LymphocyteLover
LymphocyteLover's JournalWith the world on fire, a cowardly, timid news media is a threat to U.S. democracy
By Will Bunch
"There was a shocking and incredibly important story on the front page of the New York Times last week. As reported by an A-team of journalists including two Pulitzer Prize winners, the Times warned its readers that Donald Trump if returned to the White House in 2025 is grooming a new team of extremist government lawyers who would be more loyal to their Dear Leader than to the rule of law, and could help Trump install a brand of American fascism.
You say you didnt hear anything about this? Thats not surprising. The editors at the Times made sure to present this major report in the blandest, most inoffensive way possible staying true to the mantra in the nations most influential newsroom that the 2024 election shouldnt be covered any differently, even when U.S. democracy is on the line.
Trump Allies Want a New Style of Lawyer if He Returns to Power was the original online headline for the piece, as if maybe they were talking about colorful drawling Southerners with seersucker suits, rather than rabid-dog ideologues who would do the dirty work of overturning an election that career government attorneys refused to do before Jan. 6, 2021.
That new style of lawyer pro-Trump, America First zealots who think the ultraconservative lawyers bred in the Federalist Society are too soft to carry out their leaders autocratic call for a final battle against traditional democratic governance that he calls the deep state was described, numbingly, by the Times as more aggressive legal gatekeepers. Their dangerous antidemocratic mission was blandly outlined as a plan to take control of the government in a way unseen in presidential history."
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/journalism-free-press-gaza-extremism-20231105.html
On the Charge of Genocide, from Josh Marshall
I agree with him--
"One consistent feature of the last month has been the use and abuse of the word genocide. Charges that Israel was committing a genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza literally began the first day Israel started its retaliatory campaign against Hamas. I remember noting this because at that moment the scales of fatalities were overwhelmingly on the side of Israeli victims. But for many the retaliation against Hamas was already genocide. Genocide is the intentional physical destruction of an entire people, or at least a substantial part of it with the intention of eliminating the group. The term has expanded in various directions since it was first coined in 1944. To quote the United Nations: To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
Nothing that has happened in the last month constitutes genocide, either in actual actions or the intent behind those actions. Not a single thing. And yet it has become almost a commonplace in discussions of the conflict to date. For many it is almost noted as an aside that it is treated as such a given. This is not only inaccurate by any definition. It is libelous.
There is a vast range of acts on the spectrum of brutality short of genocide. There are various crimes under international law short of it. To note that something is not genocide by any reasonable definition doesnt validate it. It doesnt mean its good, acceptable or even legal. Its not genocide. Its truly libelous."
-- Josh Marshall
The fact that traitor tRump has better poll numbers than Biden on national security
either shows a complete failure on the part of the news media (and yes, that includes FoxNews who is clearly treason and fascism friendly) or a completely bogus poll. I fear it is more the former.
I know the number one thing hurting Biden right now the most is inflation. The reasons for inflation are complex but have little to do with what Biden has done, but he gets unfairly blamed for it.
Biden has been the most pro-worker and pro-civil rights president of my life, and gets no credit for this.
He's done the most on climate of any president, and has fought for student debt relief and for gun control and for DEMOCRACY, and has gotten no credit for it. He's pursued more humane border and immigration policies and gets no credit for it.
All this and people on the left see Biden supporting our deepest ally in the Middle East after the worst terrorist attack they've ever suffered and it's like, well, I'm out. God help us, politics is exhausting.
It may well be impossible to document all the ways that Republicans have screwed this country
over in the past 50 years... but has anyone tried to do this in deep detail?
I mean the list is incredible, from guns to racism to sexism to healthcare to the economy to the environment to the news media to national security to criminal justice to our very democracy to outright treason.
All things that government should be doing, they have made so much worse, degrading American society in the process.
And still they are a viable political party?
It just perpetually angers me.
Kim Kardashian is very concerned about climate change
Yikes!
From Climate reporter Emily Atkin--
Heres what the whole thing says:
The sea levels are rising.
The ice sheets are shrinking.
And Im not a scientist,
but I do believe everyone can use their skillset to do their part.
Thats why Im introducing a brand new bra with a built-in nipple.
So no matter how hot it is, youll always look cold.
Some days are hard. But these nipples are harder.
And unlike the icebergs, these arent going anywhere.
See, its very funny! Except for one, super small, teeny-weeny thing:
Kim Kardashian, the person telling us this joke, is not doing it to ease the existential burden of living through the climate crisisa burden she, a billionaire, does not personally have to grapple with.
Kim Kardashian, billionaire, is telling us this climate joke to sell shit. Fossil-fuel derived shit. While she flies in a private jet that annually emits 610 times more than the average person emits in a year; while she operates multiple billion-dollar businesses dedicated to fueling unhinged consumerism of fossil fuel-derived plastic products; while she refuses to disclose the emissions of those businesses; and while she tells the rest of the world to be realistic about climate solutions.
The ad posted on Instagram by Kim Kardashian
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy6H6RGR4aK/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
The View discusses the ad
Joe Biden Is a Morally Decent President in a Time of Hate. An appreciation of the administration's response to 10/7.
Great piece from Jonathan Chait
1. Publicly embrace Israel in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack and endorse its right to self-defense.
2. Privately warn Israels government not to rush into an expansive military response.
3. Denounce antisemitism.
4. Denounce anti-Muslim bias.
5. Endorse emergency military aid to Israel.
Progressives have greeted this combination of positions with horror, and its backlash has combined public protests by hundreds of Democratic staff, holding demonstrations at congressional hearings, with a level of vitriol that far exceeds anything it has previously raised against Biden.
The lefts dissent grows out of the belief that essentially any military response by Israel is wrong either due to Israels indefensible occupation or because it will inevitably kill innocent Palestinians. I sympathize with both points, even though I am not willing to follow the logic of either one of them fully to the conclusion of ruling out any military response.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/joe-biden-policy-israel-hamas-defense-anti-semitism-islamophobia-trump.html
Charlie Kirk gives a master class in antisemitism
Truly gross and blatant
https://www.mediamatters.org/antisemitism/charlie-kirk-turns-antisemitic-stereotypes-amid-israel-hamas-war
"Kirk said that Jewish people control not just the colleges; its the nonprofits, its the movies, its Hollywood, its all of it. Kirk also said the number one funding mechanism of radical, open border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions, and nonprofits" is Jewish donors.
Claims [like this} that wealthy Jewish people and donors control major institutions and Hollywood are common antisemitic tropes."
Videos of him making offensive statements
https://x.com/justinhorowitz_/status/1719413401917558941?s=20
https://x.com/justinhorowitz_/status/1719413646898454993?s=20
https://x.com/justinhorowitz_/status/1719413959856451908?s=20
https://x.com/justinhorowitz_/status/1719414810998108667?s=20
https://x.com/justinhorowitz_/status/1719415167333589265?s=20
https://x.com/justinhorowitz_/status/1719415467767480396?s=20
And people wonder why so many people are antisemitic...
No one even bats an eye any more when a mass shooter turns out to be a Trump supporter
and a mentally ill one, which flows naturally from being a Trump supporter.
I didn't even see anyone on the right try to deny it...
"Israel needs a political offensive to accompany its military offensive"
Good piece from Max Boot-- whole thing is worth a read
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/24/israel-gaza-peace-strategy-political-offensive/
If Israel were to rely on special operations raids and airstrikes, it would be reverting to the mowing the lawn strategy it followed for years of trying to degrade and deter, but not defeat, Hamas. The 10/7 attack revealed that policys failure by showing that Hamas actually grew stronger and bolder after previous Israeli assaults. Israels goal now, understandably enough, is for Hamas to be crushed and eliminated. There is simply no way to achieve that objective without a major ground offensive.
Of course, there is no guarantee that Israels ground attack will be successful. Urban warfare is extremely difficult under the best of circumstances. Hamas has had years to build formidable defenses, including hundreds of miles of tunnels. Israel runs the risk of being trapped in costly guerrilla warfare without end while an international backlash builds against the loss of civilian life. Iran and Hezbollah could use the opportunity to open a new front against Israel in the north. Those dangers are very real. Even so, one should assume that Israel has well-developed plans for a military offensive.
Yet Israeli leaders also desperately need to come up with better plans for a political offensive to limit the fallout from its military operations and create the potential for a more lasting peace to emerge from the current bloodletting. So far, though, there is little indication that Israeli planners are thinking in those terms. If the Israeli military goes charging into the Gaza Strip without any idea of what the political end state will look like, it will be repeating the same error that the George W. Bush administration made in Iraq and Afghanistan and likely consigning Israeli troops to years of costly, onerous and morale-sapping occupation duties.
It is, admittedly, very difficult to imagine how Israel could stabilize Gaza post-Hamas without taking charge once again. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has come out with the best blueprint Ive seen so far. Its experts Robert Satloff, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky suggest that Israel could establish an interim Palestinian administration to run the Gaza Strip until the Palestinian Authority could take over. Five Arab states that have peace agreements with Israel Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco could send security forces to help keep order. International organizations could rush in aid, and Israel could promise to lift the blockade that has immiserated Gaza ever since the Hamas takeover in 2007.
Scoop: Marine Corp 3-star general advising Israeli military on Gaza ground operation
Source: Axios
The Biden administration recently sent a Marine three-star general and several other U.S. military officers to Israel to help advise the Israeli military's leadership in its operation in Gaza, according to two U.S. officials and two Israeli officials briefed on the issue.
Why it matters: The move reflects the Biden administration's deep involvement in the war in Gaza and how much visibility it has in Israel's military planning.
Behind the scenes: The Marine Corps officers sent include Lt. Gen. James Glynn, according to a senior Israeli official. Glynn previously headed the Marines' special operations and was involved in the operations against ISIS in Iraq.
Glynn and the other U.S. military officers are not directing operations but they do provide military advice to the IDF about its plans in Gaza. This has been primarily focused on Israel's expected ground invasion. The American officers have shared lessons the U.S. has learned from fighting ISIS in Mosul. Glynn is not expected to stay in Israel to follow the IDF ground invasion, sources with direct knowledge of the issue said.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/2023/10/23/israel-gaza-war-marine-general-ground-operation
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