Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Bloody Mary Shrimp in the Kitchen



Ingredients:
2 slices bacon optional
1 tablespoon olive oil use only if omitting bacon
4 cloves garlic 
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons vodka [Trina says: optional]
1 cup tomato juice or tomato and vegetable juice mix
1 tablespoon horseradish prepared or creamed
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 
1 pound shrimp raw, deveined, outer shells removed
1 lemon
fresh herbs like parsley, basil or dill, optional
Instructions
1) Add the chopped bacon to a pan over medium heat and cook until almost crisp, about 4 minutes. If not using the bacon, just start with a tablespoon of olive oil.
2) Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
3) Add the cherry tomatoes and vodka. Cook for about 5 minute.
4) Pour in the tomato juice, horseradish and Worcestershire sauce. Bring the heat down to medium-low. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sauce thickens a bit and the alcohol has burned off.
5) Add the shrimp, season it with salt, and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque.
6) Take the blood mary shrimp off the heat, squeeze over the juice of half a lemon [squeeze juice from a half-lemon over the shrimp], taste for seasoning and serve with fresh herbs, lemon wedges, and your choice of pasta, rice, or bread.

I've put optional by the vodka remembering that not everyone lives in an area where they can buy alcohol.  It cooks down in the recipe and you can make it without vodka if you need to. 

Question: What idiot Tweeted the following:


Congratulations and grateful to the Russian people and President Vladimir Putin! I am here safe by the grace of their welcome. They have been steadfast in their resolve to build their country internally, create positive economic bridges with other countries and support one another in the process. The election was peaceful, organized and with integrity. The US could learn by Russia’s example. The will of the people is the true heart of democracy. The Russian people have spoken!


Did you guess roly-poly, fat fat the water rat Tara Reade?  Then you are correct.  She doesn't need to ever be allowed back in the US.  People like that?  We're better off without them.  And is the liar trying to say that Joe didn't win in 2020?  Crazy, I get it, you think -- THINK -- he assaulted you.  You have no proof and your characters is so low that no one believes you.  But Joe won the election.  Did Putin?  I have no idea.  But chances are that would be in his country that they would have bigger problems with secure and honest results. He's been the president since 2012 and, no, that is not natural nor is normal.


The Putin apologist belongs in Russia and should never be allowed back in the United States.  I am concerned with the way she's stroking Putin's ego.  Will she next accuse him of assaulting her?  Is that what Tara does?  Praise male leaders and then accuse them of harassing her?  They have psychologists in Russia.  Hopefully, Tara will see one.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for  Monday:


Monday, March 18, 2024.  The Israeli government attacks Al Shifa Hospital and beats up a journalist in what they claim is another 'precise operation,' thousands turned out Saturday throughout Israel to protest War Criminal Netanyahu, UNCIEF warns that the 13,000 children who've been killed will be a small number and that even those who survive risk being "stunted for life," and much more.


As we noted last night, day 163 finds the Israeli government again breaking international law as they attack another hospital with their military.  THE NATIONAL reports on the attack of Al Shifa  Hospital:

 

It said that around 30,000 displaced and wounded people and medical teams are still besieged inside the building.

It added that a fire has erupted at the gate of the hospital and there were cases of suffocation among displaced women and children at the facility and communications were cut off.

The government media office in Gaza has condemned the operation.

"The Israeli army's storming of Al Shifa Hospital with tanks, drones and weapons and shooting inside it is a war crime," it said.



A Palestinian journalist trapped inside al-Shifa Hospital has described the situation in the facility as “catastrophic” amid “intense clashes” and gunfire.

Wadea Abu Alsoud made the comments in a video posted to Instagram.

“This might be my last video,” he said. “We’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at. The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity. As you can hear now, there are intense clashes in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There are shrapnels falling over the hospital’s yard.”

He added: “We’re currently besieged. Pray for us to get out safely. These are clashes as you can hear… we don’t know what’s going on outside al-Shifa hospital, but the situation here is catastrophic.”

This morning, THE SUN notes, "Gaza’s Health Ministry on Monday called on the United Nations (UN) and other international institutions to stop Israel’s ongoing operation in the area of Al-Shifa Hospital that has killed patients, refugees, and medical personnel."  EURO NEWS adds, "The ministry says around 30,000 people are sheltering at the hospital, including patients, medical staff and people who have fled their homes seeking safety."  THE STRAITS TIMES explains, "Al-Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, is now one of the only healthcare facilities that is even partially operational in the north of the territory, and is also housing hundreds of displaced civilians."  Andrew England and Neri Zilber (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) remind, "Israel previously raided al-Shifa in Gaza City in November, forcing thousands of people who had sought sanctuary at the hospital to flee. That raid drew widespread condemnation from aid agencies as Israel’s air, land and sea offensive pushed Gaza’s health system towards a state of collapse." That raid, remember, was based on the Israeli's claims that Hamas fighters were using the hospital.  Rachel Pannett and Hajar Harb (WASHINGTON POST) explain, "A Washington Post investigation in December into whether the civilian harm caused by the IDF’s campaign against the hospital complex was proportionate to the assessed threat found no immediate evidence of a command and control node. Rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by the IDF showed no immediate evidence of ongoing military use by Hamas and no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards."  THE GUARDIAN notes:


Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces have arrested on of its journalists at al-Shifa hospital. Other local media have also reported that Ismail al-Ghoul has been detained.

Al Jazeera writes:

We’re getting reports that Israeli forces have arrested Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul from inside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. According to Palestinian writer and journalist Imad Zaqqout and other witnesses, al-Ghoul was beaten severely by Israeli soldiers before he was arrested with dozens of men and women within the hospital.


Al Jazeera Arabic reported that the hospital’s surgical building was on fire following the Israeli bombing.

According to Palestinian writer and journalist Imad Zaqqout and other witnesses, Israeli forces arrested Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul from inside the hospital.

The witnesses said al-Ghoul was beaten severely by Israeli soldiers before he was arrested with dozens of men and women within the hospital.







Thousands of protesters filled the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Saturday night, with two separate groups calling for the government to resign and demanding the release of hostages held in Gaza. 

In Tel Aviv: Demonstrators on two main streets of Tel Aviv called on the Israeli government to resign, with some protesters also seen burning fires and scuffling with police in the city.

Protesters blocked Ayalon Highway — a major inter-city freeway in Gush Dan, Israel, in the metro Tel Aviv area — and chanted, "There is nothing more important. Every hostage must come back." Na'ama Lazimi, a member of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, was seen among the protesters on the highway.  

In Jerusalem and Caesarea: Thousands of family members of hostages still held in Gaza demanded the release of their loved ones on Saturday evening. A social media video captured arrests of protesters who were calling for elections near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in Caesarea. Israeli police said they arrested four in Caesarea and two in Jerusalem.  

What police say: Israel Police said it approved the request to hold the protests, but added that "a number of protesters gathered illegally on Menachem Begin Road and began to violate the order by lighting fires on the road and blocking the movement of vehicles."

"At the same time, a number of protesters went down to Ayalon and blocked a part off the road while confronting the police," the statement said, adding that police then "announced that the demonstration was illegal and that they should clear the traffic routes. At this stage, the rioters did not listen to the instructions and the police had to use measures to disperse the rioters in order to stop the offense."


Netanyahu also has problems in the US.  CNN reports, "US President Joe Biden described Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s floor speech criticizing Netanyahu as 'good,' saying the New York Democrat 'expressed serious concern' that is shared by many Americans. Biden said Schumer had contacted his senior staff beforehand to let the White House know he’d be making the speech."    Saturday, Lauren Gambino (GUARDIAN) reported:
 
Joe Biden should use his leverage and the law to pressure Israel to change how it is prosecuting the war in Gaza, the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, is among a group of senators urging Biden to stop providing Israel with offensive weapons until it lifts restrictions on the delivery of food and medicine into Gaza, where children are now dying of hunger and famine looms.

“We need the president and the Biden administration to push harder and to use all the levers of US policy to ensure people don’t die of starvation,” Van Hollen said in an interview on Friday.

This week, Van Hollen and seven of his colleagues sent a letter to the president arguing that Israel was in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act, a section of which prohibits the sale and transfer of military weapons to any nation that restricts the delivery of US aid.

 

Gaza remains under assault. Day 164 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."  MINT notes, "Israel has killed over 31,726 people in Palestine since October 7, as per the Gaza health ministry. Israeli military offensive has also injured an additional 73,792 people since the Gaza war started, as per an official statement on March 18."  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:








And 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 EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell condemned Benjamin Netanyahu this morning for creating what he said was a “manmade famine” in Gaza, and urged Israel to allow road deliveries of food immediately.

Arriving at a summit of foreign ministers in Brussels, he said European leaders have told the Israeli prime minister they cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve to death.


In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine affecting thousands of people.

Chancellor Sholz told Benjamin Netanyahu ‘we cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve’. This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely manmade.

Chancellor Scholz is saying Europeans cannot sit and watch Palestinian starving, when on the other side of the border there is food for months accumulated in stocks, while on the other side of the road there are people dying of hunger. This requires some action.

The EU, which funds much of the aid to Gaza, said the land border used to handle 500 tonnes of aid a day before the war. At present it was functioning at a level of 100 tonnes a day.

Borrell added: “Before the war, Gaza was the greatest open air prison. Today it is the greatest open air graveyard”.


Yesterday, UNICEF's Catherine Russell appeared on CBS' FACE THE NATION:


MARGARET BRENNAN: According to UNICEF, 81% of households in Gaza don't have enough access to clean water, and nine in 10 people do not have enough food to survive. The organization's executive director is Catherine Russell, and she's here with us. Welcome to Face the Nation.

CATHERINE RUSSELL: Thank you very much, thanks.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You focus in particular on the children. We heard this week from the leaders of the US intelligence community that there will be a generational impact from what is happening in Gaza. The implications of that they were looking through the national security lens. From your perspective, what does that mean? What does the generational impact mean?

CATHERINE RUSSELL: Well, it means- it means that what's happening now is more than 13,000 children already have been killed, which is an astronomical horrifying number. Thousands more have been injured, or we can't even determine where they are, they may be stuck under rubble. Thousands more have lost one or both parents, some of these children, you've seen them on the news. They're just by themselves managing their younger siblings. I mean, it's a horrifying situation. So when you think about the impact of that on those children as they grow up, even on their- their children, right, it is an impact that is so profound, because of the stress that they're living under and the grief and the loss and the fear that they're living under. It's bound to have impacts on them the rest of their lives.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Since October 7, 33 Israeli children have been killed in those horrific attacks of that day. As you just said, 13,000 in Gaza that you know of--

CATHERINE RUSSELL: --That we know of.

MARGARET BRENNAN: That's just horrific–

CROSSTALK

CATHERINE RUSSELL: You know, honestly, the- the children who were killed in Israel, the- the children who were taken hostage, yeah, there are still children who have not been returned to their families in Israel, all horrific, right. Every one of those cases is so heartbreaking for that child and that family. I- I think these numbers that we're seeing out of Gaza are just staggering. I mean, we haven't seen that rate of death among children in- in almost any other conflict in the world. It's really shocking.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So your organization says 31% of children, one in three under the age of two, in northern Gaza suffer from acute malnutrition. This isn't just trauma, this is- this is stunting them for life.

CATHERINE RUSSELL: Well, if they survive. And I have to say I've seen a lot of children, unfortunately, in my job around the world who suffer from malnutrition, and it is a shocking thing to see. I mean, essentially, the body starts to consume itself because it has nothing else and it's a painful, painful death for children. I've been in wards of children who are suffering from severe anemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet. Because the children the babies have don't even have the energy to cry. I mean, it is a devastating thing to see. And you're right, if they survive it, if we can manage to get what we do is provide therapeutic feeding for them. If we can get that to them, they can survive, but often they're stunted for life. And stunting means that your- your- your ability, your cognitive ability is impacted as well. So it is a lifelong challenge for these children, if they survive, but we know now that children are dying from malnutrition in- in Gaza.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The CIA director testified about children starving in Gaza. What are you able to actually get in at this point? And we know there are airdrops happening. You can't airdrop vaccines, you can't airdrop things that need to be refrigerated. So- so what's getting in and what do you need to get?

CATHERINE RUSSELL: Well, first of all, the one thing we know for sure is not enough is getting in and the airdrops are, as you say, some things are coming in that way, some things came in through this maritime corridor, but it's a drop in the bucket in both cases. And what we need to get in for children is what I said, this therapeutic feeding which is something called Plumpy'nut, I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it's fantastic and it can save their lives. But we need to get it to them and we have so little access right now. And it's very challenging. We also are facing very great bureaucratic challenges, moving trucks in. Trucks and moving things by land is by far the most efficient, effective way to get aid in. But there are a lot of challenges to that where we can't, you know, I think, excuse me, Senator Van Hollen mentioned if things are dual use, sometimes they get rejected, so we can't get plastic pipes in, we can't get some medical kits if they have a little scissors in them. I mean, it's- it's completely, almost Kafkaesque sometimes trying to figure out how we get things into this bureaucratic mess. And I think at the end of the day, those are choices that are made, right. If the choice is--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --Those are political choices.

CATHERINE RUSSELL: They are choices. And I think if the choice is to say we need to get as much humanitarian aid flooded into this area as possible, everyone can do better in that regard. And I think that the population there is suffering in such a terrible way. And I think one of the big challenges is, because there's such limited access--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --Yeah.

CATHERINE RUSSELL:  For the press, in addition, it's hard to see that, right. And I think it would be great if there were more transparency, if everyone could see what the challenges are, what the legitimate bottlenecks--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --Yes.

CATHERINE RUSSELL: Are, and how we could all do better.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We rely on our producer who lives in Gaza, Marwar al-Ghoul, but we cannot get in--

CATHERINE RUSSELL: --Which is not right. You should be- you should be able to get it and you should be able to see what's happening. The world should be able to see what's happening and make their own judgments about what's going on.




The following sites updated:


Friday, March 15, 2024

Tomato Mac and Cheese in the Kitchen

 Sam e-mailed to note a recipe he likes from the Campbell Soup website:


  Ingredients

  • 1 can (10 1/2ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
  • 1 cup Prego® Traditional Italian Sauce
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 2 cups cooked elbow macaroni, drained
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
 

Instructions

  • Step 1

    Heat the soup, sauce, milk and pasta in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat until the mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring occasionally.  Serve with the cheese.


If you used a cup of Prego's meat sauce mixture, you could have Tomato Mac and Beef and Cheese.  


News?  This is from today's Democracy Now!


Longtime LGBTQ+ activist and political adviser David Mixner has died at 77. A friend said the cause of death was complications of long-term COVID. David Mixner was famously close friends with Bill Clinton, on whose presidential campaign he worked. But the relationship fractured after Clinton walked back his promise to end discrimination against LGBTQ people in the military, which Mixner harshly condemned. He was arrested at a 1993 protest against Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy outside the White House. This is David Mixner on Democracy Now! in 1996.

David Mixner: “And we’ve got to get our act together. You know, the Christian Coalition has been organizing. They’ve been taking over school boards. They’ve been taking over water boards. They’ve been taking over taxation boards at the local level. And for years, I think, on the progressive movement and on the left, we have accepted the criteria that they’re better than the other guy. And so, we have always been put in that position of accepting someone just a little better than someone worse. And I think we shouldn’t accept that anymore.”



This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Thursday:


Thursday, March 14, 2024.  Starvation and famine continue in Gaza, a child takes their own life in the US because of a climate of hate, and much more.


There is nothing good about the assault on Gaza.  It's still surprising, however, just how rotten everything about the assault is.   Maryam Qarehgozlou (PRESS TV) observes, "Beyond the colossal human toll of the deadly war, an environmental catastrophe is also unfolding across the blockaded territory, triggered by indiscriminate bombings and a crippling siege for more than five months."  The Israeli government is consuming a huge amount of fossil fuels to assault Gaza.  Nina Lakhani (GUARDIAN) reports

Israeli jets and tanks bombarding Palestinians are being fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies – and US tax-payers, according to research.

Israel relies on crude oil and refined products from overseas to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles.

The research, which was commissioned by the non-profit Oil Change International and shared exclusively with the Guardian, examines this fuel supply chain, which since the current conflict in Gaza began appears to have relied heavily on fossil fuels from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil, Gabon and the US. The analysis by Data Desk, a UK-based tech consultancy firm investigating the fossil fuel industry, suggests the major oil companies facilitating the fuel supplies include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies.

The analysis suggests that Israel has received three US tankers of JP8 jet guel in the form of military aid since October 2023. One left the US before the current assault on Gaza began, departing from the Bill Greehey refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, on 22 September.

Vessels delivering oil and fuel recently appear to have been turning off their automatic identification system (AIS) signal before reaching Israel, possibly for security reasons.

The other two departed after the conflict was underway: one appears to have departed on 6 December 2023, when more than 16,000 Palestinians had already been killed. The third left Texas on 9 February 2024 – two weeks after the International Court of Justice’s interim ruling that Israel could plausibly be committing genocide against 2.3m Palestinians in occupied Gaza. A satellite image appears to show the tanker at Israel’s Ashkelon terminal on 6 March, when the Palestinian death toll had risen to 30,000.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has continued since the ICJ ordered the Israeli government to prevent any genocidal act. The ICJ ruling has legal implications for countries and corporations, which must ensure they are not complicit in genocidal acts.


Last week, EURO NEWS noted:

The United Nations is investigating the environmental impact of the war in Gaza, which has caused a catastrophic spike in land, soil and water pollution.

It is hard to know where to begin, since the conflict has no end in sight. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by relentless Israeli strikes since 7 October, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and took 250 people hostage.

[. . .]

In recent days, devastating reports have emerged of malnourished and dehydrated babies dying in the Northern Gaza Strip. “These tragic and horrific deaths are man-made, predictable and entirely preventable,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement on 3 March.

Environmental concerns pale beside such suffering. But they are also inseparable from the unfolding humanitarian disaster. Water pollution from the bombardments, for example, means a dearth in safe drinking water and a rise in water-borne diseases.


On Monday, a number of US senators objected to US President Joe Biden supplying the government of Israel with military equipment when the Israeli government has continued to block aid to Gaza.  This is a press release on the letter from Senator Mazie Hirono's office:


WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), in sending a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to enforce federal law by requiring Netanyahu’s government to stop restricting humanitarian aid access to Gaza or forfeit U.S. military aid to Israel.

In the letter, the senators make clear that Netanyahu’s interference in U.S. humanitarian operations in Gaza violates Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, also known as the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act. The law states: “No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter or the Arms Export Control Act to any country when it is made known to the President that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

“According to public reporting and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of this law,” wrote the senators. “Given this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified under existing U.S. law.”

“The United States should not provide military assistance to any country that interferes with U.S. humanitarian assistance,” the senators continued. “Federal law is clear, and, given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza, and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address U.S. concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a change in policy by his government.”

The full text of the letter is available here and below.

President Biden,

The severe humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is nearly unprecedented in modern history.

As Vice President Harris said on March 3rd, “We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed, women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration.”

Your Administration has repeatedly stated, and the United Nations and numerous aid organizations have confirmed, that Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian access, both at the border and within Gaza, are one of the primary causes of this humanitarian catastrophe.

The Netanyahu government’s interference with humanitarian operations has prevented U.S.- financed aid from reaching its intended recipients in a safe and timely manner.

In recent weeks, humanitarian access has seriously deteriorated. That reality was underscored by your decision last week, which we support, to begin air dropping supplies to desperate civilians in north Gaza.

The Netanyahu government’s interference in U.S. humanitarian operations violates the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act — Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 USC 2378-1). The law is clear: “No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter or the Arms Export Control Act to any country when it is made known to the President that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

According to public reporting and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of this law. Given this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified under existing U.S. law.

People are starving. As you have said, “We’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses. Because the truth is, aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough.”

The United States should not provide military assistance to any country that interferes with U.S. humanitarian assistance. We note that the language of the statute does not preclude U.S. assistance for missile defense, such as the Iron Dome, or other defensive systems provided to Israel pursuant to the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Federal law is clear, and, given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza, and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address U.S. concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a change in policy by his government.

Sincerely,

###



And it's not just that group of US senators calling for accountability.  Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

  More than two dozen human rights groups on Tuesday implored U.S. President Joe Biden "urgently comply" with domestic law by suspending arms sales to Israel and pressuring its far-right government to end its genocidal policy of blocking aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza.

In a joint letter to Biden, the 25 organizations asserted that his administration's "unconditional arms transfers and other security assistance" to Israel apparently "violate Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2378-1), which prohibits the United States from providing security assistance or arms sales to any country when the president is made aware that the government 'prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.'"

"U.S. weapons, security assistance, and blanket political support have contributed to an unparalleled humanitarian crisis and possible war crimes in Gaza," the groups wrote. "We demand that you urgently comply with U.S. law, end U.S. support for catastrophic human suffering in Gaza, and use your leverage to protect civilians and ensure the impartial provision of humanitarian assistance."



The International Rescue Committee notes, "Over half a million Palestinians are suffering from severe malnutrition, and children are dying of starvation. Right now the IRC and its partners are working to deliver urgently needed emergency food, medical supplies and other crucial humanitarian aid to displaced families."  THE GUARDIAN notes:

A senior official at the European Commission has said there are already pockets of famine happening in Gaza.

Reuters reports Janez Lenarčič, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, told the media that famine could spread to the whole of the region.


This morning, ALJAZEERA reports:

Israeli forces have shot dead at least six Palestinians and wounded 83 in Gaza City as they were waiting for food and humanitarian supplies at the Kuwait Roundabout, an area where large groups of people gather for arriving aid trucks.

The attack on Thursday took place hours after at least five people were killed by an Israeli air strike on a food distribution centre in Rafah, southern Gaza, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is the main humanitarian agency in Gaza.

There has been an uptick in fatal assaults by Israeli troops on crowds of starving civilians lining up for aid in recent weeks. On Monday night, Israeli forces killed 11 people waiting for food aid at the same roundabout.

Netanyahu's attack on UNRWA has been non-stop.  Yesterday, the agency released a statement noting the attacks that have taken place:

At least one UNRWA staff member was killed and another 22 were injured  when Israeli Forces hit a food distribution centre in the eastern part of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine. Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict. The Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. 

Since the war began five months ago, UNRWA has recorded an unprecedented number of violations against its staff and facilities that surpass any other conflict around the world.   

·      At least 165 UNRWA team members killed including while in the line of duty;

·      More than 150 UNRWA facilities were hit, some totally destroyed, among them many schools;

·      More than 400 people killed while seeking shelter under the UN flag;

·      Tunnels have reportedly been found under UNRWA facilities and installations used for military activities;

·      UNRWA staff have reportedly been mistreated and humiliated while in Israeli detention centres.

“The United Nations, its personnel, premises and assets must be protected at all times. Since this war began, attacks against UN facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace in blatant disregard to international humanitarian law. I am calling once again for an independent inquiry into these violations and the need for accountability,” added Lazzarini.   





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

Civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander has a new piece in The Nation. It’s headlined “Only Revolutionary Love Can Save Us Now.” Michelle Alexander begins, “This moment feels different. Something new is in the air. Of course, everything is always changing. Impermanence is the way of life. Philosophers, theologians, and poets have reminded us for centuries that the only constant is change.”

Michelle Alexander joins us now for more, the best-selling author of the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

It’s great to have you back with us, Michelle. If you can —

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I’m always happy to be here.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to see you. If you can talk about what gives you hope right now, even as you write about what’s happening in Gaza, as you talk about what’s happening with issues of police brutality and mass incarceration through the United States? Talk about movements and your references to Dr. King.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Well, what gives me hope right now is that, despite everything, revolutionary love is bursting and blossoming in all kinds of places and spaces. Years of relentless and patient organizing and deep learning about each other’s histories and struggles have led to a moment when Black activists are showing up at protests organized by Jewish students who are raising their voices in solidarity with Palestinians who are suffering occupation and annihilation in Gaza. And, you know, this is due to connections that have been made over the course of years between liberation struggles on the streets of Ferguson and those occurring in Palestine. And these small acts of revolutionary love are leading to movements, are building movements that just might help us change everything.

And, you know, we see this in communities everywhere, where people are connecting dots between climate change and racial and gender injustice. We see it in the movement to stop Cop City in Atlanta. We see it in movements for clean water and food. And we see that people are making connections between liberation struggles here at home and those occurring around the world, as well as connections between the violence of policing and incarceration and the violence of militarism and the relentless assault on Gaza.

So, you know, people are turning towards really promising forms of movement building, incredible acts of courage in this moment, speaking unpopular truths. And that gives me hope, even in a time when there is so much reason for fear and anxiety, that can be paralyzing.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Michelle, but you also raised in your article that all of this is happening right now in the midst of a presidential election here in the United States. And what do you see as the impact of the policy of the Biden administration in terms of — especially in terms of Gaza and the genocide there, and what the impact may be on the result of our election?

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Well, you know, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Gaza in just a few months with our bombs — you know, mass murder funded by our government, aided and abetted by our military, paid for, in large part, by our tax dollars. And while we have been told by our government that we are not witnessing genocide, you know, I and millions of people around the world have watched. You know, as videos have traveled around the globe, we’ve watched, you know, as mothers have pulled body parts of their dead children out of rubble, as people have had their limbs amputated, sawed off, without anesthesia because the hospitals have been destroyed and there’s no medicine, including pain medication, to be found. We’ve watched as people facing starvation have been shot at by Israeli soldiers as they approach vehicles carrying aid.

And so, you know, the Biden administration seems to be surprised that people who are not Palestinian care as deeply as we do. And I think if the Democratic Party and the Biden administration is serious about winning this next election, they must not only insist upon a ceasefire, but end the aid for the military support and the bombs, and must invest and ensure that the people who are starving and who are suffering there get the aid that they need to survive. We must end the occupation of Palestine and commit to the thriving of all of the people who have been subjected to relentless war and occupation for decades now. And so, yeah, I do think it’s an important issue in this election year.

And, you know, as I point out in the piece, that there are many, many things that are weighing on the minds and the hearts of the American people right now. It is the mass killing in Gaza, you know, more than 10,000 children, and the destruction of hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, universities, museums and nearly all the basic infrastructure. It is the memories of the killings that occurred on October 7th, memories that many continue to carry along with deep grief and fear. But there’s also, you know, fears of the threats to our democracy, to the very ideas of diversity and inclusion. And there’s the threat of climate change. You know, 2023 was the hottest year on record, and it seems we may have already passed a critical tipping point, and yet the five biggest oil companies last year raked in record profits, nearly $200 billion in profits, more than the economic output of most countries. And, you know, if all that wasn’t enough, we keep learning more and more that AI just might destroy humanity.

And, you know, I find that people often ask me, as I speak about issues related to climate change and the war in Gaza and the threats related to the rise in technology: What does any of this have to do with mass incarceration or police violence, the issues and causes that have been most pressing and most important to me for much of my life? And what I always say is that these issues have everything to do with mass incarceration. These are existential crises that we face because we have persisted in treating people and all of creation as exploitable and disposable, unworthy of our care and concern. We are lost in the delusion that we can solve problems or do justice or achieve peace and security simply by locking people up, throwing away the key, destroying their lives and families, getting rid of them, declaring wars on them, wars on drugs, wars on crime, wars on Gaza. And that’s why I keep returning again and again to the speech that Martin Luther King gave near the end of his life, the speech where he condemned the Vietnam War and was immediately canceled. That’s what my piece in The Nation is ultimately about.

AMY GOODMAN: Michelle, we want to end with and get your final comment on Dr. King’s speech that he gave at New York’s Riverside Church opposing the War in Vietnam a year to the day before he was assassinated. This is Dr. King speaking about why he opposed the War in Vietnam.

REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask, and rightly so, “What about Vietnam?” And they ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home. And I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. King, after which, you point out in the piece, Michelle, that he was canceled, from the major papers, The New York Times to The Washington Post, attacked for his opposition to war.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Yes, that’s absolutely right. I mean, it’s difficult to overstate the political risk that he was taking in that moment. Our nation had been at war with Vietnam for two years. Ten thousand American troops had already been killed. And the war had enthusiastic bipartisan support within the political establishment. Anyone who dared to criticize the war were often labeled communist and subjected to vicious forms of retaliation and backlash. Many of his friends and his allies told him not to speak out against the war, saying he’d jeopardize the very fragile and brand-new gains of the civil rights movement.

And he said, you know, those people, those voices didn’t understand the depth of his moral commitment, but they also had no real understanding of the nature of the world in which they lived. And he said basic morality demands that we speak for the weak, the voiceless, the victims of our own nation, especially the children, including those our nation calls enemy, for they are no less our brothers and sisters. He condemned the moral bankruptcy of a nation that doesn’t hesitate to invest in bombs and warfare around the world but can’t ever seem to find the dollars to eradicate poverty at home.

But, for me, you know, what makes King’s speech essential in this moment is that he was arguing in that speech that if we, as a nation, do not awaken from our collective delusions, we are doomed. You know, he said we must rapidly shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. You know, he said when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, you know, the giant triplet of racism, extreme materialism and militarism will never be conquered. You know, if we fail to make this turn, if we fail to awaken, we are doomed. And he was right. Whether we’re talking about climate change, AI, mass deportation, mass incarceration, the wars in Gaza or the wars on drugs, he’s right, that if we don’t turn away from the corrupting forces of capitalism, militarism and racism, and embrace a truly revolutionary love for all people and all creation, we are doomed. Towards the end of that speech at Riverside, he said there is such a thing as being too late. You know, he said over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words “too late.”

And yet his message wasn’t a hopeless one. He was calling us to embrace a revolutionary movement, one that was grounded in an ethic of love. Just as bell hooks once said, you know, as long as we refuse to embrace love in our struggles for liberation, we will not be able to create a culture of conversion where there’s a mass turning away from an ethic of domination. And that, ultimately, is what revolutionary love is all about and why I believe it is the only thing that can save us now.

AMY GOODMAN: Michelle Alexander, thank you so much for joining us, civil rights advocate — 

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: — author of the best-selling book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. We’ll link to your piece in The Nation, headlined “Only Revolutionary Love Can Save Us Now.”


Gaza remains under assault. Day 160 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 GUARDIAN notes "the total death toll since Israel launched its military offensive in the Gaza Strip [is] 31,341. Additionally, 73,134 people have been 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:








And 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."   

In other news . . . 



Florida’s school teachers will be allowed to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity — under the condition the topics are not a part of formal classroom instruction. The clarification came as part of a lawsuit settlement reached by Florida’s education officials and a group of LGBTQ+ rights advocates and families. Opponents of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law had argued the measure’s vague language sparked fear and confusion among educators and students, who were unsure if even sharing personal details about their lives, such as drawing a picture of their same-sex parents for a school project, would be a violation of the law.


This was never, ever about helping children.  It was about hate merchants spreading their hate.  And we see across the country the effects of that.  Nex Benedict was one of the children targeted with this hate.  Marcia has been covering Nex's case at her site and, in last night's "Ryan Walters is responsible for the death of Nex Benedict," rightly calls out hate merchant Ryan Walters who seems to think the initial autopsy finding that a child took their own life because of the abuse that they were experiencing is somehow vindicating him.  It's no vindication, it is an indictment. 


The tragic death of high school sophomore Nex Benedict last month cast a spotlight on the relentless bullying LGBTQ students face in schools nationwide, and on the records of Oklahoma’s elected leaders in targeting transgender students, including the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters.

Walters told ABC News, “we’re not going to lie to students. And we’re not going to push a gender ideology.” Walters’ repeated false claims about “gender ideology” and “only two genders” conflict with the history of Two Spirit people in his own state, which have long recognized and honored multiple genders. Walters’ comments also crucially fail to acknowledge Nex Benedict’s Choctaw heritage and the impact of Walters’ rhetoric and policies on Two Spirit, transgender, and gender nonconforming (2STGNC+) students like Nex.

Walters’ comments and policies attempting to ignore the existence and history of 2STGNC+ people in his state are consistent with his record of attempts to eliminate inclusive books. More than 350 organizations including GLAAD have called on state legislative leaders to remove Walters and investigate the unsafe climate in Oklahoma schools for 2STGNC+ students.

GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said Walters “dangerously and recklessly prioritized escalating attacks against LGBTQ, indigenous, and vulnerable youth, promoting lies, spreading disinformation, and pushing broad scale discriminatory policies that do nothing to improve education, [with] rhetoric and policies to erase the culture and history of entire communities of Oklahomans … in alignment with national anti-LGBTQ groups like Moms for Liberty and extremists on social media.”

At last month’s Board of Education meeting, the first since the news of Nex’s death, business owner and Vice Mayor of The Village, a suburb of Oklahoma City, Sean Cummings addressed Walters’ anti-LGBTQ record. Walters’ actions include appointing Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik to the state Library Media Review Committee in January, despite a history of anti-LGBTQ posts that have reportedly preceded more than 30 threats of violence against schools in Oklahoma and nationwide, as well as libraries and childrens’ hospitals. Raichik does not live in Oklahoma, does not have children in Oklahoma schools, and has no proven background in education.

“You and your rhetoric and your inability to do anything as a board here are partially responsible for emboldening bullies to jump a [student] in the bathroom,” Cummings told Walters. “You have actual blood on your hands.”

 

e are learning more about the death of Nex Benedict, a non-binary high school student who died on February 8, the day after they were beaten in the school bathroom in Owasso, Oklahoma. We are also learning about ourselves, as Oklahomans, as we deal with the tragedy. But we are not alone. This bitter attack is a case study in the cruelty being spread across the nation by right-wing extremists. 

Vigils were held across the nation in honor of Nex, who has a Choctaw heritage. The diverse crowd I witnessed at the Oklahoma City vigil was so large that I could barely hear the speakers. We still don’t fully know everything about Nex’s death, but it is clear that it must be viewed within the context of vicious attacks on LGBTQ+ youth by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and Governor Kevin Stitt as well as the fifty-plus Republican legislative bills attacking LBGTQ+ rights across the country.

Since he was elected in 2019, Governor Stitt has signed laws that restrict access to public school bathrooms; ban health care for transgender people under eighteen; ban transgender girls and women from school sports; and prohibit Oklahomans from obtaining nonbinary gender markers on official documents. He also signed, as the LGTBQ+ rights group GLAAD reported, “an executive order that defunds diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and programs in state agencies, including public colleges.”

Walters has a similar record: He has depicted transgender students as a threat in schools, and approved a permanent rule change that requires schools to get state approval before altering gender markers in a student’s records. Walters has advocated for book bans and described LGBTQ+-themed books as “pornographic material.” He also appointed Chaya Raichik, the founder of anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of TikTok, to the education department’s Library Media Advisory Committee.



Incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in schools have risen sharply in the U.S. in recent years, more than quadrupling in K–12 schools in states where Republican lawmakers have enacted legislation targeting the community.

The alarming finding comes from report published in the Washington Post this week based on an analysis of FBI data. The Post found that the nationwide average number of reported anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in schools, including those on college campuses, rose from 108 between 2015–2019 to 232 between 2021–2022, more than doubling. In states that have enacted anti-LGBTQ+ laws, the average tripled.

Even more troubling, in the 28 states where Republicans have passed laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors, bans on trans people accessing bathrooms and participating in sports, and “Don’t Say Gay” laws, reported incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes on K­–12 campuses more than quadrupled.


The hate merchants were never, ever concerned about children. If the events unfolding across the country have not made that clear, let's note blood-on-his-hands Ryan Walters statement he issued in response to the finding that Nex committed suicide:


The loss of our student in Owasso is tragic for the family, the community, and our state. The LGBTQ groups pushing a false narrative are one of the biggest threats to our democracy and I remain, more than ever, committed to never backing down from a woke mob.

 

A child is dead, a child from a school he oversees and the child is dead because of his actions.  Instead of taking accountability, promising to learn from this, he stays confined and imprisoned by his delusions.  He's a hate merchant.

The following sites updated: