Politics Plus

Let me begin by saying that I am not opposed to Israel.  I fully support that nation’s right to exist in peace and safety.  That said, I oppose Israel’s current government, because, contrary to international treaties, that government is denying the same right to exist in peace and safety to the Palestinians.  There is now solid evidence of Israeli war crimes from Amnesty International.

Amnesty International says its new report provides "some of the most compelling evidence yet" that Israel committed war crimes during its attack on Gaza last summer.

‘Black Friday’: Carnage in Rafah during 2014 Israel/Gaza conflict states that findings indicate that Israeli forces acted in retaliatory manner, with disregard for civilian life, after Lieutenant Hadar Goldin was captured by Hamas fighters, and that the events demand urgent, independent investigation.

"The ferocity of the attack on Rafah shows the extreme measures Israeli forces were prepared to take to prevent the capture alive of one soldier—scores of Palestinian civilian lives were sacrificed for this single aim," said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.

The report from the human rights organization and Forensic Architecture, a research team based at Goldsmiths, University of London, focuses on a three-day period, from August 1 until August 4, during what Israel called Operation Protective Edge.

Researchers reconstructed events using evidence including videos, photos, satellite images, news reports, and eyewitness accounts… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

The following video shows Amnesty International’s forensic analysis.

Here in the US, Black lives matter, and the Republican Party do everything possible to make sure that they don’t. In the Middle East, Palestinian lives matter, and Likud, led by Butcher Bibi Netanyahu (R-IS), do everything possible to make sure that they don’t.

If you are prone to anger, you might want to skip ahead, because I find if difficult to contain the outrage I feel over the vile acts of some Georgia Republicans.  They dressed in full Republican regalia, put the Republican flag, the stars and bars, on display and attacked a child’s birthday party.

I kid you not, it feels like we are going back in time in America.

In an Atlanta suburb this past weekend, Melissa Alford (a black woman) and her family were hosting an outdoor birthday party in Douglasville, Georgia, when a convoy of seven large pickup trucks donning Confederate flags interrupted the party and pulled into the grass. The occupants then called them niggers and threatened them with violence, according to multiple eyewitnesses, who also stated that the men actually flashed guns at them:

One of at least two cellphone videos from the incident shows Douglasville police officers holding back a group of black men and women as at least seven pickup trucks drive off. The trucks’ white passengers wave as the Confederate, American and military flags mounted on the vehicles flap in the air. .

“This is a child’s birthday party,” one woman in the crowd can be heard saying.

A second video shows the trucks gathered on a grassy area, and the N-word can be heard. A woman who shared the video said the trucks were on her property and their passengers were armed and threatened to “kill y’all [N-words].”

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Barf Bag Alert!!

I just can’t get my head around such vile, unbridled, Republican hate.

Every time cops commit another horrific act, the “thin blue line crowd” crawls out of the woodwork claiming that we need to have unquestioning support for cops: all cops, all the time, no matter the circumstances.  I thoroughly disagree, as does the following author.

‘Don’t want to get hurt by police? Don’t break the law.’ Tis a common phrase among those who unquestioningly support law enforcement regardless of their proven track record of corruption and misconduct.

Sadly the apologists are nearly as dangerous as the corrupt and abusive officers as they advocate for blind support of the badge. Many times, apologists will support censorship, become brutal, and even hold fundraisers for cops who shoot unarmed people in the back!

The badge and uniform are infallible in the blind eyes of those who are too afraid to question authority. Police kill, we are told, because they have to make it home to their families at night. Police only harm those guilty of a crime….if you don’t want to get shot by police, don’t break the law they say.

Such asininity is unparalleled. However, it still doesn’t stop the apologists from pasting some derivative of the Gene Wilder meme all over the internet every time a cop is caught smashing in some innocent person’s face.

In an attempt to break through to the apologist crowd, we have gathered 30 stories from our archives of examples in which police hurt innocent people, who never broke the law. Tragically, some of those hurt or killed were children; some were even disabled and mentally ill.

Jonathan Sanders had broken no law before he was chased down by a Mississippi cop who threw him to the ground and strangled him to death in front of family members.

Esmeralda Rossi was getting into the shower when two Arizona cops illegally entered her home, pulled her towel off, assaulted and arrested her as she screamed in horror — completely naked. Rossi had broken no law.

Eric Wilson was on his way home from his job at Lighthouse for the Blind when he was stopped by two Little Rock Police officers alleging he “fit the description” of a suspect. The fact that Wilson is legally blind did not stop these officers from assaulting a man who could not even see them…

Inserted from <Alternet>

I have shared only three of the stories.  Click through for the other twenty seven.

The more I have thought about it, the more I have come to the conclusion that, although I expect Republicans to pass a bill to block the international effort to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran’s hands, they will not be able to overcome the presidential veto that will follow.  Then why is Benjamin Netanyahu (R-IS), aka Butcher Bibi, investing so much of himself in the Republican effort?  I’ve gotten pretty close, but the following author understands.

…On the battle to come the headline over a story in The Times of Israel put it this way. AIPAC girds for rare high-noon showdown with White House.

The first question arising is this. Does Netanyahu really believe that with AIPAC’s assistance he can mobilize Zionism’s election campaign funders and those in Congress who do their bidding to kill the deal?

Unless he is completely out of touch with the way things are moving in Washington D.C, Netanyahu must know there is no chance of Congress coming up with the two-thirds majority necessary to over-ride an Obama veto of legislation to kill the deal.

So what, really, is Netanyahu’s game plan for America?

The only answer I can think of is that he is reconciled to the fact that a growing number of Democrats in Congress are no longer prepared to do the Zionist state’s bidding when doing it is clearly not in America’s own best interests. Even Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner for the 2016 race to the White House, felt that gave her the freedom to endorse the deal with Iran. She said, "With vigorous enforcement, unyielding verification and swift consequences for any violations, this agreement can make the United States, Israel and our Arab partners safer."

In that light it seems to me Netanyahu’s game plan is to say and do whatever he thinks will assist the Republicans to rubbish President Obama and win the White House in 2016, in the hope that a Republican president will kill the deal.

If that is the hope in Netanyahu’s deluded mind it is no doubt being encouraged by the statements of all the Republicans who are offering themselves as presidential candidates… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Op-Ed News>

Effectively what we had here is the Republican Party conspiring with a foreign power to undermine America’s foreign policy and influence an American election.  This is nothing short of criminal sedition.

American Jews have been more likely to vote for Democrats, because so many are social liberals.  But that has been with both Republicans and Democrats supporting Israel, even against our own self interest.  Therefore Butcher Bibi’s partisan stance will shift some Jewish voters to the Republicans in 2016.

However, I think we need to stress that killing the deal would lead to a nuclear armed Iran with nothing to lose.  That is the most dangerous scenario for the people of Israel, so American Jews can support Israel best by opposing Butcher Bibi (R-IS), and abandoning AIPAC, which is now dominated by Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians (the opposite of real authentic Christians).