"Pundits are predicting disaster for Joe Biden because his unfavourability ratings are increasing in response to his steadfast support for Israel." Pundits write a lot of silly stuff because they have to crank out columns and grab attention. Biden challenges them because he just goes about doing his job without making many stupid mistakes. Instead of recognizing and applauding that, which would run counter to the herd mentality, they seize whatever straw is handy and go with it. Pundits, like pollsters and consultants, are a distraction rather than a contribution to our political system and are best ignored in the interest of sanity.
Happy Halloween. Mike Johnson is going as a Speaker of the House. I'm betting that the party and his costume are gone by Thanksgiving.
We also need to note when keeping track of events in Gaza that the Kach krazies - the American fundamentalists in the West Bank - have killed 100 Palestinians and are running an ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank - 80% of Palestinian herder communities have had their livestock killed by these theocratic fascists, and they are out attacking Palestinian villages every night - supported by IDF units that either stand aside while they commit their atrocities or actively participate. They are supported by Interior Minister Gvir - a terrorist in charge of the police! - who is now passing out heavy weapons to them. These actions have increased since October 7, since the world's attention is on Gaza.
"I know that some readers will respond that the cause of the war is not limited to the terrorist attack on October 7." What was distinctive about the October 7 attack is that Hamas demonstrated how they behave when they are victorious. They committed atrocity after atrocity. While they did create terror about their future behavior, they committed war crimes for which they should be tried and convicted. Hamas exhibits no shame for the events on October 7. Instead, Hamas exhibits exultation.
I'm not sure I agree that what Hamas displays as anti-Semitism is the same anti-Semitism as was behind the Holocaust. European anti-Semitism was a Christian response to a long line of myths involving stereotypes of greed, of "Christ-killers" and the accompanying blood libels, of (in latter days) the world-controlling Cabal of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It was not particularly territorial. Jews weren't expelled from Spain or England because someone coveted their lands, because most of them didn't HAVE lands to begin with. In fact, Jews were treated better by the Ottomans and earlier caliphates than they ever were in Europe.
Had the allies of WWI, victorious against the Ottoman Empire, decided to settle some OTHER group--say the Armenians--in Palestine, the territorial upset would have been as much hated by the Arab Nations as settling Jews there.--and we might have seen a terrorist attack on them. The same would have been true had the settlement been of Shia in Sunni "homeland" or vice versa.
Hamas is playing on European style-antisemitism, but the root issue is territory. For both sides, the cry is "This land is my land, NOT your land." None of this means that (Lord, how often does one have to say it) that anyone should condone or support Hamas's means OR its territorial rhetoric used to justify it. Or that people in the US who misguidedly DO praise Hamas out of a tendency to love the underdog are necessarily anti- Semitic. The problem is terrorism and its use of long-standing stereotypes to support its agenda. Again, we see this use in Shia vs Sunni, in Hindu vs Muslim, back in the day of Catholics vs Protestants, and today in Evangelical Christian vs secular multiculturalism.
There certainly has been a recent rise in the openness of native-grown Anti-Semitism in the US, in rhetoric and action--and that native growth arises in large part from the European tradition and its myths. There is also a strong anti-Muslim sentiment in rhetoric and action. Both of these rises antedate the events of Oct 7. Basically, too many people here have been given permission by trump and others to hate Others--that much is only too obvious.
The history of the region is in fact key to understanding this difference between territorial dispute, with a difference in religion thrown in, and a campaign based on abhorrent tradition without even territory as an excuse.
How many voters do you really think know that the Republicans in the House tried to tie funding to supporting Israel around defunding the IRS and not providing funding to Ukraine.? How many voters know and appreciate the fact that President Biden who stood on a picket line with members of the UAW have received significant increases in benefits and wages that the Biden Administration supported. Do you think these same autoworkers would be happy if they knew that defunding the IRS means many top 1% of the richest tax payers will not pay their fair share of taxes. How many voters realize that only legislators whom-truly care about their well being are Democrats. The answer is not enough voters know what is being accomplished for them everyday in many ways. We need to make sure we let them know what has been delivered by this administration vs. the unfulfilled promises of the Republicans
Mike Johnson is a Christo-fascist, and I am hoping that he does not get anything done. I am terrified to think of him in place two in the line of succession. I wish Biden and Harris continued good health, more than I have been conscious of doing so before.
I have said that Trump's best defense would be that his lawyers would declare him incompetent to stand trial either because of mental illness or perhaps because of dementia. It has seemed more and more apparent that he should be checked for that, if he has not been already.
I am currently in Berlin and visited an exhibit at the House of Cultures of the World (HKW) called, "As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories: Fragments for a Geopolitics of North Eurasia." A docent discussed the first piece I saw, a mesmerizing film, as being an intersection of myth, anthropology and introspection. My interpretation of it, which was then heightened by other pieces we saw was that it was a psychic cry for healing from the wounds of occupation. Who occupied these countries? Well, Russia as it formed the Soviet Union. From a Buryatian young women singing almost crying and shouting a song that was a mixture of her disappearing language knowledge of her own Buryat language mixed with Russian to pieces on the Holodomor that were powerful and painful to view, it made one think about the psychic pain that occupation causes an indigenous peoples. So, when I read this morning about the Dagestani rampage against the plane from Israel, I saw it in a context of having seen this exhibit, read about Native genocide and seen the recent Killers of the Flower Moon, read many articles in Meduza about the psychic pain and the radicalization of many of the Caucasus youth in countries that were formerly Muslim as they reclaimed their Islamic heritage after the end of the Soviet Union. It is a painful transition. Not only have I read stories of young women who are gay, and being disowned if they do not enter forced marriages and deny their sexuality, but also the embrace of ISIS of youth who are rebelling from the Soviet imposition of atheism as an attempt to reclaim their cultural identity. There are gaps in knowledge that cannot be regained either, which if filled, might lead to a different outcome. So, I would see this as anti-semitism that is actually being pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. I don't think it is about the Jewish religion so much, as the idea that their fellow Muslims are being eradicated, and they are smarting from the attempts to do this to their own cultures by the Russians.
Netanyahu's leadership is not helping Jews around the world to live safer lives. There are 15.3 million Jews with around 7 million in Israel, and 5-6 million in the USA. The rest are spread around the world. There are 2 billion Muslims in the world. There is a lot of corruption and poverty in the Muslim world and it has not helped the people. This has led to a lot of radicalized youth, who see themselves as having nothing to lose when they join groups such as ISIS. Again, it is a search for identity that gives them a sense of agency.
I would say the Ukrainians are struggling for the same thing. A need to piece together lost identity that helps them with the psychic misery of the long occupation by Russia. It is different to be an immigrant than an occupied people. Immigrants often know where they come from and what their culture home is. They can blend in as much as they need to to get along, but can hold onto their home culture. Occupied people do not have the same choices when the occupying culture determines their lives. It is important to understand that one effect of the bombing of the Palestinians now will be the radicalizing of some of the youth in the Muslim world. We need to have diplomats in the region trying to calm things down. Sane Americans need to be turning on the Republicans responsible for not allowing military and diplomatic appointments to go through, as well as the aid that is needed. A much bigger deal should be made. We cannot take care of ourselves or be a good ally without getting these appointments through and getting our budgets passed. Bravo to the IRS for making inroads on the billionaires who are acting like enemies of the state. I am glad some of the press is discussing how awful Mike Johnson really is, but I don't think most people can process it, because Trump has worn them down. Thank you for pointing out resources to fund people who can make a difference in the next election.
Joe Biden was a child, during the heart of World War II, and in the uncertainty of the early Cold War. Mike Johnson was born as the VietNam War was grinding to a halt and knew only relative peace, for the first twenty-nine years of his life. Their experiences inform their perspectives-and Biden's is the perspective most closely tied to our present reality as a species.
Reading Judd Legum's post about Johnson is enlightening, disconcerting, and head-smacking. "The bill would grant every "preborn human person" equal rights under the 14th Amendment from "the moment of fertilization." But every postborn human person doesn't get those equal rights? And the duplicity of the corporate donors is sickening; they're not putting their money where their mouth is - perhaps another orifice?
"Joe Biden is our oldest president, as everyone keeps saying, but he’s also—despite and possibly because of his age—an unusually forward-looking president." Looking seven generations forward!
A friend of mine said she was turning off the news/commentary because it was so hard to see all the dead children in Israel/Gaza. This made me think of Emmett Till and how his mother insisted on an open casket to show what had been done to him when he was tortured and lynched by several white guys. It started a movement toward justice and civil rights. Wish we could have the same thing with gun safety and have parents willing of children gunned down like at Uvalde show their children's bodies for all to understand the horror. Children so mutilated that it took DNA evidence to identify them. Would that finally get gun safety laws and an assault weapons ban through Congress! When are we going to realize that the founding fathers were thinking of the responsible use of guns with the words "Well-regulated" in the 2nd amendment. Gun ownership and gun safety should go hand in hand. Why shouldn't the gun manufacturers be held liable for the unsafe use of their guns? Then just like car ownership insurance would be required. Everyone can own and drive a car but they have to use it safely. Time for a movement against gun violence. We, the People, all of us this time!
Robert, it's grosser than what you said. Tying international aid to curry campaign donations from the richest 1% is gross. Especially when it is beyond doubt that spending money to support IRS audits pays for itself 3-4 times over. No - - what gets me riled up is that Mike Johnson's first move is to cut the IRS to save his cheating billionaire donor class a few bucks that they actually owe for the privilege of living in our country and enjoying its manifest benefits. GROSS.
What I love about President Biden is that he does his job without watching his polls. He is grounded and masterful, a true statesman and patriot. He is comfortable in his own skin and experienced. I have a thought, off topic, (I apologize) - of the PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES. We know they are a farce; a ludicrous show of memorized paragraphs and, as we saw with he who remains nameless, hovering over Hillary Clinton (where Anderson Cooper remained silent as Clinton was harassed.) and his showing up with Biden having tested positive for COVID. From the press, we will get endless blather, all with serious expressions, with the inevitable 'who one' question. A solution would be to have each candidate interviewed ALONE with no audience to distract and recorded. The interviews would then be shown in prime time side by side. That would be useful and informative.
This bears repeating: IMHO, Biden is (however inadvertently) channeling Jesse Jackson.
Let me explain: near the end of his ill-fated bid for the Presidency, Jackson spoke at a news conference (here, I paraphrase);
If I walked on water tonight, tomorrow's tabloid headlines would read "Jesse Jackson can't swim".
Biden has exactly that sort of clarity about himself.
"Pundits are predicting disaster for Joe Biden because his unfavourability ratings are increasing in response to his steadfast support for Israel." Pundits write a lot of silly stuff because they have to crank out columns and grab attention. Biden challenges them because he just goes about doing his job without making many stupid mistakes. Instead of recognizing and applauding that, which would run counter to the herd mentality, they seize whatever straw is handy and go with it. Pundits, like pollsters and consultants, are a distraction rather than a contribution to our political system and are best ignored in the interest of sanity.
Happy Halloween. Mike Johnson is going as a Speaker of the House. I'm betting that the party and his costume are gone by Thanksgiving.
We also need to note when keeping track of events in Gaza that the Kach krazies - the American fundamentalists in the West Bank - have killed 100 Palestinians and are running an ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank - 80% of Palestinian herder communities have had their livestock killed by these theocratic fascists, and they are out attacking Palestinian villages every night - supported by IDF units that either stand aside while they commit their atrocities or actively participate. They are supported by Interior Minister Gvir - a terrorist in charge of the police! - who is now passing out heavy weapons to them. These actions have increased since October 7, since the world's attention is on Gaza.
"I know that some readers will respond that the cause of the war is not limited to the terrorist attack on October 7." What was distinctive about the October 7 attack is that Hamas demonstrated how they behave when they are victorious. They committed atrocity after atrocity. While they did create terror about their future behavior, they committed war crimes for which they should be tried and convicted. Hamas exhibits no shame for the events on October 7. Instead, Hamas exhibits exultation.
I'm not sure I agree that what Hamas displays as anti-Semitism is the same anti-Semitism as was behind the Holocaust. European anti-Semitism was a Christian response to a long line of myths involving stereotypes of greed, of "Christ-killers" and the accompanying blood libels, of (in latter days) the world-controlling Cabal of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It was not particularly territorial. Jews weren't expelled from Spain or England because someone coveted their lands, because most of them didn't HAVE lands to begin with. In fact, Jews were treated better by the Ottomans and earlier caliphates than they ever were in Europe.
Had the allies of WWI, victorious against the Ottoman Empire, decided to settle some OTHER group--say the Armenians--in Palestine, the territorial upset would have been as much hated by the Arab Nations as settling Jews there.--and we might have seen a terrorist attack on them. The same would have been true had the settlement been of Shia in Sunni "homeland" or vice versa.
Hamas is playing on European style-antisemitism, but the root issue is territory. For both sides, the cry is "This land is my land, NOT your land." None of this means that (Lord, how often does one have to say it) that anyone should condone or support Hamas's means OR its territorial rhetoric used to justify it. Or that people in the US who misguidedly DO praise Hamas out of a tendency to love the underdog are necessarily anti- Semitic. The problem is terrorism and its use of long-standing stereotypes to support its agenda. Again, we see this use in Shia vs Sunni, in Hindu vs Muslim, back in the day of Catholics vs Protestants, and today in Evangelical Christian vs secular multiculturalism.
There certainly has been a recent rise in the openness of native-grown Anti-Semitism in the US, in rhetoric and action--and that native growth arises in large part from the European tradition and its myths. There is also a strong anti-Muslim sentiment in rhetoric and action. Both of these rises antedate the events of Oct 7. Basically, too many people here have been given permission by trump and others to hate Others--that much is only too obvious.
The history of the region is in fact key to understanding this difference between territorial dispute, with a difference in religion thrown in, and a campaign based on abhorrent tradition without even territory as an excuse.
How many voters do you really think know that the Republicans in the House tried to tie funding to supporting Israel around defunding the IRS and not providing funding to Ukraine.? How many voters know and appreciate the fact that President Biden who stood on a picket line with members of the UAW have received significant increases in benefits and wages that the Biden Administration supported. Do you think these same autoworkers would be happy if they knew that defunding the IRS means many top 1% of the richest tax payers will not pay their fair share of taxes. How many voters realize that only legislators whom-truly care about their well being are Democrats. The answer is not enough voters know what is being accomplished for them everyday in many ways. We need to make sure we let them know what has been delivered by this administration vs. the unfulfilled promises of the Republicans
You always put forth a perspective that I usually do not think of which never fails to broaden my own perspective. Thanks so much, Robert!
Mike Johnson is a Christo-fascist, and I am hoping that he does not get anything done. I am terrified to think of him in place two in the line of succession. I wish Biden and Harris continued good health, more than I have been conscious of doing so before.
https://www.usa.gov/presidential-succession
I have said that Trump's best defense would be that his lawyers would declare him incompetent to stand trial either because of mental illness or perhaps because of dementia. It has seemed more and more apparent that he should be checked for that, if he has not been already.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/dementia-early-signs#ten-warning-signs-of-dementia
I am currently in Berlin and visited an exhibit at the House of Cultures of the World (HKW) called, "As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories: Fragments for a Geopolitics of North Eurasia." A docent discussed the first piece I saw, a mesmerizing film, as being an intersection of myth, anthropology and introspection. My interpretation of it, which was then heightened by other pieces we saw was that it was a psychic cry for healing from the wounds of occupation. Who occupied these countries? Well, Russia as it formed the Soviet Union. From a Buryatian young women singing almost crying and shouting a song that was a mixture of her disappearing language knowledge of her own Buryat language mixed with Russian to pieces on the Holodomor that were powerful and painful to view, it made one think about the psychic pain that occupation causes an indigenous peoples. So, when I read this morning about the Dagestani rampage against the plane from Israel, I saw it in a context of having seen this exhibit, read about Native genocide and seen the recent Killers of the Flower Moon, read many articles in Meduza about the psychic pain and the radicalization of many of the Caucasus youth in countries that were formerly Muslim as they reclaimed their Islamic heritage after the end of the Soviet Union. It is a painful transition. Not only have I read stories of young women who are gay, and being disowned if they do not enter forced marriages and deny their sexuality, but also the embrace of ISIS of youth who are rebelling from the Soviet imposition of atheism as an attempt to reclaim their cultural identity. There are gaps in knowledge that cannot be regained either, which if filled, might lead to a different outcome. So, I would see this as anti-semitism that is actually being pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. I don't think it is about the Jewish religion so much, as the idea that their fellow Muslims are being eradicated, and they are smarting from the attempts to do this to their own cultures by the Russians.
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/30/the-provocations-found-fertile-ground
Still, it is terrifying and here is a story that I read from the point of view of someone on that plane.
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/10/30/it-could-have-all-ended-with-us-getting-killed
Netanyahu's leadership is not helping Jews around the world to live safer lives. There are 15.3 million Jews with around 7 million in Israel, and 5-6 million in the USA. The rest are spread around the world. There are 2 billion Muslims in the world. There is a lot of corruption and poverty in the Muslim world and it has not helped the people. This has led to a lot of radicalized youth, who see themselves as having nothing to lose when they join groups such as ISIS. Again, it is a search for identity that gives them a sense of agency.
I would say the Ukrainians are struggling for the same thing. A need to piece together lost identity that helps them with the psychic misery of the long occupation by Russia. It is different to be an immigrant than an occupied people. Immigrants often know where they come from and what their culture home is. They can blend in as much as they need to to get along, but can hold onto their home culture. Occupied people do not have the same choices when the occupying culture determines their lives. It is important to understand that one effect of the bombing of the Palestinians now will be the radicalizing of some of the youth in the Muslim world. We need to have diplomats in the region trying to calm things down. Sane Americans need to be turning on the Republicans responsible for not allowing military and diplomatic appointments to go through, as well as the aid that is needed. A much bigger deal should be made. We cannot take care of ourselves or be a good ally without getting these appointments through and getting our budgets passed. Bravo to the IRS for making inroads on the billionaires who are acting like enemies of the state. I am glad some of the press is discussing how awful Mike Johnson really is, but I don't think most people can process it, because Trump has worn them down. Thank you for pointing out resources to fund people who can make a difference in the next election.
Off topic today, but still out there are concerns about Biden’s age. I want to encourage folks to watch this from Politics Girl:
“Can we stop talking about Biden’s age now? He’s a damn good leader and we’re lucky to have him.” - Politics Girl.
https://youtu.be/tC6yVEXfVcI?si=Npq8ahcJVcJTJfcz
Joe Biden was a child, during the heart of World War II, and in the uncertainty of the early Cold War. Mike Johnson was born as the VietNam War was grinding to a halt and knew only relative peace, for the first twenty-nine years of his life. Their experiences inform their perspectives-and Biden's is the perspective most closely tied to our present reality as a species.
Reading Judd Legum's post about Johnson is enlightening, disconcerting, and head-smacking. "The bill would grant every "preborn human person" equal rights under the 14th Amendment from "the moment of fertilization." But every postborn human person doesn't get those equal rights? And the duplicity of the corporate donors is sickening; they're not putting their money where their mouth is - perhaps another orifice?
"Joe Biden is our oldest president, as everyone keeps saying, but he’s also—despite and possibly because of his age—an unusually forward-looking president." Looking seven generations forward!
Biden = wisdom in action
A friend of mine said she was turning off the news/commentary because it was so hard to see all the dead children in Israel/Gaza. This made me think of Emmett Till and how his mother insisted on an open casket to show what had been done to him when he was tortured and lynched by several white guys. It started a movement toward justice and civil rights. Wish we could have the same thing with gun safety and have parents willing of children gunned down like at Uvalde show their children's bodies for all to understand the horror. Children so mutilated that it took DNA evidence to identify them. Would that finally get gun safety laws and an assault weapons ban through Congress! When are we going to realize that the founding fathers were thinking of the responsible use of guns with the words "Well-regulated" in the 2nd amendment. Gun ownership and gun safety should go hand in hand. Why shouldn't the gun manufacturers be held liable for the unsafe use of their guns? Then just like car ownership insurance would be required. Everyone can own and drive a car but they have to use it safely. Time for a movement against gun violence. We, the People, all of us this time!
Robert, it's grosser than what you said. Tying international aid to curry campaign donations from the richest 1% is gross. Especially when it is beyond doubt that spending money to support IRS audits pays for itself 3-4 times over. No - - what gets me riled up is that Mike Johnson's first move is to cut the IRS to save his cheating billionaire donor class a few bucks that they actually owe for the privilege of living in our country and enjoying its manifest benefits. GROSS.
What I love about President Biden is that he does his job without watching his polls. He is grounded and masterful, a true statesman and patriot. He is comfortable in his own skin and experienced. I have a thought, off topic, (I apologize) - of the PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES. We know they are a farce; a ludicrous show of memorized paragraphs and, as we saw with he who remains nameless, hovering over Hillary Clinton (where Anderson Cooper remained silent as Clinton was harassed.) and his showing up with Biden having tested positive for COVID. From the press, we will get endless blather, all with serious expressions, with the inevitable 'who one' question. A solution would be to have each candidate interviewed ALONE with no audience to distract and recorded. The interviews would then be shown in prime time side by side. That would be useful and informative.
I am heartened by so much of Biden’s efforts, work, and policies. I am beyond discouraged by the human toll of the wars and the political and ethical questions and dilemmas they pose. I’m sharing a Robert Reich link for anyone interested. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/an-overwhelming-tragedy?r=64w29&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email