation, war crimes and terror. We have not only become the enemy, but have exceeded their inhumanity.

Stop now. I don't know whose "orders" we are "just following," but it has become manifest evil.
--Diotema1; Southwest

oodles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/opinion/biden-israel-war.html#commentsContainer

@63: So, you're saying the pro-Palestinian protestors now regret having openly chanted for war?

@64: Opinions are not facts, and no, I do not expect you ever to accept this.

Ahab is literally Jonathan Frakes telling you you're right; a similar event took place.

https://youtu.be/MCT80HJWQ2A?feature=shared

@47 xina: You wouldn't want typical RepubliKKKan neofascist Dan Foreman to have to crawl back up Donald Trump's cavernous Grand Canyon sized buttcrack?
Personally, I'd like to see his punishment fit the crime. I'd even bring some popcorn, dark chocolate, and red wine.

@64 kristofarian: One caveat: I have to take anything said by Nicholas Krystof with a grain of salt, kris.
He's the genius who, immediately following the disastrous election of 2016 was quoted as saying, 'Let's give [Donald Trump] a chance.'
Look where THAT got us.

@68

yeah
Kristof's
to be taken
with salt, lime
& why not a shot
of Tequila? xina said
he was pretty Bad for ORE

but
why
that Was has
long escaped me,
auntie Gee. carpet-
bagging's seldom looked
down upon so it musta been
something else. didja put your
Beetle in its Den for the Winter

or are you
Out and about
getting ready for
firestorms of leaves*
& halloween-type stuff?

*is it
Fall yet?

@69 kristofarian: I still have to get my trusty Love Beetle back into his den for hibernation this week, before the bad weather comes. If we get nothing but rain I'll have to get my beloved VW towed back to his seasonal den for the next 6 + months, until the nice weather returns.
When it's cold and wet he hates to go out, complaining with an automotive "Do I hafta?"
I'll really miss my beloved Love Beetle's sweet company, but welcome shelter from the storms keeps him in top shape. How this happy, sweet little car puts up with a nut like me, I'll never know. I'm lucky to still have him.

Yeah, I read, too, in a Seattle Times Op.Ed. (Danny Westneat, I think, if I remember right) how Nicholas Krystof is bad for Oregon. He lives in New York but ran for...was it Governor...? of Oregon, claiming "residency". Sorry, Nicholas the Ridiculous, ya gotta actually LIVE within the state where you're running for public office. D'OH!

@auntie Gee:
your love bug's
a BOY? are you Sure?
do you know* how to tell?

I thought ALL cars --
excluding Mad Max-type
machines -- were Girls. this's
a New One on me -- & I'm Olde!

*now I'm not
Sure I do...

it's Nice
when your car
Loves you back!