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Happy Halloween Eve

Have We Abandoned a Two-State Solution?

So Who Exactly is "Maga Mike" Johnson?

Mike Johnson’s emergence as the new speaker of the House of Representatives has earned the relatively little-known Louisiana Republican new exposure in the national spotlight.  And what can be seen is extremely concerning.

After the election, Maga Mike voiced support for Trump’s conspiracy theory that voting machines were rigged. Later, he was one of 147 Republicans to object to results in key states, even after a pro-Trump mob attacked Congress on January 6, a riot now linked to nine deaths and hundreds of convictions.

Johnson also authored an amicus brief filed to the supreme court in a case in which Texas sought to have swing-state results thrown out. According to the New York Times, a House Republican lawyer said Johnson’s brief was unconstitutional. Nonetheless, he persuaded 125 colleagues to sign it, using tactics some thought heavy handed.  The supreme court refused to take the case. After the vote to confirm him as speaker, Johnson refused to take a question about his work on Trump’s behalf – smiling as fellow Republicans booed and jeered the reporter.

Before entering politics, Johnson worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom – designated a hate group by the Southern Law Poverty Center, which tracks U.S. extremists.

According to the SPLC, the ADF has “supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ+ adults in the US and criminalization abroad; defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; contended that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to engage in paedophilia; and claimed that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society”.

In state politics and at the national level, Johnson has worked to claw back gains made by LGBTQ+ Americans in their fight for equality.  In 2016, as he ran for Congress, he told the Louisiana Baptist Message he had “been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they’ve been under assault”. He has since led efforts for a national “don’t say gay” bill, regarding the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues in schools, and is also opposed to gender-affirming care for children.

Reverend Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said: “Johnson has made a career out of attacking the LGBTQ+ community at every turn. His positions are out of touch with the clear majority support for LGBTQ+ equality in our country. His new leadership role is just further proof of the dangerous priorities of the GOP and the critical stakes for our democracy – and for LGBTQ+ Americans – in 2024.”

Last year , when the supreme court eliminated the right to abortion, Johnson celebrated “a historic and joyful day”.   In the wake of that decision, Maga Mike co-sponsored bills for a nationwide ban. And as Johnson neared his position of power, footage spread of shocking remarks he made in a House hearing. “Roe v Wade did constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America, period,” Johnson said.

As those comments indicate, Johnson wants to cut programs on which millions rely. Such cuts are widely regarded as a political third-rail – Trump has used the issue to attack Republican presidential rivals, saying only he will defend such benefits – but Johnson is far from alone in wanting to swing the axe.

When Mike Johnson married his wife, Kelly, in 1999, the couple agreed to a “covenant” marriage: a conservative Christian idea that makes it harder to divorce. The Johnsons even promoted the idea on ABC’s Good Morning America.  “My own parents are divorced,” Johnson said. “As anyone who goes through that knows, that was a traumatic thing for our whole family. I’m a big proponent of marriage and fidelity and all the things that go with it, and I’ve seen first-hand the devastation [divorce] can cause.”

In 2017, Johnson told voters in his oil-rich home state: “The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s history? Or is it changing because we drive SUVs? I don’t believe in the latter. I don’t think that’s the primary driver.”

He has also opposed proposals for a Green New Deal and been named an “energy champion” by the American Energy Alliance, a right-wing group that has defended fossil fuel use.

Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog Accountable.U.S., called Johnson “a far-right extremist who led a desperate attempt to subvert democracy … [who] boasts a voting record deeming him one of the most extreme members of the Republican conference.  “A Speaker Johnson means more of the same from the Maga [pro-Trump] majority: pointless partisan political stunts, peddling dangerous conspiracies and ultimately undermining American democracy.”

 

Green Day - The American Dream is Killing Me

DeSantis Further Sabotages His Failing Presidential Bid

Ron DeSantis has ordered state universities to shut down chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, a Palestinian advocacy organization. The State University System of Florida, the body that governs the 12 public universities in the state, noted in a letter to university leaders earlier this week that the SJP chapters needed to be dismantled as part of “a crackdown on campus demonstrations” because of the group’s “harmful support for terrorist groups.”

“Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated,” Ray Rodrigues, the system’s chancellor, wrote in the letter.  “It is a felony under Florida law to ‘knowingly provide material support’ … to a designated foreign terrorist organization,” the letter said. Rodrigues provided no evidence that any student chapters in the state have provided material support to Hamas or Hezbollah

With more than 200 chapters across North America, SJP is a national student movement that organizes for “Palestinian liberation and self-determination,” according to the national chapter’s website. Conservatives have long criticized the group, claiming it supports the militant group Hamas and is antisemitic, without providing any actual evidence of that claim. SJP has denied those accusations.

Rodrigues wrote that SJP was active in at least two Florida universities, but he did not name the schools. The University of North Florida in Jacksonville and Florida State University in Tallahassee appear to have active SJP chapters.

The news has stirred backlash, with critics saying the move violates freedom of speech and unfairly targets Palestinian activism, particularly those critical of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza that has killed or injured thousands of Palestinian adults and children.

Florida’s university system said it based its decision after the national SJP sent out a “toolkit” to its over 200 university chapters that allegedly referred to Hamas’ attack as “the resistance.”  No news organization has been able to verify that such a toolkit exists.  In order to boost his failing campaign, DeSantis, has vehemently endorsed Israeli forces cutting off clean water and other basic utilities in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ terrorist attacks. Last week, he said the U.S. should not take in any Palestinian refugees because they were “all antisemitic.”

Omar Saleh, the managing attorney for the Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, called the State University system's memo “disturbing” and said DeSantis’ action on SJP chapters “should concern the nation.”   “All this is going to do is silence any campus participation and free speech,” he said.  Equating student groups with terrorist organizations was “dangerous,” Saleh said, adding that the state’s rhetoric has the potential to silence other organizations or encourage hostility toward them.

Palestine Legal, a legal organization dedicated to supporting Palestinian activism and free speech, said banning SJP was unconstitutional.  “Florida, particularly under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, has been actively undermining education, freedom of speech and social justice movements, including by banning anti-racist courses and trying to criminalize protest,” the organization said in a statement.   “This is a blatant attack on students’ First Amendment rights, and it will be challenged in court,” the group added.  “This is beyond a matter involving a foreign conflict. This is affecting our Florida. This is affecting our country,” Saleh said. “These are American students who have rights. This is about our own freedoms.”

 

Japan Supreme Court Nullifies Cruel Law Against Transgender People

Japan's Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to require citizens to be sterilized before they can officially change genders. Shockingly, the law (passed in 2004) said people could only change their gender if they have no reproductive capacity.  The ruling came after a transgender woman filed a petition challenging the law.

Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) had called the law "abusive and outdated". It celebrated the ruling, calling it an "important victory" for transgender rights in Japan. "This judgement upholds the rights to health, privacy and bodily autonomy of trans people in Japan," Kanae Doi, Japan Director at HRW told the BBC. "It follows years of advocacy and litigation to remove this abusive... requirement." The ruling reverses a shameful 2019 verdict by the court which found the same law constitutional.

Japan is one of 18 countries that mandate the sterilization surgery - a requirement that is also opposed by the World Health Organization. It is still the only Group of Seven (G7) nation that does not legally recognize same-sex unions.

The woman's lawyer had argued that her reproductive ability has already been diminished by years of hormone therapy, adding that surgery entailed physical suffering and the risk of after-effects.  Her request was denied by both the family and high court before she approached the Supreme Court. But some groups opposed to the law being changed had argued that if people were allowed to change their registered gender without surgery, it could result in women feeling unsafe. They also argued that it could cause legal confusion. 

Recent opinion polls have shown growing support for LGBTQ-friendly laws - although there continues to be opposition from conservative sections of society and politicians.  Earlier this month, a local family court ruled in favor of a transgender man - Gen Suzuki- who requested to have his gender legally changed without undergoing the surgery.  The family court judge, Takehiro Sekiguchi, said the current law violated Article 13 of the Constitution that stipulates all people shall be respected as individuals.

 

So That's Why It Tastes Like Piss

Chinese authorities are investigating after a viral video appeared to show a worker from Tsingtao urinating into a tank, believed to contain ingredients for its popular beer. The clip has received tens of millions of views on social media.

The company said it alerted police immediately after the video came to its attention, adding that the batch of ingredients had been sealed. Tsingtao is one of China's top beer producers and its biggest exporter.

In the clip, a worker, dressed in uniform with a helmet on, can be seen climbing over a high wall and into the container before urinating inside it. The location tag of the clip reads "Tsingtao beer No.3 factory."

Business outlet "National Business Daily" later cited an internal source as saying both the person who took the video and the person appearing in it were not direct employees of the company.  In a statement published on Friday, the bureau of market supervision and administration of Pingdu City, where the factory is located, said they immediately set up a team and conducted an on-site investigation.

Chinese social media has been shocked by the clip, as the brand is hugely well-known both at home and abroad.  "A piss that will ruin a lot of money, this worker has done some real damage here," a top-liked comment on X-like platform Weibo reads. "Good thing I don't drink beer - but it's unimaginable if this brand is finished because of this," one user said.   "Is this the first time though?" another comment reads.

 

An Independent Assessment of the al-Ahli Arab Hospital Explosion in Gaza

Shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday, a volley of rockets lit up the darkened sky over Gaza. Videos analyzed by The Associated Press show one veering off course, breaking up in the air before crashing to the ground.  Seconds later, the videos show a large explosion in the same area – the site of Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital.  Who is to blame for the fiery explosion has set off intense debate and finger pointing between the Israeli government and Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions in their two week-long war.

The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite imagery and photos. AP’s analysis shows that the rocket that broke up in the air was fired from within Palestinian territory, and that the hospital explosion was most likely caused when part of that rocket crashed to the ground.

A lack of forensic evidence and the difficulty of gathering that material on the ground in the middle of a war means there is no definitive proof the break-up of the rocket and the explosion at the hospital are linked. However, AP’s assessment is supported by a range of experts with specialties in open-source intelligence, geolocation and rocketry.

“In the absence of additional evidence, the most likely scenario would be that it was a rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight and that it mistakenly hit the hospital,” said Henry Schlottman, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and open-source intelligence expert.  Read more of the Associated Press analysis of the incident here.

 

Sufjan Stevens - A Running Start

Getting Down With Teddy

A 55-year-old Arkansas man was discovered in a compromising position in a “rocking” car, boffing a bear.  An Arkansas cop spotted a suspicious car parked outside a commercial storage facility that has been broken into 16 times this year.  A sheriff’s deputy noted that the vehicle in question was seen "rocking" around 12:45 AM.

When the cop looked inside the auto, he spotted Theodore Morgavan, 55, “having sex with a stuffed animal.” Morgavan, a divorced father of three, lives about a mile away from the storage facility in Midway.  Since Morgavan is on probation, cops were able to search him and his auto without the need for a warrant. According to a probable cause affidavit, that search turned up methamphetamine, a syringe, and two marijuana pipes.

Morgavan was charged with two felony drug charges and misdemeanor counts of public sexual indecency and possession of drug paraphernalia.  At his arraignment, Morgavan, who is free on $5000 bond, entered a not guilty plea. He is next due in court on October 30.

Morgavan was convicted earlier this year on narcotics and theft charges and placed on probation for two years and fined $1690.

African Capital Without Power Over Unpaid Bill

A Turkish firm has cut the power supply to Guinea-Bissau's capital over an unpaid bill of at least $15m, plunging the city into darkness.  It has severely disrupted daily life, with even radio stations off-air.  Karpowership had been supplying 100% of Guinea-Bissau's electricity since signing a five-year agreement with the state-owned electricity and water utility company in 2019.

Economy Minister Suleimane Seidi acknowledged the arrears, saying most of the bill would be paid in 15 days.  Karpowership is one of the world's biggest floating power plant operators, with several African states relying on it for electricity.

But it has taken a tough line over non-payment. Last month, it cut power to Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, over an unpaid bill of $40m. The Turkish company has also signed a deal to supply power to South Africa, saying it will cover more than 5% of the country's total electricity needs.  South Africa has been hit by a wave of power cuts with people going without electricity for up to 10 hours a day.

Power was cut in Bissau, a city with a population of more than 400,000, in the early hours of Tuesday.  Some public hospitals are now using generators to carry out surgery, local journalist Assana Sambu told the BBC. State-run Rádio Nacional is among media outlets that have stopped broadcasting, while the private radio station where he works is only partially operating, he added.

Karpowership also supplies electricity to six other African countries - Ghana, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The company prides itself as "the owner, operator and builder of the world's only Powership (floating power plant)".  Its involvement in the electricity sector is the latest example of Tukey's growing influence in Africa.  Although access to electricity has increased in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, it still remains low, with more than 50% of the region's population having no connection to a power grid.

More Ethical Lapses From Clarence Thomas

ProPublica has another blockbuster story about the Supreme Court's conservative benefactor, Leonard Leo-- as well as including other tidbits on Clarence Thomas' ethical shenanigans.    The extensive ProPublica story details the extent to which the whole conservative judicial establishment—from state supreme courts all the way up the ladder of federal courts—has been constructed by Leo and the ultraconservative millionaires and billionaires he’s recruited to the project. In the article, there’s a nugget about Thomas that’s worth highlighting.

On a chilly day in March 2017, about six weeks into Trump’s presidency, Leo arranged for a select group to have a private audience with Justice Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Supreme Court. The attendees were a group of high-net-worth donors who had been organized by [billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul] Singer to marshal huge resources toward electing Republicans and pushing conservative causes. That afternoon, the donors spoke with Thomas. The previously unreported meeting was described by a person familiar with it and corroborated by planning documents.

That’s Leo and Singer using the actual U.S. Supreme Court building, not to mention access to one of the justices, to fundraise for Republicans and their causes. Those causes include legal challenges—to voting rights, to abortion rights, to marriage equality, to environmental and consumer protections—that will work their way through the courts to be decided by Thomas and the other justices Leo put there.

Speaking of those cases, the court will consider at least four this session in which Thomas benefactor Harlan Crow has an interest. In case you’re wondering, no, Thomas hasn’t recused from any of them. Crow is the billionaire Texan who is BFFs with Thomas and has shown his friendship over the years via hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of largesse, everything from paying the private school tuition for Thomas’s ward to sweetheart real estate deals to providing luxury trips. AccountableUS research details four cases pending at the court in which Crow has an interest through his real estate firm, Crow Holdings, and a subsidiary founded by Crows’ father, Trammell Crow Residential.  Read all about it on ProPublica.

Convicted Fraudster Granted Clemency is Facing Jail Due to Trump's Incompetency

Philip Esformes thought he had beat the system.  Less than five years into a 20-year sentence for his role in a massive fraud scheme — bankrolling a high-flying Miami Beach lifestyle of luxury cars, designer clothing and high-priced escorts — Esformes walked out of federal prison thanks to Donald Trump, who granted him clemency in the waning days of his presidency.

But Esformes’s reprieve is now in peril, because the Justice Department is seeking to retry him — a move made possible because the jury that convicted him reached no verdict on six counts, including the most serious charge of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud. Because Trump’s clemency order was silent on those charges, prosecutors say they are able to take him back to court.

U2 - Atomic City

Beware Friday the 13th

One of the House GOP's Most Unethical Members May Be the Next Speaer

The GOP has scheduled a vote on its new House speaker today, and unfortunately the unethical creep Gym Jordan is one of the leading candidates.  The Ohio Republican has been referred to the House Ethics committee for ignoring subpoenas from the January 6 committee, but he is also facing an investigation on a number of campaign finance violations.  But the creepiest and most troubling of the accusations made against Jordan are about his involvement in the sex abuse scandal at Ohio State's wrestling program-- which I have briefly referenced here, here and here, without really spelling out the details. 

During Jim Jordan's tenure as Ohio State Assistant Wrestling Coach from 1986-1994, over 177 of his athletes complained that they had been sexually assaulted by a team doctor. Jordan claims that he didn't know about any of it. "I never saw, never heard of, was never told, of any kind of sex abuse."  But his own former wrestlers, young men entrusted into his care by their families, say that Jordan is lying, and he actively worked to persuade them not to come forward to report the abuse to authorities. Had that been done early on by Jordan, dozens of young men would've been spared becoming future victims.

Dr. Richard Strauss was the team doctor who molested and abused the wrestlers. He killed himself in 2005 after the allegations became public. But the allegations involved a culture of sex abuse around the wrestling program that went far beyond what Strauss did.

Six of Jordan's wrestlers told Politico in 2018 that sexually aggressive men who either worked at the University or attended it were constantly preying on the young wrestlers. They would masturbate while watching them in the shower and engage in sex acts in front of them where they trained. One wrester said he knows Jordan was aware of these things because he would yell at them to get out of the shower area while they were doing it.  One former coach who worked with Jordan told Politico, "It was a cesspool of deviancy."

Former champion Dunyasha Yetts said he told Jordan about the abuse from Dr. Strauss and asked Jordan if he would accompany him to the doctor's office after he was injured because he was worried what he might do. Yetts said, "For him to say he didn't know? I asked him to come in there with me!"

Former wrestler Shawn Daily told NBC news he was groped by Strauss on multiple occasions and said Jordan was present when people complained about him, "I participated with Jimmy and other wrestlers in locker room talk about Strauss, it was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything you would have to pull your pants down. To say he had no knowledge of it, that's kind of hurtful."

Daily also corroborated what Dunyasha alleged, saying that he heard him complain to Jordan, "Why do I have to pull my pants down for a thumb injury?" Jordan did nothing.

Even Jordan's supporters said he knew. Former UFC Champion Mark Coleman: "There's no way, unless he's got dementia or something, that he's got no recollection of what was going on. I have nothing but respect for this man, I love this man, but he knew." 

Tito Vazquez told CNN that after Strauss fondled his genitals when he went to see him about a bloody nose, he immediately reported it to Jordan. He said Jordan responded, "I have nothing to do with this," and continued on with his practice. Vazquez said, "When he pretends now that he had no knowledge of it, that's betrayal in the highest level."

Former wrestler Dan Ritchie said he was present when Jordan was informed of abuse from Strauss, and his only response was, "If he did that to with me I'd snap his neck like a twig of dried balsa wood." Ritchie said, "When we heard Jim say he wasn't aware, everyone just thought, 'Are you kidding?'"

A former Captain of the wrestling team, Anthony DiSabato testified before the Ohio legislature in 2020 that Jim Jordan knew about the sexual abuse and told him to lie about it. DiSabato was urging the House to extend the statute of limitations since it has expired before the victims came forward. The Republican House refused.

George Clooney's Smokehouse Pictures and Sports Illustrated Studios announced in 2021 that they would begin work on a documentary about Jordan's cover-up of the abuse as told by his former wrestlers. Work began during the summer of 2022, and the film will debut on HBO when it is released.  The documentary's director, Eva Orner, said the film will "give the courageous men who were abused a powerful and clear voice."

 

Gym Jordan for Speaker?

During a speech at the University of Minnesota last week, Liz Cheney told the audience point-blank, “Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for January 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives.” She added, “Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.”

Pointing to Jordan as one of the leaders of Trump’s efforts surrounding January 6, Cheney said someone needed to ask the Ohio congressman, “Why didn’t you report to the Capitol Police what you knew Donald Trump had planned?”

The January 6 committee’s final report documented that “Jordan was a significant player in President Trump’s efforts” to overturn the 2020 election. Jordan went way beyond simply amplifying Trump’s election lies “during interviews with friendly media outlets” — as the January 6 report details the congressman did in fact do. 

The January 6 report goes on to document various efforts by Jordan to help Trump achieve his goal of remaining in power despite losing the 2020 election, including participating “in numerous post-election meetings in which senior White House officials, Rudolph Giuliani, and others, discussed strategies for challenging the election.”

The report also highlights his leadership role, writing that on “January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the January 6th joint session.”

During that call four days before the January 6 attack, the group not only strategized about ways to delay the congressional certification process but also “discussed issuing social media posts encouraging President Trump’s supporters to ‘march to the Capitol’ on the 6th,’” the report said. After that January 2 conference call, Jordan spoke to Trump for 18 minutes in a one-on-one phone conversation, according to the report.

And on the day before January 6 — as described in the report — “Jordan texted Mark Meadows (then Trump’s chief of staff), passing along advice that Vice President (Mike) Pence should ‘call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.’ ” In other words, Jordan was suggesting how Pence could prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s win when Congress met on January 6. 

Jordan spoke to Trump at least twice on January 6, according to the report, but made “inconsistent public statements about how many times they spoke and what they discussed” that day. That is a big reason why the January 6 committee subpoenaed Jordan, noting in its report that he was among those who “had materially relevant communications with Donald Trump or others in the White House.” However, Jordan refused to comply with the subpoena, and he was referred to the House Ethics Committee. 

How could anyone such as Jordan, who is tied to efforts to block certification of Biden’s victory and who willfully ignored a congressional subpoena, ever serve as speaker of the House?  If he were in that position during next year's election, what other kind of threat would he be to our Democracy?

 

Trending Halloween Costume

Sadly, the Weekend Hamas Attack Should Not Have Been a Surprise

As the violence between Israel and Hamas rages on, groups and experts familiar with the Israeli government’s decades-long oppression of Palestinians stress that it is inaccurate for officials and media to call the attacks unexpected.

The Israeli military battled Palestinian fighters for a second day on Sunday after Hamas broke through Israel’s security barrier ― with the help of thousands of rockets ― and attacked nearby settlements. At least 700 people have been reportedly killed in Israel, and dozens of Israelis are being held hostage in Gaza. Israeli soldiers have now launched powerful retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas militant movement governs over two million Palestinian civilians. The U.S. and European Union have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization due to its armed resistance against Israel’s occupation.

The terrorist attack against innocent Israeli citizens (including babies) was despicably celebrated by Hamas-- and  has resulted in strongly worded support for Israel from many western nations, including the U.S., who along with the media are describing the violence as unexpected and unprecedented. But experts on the region’s history, as well as groups supporting Palestinian liberation, say that description is false.

IfNotNow, a progressive American Jewish group that opposes Israeli apartheid, said that while “we watch the unfolding horrors with heartbreak and dread for our loved ones ― Israelis and Palestinians alike” ― the attack by Palestinian fighters was a predictable reaction to decades of oppression.

“We cannot and will not say today’s actions by Palestinian militants are unprovoked,” the group said in a statement on Saturday. “Every day under Israel’s system of apartheid is a provocation. The strangling siege on Gaza is a provocation. Settlers terrorizing entire Palestinian villages, soldiers raiding and demolishing Palestinian homes, murdering Palestinians in the streets, Israeli ministers calling for genocide and expulsion. These are the provocations of the most extreme right wing government in Israel’s history and an emboldened fascist movement escalating this crisis across the land.”

Palestinians are no stranger to Israeli violence. The Arab-Israeli war of 1948 resulted in what is known as the Nakba, which refers to the mass murder of Palestinians and permanent displacement from their land. Since then, multiple human rights groups have released reports on why Israel’s efforts to remove Palestinian families from their land, jail Palestinian dissidents and kill civilians ― including children ― amount to a form of apartheid. “This war did not start this morning. It has been going on for decades,” Nathan Thrall, a writer and expert on Israel-Palestine said.  “Today’s bloodshed is the tip of an iceberg: an iceberg of state violence. Blood will continue to be spilled so long as we ignore the root causes.”

Israel has long had the financial and weapons support of the U.S. to create a military system with capabilities that far exceed its Palestinian neighbors. IfNotNow, as well as the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, have called on the U.S. to reflect on its role in funding years-long violence against Palestinians despite publicly supporting a two-state solution.

 

Israel's 9-11

Saturday marked one of the darkest days in Israel's 75-year history, as the Islamist militant group Hamas launched a deadly surprise blitz, targeting civilians and soldiers alike.  The attack began early Saturday, with Hamas firing rockets into Israel-- An IDF spokesperson said Hamas fighters had infiltrated from "land, sea and air," per The Times of Israel. Videos showed Hamas fighters landing in Israel using motorized paragliders and Hamas later published video footage of their fighters training on the paragliders.  Assailants were still wreaking havoc on Israeli soil more than a day later. As of Sunday afternoon thousands had been wounded, at least 350 people had been killed in Israel and "dozens" of civilians and soldiers had been taken hostage.

 Attacks, including one that sent concertgoers running for their lives, were caught on camera. One video showed an Israeli woman being kidnapped, hoisted onto the back of a motorcycle and driven away as her boyfriend was also abducted. Another showed the motionless body of a German-Israeli woman, identified by her dreadlocks and tattoos, being paraded through Gaza as onlookers shout "Allahu Akbar." One person was seen spitting on her head as the car drives off. 

 Israel has responded with airstrikes targeting Hamas. Inside Gaza, at least 313 Palestinians have died and more than 1,900 were wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the country will "take mighty vengeance." The top IDF official in charge of activities in the Palestinian territories said Hamas had "opened the gates of hell." What the exact response looks like remains to be seen, but a military spokesman's comments hinted that Israel may try to take full control of Gaza for the first time since it unilaterally withdrew from the territory in 2005. 

 Whether by design or by chance, Saturday's attack began 50 years and one day after another incursion Israel failed to predict, what's known in Israel as the Yom Kippur war. Israel has since spent billions of dollars to create one of the world's most formidable security services, and yet it is today still grappling with the kind of infiltration of military bases, towns and kibbutzim that marked its 1948 war of independence.

Elon Musk's Neuralink is Trying to Hide the Grisley Nature of Its Work

The behind the scenes details of Neuralink's grisly monkey experiments just keep getting worse.  Now, a followup investigation by Wired reveals that a Neuralink implant "deformed and ruptured" the brain of one female macaque, after an experiment caused severe cerebral swelling.

The trials, conducted at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) at UC Davis by Neuralink scientists, had left the seven-year-old monkey with "severe neurological defects." 

After noting the severity of its brain swelling, the researchers realized that the primate was terminal. But instead of easing its suffering, the scientist overseeing the experiment insisted the monkey be kept alive another day.  Its final 24 hours were torturous. Per documents obtained by Wired, the monkey seized and vomited, lost control of her right leg, and shook uncontrollably. It also appeared to have trouble breathing, scratching at its throat and gasping for air.  A postmortem revealed the extent of the damage. Leaked adhesive from the implant had inflamed the part of the brain that secretes cerebrospinal fluid. The effects were so severe that the rear of the monkey's brain protruded from its skull, though how the cavity was created is unclear.

But as bad as all this sounds, we may still not even know the half of it, as the photos that document the trials are being kept secret, Wired adds.  Ethics groups like the Physicians Committee, which sued UC Davis, have been pressing for the release of hundreds of photos documenting Neuralink's grisly brain implant experiments. As a public institution, the committee argues, UC Davis has an obligation to transparency.

Questions about whether animals should be made to suffer for research that could one day benefit humans often haunt biomedical research. It's a thorny issue, but it does sound as though UC Davis and Neuralink — like many of Musk's ventures — has pushed norms to the brink and leveraged aggressive tactics to keep the research quiet.

UC Davis has claimed that the public is simply unequipped to properly interpret the photographs.  In addition, the university says that backlash caused by the content of the photos would not only endanger the scientists, but discourage them from taking such photos in the first place.  UC Davis' Physicians Committee has vehemently argued that the public has a right to know the nature of any animal testing funded by taxpayers.

"Disclosure of the footage is particularly important because Neuralink actively misleads the public about, and downplays the gruesome nature of, the experiments," an attorney representing the Physicians Committee in the lawsuit told Wired.  Nevertheless, the negative press hasn't deterred Neuralink going ahead with human trials — though the outcome of the Physician Committee's lawsuit may cast a long shadow over those experiments.

 

Old Crow Medicine Show & Mavis Staples - One Drop

Let's Keep It Real: Is There a Real Menace at the White House?

New pictures have emerged which show Joe Biden's German Shepherd, Commander biting yet another White House staffer just as presidential sources tried to lay the blame for the animal's aggressive behavior on Secret Service agents.White  House sources claimed that Commander targets members of the president's security detail because of their 'unfriendly expressions.'

Within the last week, reports surfaced that the presidential pet bit a Secret Service Agent in an incident that saw the agent seek medical attention.  At the time, it was reported as the two-year-old dog's 11th known biting incident-- but thanks to the release of a tourist's photo, it has been revealed that the Secret Service incident was in fact the 12th biting incident.

The new image shows the dog sinking his teeth into the arm of White House employee Dale Haney, the superintendent of the White House grounds, in the White House gardens on September 13.  The moment was captured by a tourist in the White House gift shop who unwittingly caught the bite on camera while taking pictures of the dog.

The visitor who asked not to be named recalled: 'I was really just wanting to take pictures of the dog, it's the next best thing to seeing the president after all.  Commander was bouncing around. He seemed very lively, high spirited and playful. He's a good-looking dog.  I only realized he had actually bitten the groundskeeper who was out there with him later when I saw the picture with his teeth quite clearly round the man's wrist and arm."

And while White House sources have placed blame on the president's protectors and claimed that 'everyone loves' Commander who is 'always so friendly', the victim on this occasion was not a gun-carrying member of the president's security detail but a groundskeeper.  The witness said: "Perhaps it was meant as a playful nip but that's a big dog to be behaving like that. To me that's a bite."

The most serious of Commander's attacks took place in November 2022 when an officer was hospitalized after the animal clamped down on their arms and thighs.  Emails obtained by conservative group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that the incident was one of ten to take place in a four-month period.

It happened just one month after staff warned of the danger of attack after First Lady Jill Biden 'couldn't regain control' of the animal as it charged a member of Secret Service staff.  "I believe it's only a matter of time before an agent/officer is attacked or bit," the staff member warned in an email sent in October 2022.  White House officials had previously said that the Bidens were working through new training and leashing protocols for the family pet following the incidents-- but that doesn't look to have been very successful.

Speaking last week Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for the first lady, said in a statement: "The First Family continues to work on ways to help Commander handle the often-unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.'"   The First Family's older dog, Major – a five-year-old rescue German Shepherd from a shelter in Delaware – was removed from the White House after a string of aggressive incidents including biting Secret Service and National Park Service employees.

Commander, who was a birthday gift to the president from James and Sara Biden his brother and sister-in-law, first came to the White House on December 20, 2021.  Speaking to CNN last week, former USSS agent Jonathan Wackrow called the dog's biting spree a 'significant hazard' that needs to be addressed.  He said: "There's uniqueness here where it's the residence of the president of the United States, but it's also the workplace for hundreds, thousands of people.   And you can't bring a hazard into the workplace. And that's what is essentially happening with this dog.  One time you can say it's an accident, but now multiple incidents, it's a serious issue."

 

China Censors Still Freaking Out Over Tiananmen Square

A photo of two Chinese female athletes that made an inadvertent reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has been censored on Chinese social media.  The race numbers for Lin Yuwei and Wu Yanni form '64' - a common allusion to the incident which happened on June 4.

Discussions of the incident remain taboo in China, with authorities routinely scrubbing any mention of the topic from the internet. In 1989, troops shot dead hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.  It remains unclear how many people actually died that day, but human rights groups' estimates range from several hundred to several thousand killed.

The athletes had embraced each other after a 100 meter hurdles race at the Asian Games in which Lin won gold. She was wearing her lane number 6 next to Wu's lane number 4 in the now-banned photo. Users had posted on Weibo, one of China's biggest social media platforms, congratulating Lin. However, posts which included the photo were replaced with grey squares. However, the photo does not appear to have been completely scrubbed off the internet, with some Chinese news articles still showing a photo of the two athletes.

Discussion of the events that took place in Tiananmen Square is highly sensitive in China - with generations of younger Chinese growing up with little to no knowledge about the Tiananmen Square massacre. Posts relating to the massacres are regularly removed from the internet, tightly controlled by the government.

Last year, a popular Chinese influencer's livestream, which took place on the eve of the 33rd anniversary of the massacre, ended abruptly after he showed his audience a vanilla log cake which resembled a tank - a reference to a iconic image of one so-called Tank Man, which shows a civilian with shopping bags standing in front of a queue of tanks, attempting to block them.

 

Japan Still in the Dark Ages on Gay Rights

When Aki and Hikari were looking to rent a house together in Tokyo, they were told by real estate agents that the places they liked "were for couples".  "We are a couple," they would respond. The answer they were given: "This is a house for a man and woman couple."  The women, both in their 30s, have been together for seven years - now they are mothers to a baby.  Yet, in the eyes of the law, the government and a conservative Japanese society, they're not a legitimate couple. Despite the support around them, they have kept their relationship a secret from many people. It's why they don't want to reveal their real names. They say they are being extra-cautious for their son given that taboos around same-sex couples still persist. "We're not recognized as a family of three," Aki says.

Japan is the only G7 country not to fully recognize same-sex couples or offer them clear legal protection, leaving the country's LGBTQ+ community feeling vulnerable and nearly invisible.  Pressure has been growing to legalize same-sex unions after several district courts ruled that a ban on them was unconstitutional. But Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has struggled to pass reforms in the face of opposition from traditionally-minded political leadership. Some municipalities have introduced partnership certificates, but they are not legally binding. A new government post that mainly focuses on LGBTQ+ rights has been created, and a new law targets discrimination against sexual minorities.

But the LGBTQ+ community is disappointed because the law, which met stiff opposition from conservative lawmakers, stops well short of recognizing marriage equality. Activists were also infuriated because of language in the bill which said that in taking measures to "promote understanding" of sexual minorities, "all citizens can live with peace of mind".  It drew angry reactions from critics who say it prioritised the rights of the majority, and implied that the existence of the LGBTQ+ community could be a threat to others' peace of mind.  "There are already many politicians that want to use this law as a deterrent to restrict education and activities at schools and companies - so I'm very afraid of those intentions," says Akira Nishiyama, deputy secretary general of the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation.

Same-sex couples like Aki and Hikari say the lack of legal recognition is far from an abstract concern - it makes life harder for them every day. One of the things they are struggling to get used to, for instance, is the fact that only Aki, who gave birth, has parental rights. "When I gave birth, I wrote a will to appoint my partner as our son's legal guardian in case I died during labour. And even that didn't guarantee her custody," Aki says.  If one of them is hospitalized, the other has no legal right to fill paperwork or sign consent forms on her partner's behalf. Many couples cannot get a joint mortgage to buy a house. And if one partner dies, the other has no right to inherit. 

 

So Who's Too Old to Run For President?

Can you imagine if President Biden said any of the following in public?

• Made jokes about the spouse of politician who was almost murdered in a hammer attack
• Used the word "Motherfucker" in a speech
• Said that people in Ohio smelled
• Claimed that he could win a state in 2024 that he lost in 2020 by 33 percentage points
• Said that the solution to wildfires is to "dampen the forests"
• Promised to prosecute his political opponents once he was re-elected
• Said that rich people in Beverly Hills smell bad because they’re denied water
• Said that shoplifters should be shot dead when they exit the store with merchandise
• Claimed that pro-choice politicians want to abort babies after they’re born
• Said that Trump beat Obama in 2016
• Said that we were on the verge of World War 2

Everybody would be ready to ship him off to the old folks home, right?  Well, it was actually Trump that said all of these things in the last week alone-- and no one is saying he's too old to run, are they?

Ethnic Cleansing Shock in Azerbaijan

More than 100,000 people have fled the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan after an invasion of  Azerbaijan troops.  That number represents almost the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was last estimated to be 120,000.  The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) stated  that many of those fleeing "are hungry, exhausted and need immediate assistance".  Artak Beglaryan, an Armenian former separatist official, said that "the last groups" of Nagorno-Karabakh residents were on their way to Armenia yesterday.  "At most a few hundred persons remain, most of whom are officials, emergency services employees, volunteers, some persons with special needs," he wrote on social media.

At least 200 ethnic Armenians and dozens of Azerbaijani soldiers were killed as Azerbaijan's army swept in to seize control of the region. Azerbaijan has said it wants to reintegrate the area and treat its residents as equals, but an Armenian spokesman said this was just a "lie".  Nagorno-Karabakh - recognized as part of Azerbaijan - had been run by ethnic Armenians for three decades.

 As part of a ceasefire deal to allow residents free passage out of the territory, separatists have agreed to surrender their weapons. The leader of the self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has said it will cease to exist in the new year.  Samvel Shahramanyan announced that he had signed an order dissolving all state institutions effective January 1, 2024. Shahramanyan said the decision to dissolve the state was "based on the priority of ensuring the physical security and vital interests of the people", referencing Azerbaijan's agreement that "free, voluntary and unhindered travel is ensured to residents".   He encouraged people from Nagorno-Karabakh, including those currently living outside it, to "familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration" into Azerbaijan.

The UN says it is sending a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the humanitarian situation, after Azerbaijan said it would allow such a visit to take place.  Armenia's ambassador-at-large, Edmon Marukyan, stressed that it was important that UN officials saw for themselves what ethnic Armenians had been subjected to.  "It's good they will be there and they will become witnesses that these people were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland, from their homes where their parents, where their ancestors were living and these people were totally cleansed from this territory," he told the BBC.