Cone of Uncertainty

THE ABSURD TIMES

 

 

 

 

It almost seems like old news now, but this is the orange man's position on democracy as supplied by Latuff and MONDOWEISS.NET.  Good sources both.

 

 

THE CONE OF UNCERTAINTY

BY

Czar Donic

 

[Ed. Note: One worthwhile that has emerged from the last few weeks during the last hurricane is the term "cone of uncertainty".  Surely, that describes our current situation as to the degree of absurdity to come on any specific day, and hence our title.]  

 

Hello.  I'm Czar Donic and you're not.  I've been wanting to steal that construction for some time and now its mine.

 

These are the days for journalism noir.  We've had it in film, novels, and so on, and now, given current events, journalism. 

 

We can see the start with the inauraration of Trump.  "The largest crowd ever to attend an inauguration," and DON'T BELIEVE THE PHOTOGRAPHS AND TELEVISION COVERAGE!!!  People are easily led astray by what they see and hear.  We must learn not to listen of watch.  Simply take their words for it.  Even the person whose professional life was ruined by the lies he told in support later made fun of it on national television at, if we remember correctly, an Oscar presentation.

 

Almost everyone who has left this administration, according to Anthony Scaramucci, has described the place as insane to work in, in other words, a madhouse.  In fact, we would do well from now on the simply use the term "Mad-house" rather than "White-house" in discussions and reports.  The Mad-house today confirms that the President is the least racist person in the "whole world," and also be confirmed as the "Greatest in History, including the President's close friend Frederick Douglas."  The "Mooch," recently, has been trying to organize some sort of movement to get rid of this great man and replace him with someone more sane, more typical of the republican party (sort of a contradiction in terms).  At least, the "Mooch" came up with a quotable line in speaking about his only11 days working at the Mad-house "I thought I'd last longer than a milk carton."  But even Mike Pence is reported to have once thought of a journal called "Torts Illustrated," so one line just doesn't do much.

 

This is fairly recent:  A friend of mine who is a fairly well-known Physicist once demonstrated and then told me "Damn, I had never thought I'd be marching in favor of facts one day!"  (He never read much science fiction.) I remember seeing a woman marching hlding a sign that read "Deregulate my uterus."  There was no comment on this from the Mad-house.  Yes, the term fits.

 

[We owe this to Arthud C. Clarke: in the ancient days, there was a famous rug maker called Ali Hasan.  One day at court, in front of the Calif (king, leader, whatever), he farted.  He left the court quickly to avoid being beheaded, packed his rugs, and traveled other countries.  He prospered for many decades.  Finally, in his old age, he wanted to visit Bagdad once more.  He stopped at an inn where people were talking about the latest scandals at court amidst much laughter in which he shared.  He felt he was quite safe now and relaxed.  After one extremely funny story, he asked the teller when it happened.  The response was "I don't remember the exact year, but it was about 5 years after Ali Hasan farted."]  Well, the U.S. farted and other countries will never let us forget.

 

Keeping up with each new fart is simply silly these days.  Recently, he decided to buy Greenland.  There is a history behind Greenland going back to Erik the Red who "discovered" it, but why bother?  As a matter of fact, who remembers the Greenland fiasco now?  Disloyal Jews have voted for Democrats, so [draw your own conclusion here].  It is simply not worth it.

 

One of our readers responded to a reference we made that Thomas Jefferson once said that we needed a revolution every 20 years but that we were not going to try to look it up.  Well, he did and here is the full quote as supplied:

 

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

Hence, the "resistance" inspired by Daffy Don.  Of course, a major problem is posed by Daffy's supporters, who are the ones most likely to be dreaming of going out and shooting up some mass of people.  Few, if any, consider carrying out such a movement against Daffy.  It is often said that people get the sort of government they deserve; well, with Daffy, the Republican Party now is saddled by the sort of member it has had coming to it for years of abuse. 

 

Ever heard from Sitting Bull?

 

The love of possessions is a disease in them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not! They have a religion in which the poor worship, but the rich will not! They even take tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule. They claim this mother of ours, the earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbor away. ... If America had been twice the size it is, there still would not have been enough.

 

Sounds like Karl Marx?  It certainly becomes more relevant today. 

 

It is certainly a ticket to an asylum to try to keep up with the blithering, blathering Babbel that comes out of the Mad-House.  I certainly expect his protoge Bolisinaro to keep burning down the Amazon forests as he encourages oil and other fossil exploration in Alaska.  Why not?

 

Now, as the the Democrats: right now, we are very far away from there being any such thing as viable candidates.  We are inundated with the results of polls constantly that determine the cast of debates to be shown of television.  All very profitable media exercises.  At present, three are pretty much tied as the leaders: Biden, Sanders, and Warren (listed in alphabetical order as that makes as much sense as any other).  In political philosophies, Sanders and Warren are fairly close (although Bernie is still ahead of her on that) and together they comprise about 40% of the vote.  Biden 20%, and the others combine to make up the rest. 

 

A problem here arises from ignorance of the voters, or a significant portion of them.  There are many who simply hate Sanders since he did not call himself a Democrat officially and who was a male who opposed the female in the last election, a corporate shill called Hillary Clinton.  Many females saw this as an attack on their gender.  Some Sanders supporters found the statement "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a grandmother as President?" as ridiculous, and it was ridiculous.  During her debate with Daffy Don, he hovered behind her and she did not react.  At the time, most wished that she would turn and say "Get back to your box like a good little boy, or do you want a spanking?"  (Cortez would have, certainly, and so would Tulsi Gabbard.)  She said nothing.

 

It was clear that corporate forces worked very hard through the DNC to "rig" the nomination for her and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz would up taking the fall for that, but it was a concerted effort.  Moreover, it still seems clear that Daffy Don did not expect to win, nor did he want to win.  It was simply good marketing.  However, that is what happened and is how we would up with him as "White Power" and other such racist groups supported him.  (There is simply not enough time to explain why such right-wing corporate types like the Kock-Brothers (one now dead) are not that exhuberant about him.)

 

Oh, yes, Biden.  It does look as if his lead and popularity within the party will fade as time goes by, but there is still a great deal of time left.  No polls, especially those with about 5 or 6% (+or-) degree of error have any real significance today.   Actually, the only one of them, especially female or otherwise, is Tulsi Gabbard, so they will keep her out of future debates by not taking any polls, even though with the degree of error she could have 8% support.

 

This is too silly to bother with, but why are the Democrats suddenly or recently against Russia and the Republicans defending it?  That goes against the natural order of things.  It doesn't matter, though, nothing matters.  Dorian, named after the novel by Oscar Wilde, will do whatever it takes to screw with Daffy Don of Orange.  What else?  Oh, yes, instead of fake news, why don't we have fake tweets?  Whatever he tweets is fake.  He seems to sit of the toilet with constipation and tweet out insults at whomever until he gets relief.  Maybe he won't even complete his term by the time the election takes place.  There will always be scandals at the Veteran's hospitals and so on because once a person leaves the "service," he/she becomes a human being again rather than government property and therefore a liability.  I know because I worked with addicts at the VA for awhile and learned not only how they were treated, but also what they went through. 

 

* * * * * *    &&&   * * * * * *

 

 

Well, after a break, I looked back at this thing and think it's time to add a few things.  For one thing, Dorian skipped Peurto Rico (part of the U.S., whether the orange man thinks so or not) and seems head for Trump properties.  Perhaps there is some order in this universe after all.

 

Too much argument lately over Christianity and God.  So far as I can tell, our belief in some infinite creator stems from our habit of noticing cause and effect.  In other words, if something happened, something must have caused it.  In fact, we have never known anything else.  In ancient mythology, the earth was help up by Atlas.  Well, what did Atlas stand on?  Er, a giant turtle.  Yeah, a turtle.  Ok, what did the turtle stand on?  And so forth.  The best answer so far had been, sorry, but it's turtles all the way down.  (In other words, infinity.)

 

Well, the same problem happens with a first cause.  What created the universe?  In Physics, this is usually known as the "Big Bang".  Ok, what happened before that?  Well, now is where it gets interesting.  Einstein managed to get time considered a dimension somehow unified with the three usual dimensions.  However, we have since learned that there are other dimensions as well.  We need not name them (we really can not), but as we look backward into the original source of the big bang, we find that the gravity and time and the others become co-mingled to the degree that it is no longer sensible to separate them from one another.  In fact, time no longer exists by itself as a dimension.  (At least this is what Stephen Hawkings told us.)  So, without time, cause and effect is meaningless so to even consider a cause of the universe or even the original particle or whatever is impossible since time is essential for cause and effect.  Therefore, whether or not there is a God, or first cause, is meaningless.  Does that help?  No?  Well, I don't have it in me.  You can use a search engine.  :ook up "History of time," or "string theory" and don't worry if it's Wikipedia (it gets bad press.  Still, if you are still somewhat skeptical after all of that, the best recourse is to screw yourself.

 

Here is a religious tract one sent me recently:

 

My instinct was to make a sandwich, and play John Prine loudly.    

I heard Allah and Buddha were singing at the Savior's feast
And up the sky and Arabian rabbi
Fed Quaker oats to a priest
Pretty good, not bad, they can't complain
Cause actually all them gods is just about the same
Pretty good, not bad, I can't complain
Cause actually everything is just about the same"

 

 

Greta just landed in her yacht from Sweden (so chosen as to leave as little "greenhouse" effect behind).  Not just carbon dioxide by also methane gas is dangerous.  If you don't believe it, well ….  Let me tell you a story:  In High School once I was making Nitro-Glycerin in Chemistry lab.  (If you try it, don't forget the hydrocloric acid to drain off the water.)  Now, I know, teen age stuff, sure.  But this ape next to me, Steve (long slavick name ending in ick) asks me what I'm doing and I tell him and say "Now, don't mess with it."  Well, he decides to be a hero, grab the tube, and throw it out the window.  Well, we were on the third floor and the window faced a brick courtyard.  As the contents of the tube descended downwards, they seemed to pop like shots from a gun.  The teacher got up on the desk and shouted, pointing at me.  (I have no idea why he would think I would be responsible for something like that and I said "Well, he threw it out the window," pointing to Steve.  After that, the glycerin was locked up.

 

Now, why do I mention that?  Well, if you fart, what you fart is combustible.  Once, a friend of mine challenged me about it and I said 'If you don't believe me, next time you fart, hold a match to it."  He actually decided to challenge me on that.  When asked about what happened, he confessed to the others "I nearly blew my ass off."  So, I guess that proves that we do have climate change.

 

Even Fox News now uses the term on occasion, and the Orangeman has now added it to the area of "fake news," leaving nothing left as one is not supposed to believe what you see or read, either.  I am afraid; we also are beset by fake tweets.

 

Well, finally, as it is now September: Two mass shootings in Texas, but rest easy.  As of the first of September, you all in Texas can carry guns into your local church.  That way, if someone wants to interrupt your prayer to Jesus, you can draw yer gun and shoot him down.  Modern day smiting!  Lots more in the Walmart, but they were Mexicans.  Seven in Odessa.  Yes, we have Odessa in the U.S.  In Illinois we have Cairo and, I seem to remember, Damascus.  Who needs the rest of the world?

 

Of course, when Orange Leader found out that his property was in peril, he sent Magic Mike (Pence) to Poland instead and stayed here to protect the twelve Trump loosing properties in Florida.  Had to be here to sign the insurance claims.  If you suffer from Trump fatigue, you are not alone.  During that last hurricane he warned people in Alabama to shelter in place, so the Governor of Alabama had to get on the media and tell everyone that Dorian was not headed for Alabama.

 

Now, he says that if he is not re-elected, he will not leave.  So, what we have to do (and I'm sure the Secret Service will co-operate on this one) is go in, lasso him, and drag him to New York.  From there, he can be shipped to the other Odessa.  Problem solved. 

 

Now, I've already spent too much of my time and yours on this crap, so I'm sending it along.  Also, send your thoughts and prayers to Texas, or anywhere else but here. 

 

Crap, I forgot, all this gun violence is caused by video games and mental illness so rather than spend money on the mentally ill, we might as well keep electing them to Congress.  Actually, I think any more time and thought on this subject will lead to madness, or, as Shakespeare put it, "That way madness lies."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Palestine

THE ABSURD TIMES

 

                

 

Patriotism

Czar Donic

 

 

 

 

Well, every so-often, it's time to be patriotic and one of the American Principles of Patriotism is to criticize the government.  (I think Jefferson once said that he favored a Revolution every 20 years. But I've never confirmed that.)

Every time I start to write one of these editions, the image of that fat, sociopathic, faux orange man, the dyspeptic dimwit, living sometimes in the White House simply discourages the effort. Perhaps it should. But sometimes, silence is taken as a sign of acceptance. Sometimes it simply is not possible. Fortunately, there are others who still think highly enough on this country to protest.

 

There is either too little to say, or too much. There is no way to handle this sanely. So, let us just look at a longish interview from Democracy Now on the latest idiocy involving Palestine, After remarking that perhaps Greenland will buy us?

