Like Maria Said Paz

Wednesday, September 04, 2024

Boe-Boe loses it again

Paul Rudnick.

Some friends argue over who's the Mary and who's the Rhoda. Elon Musk and Stephen Miller fight about which one's the Goebbels and who gets to be Himmler
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) September 4, 2024

Boe-Boe The Clown. Been awhile since her useless self has been in the news. However, Brad Reed reports:

Rep. Lauren Boebert's (R-CO) Democratic rival accused her of "melting down" after their debate this week.

Democratic candidate Trisha Calvarese posted clips of her Tuesday debate with Boebert in which she slammed the Colorado Republican for votes against a veterans benefit bill and a bill that allowed Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, according to Newsweek's reporting.

"Lauren Boebert melted down on the debate stage today," Calvarese wrote on Twitter. "Whether it was floundering to try to defend her disgraceful record on Veterans or having no explanation as to why she missed crucial house votes, she was held accountable for her extremism."

Boe-Boe! She's never been the smartest person in the room or even a smart person in the room or even not the stupidest person in the room. But she gets worse every day.

KKK weirdo Robert Kennedy Junior is in the news:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed Vice President Harris’s candidacy Tuesday, saying she is not “a worthy president” while defending his choice to instead endorse former President Trump.

“I don’t think that Vice President Harris is a worthy president of this country,” Kennedy told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo. “I think we need to have a president who can give an interview, who can articulate a vision, who can put together an English sentence, who can articulate her and defend her policies and her record and who can engage in a debate with, and regular debates unscripted appearances, president or vice president.”

First off, I understand Kamala Harris when she speaks. I think most people do.

That said, does Junior not get how he sounds when he's grasping for air and volume? If we're toing to talk about the way Kamala sounds -- which I say is fine -- then maybe we need to talk about the way Junior sounds -- like he's on a respirator.

I think it's in keeping with his long standing racism -- the same long standing racism that led him to endorse Trump -- for him to attack the way a highly educated woman of color speaks. From the same article:

“What our agreement [is] about, it’s about a unity party, about unifying our party over certain objectives,” he added. “And this will allow me to continue to disagree with President Trump on issues that I don’t agree with him on, and him to disagree with me.”

He has no party, he never has. But I wonder how he sleeps at night knowing that his father's watching him and shaking his head in disgust.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, September 4, 2024. The press continues to minimize Donald Trump's senility and violence, THE NEW YORKER explores a massacre in Iraq, Harvey Weinstein's play thing joins with others to pretend to be feminist and to pretend to have a career, and much more.

Bryan Metzger (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:

Donald Trump is no longer running against President Joe Biden.

That's been the case for the more than six weeks since Biden bowed to Democratic pressure and withdrew from the race, weeks after his June 27 debate performance amplified long-standing fears among his own party that he could not defeat the former president.

Well he's 78 years old. His sentences do not line up and often aren't completed. It's time for people to grasp that he's senile and much too old to be running for president.

Instead, we get a craven media that doesn't cover Donald correctly. John Gallagher (LGBTQ NATiON) explains:

Ever since Donald Trump appeared on the scene, the mainstream media has struggled with how to deal with him as a candidate. At first, they were enchanted by his sheer weirdness, which made for great copy and footage. But when Trump flooded the field with lies, they couldn’t bring themselves to use the term. They used “falsehoods” or “claims without evidence.” Most of all, they treated Trump as if he were just like any other candidate, even when he was anything but.

You would think that by the third time around, the media would have learned its lesson. If anything, the media has gotten worse. This election cycle, reporters at major outlets seem to be going out of their way to treat Trump ever-so-gently, normalizing his most dangerous behavior.

Perhaps the worst offender is the self-appointed paper of record, The New York Times. When the scandal broke about Trump illegally filming for a campaign ad at Arlington National Cemetery last week – while his aides physically assaulted a worker – the Times reported that the “campaign clashed with an official” at the cemetery, which downplayed just how brazen Trump’s actions were. The paper then followed up with another story about how Trump “returns to the politics of forever wars,” as if that was the story instead of how the Trump campaign broke the law prohibiting using the hallowed ground for political purposes.

In short, the politics became the story, not the scandal.

Or look at the paper’s coverage of Trump’s cognitive decline.

Oh, wait. That was just reserved for Joe Biden.

Instead, the Times decided to run a story about Trump’s truly bizarre rantings at his rallies. They didn’t question the stability of someone who worries about being eaten by sharks or praises Hannibal Lecter. Rather, they came up with this humdinger of an appraisal: “It is difficult to find the hermeneutic methods with which to parse the linguistic flights that take him from electrocuted sharks to Hannibal Lecter’s cannibalism, windmills, and Rosie O’Donnell.”

Who are we kidding here? Trump’s inability to think linearly hints at cognitive issues. He is now the oldest candidate to run for president. Instead of a serious look at whether he’s displaying exactly the kind of problems that the Times took Biden to task for, the paper came up with a cutesy little piece that quotes English professors instead of geriatricians.

The Times‘ velvet-glove approach to Trump extends to his allies as well. In a piece about Trump’s appearance before Moms for Liberty, the paper treated the extremist group as a stand-in for “the fired-up suburban women” that Trump is in danger of losing. Moms for Liberty is a far cry from the suburban women demographic, consisting instead primarily of evangelicals who don’t have kids in public schools. The article failed to mention the group’s recent scandals with one howler of an exception: “The Moms for Liberty can get a bit carried away – one of their local chapters once accidentally quoted Adolf Hitler.”

Here’s the problem. It wasn’t an accident. Hitler was actually quoted by name. (The paper had to issue a correction.) Also not mentioned in the “bit carried away” part was the group’s efforts to ban hundreds of books and attack drag queens.

At THE NEW REPUBLIC, Michael Tomasky hammers at the same point:

It’s emblematic of what the political media in this country are doing so badly in covering this race. With dizzying regularity, Trump lies. He says toxic, anti-democratic things over and over again. And he still gets treated like a normal candidate. It’s often the case that the media, presented with another one of his addled rants, will dive in, scoop and separate enough words to make it seem like he’s got enough actual grey matter gooping around in his skull to form a complete sentence, and present their director’s cut of his wandering mind for public consumption.

The Democrat, first Joe Biden and now Harris, gets called evasive or worse if he-then-she doesn’t respond to Trump’s ridiculous lies. The effect is to legitimize Trump—in this case, to make it seem as if he raised fair and reasonable questions about Harris’s identity.

But this isn’t even the most glaring recent example of the press laying down on the job. That prize goes to the two New York Times reporters who recently gave us this gem, which ran under another genius headline: “Harris and Trump Have Housing Ideas. Economists Have Doubts.”

You can tell instantly what kind of article this is going to be—one of those classic on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand pieces that pretends to weigh evidence in a sober way and absolutely refrains from drawing any conclusions that might give offense to one side or the other. Except that in this case, the conclusion gives offense to anyone with a functioning brain.

It’s worth going into this at a little length. Here’s the story’s second paragraph: “Their two visions of how to solve America’s affordable housing shortage have little in common, and Ms. Harris’s plan is far more detailed. But they do share one quality: Both have drawn skepticism from outside economists.”

First of all: If you’ve been in journalism long enough then you know that you can find economists who’ll say anything, especially when it comes to picking apart a candidate’s plan. More importantly: “Ms. Harris’s plan is far more detailed” is Times-speak, as any veteran reader of that paper knows, for “Harris at least has a plan, while Trump doesn’t have anything close to a plan.”

Which is confirmed two paragraphs later: “Mr. Trump’s plan is garnering even more doubt. He pledges to deport undocumented immigrants, which could cut back temporarily on housing demand but would also most likely cut into the construction work force and eventually limit new housing supply. His other ideas include lowering interest rates, something that he has no direct control over and that is poised to happen anyway.”

Wait a second. Are you kidding me? Trump’s “housing plan” is to deport people? And the most important newspaper in the English-speaking world is taking this idea seriously? What could these reporters—and more importantly, their editor, who is supposed to use his or her years of experience to guide them—be thinking?

This highlights a continuing problem with how the political press deals with a person who a) historically has very few actual ideas beyond schemes to get himself on television, b) whose ideas, such as they are, are often unworkable and unconstitutional and un-American and extremist, c) who lies about them every time he speaks.

A reality-based article comparing the candidates’ “housing plans” would have gone something like: Harris, who talks about housing all the time on the stump, has a real and reasonably detailed plan that economists say has some good points and bad points; Trump shows no sign of having given even ten seconds of thought to the housing crisis (on Trump’s 20-point platform, the word isn’t mentioned), and by the way, he spent four years as president, during which time he amassed a thoroughly rotten record on housing and never once showed any interest in ameliorating the affordable housing crisis, how about that?

Also on Donald and the media, Sabrina Haake (SALON) reports:

At Donald Trump’s weekend hatefest in Pennsylvania, when he got to the obligatory mainstream-media-is-the-enemy part, a devoted MAGA follower got so inspired he vaulted over the protective barrier surrounding the media in attendance. Sandwiched between the I-am-your-retribution section and God-chose-me, Trump’s anti-media speech inspired the man to jump up, run toward the press barrier, and sail over it, prepared to wale—physically— on members of the media. Hired security fortunately followed the man and tased him mid-assault.

During the melee, Trump cooed from the pulpit. “Beautiful, that’s beautiful, that’s alright, that’s okay, no, he’s on our side. We get a little itchy, David, don’t we? No, no, he’s on our side.”

Minimizing political violence as "getting a little itchy," even from Trump’s micro-vocabulary, signaled approval, while “He’s on our side” urged us vs. them lenience for the attacker. As in, it’s normal to physically assault reporters because reporters say mean things about me.

It’s a fool’s game to expect Trump to embrace the First Amendment (or any other tenant of Constitutional law), or the historical underpinnings of protecting the free press. Trump’s inability to hold either nuance or history isn’t surprising, but the mainstream media’s complicity in letting him get away with it is.

Few major media outlets have picked up the story of the assault or Trump’s delight in it, despite videos of the exchange circulating on social media.

In other campaign news, predator and failure Jill Stein is attempting to get publicity by playing the victim yet again. Reality, she's a liar and she's a loser and any real leftist would refrain from voting for a millionaire who kept the words "working class" out of this year's party platform. Jill's nonsense is addressed in Ava and my "Media: The stupid on the right and the stupid on the left will doom us all" that went up last night.

Still on voting, we did a "Roundtable" at THIRD and I'm noting this from it:

Ty: Nope. One more e-mail. It's about C.I. and THE COMMON ILLS and I think Ava should be the one to speak to it. Isla e-mailed to comment on C.I.'s Wednesday snapshot and she writes, "Thank God, she covered it Wednesday morning because it wasn't getting attention, the attacks in Texas on those of us who are Latino. This is very serious. The attorney general of our state trying to intimidate us and scare us away from voter registration and voting. This is an attack on our rights and our freedoms. And it got local coverage but wasn't a national issue when it should have been. This Republican attack on Latinos will register with other Latinos in other states but only if they know about it. And they need to know about it because if they'd do it to us in Texas, the GOP would do it any state that they thought they could get away with it." Ava?

Ava: For those who don't know, I'm a Latina which is probably why Ty's tossing to me -- that and the fact that C.I. and I write a lot of things together about the media and the fact that C.I. said she didn't want to talk at all in this roundtable. Yeah, Isla is correct. I'm in California and I was outraged to learn that the attorney general in Texas, Ken Paxton, was sending armed officers to the homes of Latinos involved in voter registration, barging into their homes at six in the morning, refusing to let them get dressed and treating them like criminals. It's outrageous and it's offensive. There was no legitimate reason for it but it was intended to terrorize the Latino population in Texas. As a Latina, I call it out. CBS did something Wednesday evening and I'd like to include it.

Ava (Con't): Ken Paxton should be carted off in handcuffs for those raids. And Texas Latinos -- Democrats, Republicans, independents and non-voters -- need to especially register what happened. They need to turn out and they need to support Colin Allred for the US Senate and Democrats in every race to send a message to the GOP in Texas and elsewhere that this is not acceptable and we will not ignore it.

Jim: C.I., you and Texas community members Sabina and Francisco have been writing a lot about this over the last few days. Do you know what the last day to register to vote in Texas is?

C.I.: I didn't want to talk but I'll grab this. Sabina and Francisco are doing great work in Texas and it's great to talk to them and amplify them in any way possible. One thing not being reported is that Texas has disabled online voter registration. If you're planning to vote in Texas in November, the first thing you need to do is to check and make sure you weren't purged because Governor Greg Asshole has purged over a million people from the voter rolls. The next thing you need to know is that Greg Asshole has stopped online voter registration. You will need to register by October 7th. That may require you going to your local voter registration officials office. If you're renewing your drivers license or getting a replacement for it, you can register at the DMV. Fall means county fairs and there will be people with booths and tables set up to register voters.. You can also print up an application online and mail it in. You need to move quickly on that because October 7th is the deadline.

I know my state (California) because I live there and I know Texas because voting rights are under assault and community members like Sabina and Francisco keep me updated. Where ever you live, you need to be aware of if you're on the voter rolls or not. You also need to figure out how to register in your state and what the deadline is.

Let's turn to the topic of Iraq. This is from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. A warning to our audience: The following story contains graphic images and descriptions of violence.

The New Yorker has published 10 photographs of the U.S. Marines’ 2005 massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha. Their killings in the middle of the night came in retaliation for an attack on U.S. military convoy as it drove through Haditha. The convoy hit a roadside bomb, an IED, placed there by Iraqis resisting the U.S. invasion. It killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas.

The gruesome images published last week show dead Iraqi men, women and children, many of them shot in the head at close range. One of the victims, a 5-year-old girl named Zainab Younis Salim, is seen with a number 11 written on her back with a red marker. The release of the photos comes 19 years after the massacre and only after producers of the investigative podcast series In the Dark sued the Navy, the Marine Corps and U.S. Central Command to force them to turn over the photos and other records. This is a trailer for In the Dark.

MICHAEL FAY: It’s now about 17:30, and we’re finishing up the day here at an observation post. And right now for about the last 10, 15 minutes, we hear in the background the evening singing from the minarets.

CAP. LUCAS McDONNELL: Believe it or not, sooner or later, we will kill some of these folks, who need to be killed. And that’s the beautiful thing about this world, is that there’s always someone who needs to be killed. And we’re the folks to do it.

MADELEINE BARAN: I spent the past four years investigating a crime, a crime that most people have long forgotten.

INTERPRETER FOR KHALID SALMAN RASEEF: He heard the sound of really strong bombing.

KHALID SALMAN RASEEF: I heard M16, zhzhzhzhzhzh.

MADELEINE BARAN: A crime that for almost 20 years has gone unpunished.

KEVIN PARMELEE: They went into the room, and they were just taking shots.

SAFA YOUNIS: [translated] Me and Noor, we were under the bed. He get his rifle and then start shooting at us.

KEVIN PARMELEE: How did they not perceive that these were children?

ARISTOTELES BARBOSA: I remember I opened a Humvee, and I just see bodies stacked up. And I open another one, the same thing. I’m like, “[Bleep].”

MADELEINE BARAN: A four-year investigation, hundreds of interviews, thousands of documents, all in an effort to see what the U.S. military has kept from the public for years.

COL. GREGORY WATT: You know, I don’t know what’s to be gained by this investigative journalism.

FORMER MARINE: I’m not interested in talking about that. That was a long time ago, and I tried to move past all that. So, no, thank you, on all that.

MARINE FAMILY MEMBER: He was saying it was so traumatic, he couldn’t talk about it.

KHALID JAMAL: You and you and you.

INTERPRETER FOR KHALID JAMAL: And you and you. They pointed at each one to go inside the house.

JEFFREY CHESSANI: Can I help you?

PARKER YESKO: Hi there, Mr. Chessani. My name is Parker. I’m a radio reporter, working on —

JEFFREY CHESSANI: Parker what?

BRIAN WITT: What did I think?

MADELEINE BARAN: Yeah.

BRIAN WITT: I assumed it meant that he had [bleep] shot someone.

FORMER MARINE: It’s not a big deal. [bleep] everyday [bleep]. Normal day in Haditha.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re now joined by Madeleine Baran, head reporter and host of The New Yorker's In the Dark podcast. She traveled to Haditha, Iraq, to meet with family members, the victims of the Haditha massacre. Her piece for The New Yorker is titled “The Haditha Massacre Photos That the Military Didn't Want the World to See.”

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Madeleine. This is an astounding, what, nine-part podcast series and piece in The New Yorker with these photographs. You’ve interviewed hundreds of people, you and your team. First, talk about what these photographs mean now, so many years later, the significance of what they show, and what happened with this massacre, who was charged, who was not held accountable.

MADELEINE BARAN: Well, what these photos show, Amy, are direct evidence of what the Marines did that day in Haditha. I should say I didn’t personally travel to Haditha. We traveled to another part of Iraq, and we did send a reporter with more experience in the region to Haditha. But these photos show, as you can see, men, women, children in defenseless positions — in one case, a mother on a bed surrounded by her dead children; in another case, a mother in the corner of their living room with her arm around her 4-year-old boy, both of them killed, and they’re facedown on the ground, huddled, cowering in a corner. And so, what the photos clearly show is that these were innocent people who do not appear to be doing anything threatening at the time of their deaths.

And what happened with the Haditha case is, is that four marines initially were charged with murder, but all of those murder charges eventually went away. In three cases, the charges were dismissed. And in the final case, the one against the squad leader, Sergeant Frank Wuterich, that case did go to trial, but it ended in the middle of the trial with a plea deal for negligent dereliction of duty. It’s a very low-level charge. Wuterich’s own lawyer described it to me as basically akin to a parking ticket. It didn’t carry a single day in prison or jail.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Madeleine, could you talk about your long battle to get these photos and the resistance that you met and why you persevered for so long?

MADELEINE BARAN: Well, so, this all started in 2020, when a reporter on our team, Parker Yesko, filed the first FOIA request by our team, trying to get not just the photos, but all of the investigative records into what happened in Haditha. You know, at the time when this killing happened, this was described as another My Lai. And yet, you know, we still know very little, at least when we started our reporting, knew very little about what even happened that day. So, we filed this FOIA. The military really barely responded. And so, we worked with a law firm who specializes in FOIA work, Loevy & Loevy, an amazing team, led by a lawyer, Matt Topic, and they helped us sue the military. So we filed suit against the military. And then, at that point, you know, we were still not necessarily getting anywhere. I mean, I don’t think we ever thought it was at all a foregone conclusion that we would receive these photos.

So, we knew from reading the records — I had seen in the past that the U.S. military had made a claim that they wanted to keep the photos private because of concern — in part because of concern for the surviving family members of the dead. And so, anticipating this concern, when I was in Iraq, I talked with one of the survivors and, ultimately, talked to two of the survivors and said, you know, “What do you think about us trying to get these photos?” And they both said — one is a man, Khalid Jamal, who was 14 when his father and uncles were killed. Another is Khalid Salman Raseef, who’s a lawyer who lost 15 members of his family that day. And they both said, “Yes, we want you to have these photos. These photos are important.” And so, then they did something remarkable. Working with a reporter we sent there, they went house to house and talked to other surviving family members, explained our reporting to them, explained what we were trying to do, and had, like, a form with them that we had provided, in Arabic and English, that explained that this form would authorize us to try to obtain the photos, with their permission, from the U.S. military. And ultimately, those two men collected 17 signatures, and then we filed those in court. And then, in March of this year, the military relented and sent us the photos.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to play two clips for you from the podcast series. But start off by walking us through that day, November 19th, 2005.

MADELEINE BARAN: So, early that morning, the marines set off, a squad of marines in a four-vehicle convoy, just a routine supply run. And one of those vehicles was hit by an IED, and it killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas and injured two other marines. In the hours that followed, the marines shot five people by a white car next to the — near the site of the explosion, and then went into three houses, and they killed men, women and children inside. The oldest person they killed was a grandfather in his seventies, and the youngest was a 3-year-old girl.

AMY GOODMAN: So, this is retired Colonel Gregory Watt of the Army. He was — first led a noncriminal investigation into what happened in Haditha. And this is him speaking in this podcast, In the Dark.

COL. GREGORY WATT: Yeah, my experience leads me to believe that this occurred 2006, 2007. Now it’s now 2023. I think they’ve moved on.

MADELEINE BARAN: Why do you think that?

COL. GREGORY WATT: I think it’s human nature.

MADELEINE BARAN: Even if your whole family was killed?

COL. GREGORY WATT: I believe so, especially in that region of the world.

MADELEINE BARAN: What do you mean?

COL. GREGORY WATT: They have different values than we do, OK? They are more concerned about the living than those that have passed.

MADELEINE BARAN: I think, to the — I’ve talked to some of the survivors. And for them, it’s really important to know as much as possible about how their family members were killed and then also why no one was ever punished.

COL. GREGORY WATT: Yeah, I’m not — I don’t have the answers to that.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Colonel Gregory Watt from the In the Dark podcast. This is Khalid Jamal, who you just described, one of the survivors of the Haditha massacre, 14 at the time, his dad and three uncles killed by the Marines in 2005, responding.

MADELEINE BARAN: One day while we were talking with Khalid Jamal, we turned off the air conditioner in the hotel room because it was so noisy. But at one point, it got so hot, we had to take a break.

SAMARA FREEMARK: Yeah, OK, let’s turn on the air conditioning, take a little break.

MADELEINE BARAN: Samara called down to the lobby and ordered coffee and pastries.

SAMARA FREEMARK: Hi. Is this room service? Hi. I wanted to order…

MADELEINE BARAN: While we were waiting, Khalid Jamal asked me a question. He asked me whether I had ever talked to Frank Wuterich.

KHALID JAMAL: Did you meet Frank Wuterich?

MADELEINE BARAN: Not yet, no.

And then Khaild Jamal said something surprising.

KHALID JAMAL: I hope to meet him.

MADELEINE BARAN: He wanted to talk to Wuterich.

KHALID JAMAL: I want to ask him —

SAMARA FREEMARK: Hold up. OK.

KHALID JAMAL: I need to ask him one question only. Just one question. How did he kill them? I want to explain how did he that in our house. How?

MADELEINE BARAN: Khalid Jamal told us that he’s always wanted to know what happened in his father and uncles’ final moments.

KHALID JAMAL: I want. I want that.

SAMARA FREEMARK: Why?

KHALID JAMAL: I want to know what’s happened in home.

SAMARA FREEMARK: Because you don’t know.

KHALID JAMAL: Yes. I saw the bodies only. I want to know how he did this killings of my father.

AMY GOODMAN: And this is Khalid Salman Raseef, 15 members of his family killed by the Marines in the Haditha massacre.

INTERPRETER FOR KHALID SALMAN RASEEF: They kind of gave up on anyone talking about this case again. They didn’t forget. They have been heartbroken every day since that day. But they gave up on someone talk about the case or someone reinvestigate the case.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Madeleine Baran, it is now almost 20 years later, and you have the military, the representative, saying, “Why would they care? They can move on.” Explain what you were most shocked by in what you discovered in these investigations, not to mention another man that they killed that day.

MADELEINE BARAN: Well, of course, you know, the crime itself is shocking. You know, what happened that day is shocking. I think that, you know, as we got deeper and deeper into the reporting, it was also very interesting to see what happened in the years that followed, how — you know, I think, really, one of the big undertold parts of this whole story is the role of the surviving family members, who have been quietly and persistently questing for justice for years now and have done almost everything they can think of to try to reveal this story, to try to get justice for their dead family members, and have been repeatedly sort of left out of the process.

You know, as we show in the podcast, at trial of the squad leader, none of the depositions — you know, the jury never heard any of the depositions of the survivors, the eyewitnesses to the killings who were Iraqi. You know, at trial, the prosecutors had asked to replace the names of the victims with numbers. And so, at trial, the dead were referred to by the numbers that the marines scrawled on their bodies hours after the killings. And so, I think there’s also a story here about how we treat the Iraqi civilians and how we treated these particular Iraqi civilians in this case.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Madeleine, could you talk about the role of General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, who went on to become secretary of defense in the Trump administration?

MADELEINE BARAN: So, Mattis played a very key role in this case. You know, Mattis was the person who, most memorably in this case, dismissed the charges against one of the marines, a man named Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt. Sharratt is the one who killed three members of 14-year-old Khalid Jamal’s family. And Mattis didn’t just dismiss the charges. He also wrote Sharratt a very glowing, full-of-praise letter, saying that, in his eyes, Sharratt was innocent, and praising Sharratt for how he had performed as a marine. And, you know, this is something that Mattis, I think, to this day appears as very proud of. In his memoir, he even published the letter in his book.

AMY GOODMAN: And at this point, no one went to jail, Madeleine. We have 15 seconds.

MADELEINE BARAN: Correct, no punishment, no jail time for the killings to this day. That’s correct.

AMY GOODMAN: And the response of the Iraqis, the family members who survived?

MADELEINE BARAN: What they want is the world to know what happened to their family, to know their family were good people, not insurgents, and they want justice.

AMY GOODMAN: Madeleine Baran, we want to thank you for an astounding podcast series, In the Dark, head reporter and host of the New Yorker podcast, the new article in The New Yorker is “The Haditha Massacre Photos That the Military Didn’t Want the World to See.” We will link to it all.

That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman in New York, with Juan González in Chicago. Thanks for joining us.

Where's the video? We posted it immediately yesterday when it went up knowing that YOUTUBE would censor it later in the day (it took them two hours). You can use the link and go to the DEMOCRACY NOW! website to stream the report.

Turning to Gaza, while Israelis protested and went on strike after the discovery of six corpses of October 7th hostages, Bitches With No Careers turned up to let War Criminal Netanyahu off the hook and to flaunt their stupidity. From THE (always conservative) HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

“To the families of each hostage whose life was stolen, I have thought of you every day for 11 months, but today I send you my heart,” wrote [Gwyneth] Paltrow, who has spoken out to raise awareness about the hostages’ plight over the past year. In a separate Instagram Stories post, the actor asked, “There are still 17 women being held by Hamas. Where are the feminists?” with the hashtag “#rapeisnotresistance.”

Where are the feminists? Did that bitch just ask where are the feminists? Did Harvey Weinstein's little 'muse' just have the nerve to ask about feminists? Go back to selling your snake oil. You don't have an acting career and you haven't in years. Go away, psycho, no one relates to you.

After the news of Goldberg-Polin’s death broke, ]Debra] Messing posted a tearful response conveying the deep pain she felt over the killings, and placed the blame on those who opposed the IDF’s offensive in Rafah in May — a stance for which she saw major backlash in her post’s comments.

No career left and she's been going bald for six years now. Are we surprised that she continues to pretend Netanyahu has no blame for this? Even as Israelies call him out? She's such an idiot.

Israeli actress Gadot also posted a montage of images of the six victims, telling her fans that her heart was broken after learning the news.

“They survived almost 11 months in captivity and then were murdered by Hamas,” she wrote. “People who became an inseparable part of our hearts, families who waited so long for a different end, the heart is broken into pieces today. 101 more hostages still there.”

Gal's fans? Gal got fired from the only real job she had: Wonder Woman. She's got nothing now. Since being fired, no one wants her. She can't act. She's diffident onscreen and, hey, HOLLYWOOOD REPORTTER, aren't you forgetting her chief credit: Israeli soldier.

At any point, it anyone ever going to ask Gal what she did to Palestinians when she served in the Israeli military?

The face isn't again well, the body's gone and her acting ability was never anything to brag about. She's not a star and the box office for the second Wonder Woman feature made that clear.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 333 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. THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 40,861, with 94,398 injured." Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." Months ago, 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 of acute food insecurity or worse." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Convicted Felon and Miss Sassy Variety Hour" which went up last night. New content at THIRD:

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, September 03, 2024

The crazies are off their leashes

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Convicted Felon and Miss Sassy Variety Hour"

Love it. On Isaiah, also please read his ""Ellen's Latest Lie" and other comics."

Kat's "Kat's Korner: After a dull musical summer, Vanessa Williams emerges as much more than a SURVIVOR" is something else you shouldn't miss. Also I love this Paul Rudnick Tweet.

When JD Vance said that a 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to give birth, his wife called it "a quip." He also says wives should be forced to stay in abusive marriages, and that any teacher without kids of their own should be fired. Usha must spend all day laughing
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) August 31, 2024

So many lunatics, so little time, right? Let's deal with Republican Robert Kennedy Jr. first. Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:

It seems that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pro-Donald Trump spoiler campaign isn’t going too well.

The failed independent presidential candidate has begun desperately attempting to scrape his name off the ballot in battleground states where his presence might give Kamala Harris a boost—but to no avail. While Kennedy once struggled to get on the ballot in several states, now he can’t seem to find his way off.

Kennedy is suing North Carolina’s State Board of Elections, after it declined to remove his name from the state’s ballot because 1.7 million ballots had already been printed, and 67 of the state’s 100 counties have already received their ballots.

To pause or disrupt ballot printing could interfere with the distribution of absentee ballots, according to the board’s Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell. Printing new ballots could cost in the high six figure range and take nearly two weeks, said Bell.

Last week, the board voted 3-2 along partisan lines to keep Kennedy’s name on the ballot. In response, a lawsuit has been filed on Kennedy’s behalf demanding that he be removed.

Junior, the eternal failure. No one likes him, no one respects him, he traded an endorsement (of Donald) for a job (in Donald's administration if elected). He's a fake ass and a liar and his wife is no better.

She's not going to vote for Trump? Hmm. But she's going to stay married to her husband (who cheats on her and makes fun of her one misshapen breast) when he goes to work for a Trump White House?

She's as big a fake as he is.

Ron Filipkowski (MEDIAS TOUCH NETWORK) reports:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr's belated attempt to have his name removed from Michigan's ballot for the November election has been denied by a Michigan judge.

After RFK Jr. dropped out of the race with all indications that he will be appointed by Trump to a senior position in his Administration if he wins, he filed suit in the crucial swing state of Michigan to have his name removed from the ballot by the Secretary of State. Secretary Benson refused since he had been nominated by the Natural Law Party as their candidate before the deadline.

Judge Christopher Yates said that Benson "acted well within the bounds of the law," and said, "Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office."

So that's Michigan and North Carolina as well as Wisconsin that aren't letting him remove his name. In news of other crazies:

A pair of far-right conspiracy theorists who have been convicted of felonies for election interference are running a Washington-based AI company under pseudonyms, Politico reported.

LobbyMatic, an automation platform for lobbyists that advertises “efficiency and effectiveness by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence,” was founded by Jacob Wahl and Jack Burkman, who both have a history of scamming and leveling fraudulent allegations againt prominent Democrats. The two men run the company under the pseudonyms “Jay Klein” and "Bill Sanders,” sources confirmed to Politico.

The platform’s website claims that it can do everything from book meetings on Capitol Hill “in a few clicks” to automatically monitoring congressional hearings.

The political AI tool is not the first sketchy business endeavor from Wahl and Burkman. In 2020, the two men used a robo caller to contact over 85,000 voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods across Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio, warning them not to vote by mail. They were convicted of felony telecom fraud in 2022 and ordered by an Ohio judge to spend 500 hours registering people to vote.

Also in 2020, Wahl and Burkman hired actors to fake an FBI raid on Burkman’s house, convincing The Washington Post to report on it. They’ve also tried to frame Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and special counsel Robert Mueller for sexual assault, while falsely claiming that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., had a extramarital relationship with a former Marine.

They belong in prison.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, September 3, 2024. Junior sends out an e-mail blast asking others to help him get a job, Donald Trump's insult at Arlington only feeds more outrage with each passing day, polio vaccines start in Gaza, Israelis go on strike and protest Netanyahu and much more.

Yesterday was Labor Day in the US so naturally Robert Kennedy Junior showed up begging for a job. The e-mail was entitled "This Labor Day: A Call for Change" and though the address was still info@teamkennedy.com, he put his name to it as the sender and as the signer.

What followed was one the bleakest pictures in the world. Well, we can deal with photos first. Junior led the e-mail with a large photo of himself imposed upon the US flag and he'd been photo shopped to smooth out the facial tones and to take off some wrinkles. If he did that work himself, it was way too much for him because it left him wiped out. If he paid someone to do it, they quit after from exhaustion. That's the only explanation for the second photo that ends the e-mail -- a photo 12 years old. Junior is seventy-years-old and needs to deal with it. He can continue to abuse steroids -- or, as he insists, testosterone replacement therapy -- but they're not going to make him any younger (and they don't make him look younger). As Steve Kettmann noted last May at WASHINGTON MONTHLY:

But despite Kennedy’s explanation of his supplements, it’s not quite that simple. As someone who authored a 2000 New York Times lament about steroid use titled “Baseball Must Come Clean on Its Darkest Secret,” reported for The New Republic from Berlin on the legacy of the East German doping freak show, and helped write Juiced, the memoir of steroid slugger Jose Canseco, I politely call bullshit on the independent presidential candidate.

Steroids and synthetic testosterone are two names for the same thing. Allow me to quote from the Drug Enforcement Agency: “Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone that are abused in an attempt to promote muscle growth, enhance athletic or other physical performance, and improve physical appearance.”

The DEA lists the variations on the same basic molecule: Testosterone, trenbolone, oxymetholone, methandrostenolone, nandrolone, stanozolol, and boldenone. Put simply, it’s all about dosage. Think of the late broadcaster Rush Limbaugh on opioids: Take a modest dose, as prescribed by your doctor, and it’s health care; gobble pills like candy, and you’ve become a drug abuser. To this observer of the steroid scene, Kennedy gives every indication of being in the latter category and expecting the prestige of his last name, age, and wealth to shield him from scrutiny. He may be proved correct. Despite a few stories about how he came by that weird physique, the media hasn’t shown much interest. Perhaps they will, now that The New York Times has reported Kennedy’s claim that a parasitic worm was eating at his brain.

Get it? He's a juicer. And he's gone around in a roid rage which might explain his lies in Monday's e-mail about the US and the "American nightmare." Is it just steroids or is he back on the cocaine like the whispers say?

A heavy coke addiction would certainly explain his telling people they need to vote for Donald Trump but this passage from the e-mail explains it as well:

With your support, I will be able to yield significant influence in a new administration that cares about YOUR economy—not the war economy, the bank economy, the finance economy, or the Wall Street economy, and not the theoretical economy on charts and graphs.

Vote for Trump, Junior argues because Trump promised him a job if he'd get him re-elected.

The only thing sadder than being a joke? Being a dirty joke. Junior's achieved that.

Meanwhile, the object of his affection continues to bleed support from veterans. Ben Blanchet (HUFFINGTON POST) explains:

A progressive veterans group went after “disgusting” Donald Trump this past week following the GOP nominee’s controversial stop at Arlington National Cemetery that included campaign staffers’ altercation with cemetery officials.

“Now, maybe the greatest insult of all, turning a military cemetery visit into a political stunt with cameras in tow,” said a narrator in a scathing ad from political action committee VoteVets.

The ad arrives after an Arlington official during Trump’s visit to the cemetery (at the invitation of some family members of military service members killed in the 2021 Kabul airport attack), was allegedly “pushed” aside by campaign staffers after informing them not to film part of the cemetery where recently fallen U.S. troops were buried.

Federal law prohibits “political campaign or election-related activities” within Army National Military Cemeteries, according to a statement from the cemetery.

Trump has since shared a campaign video featuring footage from his visit while a campaign spokesperson has denied that a staffer pushed an official, claiming they were “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, on Saturday, declared that Trump “disrespected sacred ground” for a “political stunt” during the visit.

At THE TIMES OF INDIA, Chidanand Rajghatta notes Donald's long history of insulting people who have served in the military and Donald bragging about avoiding Vietnam (with bone spur claims). James Bickerton (NEWSWEEK) observes:

Donald Trump has over the past few weeks found himself embroiled in a number of controversies involving military veterans, a community that, according to one expert, he has developed a "complex relationship" with.

Earlier this month Trump was criticized by a prominent figure within Veterans of Foreign Wars, a group that provides support to former service personnel, after he suggested the Presidential Medal of Freedom is "better" than the Medal of Honor. Trump was also accused of "politicking" on the "sacred ground" of Arlington National Cemetery by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) after reportedly filming a video in an area reserved for America's recent war dead.

[. . .]

In response [to the Medal of Honor comments], the Veterans of Foreign Wars commander Al Lipphardt hit out at Trump commenting: "These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation's highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty."

[. . .]

In an interview with Newsweek IAVA chief executive Allison Jaslow said: "When I visit Section 60, it is to honor the fallen and remind myself that I was one of the lucky ones who made it home. There are plenty of places appropriate for politics—Arlington is not one of them.

"Any aspiring elected official, especially one who hopes to be Commander-in-Chief, should not be confused about that fact. Nor should they hide behind members of our community to justify politicking on such sacred ground."

Following Trump's visit, Charlotte Clymer, a veteran and former member of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as "the Old Guard," who was formerly stationed at Arlington National Cemetery, wrote in a blog post that Trump "cannot extend proper respect to our military."

And at MSNBC, Brandon Friedman writes:

Serving in a unit like the 101st Airborne Division can feel like a job. It’s a normal, everyday thing. Even in combat. It’s not until after you leave a famous unit like that — after you leave the Army, in fact — that you realize it is a privilege to lead and serve alongside such soldiers.

It’s not until much later, among the regular people at the office, that you realize how unlikely it is that anyone around you would ever grab three guys and come running if you were pinned down or out of ammo. In the Army, you take those things for granted because everybody does it. They do it. They don’t question it. They don’t all survive.

I survived and I’m old now. Not truly old. I’m 46. But old in the Army sense. I’m no longer carved out of wood. My left hamstring groans at the thought of running more than a mile. Doctors have taken an interest in my colon.

But I realize this is a privilege. It’s a gift. Being old, I mean. Aging out. For once, I’m finally aware of the privilege in the moment. I am old. But I have friends who are still in their 20s. Friends who should be in their 40s. Some of them are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

That is what makes Arlington a special place. And for those of us who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, Section 60 — the burial site of hundreds of service members killed in those wars — is the inner sanctum. It is the most sacred plot among more than 600 hallowed acres. When I lived in Northern Virginia during Barack Obama’s administration, I avoided Section 60 studiously. It was too much, and still too close. There was always that looming sense that it could’ve been me. Maybe it should’ve been me.

So I didn’t visit until I was about to move back to Dallas. An Army buddy told me I had to go before I left D.C. So I did. Finally.

All of this is to say that, to combat veterans, Arlington National Cemetery has the same power that all holy places have. And that is why Donald Trump’s recent behavior is so repulsive.

Trump was so eager to use Arlington’s Section 60 as a backdrop for a campaign event this week that he may have broken federal laws against politicizing the burial ground to do it. Trump’s staff also shoved aside a cemetery official trying to stop them. He even posed for a photograph over a U.S. Marine’s gravesite, grinning and giving a thumbs-up. The moment was jaw-droppingly crass and vulgar, as all of Trump’s are. It defiled sacred ground.

And it is not going away.

There are stumbles, mistakes and even grave errors you can make on the campaign trail. And, if you're lucky, something else emerges that takes away attention. That's not the case here. This is an insult to the fallen. It weighs heavy on many Americans across the land. It does not just go away.

The outrage over his actions and words will simmer and continue to simmer and they'll reach a boil. His offense can't be smoothed over. He's not just running for president, he's a former president so he damn well should have known better.

America's seeing the real Donald Trump who, like Junior, looks around this country and finds nothing to take pride in but manages to dub it "America's nightmare."

Turning to Gaza, over the weekend

In other news, Lawahez Jabari, Rebecca Cohen, Hayley Walker and Sarah Dean (NBC NEWS) reported:

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli American taken hostage in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, is among six hostages whose bodies were recovered Saturday.

"With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time," a family representative said.

President Joe Biden said the bodies of Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages held by Hamas were recovered in a tunnel under Rafah.

The other five discovered were Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov, Eden Yerushalmi, Oren Danino and Almog Sarusi. Would the six be dead if War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu had worked on an actual cease-fire instead of prolonging the assault on Gaza? It's a question more and more Israelis are asking themselves. Lauren Izso, Raja Razek and Kaanita Iyer (CNN) reported:

A group representing the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza has called for the public to mobilize after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported finding “a number of bodies” in the war-torn territory.

The demands by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum came as thousands rallied across Israel on Saturday demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sign a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

The IDF said in a statement Saturday that it had “located a number of bodies during combat in the Gaza Strip,” but it has not confirmed whether any of the bodies are those of hostages and asked the public to “refrain from spreading rumors.”

However, many Israelis have taken the statement to mean that more Israeli hostages have been found dead and it has amplified calls for the government to secure a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

THE NATIONAL noted:

The Hostages Families Forum, which has confirmed their deaths, has organised nationwide rallies and hit out at Prime Minister Netanyahu for failing to secure a ceasefire deal.

"Today, the entire nation will stand alongside the hostages' families to protest the cabinet's ongoing neglect if the hostages," it said, calling on the public to join a demonstration "demanding a complete halt of the country and the immediate implementation of a deal to release the hostages."

"If it weren’t for the saboteurs, the excuses, and the spin, the hostages whose deaths we learned of this morning would probably be alive,” the forum said on X.

The anger and outrage only increased. Sunday, THE GUARDIAN reported, "Israel is braced for its first nationwide general strike since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, amid widespread public anger at the government’s handling of the war in Gaza after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages at the weekend. Israel’s largest trade union, Histadrut, ordered a nationwide general strike from 6am on Monday that is expected to bring large parts of the economy to a halt. Government and municipal offices were due to close, as well as schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, is due to shut down at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period." A cease-fire could have delivered the hostages home safely; however, War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu did not want a cease-fire for numerous reasons including it would allow the criminal case against Netanyahu to move forward. He's a corrupt politician who's in deep trouble and the assault on Gaza has allowed him to distract from that. We'll include this from WIKIPEDIA:

On 21 November 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, leading him to legally relinquish his ministry portfolios other than prime minister. Netanyahu's trial in the Jerusalem District Court began on 24 May 2020, with witness testimony starting on 5 April 2021. The prosecution listed 333 witnesses.^[1] As of June 2024, the trial is still ongoing.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Saturday's discovery of six dead hostages has only inflamed anger at Netanyahu who should not have taken nearly nine months to bring the hostages home. BBC NEWS noted, "The mayor of Tel Aviv says the municipality will join tomorrow's strikes, he says in a post on X, external. Ron Huldai goes on in the social media post to say the Israeli government 'abandoned' the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from an underground tunnel in southern Gaza." Holly Johnston and Taylor Heyman (THE NATIONAL) added, "Israel's Ben Gurion Airport will be closed for take-off and landings from 8am, the country's Trade Union Federation said, and schools would only open until 11.45am. Nurseries would be closed all day, the Teachers Union, a branch of Histarut, said." And ALZEERA reported, "Tevel Dan, the company that operates light rail services, in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area said train services will “operate in a reduced format” and that there may be disruptions and delays, according to YNet. In West Jerusalem, Cfir said the city’s light rail system will not operate until 12:00pm local time (09:00 GMT) because of the strike called by the Histadrut, the country’s largest labour union."

Sunday did see strikes and massive protests across Israel. THE JERUSALEM POST offers a photo essay here. Dearbail Jordan and Alice Cuddy (BBC NEWS) note, "Protesters - many clad in Israeli flags - descended on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities, accusing PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of not doing enough to reach a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during the 7 October attacks." Josef Federman and Melanie Lidman (AP) explain, "The mass outpouring appeared to be the largest such demonstration in 11 months of war and protesters said it felt like a possible turning point, although the country is deeply divided." And how were the protesters recognized by the police? CNN reports, "Police in Tel Aviv used stun grenades to disperse protesters on Sunday night, according to video footage and Naama Lazimi, a member of Israel’s parliament who was present at the demonstration. In video footage verified by CNN, police are seen throwing stun grenades at protestors blocking Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, who were calling for the release of hostages in Gaza."

ALJAZEERA adds, "The protesters chanted 'Now! Now!' and demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with Palestinian group Hamas to bring the remaining captives home. Many Israelis blocked roads in Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s office in West Jerusalem." IPS analyst Phyllis Bennis tells ALJAZEERA, "Clearly the best way to bring all the hostages home, to get the Palestinian prisoners released -- some 10,000 of them who are being held illegally inside Israeli prisons, 6,000 of them without any charges, and stopping this genocidal war that Israel is waging in Gaza -- the best way to do that is for the United States to stop sending weapons."

Barak Ravid (AXIOS) notes, "White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday told families of U.S. hostages held in Gaza that President Biden is considering presenting Israel and Hamas a final proposal for a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal later this week, two sources with direct knowledge of the meeting told Axios." What's holding it up? ALJAZEERA notes, "Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya told Al Jazeera that the Palestinian group has been ready to sign a ceasefire agreement for Gaza, but Netanyahu has prevented that from happening." Again, the minute the assault ends, Netanyahu has to deal with the criminal charges he faces for his corruption. BBC NEWS reports, "Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining hostages home from Gaza"

Sunday also saw the Israeli government has bombed another school in Gaza. AFP quotes a Palestinian government spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal, stating, "Eleven people, including a woman and girl, were killed when an Israeli air strike struck the Safad school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Monday did see protest and strikes. Kim Hjelmgaard (USA TODAY) reports, "Protests and general strikes swept Israel on Monday as frustration and anger mounted over the failure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would free Israeli hostages held by the militant group in Gaza for nearly 11 months." The strikes were announced on Sunday. David Gritten and Robert Plummer (BBC NEWS) explain, "Israel's biggest trade union has said hundreds of thousands of people joined the general strike it called to put pressure on the government to agree a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas. Businesses, schools and transport were disrupted before a court ordered everyone to return to work, ruling that Histadrut’s strike was largely political." Haley Ott (CBS NEWS) adds, "While many private sector businesses were open as usual on Monday, municipal services as well as services at Israel's main air transport hub, Ben Gurion Airport, were at least partially disrupted. Banks were closed and hospitals were only partially operating, the Reuters news agency reported." Khaled Yacoub Oweis (THE NATIONAL) notes, "Thousands of people chanted 'free them now' at a rally near the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv on Monday night, demanding the release of hostages in Gaza."

Nadine Yousif (BBC News) reports, "Joe Biden has said Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas, amid reports suggesting a new proposal would be sent to the Israeli prime minister as 'final.' The US president and Kamala Harris, his vice-president, met negotiators in the Situation Room to hammer out a proposal, as protests engulfed Israel on Monday over the weekend deaths of six hostages in Gaza." Eugenia Yosef and Lauren Kent (CNN) note, "The Hostages and Missing Families Forum praised US President Joe Biden’s comment that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas" and quote this statement, "The Hostages Families Forum commends President Biden and his administration for their actions and determination to secure the release of all 101 hostages. We urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to demonstrate similar resilience, determination, and commitment to the lives of the hostages,"

In the face of the anger and fallout, War Criminal Netanyahu has issued an apology. I'm sorry? That's supposed to cover it?

CNN's Nic Robertson offers this take:

Gripped by swelling protests and labor union strikes, the weeks ahead for Israel are unpredictable. These well-tested democratic tools of change have toppled governments before, but it’s best to remember that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a political survivor extraordinaire.

Even now, Netanyahu and the hard-right nationalist members of his cabinet are working to shut down the legal protests and strikes through a court order, that seemed in the short term at least to have been successful.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 332 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. THE NATIONAL notes, "Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 40,819 Palestinians and injured 94,291 others since October 7, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The latest toll includes 33 people killed and 67 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added." Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." Months ago, 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 of acute food insecurity or worse." 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:

Polio is a threat in Gaza now thanks to the continued assault. We'll note this from NPR's WEEKEND EDITION (Saturday):

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Polio, which has been gone from the Gaza Strip for decades, is back as the war there continues. But there is the possibility of good news. Tomorrow, the United Nations will begin to vaccinate children in Gaza against that preventable and highly contagious virus. It'll be an enormous effort, one that NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy will follow from her base in Dubai. And she joins us now. Aya, thanks for being with us.

AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.

SIMON: Tell us about how this vaccination campaign's being rolled out.

BATRAWY: Well, the U.N. has really big aims here. They want to reach more than 640,000 children across Gaza to give them two courses of the polio vaccine. It will be given orally in droplets, but it needs refrigeration at every step, and pretty much Gaza has no electricity. They're just running on generators and fuel that's in short supply. Another logistical challenge here is that the whole population is displaced, and so it's not easy for them to reach U.N.-run clinics. But the U.N. groups leading this vaccination effort, which is UNICEF and the World Health Organization, they say the most critical factor is a pause in airstrikes so that the vaccines can reach all these children. Now, Israel says it's agreed to short pauses. Basically, it won't attack for about eight hours a day in specific parts of Gaza for the few days that this campaign is being rolled out, and Hames says they'll also cooperate.

SIMON: How did the polio spread there in the first place?

BATRAWY: Doctors tell me this was a combination of factors. You know, you have children, Scott, that haven't had access to vaccines, but also most of Gaza's hospitals have been destroyed or closed. You also have wastewater treatment plants and desalination plants that have been bombed, so people have been drinking dirty water to survive. And we know from the Gaza Health Ministry that more than 40,000 people have been killed by Israeli fire in this war, but we don't have a tally for people who've died from illness. However, we know there's been a huge spike in kids with infections and diarrhea. Children are hungry. They are malnourished. They're living in these overcrowded shelters or in the open in tents and with weak immune systems.

SIMON: And do we know how widespread polio could now be in Gaza?

BATRAWY: Well, there's already been a case confirmed in a 10-month-old baby boy who was active and crawling, and he's now paralyzed in one leg after contracting polio. And he is the first case of polio in a quarter-century in Gaza. Now, it comes after the Gaza Health Ministry and the World Health Organization - they sounded the alarm on this in July when they announced that the polio virus had been found in sewage water flowing in the streets around the tents of displaced people. And there are now at least two other suspected cases as well. Now, the symptoms for polio show in one out of every 100 to 1,000 people. So the doctors I spoke with say this means thousands of people in Gaza likely already have contracted polio. It is spreading, and one doctor called it a powder keg.

Yolande Knell (BBC NEWS) notes, "To be effective, the World Health Organization (WHO) says at least 90% of children under 10 must be immunised in a short time frame. It follows the discovery of the first confirmed case of polio in 25 years in Gaza, with a UN expert saying more children are likely to be infected and that there could be a wider regional outbreak if the virus is not dealt with." Amr Mostafa (THE NATIONAL) reported, "Teams will be based at the health centres affiliated with the ministry and international organisations, including the UNRWA, in addition to mobile teams that will tour the enclave including the camps of the displaced people, Mr Dahir said. Another round will start on September 17 and will revisit the same areas. Yousef Abu Al Reesh, Gaza's deputy minister of health, said vaccination teams would try to get to as many areas as possible to ensure wide coverage but he said only a comprehensive ceasefire could guarantee enough children are reached." The roll out depends on a level of safety and it's a level that the Israeli government is unwilling to ensure. THE NATIONAL reports this morning:

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Tuesday that more than 160,000 children in central Gaza have received a first dose of polio vaccine, as part of an inoculation campaign that started on Sunday.The vaccination drive will continue in the centre of the enclave until Wednesday evening, the ministry said in a statement.

Vaccine doses will on Thursday be administered in Khan Younis governorate in southern Gaza for four days, the ministry added. It will then move to northern Gaza on Monday, with doses to be given out for another four days.

Kat's "Kat's Korner: After a dull musical summer, Vanessa Williams emerges as much more than a SURVIVOR" went up Sunday. The following sites updated: