Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude: 06/02

6/06/2024

torture of palestinians always requires a whistle-blower for the press to believe it

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "A Message From Governor Greg Asshole" went up tonight and a shout out to all texas community members or readers (or both) because this is nonsense. you should not yet again be without power. monday night was not a hurricane.. and it's thursday now. this should have been immediately fixed. and the grid system should have been fixed in 2021 when it almost gave out.

okay, amy goodman ('democracy now!'):

Israel has announced it is shutting down a desert prison camp where Palestinian prisoners from Gaza say they were routinely beaten and tortured. Last month, three Israeli whistleblowers who worked at Sde Teiman spoke to CNN. One whistleblower shared photographs that showed Palestinians being strapped down, blindfolded and held in diapers at the site. Some prisoners had limbs amputated due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing.

this is how they treated palestinians for months and this is how they would still be treated right now were it not for the whistle-blowers and the press.

you can be sure that paletinians are being tortured in other israeli jails and prisons and the torture will continue unless whistle-blowers come forward.

and here's another sad thing: the whistle-blowers have to be israeli.

palestinians have long reported this torture. but no 1 covers it - year after year, decade after decade. it only gets global attention when an israeli whistle-blower comes forward.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Thursday, June 6, 2024. At least forty people dead from an Israeli attack on a refugee camp -- the attack carried out with US weapons -- the attack only one of at least three attacks on refugee camps taking place today.

As the day begins in the US, the killing continues in Gaza. THE IRISH TIMES explains, "Forty people have been killed after an overnight Israeli strike on the UN-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in near Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, local authorities report." Yes, the Israeli government has attacked another refugee camp and to really make it a War Crime, they attacked a school at a refugee camp. The dead does include children as Australia's ABC notes and the outlet also notes, "Footage showed bodies wrapped in blankets or plastic bags being laid out in lines in the courtyard of the hospital, which was largely dark as staff try to conserve limited fuel for electricity." SKY NEWS points out, "Eight months into Israel's offensive in Gaza, UNRWA schools in the region now function as shelters as the war has displaced most of the 2.3 million people in the territory." Abeer Salman and Rob Picheta (CNN) note, "According to a journalist in the area working with CNN, the school was hit by at least three missiles that penetrated the three-story building. The facility was believed to be housing approximately 20,000 displaced people who had taken shelter in the school, its yard, and the surrounding area, according to the journalist." Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy (AP) remind, "It was the latest instance of mass casualties among Palestinians trying to find refuge as Israel expands its offensives in the Gaza Strip." Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) offers this context, "The UNRWA school in Nuseirat was just the latest U.N. facility targeted by the Israeli military during its eight-month U.S.-backed assault on the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed more than half of Gaza's infrastructure, including all of its universities." The criminal government of Israel claims terrorists were at the camp. That would not justify dropping bombs on a refugee camp. But let's note that the residents of the camp are rejecting the assertion. Mohammed al-Haijar and Nader Durgham (MIDDLE EAST EYE) report:

Mohammed al-Hajjar in Deir al-Balah, occupied Palestine and Nader Durgham in Beirut

“They’re saying they were targeting fighters. What fighters? We don’t have any weapons, we came here for safety with nothing but our tents and the clothes on our backs,” said Ansam.

Gaza's media office also strongly rejected Israel claims.

“The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people,” Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the office, told Reuters.

Some video reports from this morning.

Some Tweets about the slaughter.

The Israeli government is carrying out these War Crimes but the US government is backing the War Crimes by supplying the weapons. CNN’s Allegra Goodwin reports:

US-made munitions were used in a deadly Israeli airstrike on a United Nations-run school in central Gaza on Thursday where Palestinians were sheltering, a CNN analysis of video from the scene and review by an explosive weapons expert has found.

At least 45 people died in strike on the school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, a spokesperson for Gaza's Ministry of Health told CNN.

CNN identified fragments of at least two US-made GBU-39 small diameter bombs (SDB) in video filmed at the scene by a journalist working for CNN.

[. . .]

US munitions again used: This incident is the second time in two weeks that CNN has been able to verify the use of US-manufactured munitions in deadly Israeli attacks on displaced Palestinians.

At least 45 people were killed and more than 200 others injured on May 26 after a fire broke out following an IDF strike on a displacement camp in Rafah, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian medics.

As THE NATIONAL notes, the above refugee camp bombing was not the only attack on refugee camps that Israel has carried out this morning, "'Violent bombardment' was also reported at Bureij refugee camp, with strikes also hitting Al Maghazi refugee camp, both also in central Gaza. Strikes were also reported in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south

This is a genocide. Yesterday, on DEMOCRACY NOW!, Amy Goodman spoke with genocide survivor.

AMY GOODMAN: Israeli forces began an escalated offensive on areas of central Gaza today, with airstrikes and ground forces moving into parts of Deir al-Balah, including the Bureij refugee camp. Al Jazeera reports at least 75 people have been killed in the past 24 hours in central Gaza, and the partially functioning hospitals in the area are struggling to cope with the surge in casualties.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops are continuing their offensive on Rafah in the south, where more than 1 million people have fled over the past few weeks, many of them heading back toward central Gaza. Airstrikes are also continuing in the north, as well. Over the past eight months, Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced over and over again, as they flee from one area to the next in a desperate search for safety.

Today we look at one young Palestinian story. He’s 19-year-old Helmi Hirez. He’s from Gaza City in northern Gaza. As Israel escalated its attacks on Gaza City, he fled south to Rafah with his parents and identical twin brother. A few days after they left, an Israeli airstrike hit their family home in Gaza City, killing 14 members of their family. Helmi spent three months sheltering in Rafah, until an airstrike slammed into the building next to where he was staying, burying him, his parents and his twin brother under the rubble. His mother was killed in that attack. Helmi then relocated yet again, this time to al-Mawasi, a coastal plot of land east of Khan Younis.

Helmi joins us now to tell his story. He’s joining us from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and there is a very long delay between when we ask the question and he’ll be able to answer it.

But, Helmi, welcome to Democracy Now! If you can start off by telling us your story? Talk about your journey from Gaza City and what has happened to your family all along the way.

HELMI HIREZ: OK. OK. Thank you, Amy, for having me.

Well, as you can see, I’m now in Deir al-Balah, in al-Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital. And it’s super crowded here, because several bombings have happened in the last two hours. The hospital is super crowded, and many injured people are here.

To start, I’m Helmi Hirez, 19 years old, from Gaza City, al-Rimal neighborhood, near Al-Shifa Hospital. Me and my family got out of Gaza on November 11th. After Al-Shifa Hospital and the entire Rimal neighborhood got invaded, we went into Rafah city, walking five kilometers on foot, while the Israeli army was pointing guns at us. And sometimes in this long road — I mean Salah al-Din Street road — sometimes we needed to jump over dead bodies just to don’t walk on them, dead bodies that were left intentionally to create this horrifying mental effect. After one week of our department from Gaza, our house in al-Rimal neighborhood got bombed with two rockets, exactly on November 18th, and 14 beloved family members were killed there. In that day, November 18th, Israel killed over than 1,000 Palestinians.

After that, we spent three months in Rafah city. And on February 12th, the building next to us got bombed. And we were in the center of Rafah city in two-floors building, and the building next to us was four-floors building. And the spaces between the houses in the center of Rafah city is sometimes less than one meter. So, when that building was bombed with four rockets, we got buried with the rubble. And I was able to get myself out of the rubble, and my twin brother and my father, and start digging over my mother. We dug over than one meter of rubble, and we got our mother breathing. And some guys took her to the hospital as fast as possible. And we kept digging over our sister. We got our sister awake, but not aware. She was vomiting blood. We went to a near house, and we hid there. And unfortunately, my mother suffered from internal bleeding, and she didn’t make it.

After that, we went to al-Mawasi area, living in a tent. After two months in al-Mawasi area, a near place in less than 200 meters — a near place in less than 200 meters where our camp was got bombed with two rockets also, and which destroyed our entire camp, killing over than four people, and it burned our tent. And we needed to buy a new one and to move to another area in al-Mawasi.

And this is just my continuous journey of displacement from one place to another, my continuous journey of loss from one place to another. We now live in al-Mawasi area, in less than two kilometers far from where the Israeli army exists. We are super worried. And all we are in al-Mawasi area are super worried that the Israeli army may come again to Khan Younis city or may invade al-Mawasi area. There is a lot of rumors about that. And whenever you walk in al-Mawasi, people are always looking towards the south, where the fire and the flames are coming out of Rafah city. And we can hear the sounds of the shelling and the bombing in Rafah city all day long and all night long.

We really don’t know where we can go. It’s very hard to know where the safe place is. I mean, we’re now in a green area, and you can hear the bombing every 10 or 15 minutes. In al-Mawasi, we’re in a green area also, and you can hear the bombing all day long, and you can be targeted in any minute. We now live in a tent, which is super hard for me and my family. Because al-Mawasi and Rafah city has kind of a desert climate, because we are near to Sinai Desert, it is super hot. And living in a tent is exactly like living in an oven. Sometimes, in some hours in the day, like 1 p.m., you need to get out of the tent so you can be able to breathe. You get out of the tent, sitting in the sun, just so you can be able to breathe. Cooking on fire and all of these hard life conditions isn’t suitable, isn’t working for us. Me and my twin brother are programmers, and we would never experience this kind of hard lifestyle.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Helmi —

HELMI HIREZ: Well, I also want to talk about that I started a campaign to help my family. Can you hear me?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Helmi, I wanted to ask you — you were a — first of all, condolences again for the loss of so many members of your family. Before the war, you and your twin brother were students. Could you talk to us about what you were studying and what your hopes were for your own future before the war?

HELMI HIREZ: Yes. Yes. I’m a computer engineering student, and my brother is an AI engineering student. I learned programming since the age of 10 years old. And I have worked for so many projects and so many companies. I got pro in the field, and I learned so many skills. And my brother is a brilliant AI engineer. He developed so many great inventions. In coronavirus crisis, he developed a system so all the malls and all the public places can identify by camera if this person is wearing a mask or not, allow him to enter the building or not, and to limit the disease transportation. And it actually helped a lot in Gaza City. Most public places in Gaza City took his invention and used it.

I was talking also about that I started a campaign to help my family, because my father was working in Israel before the war. He has permission to work in Tel Aviv. And when this war started, he lost his job. And after three months, we lost our mother, who was a digital marketing agent, so we lost our sole source of income. And we suffered a lot to provide the needed things for our family. So I started a GoFundMe campaign in hopes to help us, like, hold the living experiences of the war, and, after that, at least to rent an apartment and to help me and my brother to our college tuitions to finish our education, after we lost all of our sources of income.

AMY GOODMAN: You’re talking about your FundMe page, donate to help a twin. We’re showing a photograph right now — we’ve been showing it — of you and your identical twin brother Mohammed. You’re both, what, AI-tech twins, because you’re known for working on AI. But I also wanted to comment on the noise behind you. Our radio audience cannot see this, but we have seen dead bodies behind you wrapped in shrouds, because the place you are right now, right nearby, these attacks have taken place, just in the last 24 hours, so there’s a lot of chaos behind you. But we think it’s worth working hard to hear what you have to say, given your incredible journey. And again, our condolences on the loss of so many of your family members, including your mother. I’m wondering, Helmi, if you can tell us more about your mother, the picture of you and your brother in your graduation gowns with your mom, with that lovely smile, and what her aspirations were for you, and where you plan to go to now, given that the place you have moved to for, I don’t know how many times, is now the site of Israeli bombing.

HELMI HIREZ: Yes. About the picture, this picture was taken last year in my high school graduation in my last year in high school. The person on the left is me, Helmi. My name in Arabic means “my dream.” My mother named me. The person in the middle is my mother, Ibtisam, which means “smile.” And she always smiled. And the person on the left is my identical twin brother Mohammed.

We don’t really know where we can go right now, because there is no safe place in Gaza. I mean, we went to Rafah city. Since the day one of the war, they told us, they throw from the plane, they throw papers from the plane saying, “Go to Rafah city. Go to this specific area.” And they drew it on the map. We went there since the beginning of the war. And eventually, they got orders to get out of this area. So, we didn’t know where to go. Especially in this time of the war, people don’t know where to go. They are afraid from going to Deir al-Balah, and because the Israeli army didn’t invade Deir al-Balah before, so they may invade it now. They don’t know where to go. They can’t go to al-Mawasi. I mean, it’s very close to Rafah city, where the Israeli army exists. And they may invade it from this area. Now we’re just squeezed in the middle.

And, I mean, you can see the place I’m in right now. Every single second, you can see an ambulance coming here. And I’m still under shock, because just two minutes before this interview starts, I saw a shattered dead body. And it was a super horrifying scene. I still can’t, like, process that. After all I went through, I still can’t process seeing this kind of destructive.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Helmi, what would you — if you could reach out and tell the rest of the world, the people outside of Gaza, what you’re hoping the world can do to assist you and the other Palestinians in Gaza right now?

HELMI HIREZ: Well, they can raise their voices to ask for the stop of the genocide that is happening in Gaza. And I can’t find any other word that describes what is happening other than “genocide.” They can donate to help the people of Gaza and donate to help build in Gaza all over again, where the destruction in Gaza has removed the entire city, just make it sands over sands. Two days ago, I was in Khan Younis city. And, well, as far as your eye can see, it is only sands. The city does not exist anymore.

AMY GOODMAN: Helmi Hirez, we want to thank you so much for —

HELMI HIREZ: For me personally, you can help me by donating to my GoFundMe and my campaign to help my family.

AMY GOODMAN: Helmi, thank you so much for joining us in this extremely difficult, difficult time. We can’t say enough how much we send our condolences to your entire family. Helmi Hirez is a 19-year-old Palestinian, originally from Gaza City, 14 members of his family killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, just after he, his mom and his dad, his twin brother and sister left and went to Rafah, where they were then struck in an airstrike, struck into the rubble, his mother killed. We will continue to follow Helmi’s story and bring you more later.

Next up, the board of directors at the Columbia Law Review shuts down the law review’s website after student editors published an article by a Palestinian legal scholar on establishing Nakba as a formal legal concept. Stay with us.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 244 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 36,654, with 83,309 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:

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."

As for the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second World War."

THE NATIONAL notes:

The UN children's agency said on Thursday that nine out of 10 children in Gaza could not get nutrients from enough food groups to ensure their healthy growth and development.

"In the Gaza Strip, months of hostilities and restrictions on humanitarian aid have collapsed the food and health systems, resulting in catastrophic consequences for children and their families," Unicef said.

It said that five sets of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 had found that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip, which has been pounded by an Israeli offensive since last October, are suffering from severe food poverty.

This means they are surviving on at most two food groups a day.

"This is evidence of the horrific impact the conflict and restrictions are having on families' ability to meet children's food needs – and the speed at which it places children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition," Unicef said.

The following sites updated:

the disgusting congress scraping and bowing to netanyahu

c.i.'s noted this story in yesterday's snapshot but i want to note this 'nbc news' coverage:

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called out top leaders in both parties on Tuesday for welcoming Netanyahu to Congress, excoriating the Israeli prime minister as a “war criminal” amid the ongoing war with Gaza.

In an interview with NBC News Tuesday, Sanders lashed out at House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for inviting Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in the coming weeks.

“What Mr. Johnson is going to have to explain to the American people is why he thinks it’s okay to invite somebody to a joint session who is responsible for the deaths of some 38,000 Palestinians at this point, 60% of whom are women and children, elderly people,” Sanders said. (The U.N. cited a death toll of more than 36,000 Palestinians as of May 31.)

Reminded that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as well as the minority leaders of both chambers, joined Johnson's invite to Netanyahu, Sanders said he "strongly" disagreed with the decision.

Asked if he voiced that disagreement to Schumer, Sanders dryly laughed. “I have made it very clear to anybody who would listen," he said.

His comments come as a growing group of Senate Democrats are expressing concern that Netanyahu’s address could be politically divisive, further exacerbating tensions in Congress and frustration with the Israeli military campaign. A date for the speech has not yet been set.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, of Illinois, the number two Senate Democrat, said Tuesday that he would not have invited Netanyahu to speak before Congress until the Israeli prime minister commits to a two-state solution. Durbin said he is concerned the address could be a reprise of Netanyahu’s controversial speech to a joint session in 2015 when he criticized the Obama administration’s policy towards Iran.

there is no reason in the world to allow netanyahu to address congress. especially when we learn today that the israeli government has been running a psyops on members of the u.s. congress and the american people.

i agree with what c.i. said yesterday: news outlets around the country better be speaking to constituents and finding out if their representative and/or senator has taken the time to meet with them. because if they've got time to invite war criminal netanyahu to speak and to listen to him that better mean you've already met and spoken with every 1 of your constituents who wants to talk to you.

that is who you work for - not the ruler of a foreign country.

although aipac might disagree with me on that last 1. they think they can toss around all their foreign money and buy the u.s. government.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Wednesday, June 5, 2024. THE NEW YORK TIMES reports that the Israeli government has lied repeatedly online in an organized propaganda effort to sway US lawmakers, deaths and starvation continue in Gaza, Robert Kennedy Jr remains unfit for office as does his running mate, and much more.

Let's start with the freak show that is US campaign politics and is there a bigger freak than tan bed enthusiast and roid addict 70-year-old Robert Junior -- the Kennedy failure?

Five months away from the election and Theo Berman (NEWSWEEK) reports, "Currently, Kennedy is on the ballot in 18 states, including those with large Electoral College votes, such as California, Texas, and New York. If he were to win every state he is currently on the ballot for, he would take only 238 Electoral College votes, still below the 270 needed to win."

Win? As his fired NY campaign worker revealed -- he's on the ballot to fix it for Donald Trump. He wants to deny Joe Biden enough electoral votes so that the House would vote and the convicted felon could have a second term. Don't forget the remarks were denied and then his running 'mate' Nicole Shanahan said the same thing.

Poor Junior. One thing sadder than being a whore is being a whore's whore.

Nicole made all her money laying on her back and traipsing from one gold digging marriage to the next -- no, that's not how the campaign promotes her rise but, yes, that is how she did it. At THE NICOLE SHANAHAN SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES, students are taught not just advanced fellatio but also why not to sign a pre-nup and how to break one if you're forced to sign it.

And she's the biggest john Junior has these days. As Noah Kirsch (DAILY BEAST) noted a few weeks ago:

Shanahan separately made news on Thursday when it was revealed that she had poured another $8 million into Kennedy’s campaign coffers, adding to the $2 million she previously gave in March, and other funds she has routed to his Super PAC.

People are going to say “Bobby only picked me for my money,” she quipped at a fundraiser in Tennessee.

Oh, she's not just a whore, she's attempted to be a funny one but can people understand her punch lines when she's nose deep in pubes. "Und thun he thaid 'Keepth the tipth!' The tipth! Keepth the tipth!"

Oh, Nicole, there's so much you shouldn't do in public with your mouth open.

She learns that a little bit each day now, doesn't she? Kelly Rissman (INDEPENDENT) reports Nicole's latest open mouth in public embarrassment:

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr’s running mate has aligned herself with fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Nicole Shanahan, a 38-year-old California-based lawyer and now RFK Jr’s vice-president pick, mentioned the disgraced conservative media host at a campaign event last Thursday in Maine, where Carlson has a home.

“I’m sitting across from Tucker, and he and I are so on the same page in every single way,” Shanahan beamed, according to the Daily Beast. “We are on the same page because we have left establishment thinking once and for all.”

Honey, don't be so modest. You never thought, you rejected thinking long, long ago.

But that does give us an entry to make an important point.

Public health.

This week, Anthony Fauci faced pushback in Congress.

Good.

He was lousy at his job and he was a public liar. That's nothing new at this site and we also stated that once Joe was sworn in as president he should fire Fauci.

Fauci's problem was saying A and then saying B and then saying C and pretending like A, B and C were all the same without any contradictions.

The pandemic was a learn-as-you-go and most Americans grasped that. When he was wrong, he needed to admit it and he didn't. He eroded the public trust and he had too much baggage outside the office.

Joe should have fired him immediately. I have no idea what Donald Trump's current excuse would be for not asking Fauci for a resignation.

Joe firing Fauci would have allowed a page to be turned publicly.

I don't care about Fauci and I won't shed a tear if I read tomorrow that he died.

He didn't learn from the pandemic and he's not the only one.

COVID is still an issue but, more to the point, we could have a different outbreak. If that happens, we need someone who believes in public health.

Junior and The Whore -- that is how they'll appear on ballots, right? -- don't give a damn about public health and don't understand.

The vaccines? They were needed. I did not condemn anyone who refused to get one. I didn't get one until months after they were released because I was on chemo and my doctors were saying no. And that was our position here by the way. We did not insist trust the science and I noted that -- as a message -- was wrong. People trust their doctors and that's why the biggest complaint about insurance companies after the cost is when they end up on a policy that does not let them keep their doctors. The messaging should have been talk to your doctor.

Some doctors -- medical ones -- did not support the vaccine. And I don't mean in a "You can take the vaccine as soon as we end this round of chemo" manner. Or in a, "You have pre-existing conditions that make me not recommend the vaccine for you."

If the medical opinion you were given was not to take the vaccine, that's the card you drew and I'm not blaming you or even your doctor. Others can if they want but I'm not going to.

The vaccine came after the outbreak.

This nonsense whining about having to wear a mask -- or a 'face diaper' as some MAGA idiots insist upon calling them? Grow the hell up. There was a global pandemic and if the worst thing that happened to you was that you had to wear a mask for a little while in public each day (healthcare workers had to wear them throughout their shifts, I have sympathy for them because I was in one as well due to various conditions and it was rough to wear some days), shut the hell up.

It did not destroy your life.

We don't need to hear crazy talk from 'Dr' (remember her thesis was later used for her book that got pulped because she completely misunderstood the historical records she was 'interpreting' but, hey, Oxford apparently has a crappy doctorate program) Naomi Wolf about smiles lost and hidden to the ages.

There was an international pandemic going on. A mask was not the end of the world.

If the mask did nothing else, it did get people on the same page.

Fauci couldn't explain anything and repeatedly contradicted himself.

We are learning as we go. That's all he had to say. Especially early on, most Americans would have been fine with that and been glad that he could mistakes were made and that they were learning from them.

Imagine a COVID-like pandemic in 2025 and you've got Junior and The Whore in the White House? Is that not a suicide pact for the nation? And Donald gets a poor grade here as well. I would probably give him a B if I was grading in 2020. I'd note that he was learning just like everyone else. But it's an F now and that's because, since 2020, he's gone out of his way to appease the MAGA nuts and based on his statements and actions since leaving the White House, I don't believe he would put public safety above a bunch of whiners insisting that wearing a mask was like being in a concentration camp. No, he's made clear since leaving the White House that he would on the side of the nutjobs risking everyone's lives.

So that's an issue -- public health and public safety -- that we need to be thinking about and discussing in the lead up to the election. Jill Stein should especially be asked about that based on her past rejection of vaccines. We need to know where anti-vax Jill draws her lines with regards to public safety. A pandemic in our lifetime is no longer a what-if. It's happened and it could happen again.

Before we leave this topic, let's drop back to The Whore. Matt Young (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Shanahan, who is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, posted Thursday night on X that she is, “gearing up to make some big donations to members of Congress who are protecting our Constitutional freedoms.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is at “the top of my list,” she added.

Shanahan scored big in her 2022 divorce from Google founder Sergey Brin, who has a net worth of $135.1 billion, according to Forbes. She has helped finance RFK Jr.’s 2024 campaign for president with the money she received from the split.

Her alignment with Massie is a telling admission for a largely unknown figure who only recently burst onto the political scene. The Kentucky congressman is among the U.S. House of Representatives’ most conservative members.

Massie is, of course, a notorious enemy of reproductive freedom and that's okay with Nicole The Whore because, as Matt explains in his article, she's not down with abortion anymore because things have changed. Such as? "But you have to also understand that this is before the age of apps, like cycle tracking apps."

Yes, Nicole, I love the dilation and curettage app on my iPhone. It's so easy and accessible as long as my phone is fully charged.

(That was sarcasm.)

And I'm still waiting for the press to get serious about Nicole. She is not remotely qualified to hold office let alone to be the vice president. I have not forgotten 2008 and how the press ripped apart Sarah Palin and Palin was a sitting governor. Nicole's done nothing -- or at least nothing standing up or sitting down -- her entire life.

Junior has a history of poor health and the idea that Nicole is not facing any of the vetting that the press gave Sarah Palin is appalling.

Yesterday, Kate Plummer (NEWSWEEK) reportedKate Plummer (NEWSWEEK) reported:

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s popularity has plummeted in the past year, polls have shown.

According to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight, Kennedy, the son of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, has seen his favorability rating decline from 42.1 percent on June 4, 2023, to 35.3 percent on June 4, 2024. It's a change from a net score of +15.5 percent favorable to -6.6 percent unfavorable in 12 months.

The more people see Junior and not just "A Kennedy," the more they dislike him.

Let's stay on the topic of political liars.

This morning, Sheera Frankel (THE NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

Israel organized and paid for an influence campaign last year targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging, as it aimed to foster support for its actions in the war with Gaza, according to officials involved in the effort and documents related to the operation.

The covert campaign was commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a government body that connects Jews around the world with the State of Israel, four Israeli officials said. The ministry allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out, according to the officials and the documents.

The campaign began in October and remains active on the platform X. At its peak, it used hundreds of fake accounts that posed as real Americans on X, Facebook and Instagram to post pro-Israel comments. The accounts focused on U.S. lawmakers, particularly ones who are Black and Democrats, such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader from New York, and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, with posts urging them to continue funding Israel’s military.

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, was used to generate many of the posts. The campaign also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles.

I don't like propaganda campaigns and I especially don't like foreign powers using them on other nations. There should be a huge uproar over this. Probably won't be, but there should be. Frankel notes, "The secretive campaign signals the lengths Israel was willing to go to sway American opinion on the war in Gaza."

Julian Borger and Andrew Roth (GUARDIAN) also report on Joe Biden's remarks:

Joe Biden has said that there is “every reason” to draw the conclusion that Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political self-preservation.

Biden made the remarks about the Israeli prime minister in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday morning, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli government, which accused the US president of straying from diplomatic norms.

Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted after the 7 October attack by Hamas, which exposed serious flaws in Israeli security. Most political observers say Netanyahu would lose elections if they were held now, and would be forced into opposition, facing court hearings on corruption charges. But elections have been put off until the war is over, or at least until major military operations are deemed to have been completed.

Time asked Biden whether he believed Netanyahu was “prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation”.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” the president said in response, but added: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

Let's note this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

We end today’s show looking at Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact on Palestinian children. More than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed over the past eight months, and Palestinian officials are warning over 3,500 children are at risk of death due to starvation.

We’re joined now by Janti Soeripto, the president and CEO of Save the Children US.

Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. You and other CEO and presidents of major human rights and humanitarian organizations and NGOs have written an op-ed. Talk about what you are calling for, Janti.

JANTI SOERIPTO: Thanks, Amy, for having me.

And, yes, we wrote that op-ed in December for The New York Times, essentially calling out the risk of what we see happening now: casualties, deaths at a massive, massive scale, particularly of children, which, in our view, are avoidable if there was a ceasefire. And we have called on that for months and months now, ceasefire for all parties to adhere, to release hostages and to allow aid come in at a massive scale.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Janti, when you spoke at the United Nations in April, you said that more children have been killed in this conflict than have been killed in all armed conflicts globally over the past four years. Is it your sense that the world community is acting at a speed necessary for what’s going on here?

JANTI SOERIPTO: No. Looking at the results on the ground, clearly, clearly, that is not the case. We see — and sometimes these numbers, I think, numb people, right? Because behind every number is a child, are its parents, the community, the family that loses that child. And we’ve always said, for months now, put yourselves in the shoes of those parents, of those innocent civilians who are caught up in this conflict, and imagine that it was your child, your cousin, your grandchild that was exposed to this level of trauma, let alone death. And sometimes that makes people remember their humanity.

But if you look at the actions on the ground, even over these past couple of weeks, it has even gotten worse. I was in Gaza myself eight weeks ago, and I saw, sadly, exactly what I expected to see: scores of children, huge undernutrition, malnutrition, children without shoes, children without a home, people sleeping in tents, often with 20 or 30 people at a time, no access to clean water. Real health issues abound, children with rashes, coughing, fevers, pneumonia, etc. And it’s gotten worse since. When I was there eight weeks ago, not nearly enough trucks made it in. I think there were about 150 or so a day. Over the last couple of weeks, it has really slowed down to a trickle, because of the closure even of the few crossings that were open. And then there are areas within the Gaza Strip that have had no aid supplies whatsoever for the last — for these last past months.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I wanted to ask you — we’ve seen all of the protests at American universities and schools, and the repression, as these students have sought to raise the issue of what’s happening in Palestine. But could you remind our viewers and listeners what the education situation is like in Gaza, what the school situation for many of these young people — for all of the young people of Gaza is right now?

JANTI SOERIPTO: Right. So, children have been out of school since the start of this conflict. We estimate — I mean, we don’t know the exact numbers, of course, because it’s so hard to get people on the ground, but we estimate that over 80% of schools are either damaged or completely destroyed. What’s left of some of these schools are actually populated by people who are displaced. So there is no way schools can function at this point in Gaza. Save the Children has been running, where we can do so safely, learning spaces, child-friendly spaces, as we call them, where children can be children. They play. They learn. But clearly, this is not even close to resembling, you know, a formal education system. We’re many, many months behind that.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what specifically are you calling for, Janti Soeripto? As you sit there in the nation’s capital, in Washington, D.C., what are you demanding of the Biden administration at this point? As you say, this is unprecedented, not to mention the 15,000 children dead, 3,500 facing death by starvation — even if they don’t die, how they’re affected for the rest of their lives.

JANTI SOERIPTO: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, there are numbers that are estimated that 17,000 children have lost their parents or at least one parent. So, no, the trauma is unimaginable. We’ve been calling four months now for a ceasefire, for all parties to adhere to it, for the violence to stop, and then for allowing massive aid to come in, to flood Gaza, to make sure people get access to clean water, to food, to shelter, and every other basic supplies in order to start rebuilding their lives, and for humanitarian workers to be able to do their work safely and securely.

AMY GOODMAN: Janti Soeripto, I also want to ask you about your recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo —

JANTI SOERIPTO: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: — where over 7 million people have been forced from their homes in one of the world’s largest displacement crises. Can you talk about what Save the Children is calling for there now and what you found?

JANTI SOERIPTO: Well, first and foremost — and that’s partly why I traveled — attention for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a vast country, a country that contains multitudes. So, as you say, one of the largest — the largest displacement crisis in the world today, over 7 million people displaced. Huge conflict, particularly in the east of the country, with scores of armed groups and international armies fighting, which displaces people and puts people at risk. And at the same time, unbelievable wealth of resources, critical for our energy transition for the world — the lungs of Africa, as it’s called, and it’s also one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world. So, the DRC should play a much more important, critical role for the international community, and it should get attention and the support its population deserves.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And briefly, what do you think Washington could do right now in terms of what’s going on in the Congo?

JANTI SOERIPTO: Support the peace process. There has to be peace in the DRC to really have sustainable development and support for its population, in particular the many, many millions of children. Support the peace process that’s running. Make sure men with guns come to the table and agree that this is no way to support this great country. And then, really put funding behind the work in Congo. Currently, the humanitarian resource plan for the DRC is funded, I think, by 17%, so 17% of the required funding — that’s an estimation of the United Nations — is currently funded. So, that gives you a sense of how big the gap is between what is needed and what we actually have.

I was visiting an IDP camp there in the east last week, and Save the Children was literally the only humanitarian organization in that particular camp, of 20,000 people who were displaced, who was actively providing some services there. And that is really a rare sight to see.

AMY GOODMAN: IDP camp is an internally displaced persons camp. I want to end with your Twitter thread. You said, “Firstly, we’re all more connected to the DRC than we realize. The country holds over 70% of the world’s cobalt supply, a mineral used in virtually all batteries, including cellphones, laptops and electric vehicles.” Just an interesting note to end on. Janti Soeripto, we thank you so much for being with us, president and CEO of Save the Children US.

That does it for our program. Democracy Now!_ is produced with Mike Burke, Renée Feltz, Deena Guzder, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Hana Elias. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Hugh Gran, Denis Moynihan, David Prude, Dennis McCormick, Matt Ealy, Anna Özbek, Emily Andersen and Buffy Saint Marie Hernandez.

Our podcasts are available where you get your podcasts, both video and audio podcasts. And you can go to our website, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

Another detail of the ongoing slaughter? AL MAYADEEN notes:

In late April, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimated that "Israel" dropped more than approximately 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, over the six months between October 7 and April 24, surpassing the combined amount of bombs dropped on Dresden, Hamburg, and London during World War II.

"It is estimated that Israel has dropped more than 70,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip in addition to its bulldozing operations, destroying all buildings at a distance of up to one kilometer in the east and north of the Strip to create a so-called buffer zone," according to the Geneva-based human rights monitor organization.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 243 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 36,550, with 82,959 wounded." 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:

ALJAZEERA notes this morning, "Morgues are overflowing and hospitals are struggling to cope with a surge of casualties in Deir el-Balah, medical sources tell Al Jazeera, as at least 75 people are killed in the past 24 hours by Israeli strikes on central Gaza." CNN reports:

Israel is phasing out the use of the detention camp of Sde Teiman in Israel’s Negev desert, a state attorney told Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday during a first-ever hearing about the facility where hundreds of Palestinian detainees from Gaza have allegedly been held under conditions of extreme abuse.

State attorney Aner Helman told the court that 700 inmates had been moved to Ofer military facility in the occupied West Bank, with another 500 were set to be transferred in the weeks to come. Around 200 detainees will remain in Sde Teiman, said Helman, who added that the state would provide an update on their status within three days.

The hearing comes in response to a petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and other human rights groups, which drew heavily on CNN reporting about the makeshift prison to make a case for it to be shut down.

CNN’s investigation, in which Israeli whistleblowers as well as Palestinian former detainees and eyewitnesses described horrific conditions at the facility, including continuous blindfolding and handcuffing, sparked an international outcry.

Read the full story here.

The following sites updated: