#State Dept.

[garudabluffs]

State Department Official Resigns, Says Israel Is Using U.S. Arms to Massacre Civilians in Gaza

We speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned last month to protest continued arms sales to Israel amid its bombardment of Gaza, writing in a viral letter that one-sided U.S. support for Israel is “shortsighted,” “destructive” and “contradictory.” Media reports say many others inside the State Department are equally frustrated with the U.S. role in the conflict. Paul tells Democracy Now! he tried to raise his concerns with his superiors but found “no appetite for that discussion” and that unlike all other U.S. arms sales that take humanitarian concerns into account, Israel gets a blank check. Paul says the overall message inside the Biden administration is: “Don’t question the policy because it’s coming from the top.”

"So, we’re talking about about 20,000 arms sale cases a year that the State Department processes, which could be anything from bullets to radios to fighter jets."

AMY GOODMAN: The HuffPost has this new piece that reports, “A task force on preventing atrocities did not meet until two weeks into the war, and officials say department leaders are telling them their expertise won’t affect policy.” Explain what goes on.

AMY GOODMAN: So, I wanted to ask you about this In These Times report that the White House has requested an unprecedented loophole in arms spending to allow it to be able to conduct arms deals with Israel in complete secrecy, without oversight from Congress or the public.

JOSH PAUL: Yeah. So, we provide Israel with $3.3 billion a year in foreign military financing, which is the State Department and U.S. government’s primary functional — primary mechanism for funding the sale of arms to other countries. Of note, you know, we typically provide — setting aside Ukraine — about $6 billion a year in foreign military financing around the world. So Israel already gets more than half of that.

J.P. "With regards to this package specifically, it includes $3.5 billion in foreign military financing. Israel can draw on that to purchase essentially what it wants. And what’s unusual about this, as well, in addition to the removal of the notification, is that Israel would be entitled, under the proposal sent to Congress, to spend all of this money within its own defense industry. Israel is, of course, a top 10 exporter of arms around the world, often competing with the United States. And the idea that we will be providing funding to subsidize that competition is really unimaginable."

"And Congress generally has stood up in the past repeatedly on matters of human rights and arms sales. What was different here was that there was none of that. There was no debate. There was no space for debate. And there was also no congressional appetite or willingness to have debate."

LISTEN READ MORE Transcript https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/3/josh_paul_resigns_israel_gaza

LINKS

"This is not the State Department I know. That's why I left my job."

<<The United States recently suspended most civilian firearm exports for 90 days due to national security concerns.>>

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[yuri-alexseygaybitch]

Nothing about the ICJ hearings or the US starting a war on Yemen but thank you Wikipedia dot org for telling me who won the World Darts Championship

[relaxedstyles]

[viktoriakomova]

I do think it’s genuinely unhealthy/disturbing when gymnasts make references to some dumbass fan discourse du jour in a snippy epic clapback social media caption or tweet I’m sorry like. you’re literally at the Olympics throw your phone into the fucking seine..?! if you won’t then someone else should be hired to do it for you??!!!! tf?

[gorps]

i bet those ads are running for free lol

[casquecest]

This process of trying to get my license back is becoming more trouble than it's worth.

[speedbird1987]

A new update for the Firefighters of Pontypandy with their Uniforms of the Phoenix Fire Department.

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲🇨🇺 🚨 FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO BOLIVIA ARRESTED FOR SPYING FOR THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT

A Former US Ambassador to Bolivia was arrested Monday on charges of secretly spying for the Cuban government for decades.

According to news reports, Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, a onetime US envoy to Bolivia, was arrested on charges of secretly working for the Cuban government, and even boasted about how his decades of work has "strengthened the revolution immensely."

Victor Manuel Rocha appeared Monday in Federal Court in front of Chief Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres in Miami.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the arrest "exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent."

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[bombshellsandbluebells]

ALLLLLSOOO how much of the budget is going to go towards bringing back now Oscar award winner RDJ when I know for a fact Disney pays their crew minimum rates, cuts down departments and pre production to save money (which leaves creatives unable to make things of quality) and just generally doesn’t value the actual crew people making their films

in a period in the industry where like every other crew person is unemployed and struggling to make ends meet

this is less a call out of RDJ himself and MORE a call out of how ridiculously disproportionate budgeting towards crew salaries and the things that will get you quality work (like hiring enough art people and giving them enough time in pre pro - similarly hiring more vfx people and giving them enough time in post) vs. the salaries of name actors has gotten, how much of these massive, ballooning budgets just go towards a handful of people

and that is not to say actors aren’t important! I don’t mean to argue that crew are more important than actors because the fact is it’s a collaborative art form that requires ALL pieces of the puzzle to perform well to make a quality product

but how much does your actor matter when the story around them is terrible because you didn’t let people skilled at storytelling make the decisions? how good can they possibly look when you hired too few costume designers and gave them no time or money to produce quality costumes? how well does the actor’s performance work when you shoot everything on green screen and then overwork a handful of vfx artists with waaaay too tight of deadlines and also constantly change your mind on what they should even be creating, leading to low quality looking work that is more laughable than immersive?

but paying RDJ a massive amount of money to return to a series that continues to make decisions void of actual storytelling, that values all the wrong things over the talented creatives that actually have the skills to make quality art people care about, that considers AI a fair replacement to artists because they fundamentally misunderstand the value of art and creativity in filmmaking, is the solution to save the MCU

anyways, I am once again begging everyone to read Martin Scorsese’s article on the MCU

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[crenandos]

Some people out here faking autism but who tf wants to be excited about pictures of dirt with me

[aria-i-adagio]

I really, really resent it when people don't fucking cite their sources when handing down an edict and attributing it to "the law."

I resent it even more when I can't find the law in question. And when what I do find contradicts what I'm being told.

So, um, citation, or I'm not doing it.

What are they going to do? Fire me?

[viktoriakomova]

[leejeann]

Surprisingly it barely stormed where I am and it's weirdly quiet here now but I'm watching a storm chaser currently parked in Barnsdall, Oklahoma and seeing the damage there is a bit harrowing, damn

[speedbird1987]

Because there was only one vote for Los Angeles City Fire Department Station 118 from the 9-1-1 Series, I have decided to make an Executive Decision. I will be drawing Pontypandy Fire Station in the Designs of Firehouse 51 from Chicago Fire. To all those who have voted for Firehouse 51, you will have your votes counted. To all who voted for other Fire Station designs in Cardiff, London, and Phoenix (Arizona, USA), I appreciate your votes and they will count. However, I am very sorry if I didn't get to the one you voted for. I will advise if I am doing the designs you voted for. Everyone's vote counts even if there is an executive decision for the final 3 to decide which one I get to do.