“Biden and the Democrats decided Easter — the Holy Day of
our Savior’s resurrection — as Transgender Day of Visibility,” she
incoherently posted on X.
“There is no length Biden and the Democrats won’t go to mock your faith
and to thumb his nose at God. We know that Christ is King and God will
not be mocked, just like we know Joe Biden isn’t really the one calling
the shots in the White House. Psalm 37:13: ‘but the Lord laughs at the
wicked, for he knows their day is coming.’”
What hateful and disgusting people. They have no lives. They clearly are all sorely in need of a good f**k because their lives are so miserable.
Monday, April 1, 2024. The Israeli military ends its assault on one
hospital to focus on attacking another, War Criminal Netanyahu goes
after ALJAZEERA, an active duty US service member starts a hunger
strike, and much more.
The Israeli military has withdrawn
from Gaza's largest hospital after a two-week raid, leaving behind
Palestinian bodies scattered in the dirt and a vast swath of
destruction.
Hundreds of residents rushed to the area around Al-Shifa Hospital to check on damage to the surrounding residential districts.
Mohammed Mahdi, who was among hundreds of Palestinians who returned to the area, described a scene of "total destruction".
He
said several buildings had been burned down and that he had counted six
bodies in the area, including two in the hospital courtyard.
Footage
circulated on social media and not yet verified showed the bodies of
dead Palestinians, some covered in dirty blankets, scattered on the
ground around the charred hulk of the hospital building, which had many
outer walls missing.
World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was at
‘loss for words’ following an Israeli strike on Gaza hospital that
killed four and injured numerous others.
The Director-General of WHO highlighted the dreadful situation at
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza amid ongoing hostilities between Israeli
forces and the Hamas militant group. These hostilities took the shape of
a war following Hamas's attack on Israel six months ago, on October 7,
following which Israel declared war.
Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital came under siege on March 18, since then 21
patients have lost their lives and the situation remains critical, the
UN health agency reported.
Antony
Loewenstein, the author of The Palestine Laboratory, who has been
reporting on Israel and the Palestinian territories for 20 years, has
been speaking to Al Jazeera following Israel’s latest withdrawal from
Al-Shifa.
He said the dozens of bodies the Health Ministry has discovered there
are an indication of just how many people had been sheltering in the
complex.
“Even though hospitals have been targeted extensively by the
Israelis, many civilians have nowhere else to go,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Many Palestinians need intense medical care and hospitals are – well
there’s nowhere safe in Gaza – but it’s somewhere to go and after Israel
[first] pulled out of Al-Shifa, the hope was that it would remain a
safe place and clearly, it was not.
“Not just bombing but air striking areas around these hospitals is
not just a breach of international law, these are the actions of a rogue
state, not a so-called democracy.”
Despite
international outcry, the Israeli government attacked the hospital for
two weeks. And they had previously attacked it in November. Of the
November attack, Niha Masih (WASHINGTON POST) reminds, "A Washington Post analysis
in December into whether the civilian harm caused by the IDF’s campaign
at the hospital complex was proportionate to the assessed threat found
that the evidence presented by the Israeli government fell short of
showing that Hamas had been using the hospital as a command and control
center." Of the more recent attack, Yolande Knell and Sean Seddon (BBC NEWS) note, "Photos showed that al-Shifa's main surgery building, which housed the
intensive care unit, and the neighbouring building where the emergency,
general surgery and orthopaedics departments were located had been
destroyed." Henry Austin (NBC NEWS) adds, "Kidney and maternity buildings, morgues, cancer and burns refrigeration
facilities, and the outpatient clinics building, were also left ruined
at the facility in northern Gaza, which was the Strip's main medical
facility before the war began, the ministry said."
As the Israeli military backed off one hospital, they continued to attack another. THE HINDUSTAN TIMES reported yesterday on the assault of al-Aqsa Hospital, "The strike at Al-Aqsa hospital was witnessed by a
World Health Organization team sent there to assess needs and to collect
incubators for the north of Gaza." On this attack, Rushdi Abualouf and George Wright (BBC News) report, "Seven
journalists, including a freelancer working for the BBC, have been
injured in an Israeli air strike in the courtyard of a hospital in Gaza." ALJAZEERA adds:
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says its
team working at the Al Aqsa Hospital had to stop work and “seek cover”
when the compound came under Israeli air attack on Sunday.
Writing on X, MSF said the area just outside the emergency unit was
hit. The group provides medical and surgical wound care at the hospital,
the only place in central Gaza to offer trauma care.
“When our team heard a loud explosion nearby, they stopped what they
were doing right away to seek cover inside the hospital, until confirmed
that the attack was over,” it quoted one of its coordinators as saying.
MSF reiterated its call for an “immediate and sustained” ceasefire.
War Crimes. Over the weekend, it was learned that lawyers for the United Kingdom's government
have found that the government of Israel is breaking international law.
Toby Helm (THE OBSERVER) explained:
The British government has received advice from
its own lawyers stating that Israel has breached international
humanitarian law in Gaza but has failed to make it public, according to a
leaked recording obtained by the Observer.
The
comments, made by the Conservative chair of the House of Commons select
committee on foreign affairs, Alicia Kearns, at a Tory fundraising
event on 13 March are at odds with repeated ministerial denials and
evasion on the issue.
On
Saturday night, Kearns, a former Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence
official, who has repeatedly pressed ministers, including foreign
secretary David Cameron, on the legal advice they have received, stood by her comments and called for the government to come clean.
