don't have a lot to post tonight. but did see this at 'deadline:'
“If you look back on comedy and drama both, let’s say 30 years ago, through the lens of today, you might find bits and pieces that don’t age well,” Dreyfus told The New York Times in an interview. “And I think to have an antenna about sensitivities is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that all comedy goes out the window as a result.”
She continued, “When I hear people starting to complain about political correctness — and I understand why people might push back on it — but to me that’s a red flag, because it sometimes means something else. I believe being aware of certain sensitivities is not a bad thing. I don’t know how else to say it.”
good for her. she doesn't want to become a conservative like jerry seinfeld who is woefully out of touch with today.
he hasn't been able to connect onscreen with audience since 'seinfeld' went off the air in the 90s. julia's had 2 hit shows in this century - 'the new adventures of old christine' and 'veep.'
let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Friday, June 7, 2024. The CIA grasps how crazy War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu actually is, the physical attacks on journalists (and the Israeli government's intimidation of them) continues, more sir strikes (War Crimes), the useless Jill Stein continues to try to hijack the Green Party, and much more.
Yesterday, the Israeli government added to their long list of War Crimes. with their attack Thursday on a United Nations school housing refugees.
From last night's THE NEWSHOUR (PBS):
Nick Schifrin:
The classroom, that became a shelter is now shattered. Two Israeli munitions hit their target, a room designed for the displaced, where they slept and where many have lived for months.
Outside the local hospital, a mother's grief. Frial Zedan lost her 17-year-old son, Mahmoud.
Frial Zedan, Mother (through interpreter):
There's nothing here but people, just people trying to live. Why are you doing this to us?
Nick Schifrin:
Mahmoud's sister, Seham, is inconsolable.
Seham Zedan, Sister (through interpreter):
Why would they bomb the school? Why would they bomb any school? Where do we go? There's no place to go to where they don't drop missiles down on us. Where do we go?
Nick Schifrin:
In another family, too young to understand why, old enough to mourn.
Palestinian health officials affiliated with Hamas say a dozen victims were women and children. But the Israeli military said, and informed the U.S. in a private briefing, that the classroom had been taken over by 20 to 30 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants who had participated in the October 7 terrorist attacks, planned — quote — "imminent attacks," and turned the three classrooms in the U.N. school into their command-and-control.
Israel said it dropped small bombs that did not damage nearby rooms, or kill civilians. And, in a briefing, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari displayed the names of Hamas members who'd been killed.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces:
Hamas hopes the international law and public sympathy will provide a shield for their military activities, which is why they systematically operate from schools, U.N. facilities, hospitals, and mosques.
Nick Schifrin:
Today, State Department spokesman Matt Miller called on Israel to be transparent.
Matthew Miller, State Department Spokesman:
Even if the intent is what the IDF has said publicly, that they were trying to use a precision strike just to target 20 to 30 militants, if you have seen 14 children die in that strike, that shows that something went wrong. That said, these are all facts that need to be verified. And that's what we want to see happen.
Nick Schifrin:
Back in the hospital, Samia Al-Maqadmeh cradles her son Imad, who was rescued from the rubble.
Imad Al-Maqadmeh, Wounded in Airstrike (through interpreter): What did we do? There are no armed people in the school. There are children who play, like us, children. Why did they bomb us? I want to know why. Where should we go?
On the dead, AP notes, "Casualties from the school strike — including three women and nine children — were taken to a hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, as documented by hospital records and an Associated Press journalist. The hospital has already been overwhelmed by a stream of ambulances since Israeli forces launched a new offensive in central Gaza this week." On the US State Dept, Matt Murphy and George Wright (BBC NEWS) add:
In Washington, Mr Miller said the US has seen reports that 14 children were killed in the strike.
"If that is accurate that 14 children were killed, those aren’t terrorists," he said.
"And so the government of Israel has said they are going to release more information about this strike... We expect them to be fully transparent in making that information public.”
The latest deaths come just a week after 45 people were killed in an Israeli strike in the Gazan city of Rafah.
The violence continued today with FRANCE 24 reporting this morning:
On today's violence, Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) adds:
At least 23 Palestinians were killed early on Friday in Israeli strikes on refugee camps across Gaza, with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar vowing the militant group will fight on until its ceasefire conditions are met.
The attacks killed five people in Nuseirat camp, including Mayor Iyad Al Maghari, and at least six in Maghazi camp, in central Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported.
Mr Al Maghari was killed when Israeli forces attacked a municipal office in central Gaza.
Around the world, people call for an end to this violence, an end to this ongoing slaughter. The NAACP is using its voice to call for a cease-fire.
Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) explains:
Citing Israel's killing of over 36,000 Palestinians in Gaza and its defiance of a World Court order to stop attacking Rafah, the NAACP on Wednesday joined the hundreds of human rights and civil society organizations urging the Biden administration to halt weapons transfers to Israel.
The leading U.S. civil rights group noted Israel's defiance of the International Court of Justice's May 24 order to stop attacking the southern Gaza city of Rafah and the Israel Defense Force's (IDF) May 26 bombing of a refugee encampment there that killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians, including many women and children.
"The total death toll of Gazans has reached over 36,000 with another 81,000 injured," the NAACP said. "Nearly 500 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 117 children, have also been killed."
Violence in this ongoing slaughter also includes attacks on journalists. At the end of last month, Reporters Without Borders filed another complaint with the International Criminal Court, "RSF has filed this third complaint with the Hague-based ICC because the number of journalists killed in Gaza by the IDF is continuing to grow after passing the 100 mark, in an eradication of the Palestinian media. The complaint, which follows those filed on 31 October and 22 December, details eight new cases of Palestinian journalists killed between 20 December and 20 May, as well as the case of a journalist who was injured. All concerned journalists were killed (or injured) in the course of their work. RSF has reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians." On Wednesday, a Flag Day parade turned into another excuse for violence as an angry mob of Israelis began attacking Palestinians and journalists (and Palestinians who were also journalists. DPA noted, "A reporter from Israel's liberal Haaretz newspaper wrote on the social media platform X that a colleague was attacked after defending fellow journalists. Five people were detained in the incident, police said." Allyson Horn, Haidarr Jones and Orly Halpern (Australia's ABC) explain, "Violence has erupted at Israel's annual Jerusalem Day march, with some Jewish Israelis attacking Palestinians and journalists, including an ABC News team, while chanting offensive slogans." Today, Thomas Helm (THE NATIONAL) reports:
Israeli police detained Palestinian journalist Saif Al Qawasmi shortly after he was attacked by an extremist mob in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Al Qawasmi, a freelance photographer for several Arab outlets, was held for about an hour and a half after an Israeli ultranationalist told police he was a member of Hamas, Haaretz reported.
The arrest came shortly after Al Qawasmi was assaulted by dozens of mostly teenage Israelis, who surrounded him close to Damascus Gate.
The image quickly became emblematic of the horrors Palestinian residents of Jerusalem’s Old City face during the annual Flag March, a deeply contentious parade through the Muslim Quarter.
The Haaretz report – written by journalist Nir Hasson, who was also attacked trying to protect Al Qawasmi – said there was no evidence any of Al Qawasmi’s attackers had been summoned by police.
Yesterday, journalist Abu-Bakr Bashir contributed an essay to The Committee To Protect Journalists which concludes with this:
When I lived in Gaza, I was worried about my life and my children’s future. Now in London, I worry about Gaza and the future of journalism there. In addition to those journalists who have been killed, dozens have fled; these losses are catastrophic to the journalistic profession there. Eight months into the war, I have so many questions: Who will guide the young journalists entering the profession? How objective can they be given the brutal conditions and lack of guidance? Will the world listen to them, let alone believe their narrative? And at the end of this, will there be young men and women willing to go into journalism in Gaza? Who will tell Gaza’s story?
This morning,
A CIA assessment circulated among US officials this week concluded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely judges he can get away without defining a post-war plan — even as the Biden administration has launched a full-court press to pressure him to bring an end to the conflict in Gaza.
Netanyahu “probably believes he can maintain support from his security chiefs and prevent defections” from the right wing of his coalition by discussing the future of Gaza in “vague terms,” the June 3 report, reviewed by CNN, reads.
The assessment — which has not been previously reported — represents one of the most up to date intelligence assessments about Netanyahu’s mindset that has been circulated among senior US officials, according to a source familiar with internal reporting.
It comes amid a clear shift in how the Biden administration views Israel: less as a trusted partner and more as an unpredictable foreign government to be analyzed and understood.
The CIA? It's lousy when it comes to predictions but it is often very sharp on analysis. Then again, since people try to pretend the CIA is about flowers and love (Gloria Steinem infamously stated that their objectives aligned with her own), the CIA may have a bad rap when it comes to their predictions. The CIA is not about making livers better, it is about sewing unrest. And when one of this plots and schemes explode somewhere in the world and garners attention, efforts are made to insist that this was never the goal and, woopsie, a mistake was made. Most likely, it was not.
So debate how strong they are on predictions, but grasp that they can do strong analysis and have.
We were the first to note Nouri al-Maliki's paranoia. This was when he became Iraq's prime minister. As we noted then, he was made prime minister -- by the US government -- due to the CIA assessment on how vast his paranoia was.
Now that should have led the US government to refuse to unleash Nouri on the Iraqi people. However, it's not about what's good for humanity when it comes to the CIA or the US government. More important to them was having someone that they could control. Nouri's paranoia meant that they could play him like a puppet.
And they did. But that paranoia they harnessed? It evolved into paranoia against the US government.
They were slow and stupid to realize it had happened. In fact, in 2010, the US government made the decision to overturn the election results in Iraq (via The Erbil Agreement) and give Nouri a second term. He was already known for his secret prisons and jails, for his attacks on journalists, for so many appalling actions. But Samantha Power and others advocated to then-President Barack Obama for Nouri to have a second term. And then all hell broke loose including, but not limited to, the rise of ISIS.
So here we stand now with a CIA assessment of War Criminal Netanyahu. Let's hope smarter brains our in the room as the administration debates what to do next.
Lives are at stake -- not that lives have really mattered that much in the decision making in the past.
Here's DEMOCRACY NOW!'s Thursday report on the strike on the UN school:
AMY GOODMAN: An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least 40 people, including 14 children, according to the government media office in Gaza. Nearly 80 Palestinians were also wounded in the predawn strike on the Al-Sardi School, which is run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known by its acronym UNRWA. The Israeli military claimed it targeted Hamas militants operating in the school, but provided no evidence to back up its claim.
UNRWA schools across Gaza have functioned as shelters for displaced Palestinians since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza. Last week, Israeli airstrikes hit close to an UNRWA facility in the southern city of Rafah, where tens of thousands had sought shelter, setting tents ablaze and killing at least 45 people. Over 36,600 people have been killed in Israeli military air attacks in Gaza over the past eight months, with over 83,300 injured.
For more, we’re joined by UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai. She joins us from Amman, Jordan.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Tamara. Can you explain what happened at about — what was it? About 1:30 in the morning Gaza time.
TAMARA ALRIFAI: Yes. Hi, Amy, and thank you so much for giving UNRWA always a space and a platform on Democracy Now!
What we understood from our colleagues in Gaza, given how patchy telecommunication is, is that, indeed, an Israeli strike hit one of our shelters. Originally, this was a school, but since the beginning of the war, this school in Nuseirat in the middle part of Gaza, like many, many other UNRWA schools across the Gaza Strip, have housed people who have been repeatedly displaced as the conflict in Gaza evolved, evicting them and forcing them to leave their homes, leave loved ones and leave their things behind. The strike happened around 2 a.m. And from what we understand, there are between 35 and 45 people killed. Many of them are children.
We also remind that this being an UNRWA shelter, up to 6,000 people had sought refuge and safety inside that school, just like many, many other displaced people of the 2 million population of Gaza have been seeking a safe haven — but it hasn’t been safe — inside UNRWA shelters. I say that it’s not safe, because more than 170 UNRWA buildings, most of them serving as shelters, have been hit since the beginning of the war, killing more than 450 people. And by the way, we have lost — UNRWA has lost so far 193 of my colleagues, all of them killed since the beginning of this war.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a post on social media where Israeli military spokesperson Peter Lerner said Israel intentionally targeted the school, and wrote, quote, “We assess that: 20-30 terrorists were in the compound at the time of the strike. We targeted: Precision strikes on the specific classrooms. What were the terrorists doing in a @UN school: The compound was used for staging attacks and as a forward operating base,” end-quote. Your response, Tamara?
TAMARA ALRIFAI: We had 6,000 people, who had been displaced several times since the war started in October, sheltering in our schools. Most of them, more than half of them, were women and children. We’ve been hearing about precision strikes and about reports that some of the UNRWA or U.N. installations have been used by Palestinian armed groups. We hear about this every time a strike kills scores of civilians in or near our buildings. International law is clear. International humanitarian law calls for the protection of civilians, of people, of women, of children. During this conflict, the U.N. has paid the highest toll ever in such a short period. Eight months is not short, but 193 UNRWA staff killed and 450 people in our shelters is huge.
AMY GOODMAN: And what happened in Rafah last week with the Israeli airstrike, that the Israeli military did not deny, that led to the deaths of 45, at least, Palestinians who were in this tent camp, who had fled there because they were told that this area would be safe?
TAMARA ALRIFAI: Exactly what you’re saying, Amy. Since the beginning of this war, Gazans have been issued what the Israeli government calls evacuation orders. In reality, these are orders for forced displacement. So, this sea of people in Gaza has moved since the beginning of the conflict from the north of the Gaza Strip or Gaza City to the middle areas, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, and then they were forced to move again, in the direction of the conflict, to Rafah, where people were told that they would be safe. Until last month, Rafah housed 1.5 million people, all of them displaced several times, and all of them were told that if you go to Rafah, you would be safe.
Then, as of the 6th of May, the Israeli government decided on a land, ground invasion of Rafah, therefore pushing people to move again. Many of them had nowhere left to go. The tents became very, very rare in Rafah. No one had personal belongings. But mostly, there was nowhere safe, because strikes continues, aerial bombings continued. So, there was nowhere safe. There still is nowhere safe. And what happened to these people in the tents is apocalyptic, like my colleagues from MSF say, and a reminder that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: The issue of hunger. The U.N. World Food Programme has issued a dire warning, stating, quote, “Over one million people — half the population of Gaza — are expected to face death and starvation by mid-July” if the war doesn’t end. If you can talk about what UNRWA has been able to do in helping to relieve the suffering, given how many countries have pulled out of funding of UNRWA because Israel said that UNRWA, some of the workers, had been tied to the October 7th attack, though not presenting any evidence, leading to a number of countries restoring funding to UNRWA, though the U.S. hasn’t?
TAMARA ALRIFAI: So, let’s start with the good news. All of the 16 countries that had suspended funding resumed funding to UNRWA, except the U.S. and the U.K.. The U.S. and the U.K., though, are big donors to UNRWA, so that leaves us with a huge funding gap. Having said that, we’ve been receiving a lot of support from private individuals, private foundations, celebrities, in a sign of acknowledgment of the irreplaceable role that UNRWA has been playing since the beginning of the conflict.
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian operation. We also cooperate very closely with other U.N. agencies, particularly the World Food Programme, on distributing food. The distribution of food, of wheat flour, of clean drinking water has not stopped since the beginning of the war, despite extremely challenging humanitarian circumstances, that include very, very patchy opening of the crossings, the land crossings, whether it’s Rafah from the Egyptian side or Karem Abu Salem, Kerem Shalom, from the side of Israel. Land crossings are the safest and the fastest ways to get aid into the Gaza Strip. We’ve all been discussing for the longest time how many trucks a day have gone in. I want to say that the last month has been awful. Most of the days in May have seen zero trucks going in for the U.N., and on the best day, we’ve seen 77 trucks — 77 trucks with food, nonfood, mattresses, tents, clean water, medicines, medical supplies for a population of nearly 2 million people, or a bit over 2 million, completely under siege since the latest military operation started in the May.
So, yes, UNRWA has long warned from malnutrition and an imminent famine. UNICEF just recently said that nine out of 10 children in Gaza fall way below their needed calorie intake daily. And now with the scorching heat of nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Gaza, lack of clean drinking water, we have started to see infants dying of dehydration.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, this breaking news, the United States and 16 other countries calling on Israel and Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire-hostage deal, not clear exactly what the details are. What would this mean in Gaza right now?
TAMARA ALRIFAI: A ceasefire is what everyone in Gaza needs right now, just to take a breath and have some respite. But in addition to the ceasefire, there has to be a much increased flow of humanitarian assistance going in, and there has to be a plan to resume some sense of normality in the Gaza Strip, particularly for traumatized children. And for that, a resumption of any kind of learning will help the children, not only lagged behind, but it will also help restore some kind of mental well-being. A ceasefire is what everyone needs in Gaza now.
AMY GOODMAN: Tamara Alrifai, we want to thank you for being with us, spokesperson for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, speaking to us from Amman, Jordan.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 245 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 36,731, with 83,530 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:
We need to wrap up. Let's do so with the US Green Party. Let's start with this Wednesday press release from the Green Party of Michigan:
Presidential Preference Poll, Let your voice be heard !!! |
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Hi Greens, Its that time again to vote for the candidates who will represent us in the upcoming election. We are asking you to participate in a Presidential poll to help our national delegates who will vote in the national convention August 15-18. We need to know which Presidential candidate best represents our members here in Michigan. If you are a member of GPMI and would like to have your voice heard please follow one of the links below and follow instructions. On our website download the PDF here download word doc here I would also like to remind you that our State Wide convention is just around the corner and will be in person and online. Please join us to vote for your favorite candidates. June 15 @ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EDT |
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The Green Party of Michigan is constantly searching for new and innovative ways to continue serving Michiganders, keeping candidates on the ballot, and to move our party forward without corporate money which invites corruption. We need the support of the people like you. Consider making a donation today (or become a monthly donor in the amount of your choice!) to help sustain our fight for Green politics and against our broken two-party system. |
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Contact GPMI for questions Phone: (313)-815-2025 Email: meetings@migreenparty.org ; webstewmigp@gmail.com Sponsoring Group: Green Party of Michigan |
Michigan's Green Party is asking its members who they support for the nomination. That's because -- despite the lies of Jill Stein to the press that she's got the delegate count so she's the nominee -- the nominee will be decided at the July convention. It has been a party of the people and it has been concerned with serving their members which is why someone -- today or in the past -- could show up at the national convention and inspire the crowd enough that they could get the nomination. Even if they hadn't run a campaign (the way some wanted Jesse Ventura to do in 2020, just show up at the convention and see if they'd vote him their nominee). Jill Stein isn't just a failure, she's also a liar. She is not yet the presidential nominee of the Green Party for 2024. She may become that, but she's not there yet. She's lying the same way she lied for Cornel West and to Cornel West and her pathetic attempts to play Wounded White Woman Wound By The Bad Black Man are patently racist and deeply offensive. For more on the way she's tried to cast herself as the poor White woman that some Black man looked at, see Ava and my "Media: They loved him when he stayed in the lane they put him in."
Ann's "Moron Jill Stein" went up Wednesday night and includes:
Now she's set to be named the presidential nominee in 2024.
Stein’s campaign manager, Jason Call, confirmed that she met with Hammoud last week and asked whether he would “consider joining her campaign as her running mate.”
Hammoud, however, is too young to qualify as a vice-presidential candidate. Under the Constitution, the president must be at least 35 years old — and therefore so must the vice president, since that person must be ready to step into the Oval Office at any moment.
Jill is a moron and if she becomes the nominee, if she's named as such in the party convention, that is not a good look for the party. It's amazing, isn't it, how many want to look the other way. Hey, Cindy Sheehan, remember you using your podcast to promote crazy b.s. about the Green Party and about Howie Hawkins' win? Howie campaigned. That's how he won. He got the votes. Jill just anointed herself. And you can see who's working the plantation when it comes to so-called Black voices. They let her trash Conrel, they let her lie about Cornel. That's how they use their platforms.
Jill is over seventy years old and was the nominee in 2012 and 2016. There's no new blood in the Green Party? Clearly not if anti-vax Jill is named the 2024 presidential nominee. In fact, that is an announcement -- naming Jill the presidential nominee that the Green Party is dead. The only reason for that attention seeking whore to run for a third time was to raise the profile of another Green by making them her running mate. Yet, right out of the gate, she stabs the party in the back and tries to bring on a Democrat.
Exactly how much does the Green Party
intend to take from this trash that left them hugely in debt following
her 2016 campaign failure?
We need to wrap up, I'm running late this morning. Be sure to check out Jeffery St. Clair's latest column ("Snatch-and-Grab Israeli Style: Disappearing into the Gulag") at COUNTERPUNCH. Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "A Message From Governor Greg Asshole" which went up last night. The following sites updated:
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