 

Anyway, there it is:

 

Israel sparked outrage Thursday when it banned two freshman Democratic congresswomen of color — Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — from entering the country. Following outcry from Democratic leaders and Palestinians, Israel granted permission for Tlaib to enter the country on "humanitarian" grounds to visit her family in the West Bank — though Tlaib said Friday she will not visit her family under such conditions. Israel originally denied entrance to Tlaib and Omar after President Donald Trump tweeted, "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people." Congressmembers Tlaib and Omar are the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, and were planning to tour East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Both congresswomen have voiced support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement, a global solidarity campaign with the Palestinian people. The nonviolent movement seeks to use economic and cultural pressure to force Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian lands. We speak with Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative political party, and Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace.

---

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Israel has announced it will conditionally allow Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to visit family in the West Bank, a day after it barred both Tlaib and fellow Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from entering Israel to travel to occupied Palestine. Israel is still refusing entry to Omar. Israel initially blocked entry to both lawmakers after President Trump took the unprecedented step of publicly urging Israel to bar entry to the women, the first two female Muslim members of Congress. Trump tweeted Thursday, "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people," he tweeted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his decision Thursday. Israeli prime minister defended the decision to bar both the U.S. lawmakers.

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: [translated] By law, we are not willing to admit anyone into Israel who calls for the boycott of the state of Israel and acts to delegitimize the state of the Jews.

AMY GOODMAN: Israeli authorities say Congressmember Tlaib will now be allowed entry on "humanitarian" grounds to visit her ailing 90-year-old grandmother, on the condition she does not promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement during her visit. Both Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have voiced support for the BDS movement, the global solidarity campaign with the Palestinian people. The nonviolent movement seeks to use economic and cultural pressure to force Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian lands. The congresswomen were planning to tour East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

After learning of the ban, Congressmember Ilhan Omar released a statement that read, in part, quote, "It is an affront that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, under pressure from President Trump, would deny entry to representatives of the U.S. government. Trump's Muslim ban is what Israel is implementing, this time against two duly elected Members of Congress," she said.

Both centrist and progressive Democrats criticized Israel's move and Trump's statements. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Israel to reconsider its decision. Meanwhile, Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "I cannot move forward with scheduling any visits to Israel until all members of Congress are allowed." Despite outcry from Democratic leaders, as well as Palestinians, President Trump doubled down on his position later on Thursday.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are very anti-Jewish, and they're very anti-Israel. I think it's disgraceful, the things they've said. You have lists of — this isn't just a one-line mistake. What they've said about Israel and Jewish people is a horrible thing, and they've become the face of the Democrat Party. So, I did absolutely put out a very strong statement. I think if you look at their language, if you look at what they've said, if I ever said it, it would be a — it would be a horrible — it would be a horrible month, to put it mildly. So, the things that they've said, Omar, Tlaib, what they've said is disgraceful. So I can't imagine why Israel would let them in.

AMY GOODMAN: Last week, the staunchly pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, sponsored a trip to Israel for 41 Democratic members of Congress. The delegation was led by the House majority leader, Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer. After news broke that Congressmembers Tlaib and Omar were blocked from entering Israel, Hoyer called Israeli officials on the congresswomen's behalf to no avail. He later released a statement saying Israel's decision was outrageous. Even AIPAC tweeted its disapproval, saying, quote, "every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand," AIPAC said.

The congresswomen's trip was co-sponsored by Miftah, a West Bank-based nongovernmental organization, the organization founded by Hanan Ashrawi, the senior Palestinian official with the Palestine Liberation Organization. This is Hanan Ashrawi responding to news of the trip's cancellation.

HANAN ASHRAWI: This is really unacceptable. It's a direct insult to the American people. It's a direct insult to the representatives of the American people. And it's a way in which Israel shows that it is a dictatorship that cannot tolerate any criticism, and that it will prevent anybody from interacting with the Palestinian people or seeing the reality of this cruel and illegal occupation on the ground.

AMY GOODMAN: The family of Rashida Tlaib in the West Bank also expressed outrage, even after Rashida Tlaib was accepted on humanitarian grounds to visit her grandmother, saying there should be no conditions put on the congressmember's visit.

Well, for more, we go now to Ramallah, West Bank, to speak with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Parliament, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, a political party. He was a presidential candidate in the 2005 elections.

And here in New York, we're also joined by Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, or JVP. Her group is among those standing in solidarity with Congressmembers Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. And Rebecca Vilkomerson herself has been banned from entering Israel.

We turn first to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. Can you respond to, first, President Trump demanding Israel not allow in two U.S. congressmembers, Israel complying, then after Congressmember Rashida Tlaib appealed on humanitarian grounds to have her perhaps last visit with her grandmother, they said she could, conditioned on her not promoting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions? Your response, Dr. Barghouti? We don't know — at this point, Congressmember Ilhan Omar has not been allowed into the Occupied Territories or Israel.

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: Well, let me first say why do Israel behaves in this manner. I think this Israeli establishment, before everything else, is afraid and frightened from exposing the realities here in Palestine. They are afraid of that such a visit, with media coverage, will expose the longest occupation in modern history, will expose the severe violations of human rights of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli establishment, and will expose the worst system of apartheid ever, where racial discrimination is practiced against Palestinians in the worst possible way.

The second reason is practically this is a proof that Israel is not a democracy. And no democracy in the world would prevent elected congresswomen from the United States from visiting. This is another proof that it is a myth to claim that Israel is the only democracy in the region.

Third, I think this act is reflecting a racial discriminatory approach, a racism in which I think there is here some kind of similarity between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump, racial discrimination against people because of their ethnic origin or because of their religion or because of their opinions.

And at the end of the day, the Israeli effort to impose on Rashida Tlaib conditions for her visit here is nothing but an act of separation of freedom of expression. And I hope that Rashida does not accept that. And I also hope that she does not allow separating her from Ilhan Omar, because I think both of them should be allowed to come in.

And as was said, the fact that Israel took such a decision is an insult to democracy, insult to the American people, insult to the country that they claim they have an alliance with. And it shows the real skin of this Israeli establishment, which insists on not only maintaining a horrible occupation against Palestinians, but also on consolidating a system of apartheid. Their attacks on BDS and their attacks on solidarity movements with Palestinian people is nothing but an act of psychological terror to frighten people from telling the truth.

Such a visit would have been very important in exposing the reality here, because we know that in many, many American media outlets, the truth is not coming through to the American public. All we want is that the American public knows the truth, knows the reality. And if the American public knows the truth, they will immediately take a stand, I am sure, a stand against this system of oppression and apartheid conducted by Israel against the Palestinian people.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Rebecca Vilkomerson, you've been banned from going into Israel.

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what happened to Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, clearly a story that's still developing?

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Yeah. I mean, I think what — the news today, that Rashida was given what was called by — on humanitarian grounds, allowed to enter, I think, really reflects how much Israel considers itself entitled to completely control the lives and all kinds of movement of all Palestinian people. And, you know, Rashida was forced to make a decision that Palestinians are often forced to make because of the way that Israel controls its borders and for decades hasn't been letting Palestinians in. So, in a lot of ways, this is just a continuation of ongoing Israeli policies.

And it's been — there's a spotlight on it because Rashida Tlaib is a U.S. congressperson. There's a spotlight on it because it is unprecedented that a sitting president would suggest to a foreign country that a member of his own government should not be allowed into the country. And so, from an American political perspective, I think that's very unprecedented. But from the Israeli perspective, this is a continuation of their ongoing policies of separation and apartheid and ethnic discrimination. It's not any different than the ways — what they've been pursuing for decades now.

AMY GOODMAN: And you, yourself, have been barred from going into Israel?

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Yeah, that's right. But, you know, that's the tip of the iceberg. Like I said, we're sort of a late-breaking entry that Israel has now started to ban people who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and are trying to control the political thought and the political expression of people who disagree with their policies. But again, you know, that's based on years and years and years of that kind of ethnic and religious discrimination that they've been imposing.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it is quite astounding, a kind of bitter irony, that you have President Trump going after the "Squad," the four congresswomen — Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — telling them to go back to their countries — three of them, including Rashida Tlaib, born in the United States. But here he said, "go back to their countries," and now he is demanding of Israel that Israel not allow Rashida Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-American congresswoman, from returning to her family land, where her grandmother lives.

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Right. And that should be her human right. You know, she shouldn't have to ask for a special exception to that.

But I think it's important that we focus here on the role of the Democrats, because, actually, the Democrats' absolute inability to hold Israel accountable for any of its human rights violations is what has allowed it to continue to increase, with impunity, its repressive policies. And although the Democratic leadership made some statements in support of the two congresswomen yesterday, in reality, for months and, in fact, years now, they've been working against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movements, trying to pass legislation against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, calling it anti-Semitic. So they have contributed to the demonization and delegitimization of these congresswoman, which resulted in this action.

And I think this is a real key moment for the Democrats, because while the old guard, like Pelosi and Schumer and Hoyer, who are the — who defend Israel at all costs, the younger people, people of color, women — and, you know, all the polls show that that's true of — that that has very much — that's the population of people who have shifted in their positions on Israel in the last years, and is represented by people like the Squad, that there's a real disconnect between the old-guard Democrats and the new Democrats, and that they have — you know, there needs to be some actual concrete action, that platitudes are not enough anymore.

We had Mark Pocan yesterday saying we should potentially condition aid to Israel. We've had Betty McCollum's bill, which is trying to place conditions on aid that's allowing Israel to put Palestinian children into jail. We have, you know, Representative Omar's legislation to protect the BDS movement. These are all actual concrete actions that Democrats could take to protect their own colleagues, rather than allowing Trump and Netanyahu to set the agenda. And I think that's what we need to look for now, is those kinds of actions.

And I'm very thrilled, because JVP, actually — a couple days ago, I couldn't have been able to talk on these terms — that we're now just launching JVP Action, which is our sister organization. So we're going to be doing electoral work, defending our champions and holding elected officials accountable. And I think that's a reflection of where we are in the movement. We're starting to be able to push policies, because we do have this rift in the Democratic Party.

AMY GOODMAN: Were you shocked by AIPAC coming out, that there's any light between AIPAC and Trump, or AIPAC and Israel right now, that they condemned the decision?

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: I mean, it was very clear they made this decision not based on principle, but on PR, essentially, like they don't want Israel to look bad. And they're very invested in a bipartisan consensus around Israel. And they are losing that, and they're losing — you know, they're losing the Democrats. They're losing the Democrats at the base. And they're starting now to lose the Democrats who are elected. And so I think this was a move for self-preservation more than anything else.

AMY GOODMAN: We're going to break and then come back to this discussion with Rebecca Vilkomerson, head of Jewish Voice for Peace, and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Parliament. He's speaking to us from Ramallah. This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: "Can I Go On" by Sleater-Kinney. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Israel has announced it will conditionally allow Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to visit family in the West Bank, a day after it barred both Tlaib and sister Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from entering Israel to travel to occupied Palestine. Israel is still refusing entry to Omar. Israel initially blocked entry to both lawmakers after President Trump took the unprecedented step up publicly urging Israel to bar entry to the women, the first two female Muslim members of Congress.

On Thursday, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC, tweeted, "We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib's support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib's calls for a one-state solution. We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand," AIPAC said.

This is Bassam Tlaib, responding to news of Israel banning his niece, Congressmember Rashida Tlaib, from entering the country.

BASSAM TLAIB: [translated] It is an unfair decision. Rashida is Palestinian. She is originally from Palestine. Her grandfather and father are originally from Palestine. She wanted to visit her country of Palestine. She wanted to visit her family and relatives. It is unfair that Rashida is banned from visiting Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Rashida Tlaib shared a photograph of her grandmother on Twitter a few hours after Israel announced its decision to bar her entry. And she wrote, "This woman right here is my sity [my grandmother]. She deserves to live in peace & with human dignity. I am who I am because of her," she tweeted.

Now, again, early this morning, the Israeli government reversed its decision on Rashida Tlaib conditionally, saying, on humanitarian grounds, they'll let her in to visit her grandmother, but that she cannot advocate BDS, she cannot advocate Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

We continue our conversation with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Parliament, joining us from Ramallah, on the West Bank. We're also joined by Rebecca Vilkomerson of Jewish Voice for Peace. Her husband and children live in Israel.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, if you can explain the law that Israel passed two years ago, and explain the grounds on which they have been barred, now, again, this exception made for Congressmember Tlaib to visit her grandmother, if she doesn't speak out?

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: Well, this law was used against the BDSmovement. The BDS movement is a nonviolent movement. It's a peaceful movement that calls for sanctioning the occupation and sanctioning the Israeli policies in the Occupied Territories. And this law is used to prohibit and prevent anybody who is in solidarity with the Palestinian people, anybody who is supporting the right of the Palestinians to be free from occupation, and the right of the Palestinians to have a free, independent and sovereign state. They use it as an instrument to prohibit these people who are in solidarity with Palestinians from visiting Palestine and from entering Israel.

And this is not the only law that is racist here. There is another law which was passed by the Knesset and astonished everybody, which is the national — the state national law, which says that this land, including the Occupied Territories, is a place for the Jewish people only, and that self-determination is restricted to Jewish people.

In my opinion, these two laws, and specifically the law that is against BDS, is nothing but an instrument to hide the truth and reality. They think that this way they will prevent the world from knowing the facts on the ground. They think that this way they will stop the growth of the solidarity movement to the Palestinian people, which is actually happening.

All over the world, there is a much bigger understanding, especially among the younger population, especially among, for instance, in the United States, among young American Democrats, who are supporting the Democratic Party. And even among young Jewish people, there is a growing support to the Palestinian right for freedom, against the system of Israeli apartheid, against the system of Israeli oppression. And that growth frightens the Israeli establishment.

So what they are doing is to impose these laws that are only used by dictatorships. They are only used in human history by governments that are authoritarian and that are trying to oppress and suppress the freedom of expression.

That's why I said — by the way, about the issue of humanitarian approval, most of the Palestinian people are restricted in terms of freedom of movement. Many Palestinians in Gaza Strip are not allowed, even for humanitarian reason, to come to Jerusalem or the West Bank. We, most of us, in the West Bank are not allowed to go to Jerusalem, not even for humanitarian causes.

So, in my opinion, this is an Israeli deceit, and no congresswoman in the United States, including Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, should accept conditions from the Israeli side that would restrict their freedom of expression, that would restrict their freedom of movement. On the opposite, they should insist on that freedom of movement, and they should insist on their right of knowing the truth about what's happening it and exposing it to the world.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to read an article from Middle East Eye about the home of Rashida Tlaib's family in the West Bank. They write, "The modest home of Tlaib's grandfather, Issa Abdullah, lies west of Ramallah city. The one-story house is nestled between two Israeli military bases at an intersection between adjacent Palestinian villages Beit Ur al-Fawqa and Beit Ur al-Tahta.

"About 100 metres east of the house sits an Israeli military site that has been in place since 2011. Israeli soldiers are positioned behind cement blocks with their weapons pointed at passersby, and about 15 Israeli surveillance cameras are peppered across the area.

"To the north lies Road 443, reserved exclusively for Israeli settlers' use, which was built on some of the family's land. Finally, about 500 metres west, there lies another Israeli military site in place since 1988."

That description is from Middle East Eye. Would you care to elaborate on that, Dr. Barghouti?

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: Absolutely. That's a very important point. Let me explain. The West Bank is part of the Occupied Territories that were occupied by Israel in 1967. West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, is supposed to become the land of the Palestinian future state, according to the peace agreements, which Israel has violated constantly, especially under Netanyahu.

Inside the West Bank, and part of the apartheid system that Israel has created, they have invented something that did not exist even in South Africa during apartheid system, that did not exist even during the worst segregation time in the United States: They've invented the segregated roads. These are major highways, big roads, tens of them, that are cutting the West Bank, north, south, east, west, connecting Israeli illegal settlements with Israel, and they are prohibited for Palestinians. I'm talking about roads in Israel; I'm talking about roads in the occupied Palestinian territories which are prohibited for Palestinians. And if a Palestinian is caught walking or driving on any of these roads, he would be sentenced to six months in jail and maybe more.

In the case of Beit Ur al-Fawqa, from which Rashida Tlaib descends, the Israeli army has cut — established that road, 443 Road, which cut the Palestinian territory into two pieces, prohibits and prevents people from normal movement. And we were attacked more than once while we demonstrated against the establishment of this road and when we demonstrated against the segregated roads. And in this particular case, this is an example of how the whole geography of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank is harmed and destroyed by the building of these roads, by the building of Israeli illegal settlements and also by the building of the apartheid wall, which started to be built in 2002 and has become three times as long and twice as high as Berlin Wall used to be. It's another instrument of an apartheid system.

What is the goal of all of this? The goal of all of this is to destroy the contiguity of Palestinian territories, to prevent the ability of Palestinians to have a state of their own, and to consolidate a system of racial discrimination and apartheid, where Palestinians are clustered, like in the case of Beit Ur al-Fawqa or other places, clustered in ghettos or Bantustan-like entities.

That is a very clear system of apartheid that should be condemned by everybody. And I am sure, if most of the Americans would know the reality about what's happening here, they will be first to criticize Israel and first to refuse this Israeli-imposed position where if you criticize Israel, you are called anti-Semitic. This is unacceptable. There is a difference between criticizing Jews as people, which is unacceptable, and criticizing the Israeli government policies, which should be condemned as a system of apartheid and occupation.

AMY GOODMAN: Before this latest reversal of allowing Rashida Tlaib in on humanitarian grounds, Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, "Only a few days ago, we received their itinerary for their visit in Israel, which revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel's legitimacy. For instance: they listed the destination of their trip as Palestine and not Israel, and unlike all Democratic and Republican members of Congress who have visited Israel, they did not request to meet any Israeli officials, either from the government or the opposition," he said. That was Netanyahu. Rebecca Vilkomerson?

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Yes. First, I have to clarify: My husband and kids do live with me in New York. My husband is Israeli, and my kids have Israeli citizenship. And as a Jewish American, I am entitled to Israeli citizenship, but I've declined to pursue it, because I don't want to be coopted into the Israeli project.

You know, I think, again, there's always a reason that Israel has. It's always about security. But the reality is that we have to reframe this around human rights and people's human dignity and people's freedom. And that's everything that Dr. Barghouti just mentioned.

And I think, you know, just thinking a little bit about my own community, the Jewish American community, I think we have a lot to answer for. Our institutions, like the ADL and AIPAC, spoke out against the congresswomen being denied yesterday, but they've done so much to create an atmosphere where it's impossible to criticize Israel without being called anti-Semitic, as Dr. Barghouti mentioned, and has tried to pass laws that do the same thing, and are ignoring the fact that larger and larger numbers of American Jews, in particular, younger American Jews, in particular, but also all people across the United States, including, again, young people, women, people of color, more and more support Palestinian rights. And so, I think that's an inevitable shift that's happening in terms of the public narrative and the public understanding of the realities. And that's why we're starting to see these changes also in Congress.

AMY GOODMAN: They also mentioned, in originally saying no to the congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib's support for a one-state solution.

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: Yeah. And, I mean, again, Israel's understanding that they have the ability and the power and the right to limit people's political opinions, that they can say, "We grant you the ability to come to the West Bank, but only if you don't speak about BDS. We are banning you because you support a particular political solution" — the idea that that is a legitimate reason to ban someone, especially a sitting U.S. congressperson, is absurd.

AMY GOODMAN: Who is deciding what the U.S. should do about U.S. support for Israel. So, U.S. congresspeople go to places where the U.S. is giving a large amount of support.

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: That's right.

AMY GOODMAN: In fact, what is the level of aid the U.S. gives?

REBECCA VILKOMERSON: It's 38 — you know, it's $38 billion. It's more aid than any other country receives in the world. And that's why I think, again, it's the responsibility now of Congress to take some action, to use all the many levers — economic aid, military aid, diplomatic cover that they offer Israel in the U.N., all of those things — to say that this can't stand, because it's not — the idea that a congressperson can't visit Israel because she's visiting Palestine, as she calls it — last week, 70 members of Congress visited Israel under the auspices of AIPAC. And so, the idea that it would not be possible for a Palestinian-American congresswoman to go to her own ancestral home and to be able to report directly about the conditions on the ground, that's one of her key responsibilities, and should be the responsibility, actually, of all members of Congress, given the level of aid that they offer to Israel.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Hanan Ashrawi tweeted, "They're coming to Palestine, not Israel! Unfortunately, Israel is the occupying power that holds Palestine & the Palestinians captive. The US administration is in full partnership with #IsraeliCrimes." Your last 15 seconds before, I think, the satellite goes?

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: [inaudible] Palestine, and it will be Palestine. The Israelis have to choose: Either they accept two-state solution and allow us to have a free and sovereign state, or we live together in one state, but with total, complete equality, full democratic rights for everybody.

And by the way, many congressmen and women come here and never meet Palestinians. So, this is not new. The fact that Omar and Rashida did not want to meet Israelis, it's their right. But if they want to establish an equitable approach, then every congresswoman and man who comes here should meet Palestinians, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you both for being with us, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, speaking to us from Ramallah, member of the Palestinian Parliament, and Rebecca Vilkomerson, who is head of Jewish Voice for Peace.

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GUNS, TRUMP, AND TWERPS

 

 

THE ABSURD TIMES

Guns, Twerps, and Trump

 

 

 

Tsar Donic

 

Well, El Paos, the "west texas town of El Paso/ I saw a sign of more things to come."  About 12 hours later, Dayton Ohio was shot up.  I was asked "Who did it?"  I had no hesitation in saying "Some white guy."  The response was relief as Moslems are always nervous that there will be some sort of reaction.  Nope, a white guy, domestic terrorism, white superiority.  (Or is it supremacy?)  Now what is so supreme about get a damn machine gun and shooting up a place?  The logic escapes me.

 

Shouldn't there be some sort of requirement that you have a photo ID to buy one of these things?  It can be done more easily than voting in many places. 

 

Almighty God has already said that they have no more room for all the thoughts a prayers people keep sending, so maybe voting will help?  Maybe get a photo ID if you don't have one.

 

What else?  Really, comparing Boris Johnson and Donald Trump is simply too depressing to contemplate.  One thing I can point out is the Johnson apparently studied Greek and Roman classics when he was younger.  Trump, however, in uncluttered by such epitude, and thus has no excuse.

 

Now, I have to send this off before there is another mass murder here in the US.  I figure I only have about 8 hours left at a minimum.

 

 

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