“I
remain convinced the government has completed its updated assessment on
whether Israel is demonstrating a commitment to international
humanitarian law, and that it has concluded that Israel is not
demonstrating this commitment, which is the legal determination it has
to make,” she said. “Transparency at this point is paramount, not least
to uphold the international rules-based order.”
The
revelation will place Lord Cameron and prime minister Rishi Sunak under
intense pressure because any such legal advice would mean the UK had to
cease all arms sales to Israel without delay.
While
this finding should prevent the UK from furnishing more weapons to
Israel, the US government will, no doubt, continue to supply the death
machine. Yolande Knell (BBC News) explains:
Despite
a week of tensions with Israel over its conduct of the Gaza War,
Washington is reported to have authorised arms transfers to its ally
worth billions of dollars.
These
include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000lb (900kg) bombs and 500 MK82 500lb
bombs, as well as 25 F35A fighter jets, The Washington Post and Reuters
news agency have said.
The larger bombs have previously been linked to air strikes in Gaza causing mass casualties.
Washington gives $3.8bn (£3bn) in annual military assistance to Israel.
But
the latest package comes as the Biden administration has been raising
concerns about rising civilian deaths in Gaza and humanitarian access to
the territory, which the UN says is on the verge of famine.
War Criminal Netanyahu is attempting to dismantle and replace UNRWA the Palestinian aid agency. In addition, THE NATIONAL reports, "Al Jazeera may be shut down in Israel on Monday evening as Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed lawmakers to pass a bill outlawing
the network in a Monday evening hearing."
Gaza remains under assault. Day 178 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 GUARDIAN notes, "At least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed and 75,392 injured in
Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said
in a statement on Monday." 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:
And the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War."
The assault on Gaza continues to impact US President Joe Biden's chances of re-election. Alice Herman (GUARDIAN) notes:
In Wisconsin,
a campaign by anti-war voters to abandon Joe Biden during the
Democratic primary has found an ally in the labor movement – but not
from its traditional leaders.
Instead, the
Listen to Wisconsin campaign, an effort inspired by the Michigan
campaign to reject Biden during the primary over his military support
for Israel, has earned the support of rank-and-file trade unionists and a
statewide coalition of low-wage workers and immigrants angry about the
president’s handling of the war.
“Individuals
in labor have been very active,” said Janan Najeeb, a Wisconsin
organizer spearheading the Listen to Wisconsin campaign.
Israel’s war on Gaza has laid bare a divide within the labor movement –
which has played out largely between union leaders in the AFL-CIO, the
largest US labor federation, and the movement’s rank and file, many of
whom have vocally opposed the war and turned to their unions as an
avenue for political action.
Also in the US, a US service member has announced a hunger strike.
Today
active-duty Air Force Senior Airman Larry Hebert will begin a hunger
strike to highlight the plight of the starving children of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/qRyVwBtsWS
Erin Hawley opposes all birth control and LGBTQ civil rights. Here she's recovering from: - A meth and coke binge with the Moms for Liberty - Listening to her husband Josh explain how a t-shirt should drape - coloring her own hair - Screaming "Godless whore!" at Lindsey Graham pic.twitter.com/7TovGsPGQM
So there's our well earned giggle. (Paul is hilarious.) For the news, I'm pulling from C.I.'s "Gaza day 176" last night:
If you think the US government can't look more insane on the world stage, you don't know the GOP. Todd Spangler (USA TODAY) reports:
A video surfaced Friday night that appears to show
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, suggesting that nuclear weapons be
dropped on Gaza. In the video, Walberg, while being asked about the
Israeli-Hamas conflict suggested nuclear weapons be used in an attempt
to "Get it over quick."
Walberg wasn't pictured
in the video. But a voice that clearly sounded like his responded to a
constituent's question asking why the U.S. − as President Joe Biden proposed in his State of the Union address this month
− would "be spending our money" to build a temporary port off the Gaza
coast to move humanitarian aid into that region. Walberg said he
disagreed with doing so and that Israel was perhaps America's greatest
ally in the world.
"We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid," Walberg said. "It
should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick." The
47-second video ended immediately after that, so no other comments were
captured.
One of Walberg’s House colleagues, Democratic U.S.
Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham, criticized Walberg’s remarks without
using his name Saturday in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Threatening
to use, suggesting the use of, or, God forbid actually using nuclear
weapons, are unacceptable tactics of war in the 21st Century,” wrote
Stevens, a staunch supporter of Israel. “As W.J. Hennigan recently &
accurately described for the NYT, the use of nuclear weapons creates
hell on earth.”
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, also condemned the remarks from Walberg, a former pastor.
“This
is a reprehensible thing for anyone to suggest, especially an elected
official and someone who considers himself a man of faith,” Slotkin said
in a statement. “Rep. Walberg should take back his comments, and try to
put himself in the shoes of the many Michiganders who see themselves in
the casualties in Gaza.”
In response to the shocking and inhumane comments by Tim Walberg, CAIR issued the following statement:
The Michigan chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-MI), a local chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights
and advocacy organization, today condemned a recent call by Rep. Tim
Walberg (R-MI) to end humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people in
Gaza facing Israeli-imposed starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide,
and instead drop nuclear weapons on the civilian population.
In a statement CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said:
“This clear call to genocide by a member of Congress should be
condemned by all Americans who value human life and international law.
To so casually call for what would result in the killing of every human
being in Gaza sends the chilling message that Palestinian lives have no
value. It is this dehumanization of the Palestinian people that has
resulted in the ongoing slaughter and suffering we see every day in Gaza
and the West Bank.”
He noted that yesterday, CAIR strongly condemned a new American
military aid package including 2,000-pound bombs and aircraft to Israel,
saying that support for Israel’s genocide makes President Biden a “war criminal.” CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said: “Arming a war criminal makes you a war criminal.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of
Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la
comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los
musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
Earlier this month, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) told
a group of Palestinian rights advocates, "Goodbye to Palestine"—leading
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) to say he had called "for the genocide of the
Palestinian people."
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) in February told
an activist, "I think we should kill 'em all," when asked about
Palestinian children who have been killed by Israel with U.S. military
support, while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for Israel to "level the place" soon after the war started.
Death
merchant Tim is due to his 73 next month. When not in Congress, the
dottering idiot worked for Moody Bible Institute out of Chicago as both a
desk jockey and a pastor -- remember that when you see Moody Bible
Institute on a resume.
The crazed fanatic belongs in a mental institution and should have been stripped of his Congressional office long ago. From WIKIPEDIA:
On October 8, 2023, Walberg gave a keynote speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Uganda, at the invitation of Ugandan legislator David Bahati. Walberg's trip to Uganda was paid for by The Fellowship,
which sponsored the breakfast. During his speech, Walberg urged Uganda
to "stand firm" against international pressure to "change you",
apparently referencing sanctions by the United States government against
Uganda over the recently enacted Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, which prescribes lengthy prison sentences and in certain instances the death penalty
for homosexual activities. “Worthless is the thought of the world,
worthless, for instance, is the thought of the World Bank, or the World
Health Organization, or the United Nations, or, sadly, some in our
administration in America who say, ‘You are wrong for standing for
values that God created,’ for saying there are male and female and God
created them," said Walberg. Bahati, the original sponsor of the
Anti-Homosexuality Act, stated that Walberg had told him “Uganda is on
the right side of God,” when he asked Walberg if he were comfortable
associating with Bahati. Walberg additionally praised Uganda's President
Yoweri Museveni, who also spoke at the breakfast, and who signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law. [37][38][39][40]
He's a death merchant and so is anyone who votes for him.
Former Rep. Justin Amash, a Palestinian American Republican who is running for Senate, said in a post
that Walberg's comments "evince an utter indifference to human
suffering," adding "for him to suggest that hundreds of thousands of
innocent Palestinians should be obliterated, including my own relatives
sheltering at an Orthodox Christian church, is reprehensible and
indefensible."
Now let's note music. Kat's "Kat's Korner: COWBOY CARTER slays them all" went up this morning. Also on music, Chase Rice is a singer-songwriter I really enjoy. Today his song "Bedroom" has been playing non-stop in my head as I went around taking care of various things -- including my daughter's container garden tour she's giving -- she's so proud of the container garden she and her dad are doing.
Riding the wave of his sixth studio album, released in 2023, Chase Rice
is still soaking in the good vibes and feeling pretty damn stoked about
it. He’s in a great place, career-wise and within himself, and this
radiates through his latest record, I Hate Cowboys And All Dogs Go To Hell.
With CMC Rocks
merely days away, marking Chase’s third visit to Australia, he is
overjoyed at the idea of getting to play his newer tracks for his fans
down under. It’s clear that he’s found his sweet spot, and he’s
relishing it- rightfully so.
Far more stripped back than his previous albums, I Hate Cowboys And All Dogs Go To Hell is nothing but good, honest country music.
When
asked how he’s feeling about the album now that it’s been out in the
world for nearly a year, Rice says, “It’s the weirdest thing that’s ever
happened in my career; I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s the
least mainstream album I’ve ever put out, it’s the least mainstream
success that I’ve had… but ticket sales are the best they’ve ever
been!”
Friday, March 29, 2024. We look at the sad and depressing world of US presidential campaigns.
Yesterday,
in NYC, it was a gathering of presidents as President Joe Biden was
joined by former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for a big
fundraiser. That's a single sentence and does not have enough interest
for me to include it in the snapshot -- let alone open with it. What
makes it news to me? Michael Williams, MJ Lee and Donald Judd (CNN) report:
The event was interrupted at least four times by protesters,
with at least three calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“That’s alright. Let them go. There’s a lot of people who
are very, very — there are too many innocent victims, Israeli and
Palestinian. We’ve got to get more food and medicine, supplies into the
Palestinians,” Biden said, according to journalists in the room,
following one interruption. “But we can’t forget, Israel is in a
position where its very existence is at stake. You have to have all
those people. They weren’t killed. They were massacred. They were
massacred.”
Ahead of the fundraiser, hundreds of demonstrators took to
the streets of Midtown Manhattan to protest Biden’s support for Israel
amid its war in Gaza and call for a ceasefire. Biden has called for a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas.
How embarrassing. That's like a Hillary Clinton visits a college campus appearance.
Obama and Clinton offered a presidential perspective of the Gaza
crisis that stressed the political realities of being in the White
House.
A president needs to be able to support Israel at the same time as
fighting for Palestinians to have more access to food, medical supplies
and a future state, they said.
“It’s a lonely seat,” Obama said. “One of the realities of the
presidency is that the world has a lot of joy and beauty, but it also
has a lot of tragedy and cruelty.”
Boo! Boo! Let's all boo that from Barack! Poor, little president, such a rough job. What could be worse?
Uh, try living in Palestine right now for starters.
This
was a fundraiser. They're getting heckled at a fundraiser. That's how
deeply unpopular the US government's embrace of the assault on Gaza is.
The
whole thing was a nightmare. And that includes the visuals. Who
decided, for example, that the three men -- at a pricey fundraiser --
should all go tieless? Did they think that made them look like regular
people?
It
didn't work for any of them but especially not for Bill. He needed
that tie to avoid people wondering if he'd stolen one of Hillary
Clinton's pant suits for the night.
There are other campaigns taking place. Marianne
Williamson, for example, relaunched her campaign for the Democratic
Party's presidential nomination not to secure the nomination -- Joe
Biden has it -- but to raise important and needed issues.
Marianne
Williamson: Ten years ago, if I was, after I'd seen a patient and I
told the patient what medicine or what treatment I wanted, ten years ago
the question would have been, "What are the side effects?" Today, the
question is often -- more often, "How much will it cost me?" You have
18 million Americans who cannot afford to pay for the prescriptions that
their doctors give them. And I don't believe that incremental changes
are going to fix this. We are already in crisis mode. And if
Washington doesn't see it, the average American does see it. People are
living with-with the silent emergencies of poverty. The silent
emergencies of hunger. You know we talk about COVID being an
emergency. COVID was what's called a screaming emergency. Once the
president declared that it was no longer an emergency and millions of
people were thrown off Medicaid and SNAP benefits. People were
basically just told "Go back to life as you were living it" which was
already an emergency -- a constant emergency. The emergency of
poverty. The emergency of hunger. The emergency of having to work two
or three jobs just to put food on the table. And I'll tell you
something, at this point, what we should see as the emergency of
hopelessness. We should not talk about this mental health crisis as
anything other than an emergency of hopelessness. and despair.
Last
Saturday, Democratic Party primaries were held in Louisiana and in
Missouri. Joe won both, no surprise. In Louisiana, Marianne came in
second with 4.7% of the vote and in Missouri she came in third with 1.6%
of the vote -- second place went to "Uncommitted" which received 11.7%
of the vote.
A
super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential
bid said it raised over $2 million following the candidate’s official
announcement of his running mate.
American
Values 2024, the main outside group supporting Kennedy’s White House
bid, raked in $2.1 million at a fundraiser on Tuesday, right after the
official announcement of tech attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan joining his 2024 ticket, PAC head Tony Lyons shared first with The Hill.
Around 60 donors attended the outside group’s cocktail party, Lyons said.
Hmm. I'm reminded of a Whitney Houston song.
Friday night you and your boys went out to eat, uhhh Then they hung out But you came home around three, yes you did If six of y'all went out, ah Then four of you were really cheap, yeah Cause only two of you had dinner I found your credit card receipt
--
"It's Not Right But It's Okay," written by Whitney Houston, LaShawn
Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Isaac Phillips and Toni
Estes, first appears on Whitney's MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE
So if each of the sixty donated the same amount -- and each donated -- that would be $35,000 a piece.
Like
Whitney sang, "It's not right but it's okay." Con artist Junior gets
further and further from pretending to be the common person concerned
about the little people. Team Junior thought that two million was
impressive. But then came Joe's $25 million night. Again, the question
is, what's the real difference between Junior's 'independent' campaign
and one from the duopoly?
The
new Kennedy voters scattering through the cavernous venue have traveled
a long way from Camelot. Talking to them, it’s clear their misgivings
about powerful institutions — what they see as a panoply of venal
politicians, an untrustworthy media, Big Ag, Big Pharma, Big Tech — has
led many of them to embrace fringe theories. A shared aversion to
vaccines hardened during the Covid-19 pandemic. They worry about
chemicals and monoculture crops eroding public health. They’re weary of
grinding foreign wars. They admire Kennedy’s history of challenging
powerful corporations.
But
above all else, they believe the American political system is
fundamentally broken and that both President Joe Biden and former
President Donald Trump will perpetuate its disrepair. They’re
ex-Democrats, former Republicans and newly active independents — and
they all talk about feeling both a profound disillusionment in the state
of the nation and a deep optimism that Kennedy would lead them to
something better.
“The
other two candidates promote the division that is plaguing our
country,” says Sarah Morris, a former “party-voting Democrat” who felt
“ostracized by the left” for not wanting to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
Some people “weaponize the idea of being a conspiracy theorist,” she
says, so she decided to “wear it as a badge of honor.”
Literally: She showed up sporting a gray baseball cap with the words “Tin Foil” written on it.
We'll note THE DAILY SHOW on Junior's fans not embracing his v.p. choice.
We'll also note Leslie Jones from THE DAILY SHOW on Donald Trump.
On
the GOP side, last Saturday only Louisiana held a primary. Donald
garnered 89.8% of the vote. Nikki Haley came in second with 6.8%.
We got two more to cover. Cornel West and Jill Stein.
Jill
Stein is garbage. She's lying about Cornel now proving she's garbage.
But we made the call that Jill was garbage in 2012 when Ava and I wrote
"Let the fun begin (Ava and C.I.):"
Jill Stein.
As feminists, we wondered six weeks ago, what do we do?
Roseanne had already imploded. (Cindy Sheehan has a story to tell and
then some.) She couldn't and wouldn't campaign, she apparently wouldn't
pay workers she hired for her campaign, she was an embarrassment.
And so was Jill Stein.
As feminists, do we call it as it is?
We debated that for three days. Jill wasn't going to win the
presidency. In fact, it was obvious she was running off the limited
votes she did have a shot at.
But did we tell the truth on that? Did we call her out?
We crossed the line on gender with the decision -- a feminist one (not
"the" feminist one) -- that she was running for public office and
therefore had to be treated the same as anyone else would even if, in
the closing weeks, we were going to tear her apart.
But . . .
Having dealt with the feminist issue, we still had the issue of third parties.
Was it really fair to beat up on a third party candidate?
Adding to the problems, one of us (Ava) is involved with a lifelong Green (Jess), has a child by him, has made a home with him.
And Jess was very clear that Jill Stein was "a f**king idiot but the
Greens need to be on ballots." And they were. Texas, for example. We
heard from Billie who early voted for Jill Stein. She was so
excited because Jill Stein was on the ballot. She didn't have to write
her in. Right there on the Texas ballot was the Green Party.
What do we do?
In the end, we decided, "We don't promote her. We don't mention her. That's true here, that's true at Third."
So we bit our tongues.
As she ran a stupid campaign. As she made a fool of herself and the
Green Party. (Granted, it's a party that loves to make a fool of
itself.)
She -- and others -- did a debate with Larry King. A debate that did not include all. A new hurdle was invented.
Green Party members, you know what a hurdle is, right? It's what keeps
your candidate out of the so-called presidential debates every four
years. Why the hell would you take part in a debate that did not invite
everyone who made it onto a state's ballot as a presidential candidate?
Because hypocrisy is a charge you live to embrace?
Maybe so.
Supposedly the Green Party is opposed to war.
So when Tim Arango reported the White House was negotiating with Nouri
to send more troops back into Iraq, Jill Stein should have led on that.
But she's a politician which is just a whore without the desire to please a customer.
So Jill ignored it.
She ignored a lot.
Six weeks ago, in fact, after Barack cratered in the first debate, she
and her campaign began going after Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
Huh?
You're a Green. You're on the left. The high profile left vote getter
just imploded on national TV. It's the perfect time for you to pick up
some of his voters.
But you refuse to try. You rush to go after Romney and Ryan instead.
Why is that?
Because you are not a real party.
Because you will forever be the little sister of the Democratic Party.
Because every four years, you start off with promise and end up revealing just how craven and disgusting you are.
If we are offering commentary four years from now, please note, being a
Green will not save you. Being third party will not save you.
I'm
not a Cornel West defender. I don't think he should be running for
president. I don't think he put the time into it before deciding to run
and I don't think he's put the time in it for a campaign.
Jill Stein seems to think she can attack Cornel and get away with it.
To
a degree, she's right. She can get away wit it because there are a lot
of whores out there. The two whores that host THE VANGUARD for
example.
"Gavin you called it, no Zac you called it, scratch my nuts boyfriend!"
I'm
so sick of those damn liars. They get something 1/4 right and they
claim they called it -- ignoring the 3/4s they got wrong. But worse is
how they just outright lie.
They brought on Jill recently. And you know what, some people had been pimping Cornel's campaign and -- Wait?
Some people?
You
two freaks pimped the campaign. You lied and you whored. You're worse
than anything on FOX "NEWS." And let's remember, I called out Marianne
Williamson many times. But I especially called out her nonsense of not
pushing back on Bill Mahr's transphobia in the one-on-one interview
they did.
What did freaky stoners do on THE VANGUARD?
Whored
like the cheapest street walkers you'll ever meet. I had to live
through the garbage claims that when Barack was selling out, he wasn't
selling out! He was playing three dimensional chess!
THE
VANGUARD boys pulled that this year and claimed that Marianne's refusal
to pushback was great strategy and was this and was that.
No,
it was embarrassing and the only thing more embarrassing than what she
did was watching THE VANGUARD BOYS try to spin it for her.
I don't like whores.
There
are many reasons I hate fat ass stalker and fake feminist Katha
Pollitt. But one of the biggest reasons after Abeer (Katha refused to
cover the gang-rape and murder of the Iraqi girl and then, under real
pressure and facing real backlash, she devoted one single sentence to
Abeer) is that Katha thought Sarah Palin gave a great opening speech but
wrote the opposite in her piece for THE NATION. As her leaked
journolist contribution made clear. So she's paid to write an opinion
piece and she can't even be honest in it? That's a cheap whore.
And that's what THE VANGUARD boys are.
I'm
not giving credit to anybody in the following for a number of reasons
including whoring. If you got it right about Jill months ago and you're
now fawning over her -- BLACK POWER MEDIA, I'm looking at you --I'm not
in the mood. I'm not your Mommy. I don't have to applaud your baby
steps. Equally true, if you're such a whore -- BPM's Jared Ball, I'm
looking at you -- that you won't even stand up for the scoop you got,
it's not my job to applaud you or to kiss your boo-boo and tell you to
go back outside and play.
So many damn whores and we wonder what it's so hard to get the left motivated.
So here's reality.
Cornel West did not wake up in January 2023 thinking he wanted to run for president.
A college professor, motivational speaker and writer of books for non-readers, he had plenty on his hands already.
But
Chris Hedges wanted to run for office. The journalist wanted to run
for office in years prior but would have had to give up RT at that time
so he decided not to.
Chris was very close with
the disgraced People's Party. He presented himself and Cornel as a
package deal. They were set to announce the ticket.
Instead?
Chris' wife told him that he was not running for vice president.
So Cornel was the only one announced.
This
is where the real lies begins and where you should be seeing the
whores. Various YOUTUBE programs and online outlets allowed Chris to
lie. He wrote a piece -- that he talked about on one YOUTUBE program
after another -- about how he was interviewing Cornel during a car ride
and learning about Cornel's decision to run and --
NO!
Chris recruited him. Chris brokered that nomination.
And Chris lied.
And whores let him lie.
To
his credit, Cornel didn't lie -- didn't realize he was supposed to be
lying -- and early on in a few interviews (including with Jared Ball),
spoke openly about this and how he and Chris were originally supposed to
be running mates.
Chris doesn't live in the real world. He lives in a world of lies. Imagine that, a serial plagiarist living in a world of lies. And he had no idea the reality with which others saw the People's Party.
Dripping
in all of his Whitness, Chris Hedges did not realize how much damage
running as the People's Party's presidential candidate would do to
Cornel West.
But Cornel quickly found out.
That's why he announced he was no longer their candidate.
Behind
the scenes -- and if I know this and documented this forever and a day
in real time, whores like Katie Halper knew it too, they just lied to
you while begging for your trust and money -- Chris told Cornel to
chill, Chris was on it.
Chris gets with Jill Stein and they tell Cornel he can be the Green Party's presidential nominee.
Jill will make it happen.
Oops.
That's not how the Green Party works. And membership doesn't like
Jill. She's already a twice failed candidate for president and one who
left the party deep in debt -- again BPM, if you'd own up to your
reporting, I'd gladly insert your videos here.
And there is immediate pushback to Jill's scheme.
I keep writing daily here about how Cornel is not the nominee and ignore the YOUTUBE whores and Jill Stein and Chris Hedges.
Cornel was lied to.
When he says he was betrayed by Jill, he's telling the truth.
And
when THE VANGUARD boys bring on Jill and let her claim she did nothing
to Cornel, THE VANGUARD is just whoring again, using your money,
betraying your trust.
Jill flat out lied to Cornel. His very real disappointment and hurt is valid.
I
have not rushed to rescue or enable him. I'm not doing that now. But I
haven't whored and I'm not going to start now. Jill's garbage and I
hope Cornel reflects on his experience in a book that would be a real
book worth reading -- not sloganeering passed off as research and
writing.
Jill is now likely to become the Green
Party's presidential nominee this summer. In part because the party's
rank-and-filed had to mobilize to stop Cornel from being imposed on the
party. That took a lot of work and I will applaud the rank and file for
that. They stopped their party from selling out the process. But now
they have no one left but loser Jill.
Three
times? This will her third time running for president. Donald doesn't
need to run this third time and neither does Jill Stein.
She's a fake ass and she's a liar and we won't pretend otherwise.
AMYGOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
A State Department official working on human rights issues in the
Middle East resigned Wednesday in protest against U.S. support for
Israel’s assault on Gaza. Annelle Sheline worked as a foreign affairs
officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for a year,
before publicly resigning.
In an op-ed published in CNN,
she wrote, quote, “For the past year, I worked for the office devoted
to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the
mission and in the important work of that office. However, as a
representative of a government that is directly enabling what the
International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in
Gaza, such work has become almost impossible. Unable to serve an
administration that enables such atrocities, I have decided to resign
from my position at the Department of State,” she wrote.
AMYGOODMAN:
Annelle Sheline is the most significant protest resignation over U.S.
support for Israel’s assault on Gaza since the resignation in October of
Josh Paul, the senior State Department official involved in arms
transfers to foreign governments.
Annelle Sheline joins us now from Washington, D.C.
Annelle, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you tell us further about the decision you made?
ANNELLESHELINE: Thanks so much for having me and for your coverage of this issue.
I hadn’t initially planned to resign publicly. I hadn’t been at State
for very long, and I didn’t think it would necessarily matter. But I
decided to go public because when I started to tell colleagues that I
was planning to resign over Gaza, so many people’s response was, “Please
speak out. Please speak for us.” Many people are not in a position
where they feel they could resign, or they are trying to do what they
can on the inside. There’s still a lot of important, crucial work the
State Department does. And so I decided I would go ahead and go public.
NERMEENSHAIKH: Well, you told — Annelle, you told The Washington Post
that you tried to raise concerns internally with dissent cables and at
staff forums. So, what was the result of that? And how are other people
within State, as you said, trying to speak out within the State
Department to change policy?
ANNELLESHELINE:
Yes, many people are extremely horrified by the U.S. government’s
position on this horrific conflict and the actions of both the Israeli
and the U.S. governments. There is the dissent channel inside the State
Department. I was in — I co-wrote a cable and signed other cables. There
have been forums for State Department employees to speak out. I spoke
with supervisors. I was able to speak with a senior official about my
resignation. I think, at the end of the day, many people inside State
know that this is a horrific policy and can’t believe that the United
States government is engaged in such actions that contravene American
values so directly. But the leadership is not listening.
AMYGOODMAN:
I want to go to the State Department spokesperson Matt Miller being
questioned by a reporter about the internal dissent channel within the
State Department and employees raising concerns over the policies.
HUMEYRAPAMUK:
What is the point of the whole channel? And, like, I mean, the
secretary listens, and we’ve all reported about various listening
sessions between mid-level or, like, more senior officials with the
secretary, more junior officials. If it’s not — if it’s being heard, but
if it’s not taken into account in the policy at all —
MATTHEWMILLER: So —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: — then don’t you think it’s a little bit pointless?
MATTHEWMILLER:
So, I would disagree with that completely. It is taken into account in
the policy-making process. The secretary has heard things in those
meetings that he takes on board and that he — that influence his
thinking and that he brings to bear in making policy decisions. Now, if
what you mean is, are we going to execute a complete reversal of the
policy that —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: No, that’s not what I mean. That’s not what I mean.
MATTHEWMILLER:
— hold on — we implemented, or are you going to — are we going to
implement exactly some of the policies that the people in these meetings
have called for —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: No, not at all.
MATTHEWMILLER: — that’s not how —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: That’s —
MATTHEWMILLER: Hold on. That’s not how this process works. That’s not how government works. And that’s —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: No, I don’t think that’s anyone’s expectation.
MATTHEWMILLER:
And that’s — let me just say, that’s not how any organization works. I
daresay any of the media organizations in this room, if reporters go to
their bosses and offer feedback, and the bosses say, “Well, that’s a
good point. We’re going to take that to bear. But on the larger policy,
this is the decision that we have made,” that’s how — that’s how
leadership —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: You’re doing a long rant about something that I didn’t suggest.
MATTHEWMILLER: That is how leadership works.
HUMEYRAPAMUK: But do you have any examples on, you know, any changes —
MATTHEWMILLER: Yeah. I will — I will say —
HUMEYRAPAMUK: Like, I’m genuinely curious.
MATTHEWMILLER:
I will say, with respect to any number of issues, with respect to the
delivery of humanitarian assistance, we have heard good ideas from
people inside the building who have come and offered constructive
feedback, and we have implemented those.
HUMEYRAPAMUK: So —
MATTHEWMILLER:
Now — now, there are people that when you say if — like, if the idea is
that — to the United States to cut off support for Israel, that’s just a
fundamental policy disagreement. So, when you see people who offer
interviews that say, “We want the United States to stop supporting
Israel’s right to defend itself,” that’s not something the secretary
agrees with, it’s not something the president agrees with, and
ultimately they are the ones who have the responsibility of making those
decisions.
AMYGOODMAN: So, Annelle Sheline, if you can respond to the State Department spokesperson Matt Miller?
ANNELLESHELINE:
You know, I think American law is quite clear here, in terms of the
Leahy laws, for example, that when a foreign military is credibly
accused of gross human rights violations, the law is that the U.S. will
no longer provide weapons to those units, or 620I of the Foreign
Assistance Act, that a government that is blocking American humanitarian
aid is no longer eligible for U.S. military assistance. These laws are
not being applied.
So, I think this is not only having a horrific effect on the people
of Gaza, but in terms of America’s standing in the rest of the world,
this administration came in pledging to reestablish American moral
leadership, reengagement with the international community, uphold the
law and the so-called rules-based liberal international order, and I
think it’s just become clear that this administration is not, in fact,
conducting — carrying out any of those pledges. And, you know, my work
was on human rights, which is very important work that the State
Department does. But I think, on this issue in particular, the political
calculus has been that U.S. support for Israel is a better political
move. But I think what the administration may be starting to see is they
may have made the wrong decision on that politically.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
And, Annelle, can you explain whether there’s any distinction made —
there’s a blanket statement about U.S. support for Israel. But is there
no distinction within discussions at the State Department between
different forms of U.S. support for Israel? So, for instance, obviously,
in this instance, the most important question is that of military aid
to Israel at this moment.
ANNELLESHELINE:
There, I should be clear that, you know, my area of focus, I was not —
Israel and Palestine were not part of my portfolio. I was focusing
primarily on North Africa, so I can’t speak directly to some of those
conversations. I do think, you know, at the end of the day, the
U.S.-Israel relationship is considered of such political importance that
decisions regarding it are made at the very top. And so, while there
are other processes and certainly discussions going on inside State,
inside other parts of the government about some of those nuances you
were discussing, I don’t think we’re likely to see any public shift on
any of that until those decisions come from the top that they’re ready
to reimagine the U.S.-Israel relationship.
AMYGOODMAN:
I wanted to go to another clip of the State Department spokesperson
Matt Miller, saying the Biden administration has not found Israel’s
actions in Gaza to be a violation of international law. This is some of
what he said.
MATTHEWMILLER:
We have not found them to be in violation of international humanitarian
law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to
the provision of humanitarian assistance.
AMYGOODMAN:
That was this week, Annelle Sheline, either violation of international
law or when it comes to providing humanitarian assistance. And yet
President Biden says he is building a port because the Palestinians
cannot get enough aid.
ANNELLESHELINE:
Exactly. I think that the evidence speaks for itself. We’ve had, you
know, not only the ICJ’s ruling, not only the U.N. Security Council
ruling. Clearly, the administration is unwilling to admit to reality.
And again, I just want to reiterate, I think this is not only obviously
devastating for the lives of people in Gaza, but is doing incredible
damage to America’s standing on the international stage. It is
incredibly demoralizing for people inside the State Department, many of
whom believe very deeply in what America says it stands for. So, I’m
trying to speak on behalf of those many, many people who feel so
betrayed by our government’s stance.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
And, Annelle, could you explain the effect that the massive protests
across the United States have had within the State Department, what
discussion there was of them, and then, of course, the “uncommitted”
vote?
ANNELLESHELINE:
So, within the State Department, you know, civil servants are very
committed to their role of being nonpolitical, of following the
instruction that they receive. You know, within State, people are aware
of what’s going on outside. But, you know, this is not the first time
that people have been involved or had to carry out policies they perhaps
did not agree with, and it is something that many of these people have
signed up for. This is the role of carrying out America’s foreign
policy.
On this issue, I think, because it has been so horrific and because
we are seeing such growing political pushback from the American public,
people are increasingly frustrated. You know, many other people with
whom I spoke said they’re considering resigning. But again, it is
challenging for someone to — you know, it’s not easy to not have a job
in this country.
AMYGOODMAN:
I wanted to quote further what you’ve said in explanation of why you’re
resigning. You said you’re “haunted by the final social media post of
Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman who
self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February
25.” You quote him: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do
if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid?
What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is,
you’re doing it. Right now.” If you can explain what that meant to you
and how people have responded to you?
ANNELLESHELINE:
Sorry. You know, that post, I think, spoke to me and many people, who
had to really look at what they were doing and whether — you know, for
me, I have a young daughter. And I thought about, in the future, if she
were to ask me, you know, “What were you doing when this was happening?
You were at the State Department.” I want to be able to tell her that I
didn’t stay silent. And I know many people who are deeply affected by
those words that Aaron Bushnell posted. And I do think people are trying
to do what they can. There is still very important work being done
inside the State Department. But I do think, until our top levels of
leadership are ready to make a change, there’s very little that the rank
and file are able to do.
AMYGOODMAN:
Annelle Sheline, we want to thank you so much for being with us.
Annelle has just resigned from the State Department in protest of U.S.
support for Israel’s war on Gaza. She worked as foreign affairs officer
in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. She’s also the first
State Department official to publicly resign since Josh Paul did months
ago.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 175 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 total number of people killed since October 7 has increased to 32,623, with 75,092 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:
And the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War."
The
International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to provide the
unhindered delivery of aid is not likely to increase the amount of
assistance flowing into Gaza unless a ceasefire is reached, analyst Marc
Owen Jones has told Al Jazeera.
“After the last ICJ provisional measures [in January], the amount of
aid entering Gaza actually decreased,” the Middle East expert at Hamad
Bin Khalifa University said. “Just because the ICJ have put this ruling
forward doesn’t necessarily mean Israel is going to comply.”
About one third of the aid that was required in Gaza before the war
is currently reaching the bombarded territory. “The only thing that will
result in a spike in aid is a ceasefire,” he said.
“Otherwise, I’m afraid Israel’s response will just be rhetoric.”
+ I’ll never forget the irate call we got from an Obama senate
staffer when we reported that Lieberman was Obama’s mentor in the Senate
during his first year in office. “He didn’t have a f**king choice about
it, man!!!!!!!” Sure.
+ When Joe Lieberman arrived in the US Senate in 1989, Strom Thurmond
greeted him by saying, “I understand we think a lot alike in the way we
do things.” “Yes, sir, I think we do,” admitted Lieberman. Strom
probably learned about this reassuring profile of Lieberman’s
center-right political beliefs from his weekly lunch date in the Senate
cafeteria with Joe Biden who, like Lieberman, was one of the founding
nowhere men of the Democratic Leadership Council, whose mission was to
keep the Democratic Party from ever again straying to the Left of
Michael Dukakis…
+ Al Gore’s Harvard mentor (and later political promoter at the New
Republic) Martin Peretz convinced Gore to put Lieberman–the most
obnoxious senator in a chamber full of them–on the ticket in 2000 for
the express purpose of winning Florida by courting the Jewish and the
Cuban exile vote in Miami-Dade, even they didn’t like him.
+ Political piety was Lieberman’s calling card and, like McCain, this
pretense of recoiling from the dirty work of politics won him many
friends in the mainstream press. In reality, Lieberman was a censor and a
prude. He supported labeling hip-hop and heavy rock records and
restricting the sale of video games to minors. He censured Bubba for
having consensual sex and publicly denounced him for it. Gore’s pick of
Lieberman meant that Bill Clinton, still enormously popular, couldn’t
campaign for this ticket featuring two of the stiffest politicians in
American history, likely costing the pair the election.
+ After the 2000 elections, Lieberman played an entirely malicious
role in American politics. He spread lies about WMDs in Iraq, championed
the wars on terror, condoned torture and campaigned against universal
health care, successfully severing the public option from ObamaCare and
gutting the planned extension of Medicare to people 55 or older.
+ Lieberman: “Every day Saddam Hussein remains in power with chemical
weapons, biological weapons and the development of nuclear weapons is a
day of danger for the United States.” September 4, 2002.
+ Petulant and vainglorious, Lieberman couldn’t handle being defeated
by the progressive Ned Lamont in the CT primary, largely over his
support for the Iraq War, and waged a nasty independent campaign backed
by many in the GOP to narrowly win in the general elections. Then he
endorsed McCain over Obama in 2008. He served as a model for figures
such as Manchin and Sinema, who practiced a kind of political extortion
against their own party.
+ Lieberman was one of the chief architects of the post-911 police
state in the US, working side-by-side with the Bush administration to
construct the new Department of Homeland Security, lending it vast new
powers not only to harass immigrants, especially those from Muslim
countries, but to invade nearly every aspect of the lives of American
citizens in the name of “security.”
+ No defender of civil liberties, Lieberman was no defender of civil
liberties, Lieberman was a supporter of the Patriot Act and backed
nearly every variety of government surveillance. He authored the so-called Kill-Switch Bill, which would have given the President to assume complete control of the Net.
+ Lieberman was one of the first, if not the first, prominent
politicians to advocate prosecuting Julian Assange under the Espionage
Act, and introduced a bill in Congress to expand the law with that
explicit purpose. Lieberman’s vendetta against Wikileaks included
convincing (extorting?) Amazon, Visa, MasterCard and Pay Pal to stop
servicing payments to the independent media organization.
+ Long an advocate of privatizing education, Lieberman testified
before the Senate Education Committee in 2017 in favor of Betsy DeVos’
nomination to become Trump’s Education Secretary, telling the committee:
“I know that some people are questioning her qualifications to be
secretary of education, and too many of those questions seem to me to be
based on the fact that she doesn’t come from within the education
establishment. But honestly, I believe that today, that’s one of the
most important qualifications you could have for this job. She has many
others. She’s a mother and a grandmother. She cares about children more
generally, and she has been involved in education, like so many parents
and local citizen school board members across America for almost 30
years.”
+ Lieberman’s one benign contribution to the Republic was in helping
to defang the federal government’s toxic posture toward homosexuals…but
then so did Lynne and Dick Cheney.
