#Trump against the UN

[aestariiwilderness]

Opinion: Kamala Harris is not for Israel or the Jews; Trump was

Kamala Harris (and Joe Biden, pretty much consigned to total irrelevancy by now thanks to the [un]Democratic coup) can say whatever she likes about supporting Israel (and she does spare half a breath to say she'll, OF COURSE, always support Israel's right to defend herself! ... and then spends the rest of the paragraph on verbally stabbing Israel in the back, talking about "how [Israel] defends itself matters", ceasefires, making deals with Hamas, engaging with the Palestinians, stopping Palestinian casualties, etc., which is telling in itself and just lends even more weight to the endless anti-Israel propaganda out there). But I go by actions, not words. They can say anything they want; they can go to Holocaust memorials or condemn antisemitism as much as they please. Words cost very little, and placate the overwhelmingly pro-Israel American population (while still, of course, inciting more blood libel and adding weight to the propaganda). But I don't see Harris or Biden ever, ever coming in decisively on Israel's side where it genuinely counts, when they didn't absolutely have to. Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Actions:

Did not tell a pro-Hamas, anti-Israel group that she wouldn't talk with them. This is a generous recounting of events, actually; it looks more like she said "sure, I'll talk with you about enacting an arms embargo with Israel". Once the backlash about that started happening, an anonymous aid seems to have taken it on themself to say "of course VP Harris has always been very clear about supporting Israel". (No, she hasn't.) (It's pretty telling that Harris, so far as I am aware, hasn't seen fit to even bother to clarify that herself.)

https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-open-israel-arms-embargo-palestine-conflict-1936259 https://www.reuters.com/world/democrat-harris-didnt-agree-discuss-israel-arms-embargo-aide-says-2024-08-08/

Just snubbed Jewish PA gov. Shapiro for VP candidate in favor of war-welcher Tim Walz

Kamala's chosen running mate, Walz, did repeatedly host a pro-Hamas Muslim leader who praised the Oct. 7th massacre

https://thepostmillennial.com/tim-walz-repeatedly-hosted-muslim-leader-who-lauded-oct-7-attacks-shared-pro-hitler-propaganda?utm_campaign=64483

Was already, with Biden, conducting a partial arms embargo against Israel.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-foreign-policy-advisers-met-israeli-pm-netanyahu-source-says-2024-05-20/

Threatened Israel with consequences if she went into Rafah https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tougher-tone-israel-steady-nato-how-harris-foreign-policy-could-look-2024-07-21/

https://nypost.com/2024/07/25/us-news/biden-welcomes-netanyahu-to-white-house-following-chaotic-anti-israel-protests/ Snubbed Netanyahu -- the leader of the only democracy in the Middle East and our long-time ally -- to go to a sorority speech

Admired and engaged with the violent, law-breaking, window-smashing, intifada-chanting protestors blockading universities, holding staff hostage, and violently harassing Jewish students

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/biden-harris-a-profile-in-cowardice-on-campus-disorder/

Harris' husband's daughter raised money for UNRWA https://www.jns.org/kamala-harris-thinks-campus-antisemites-are-very-fine-people/ And back on those words and double-speak again: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2023/12/18/israel-palestine-kamala-harris-joe-biden-ceasefire/ https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/12/kamala-harriss-performative-scolding-of-israel/

For more actual "actions" by any American politician and unbiased by any commentary, check out https://justfacts.votesmart.org/. You can filter by issues of concern to you and see how they voted, what they said, what positions they held, etc. (I personally find Biden and Harris' track record on abortion, coercive abortion, born-alive survivors of abortion, and even infant pain absolutely horrifying, but I understand that might not mean much to some.)

In contrast, we have Donald Trump. Trump has been continually vocal in his support of Israel. There is no double-speak like Harris that I've been able to find. His term was full of unprecedented, active support for Israel and the Jews. Media claims he "criticized" the war in Gaza -- but when I actually look, all I see is that he criticized the fact that Oct 7th could have happened in the first place (i.e., Israel was not protected enough and did not receive enough support from the Biden administration) and that the war was still going on due to Israel's unprecedented kid gloves-care with Palestinian civilian casualties. He advised Israel to mind their "PR war", saying "victory is necessary" and needs to happen quickly. Not "ceasefire", not "compromise", not "dealing with Hamas". Not -- in contrast to Harris and Biden -- wailing "oh no, it's Israel's job to think of the enemy's civilians and to prioritize their wellbeing above their own civilians!" It's my belief, based on what I see and hear, that Trump wants victory and peace for Israel over Hamas. He wants October 7th to never happen again. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-israel-gaza-finish-problem-rcna141905 Trump Actions, taken usually without any conditions or concessions required from Israel Abraham Accords, specifically meant to pressure Palestinians (no Oct. 7th massacre while Trump was in office. Pity Harris can't say the same.)

Jerusalem officially recognized as Israel's capital

Recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-06-12/biden-trump-on-israel-palestinians-middle-east Reversed the Iran Nuclear Accord https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history "Cut the annual US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) – $500 million" https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history "Cut the annual US contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinians ($250-400 million)"

https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history

Rejected the claim that Israeli "settlements" in the West Bank were illegal and the obstacle to peace

https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history

Sided with Israel against the wildly anti-Israel UN and the ICC

https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/trump-most-pro-israel-president-american-history

Met with Netanyahu where Harris did not https://apnews.com/video/israel-government-florida-00c58fa3898247c1895d520d3feddab1 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-foreign-policy-advisers-met-israeli-pm-netanyahu-source-says-2024-05-20/ There's a lot more. But that's enough for me, at least. I'd invite anyone interested to check it out for themselves, but not to be fooled by the rampant corruption, spin, and bias in most mainstream media (although you'll notice I can still utilize them as sources even though they're blatantly hostile to my viewpoint).

[historyforfuture]

⭕️ Press Release Issued by the Government Media Office:

⭕ The "Israeli" occupation and the U.S. administration are explicitly using starvation and food deprivation policies against civilians in Gaza as a means of political pressure. This is considered a war crime and a crime against humanity

The Government Media Office condemns the use of starvation and food deprivation by the "Israeli" occupation forces and the U.S. administration against civilians, including children and women in Gaza, as a political pressure tool. This was explicitly stated by U.S. President Biden and his Secretary of State, Blinken, who mentioned in recent hours that the quickest way to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza is to reach a ceasefire agreement.

We completely reject linking the provision of aid and food to civilians, children, and women to the decision of a ceasefire, which the "Israeli" occupation forces have refused to implement for many months. We consider linking these two issues a blatant crime that requires condemnation from the international community, international organizations, and all free nations.

For 105 days, the "Israeli" occupation forces, with U.S. approval, have continued to close the Rafah border crossing between Palestine and Egypt after burning, bulldozing, and rendering it inoperative. This is part of orchestrating a genocide against civilians in Gaza, exacerbating the humanitarian disaster in unprecedented ways, in violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and all international agreements.

The crime of blocking the entry of all types of aid, medical supplies, health delegations, and medicine significantly worsens the health and humanitarian crisis.

We strongly condemn the use of starvation and food deprivation by the "Israeli" occupation and the U.S. administration as a political pressure tool against civilians and children in Gaza. We also condemn their closure of the Rafah border crossing between Palestine and Egypt. We call on the international community and all nations to denounce these two crimes that violate international law.

We hold the "Israeli" occupation and the U.S. administration fully responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their use of starvation and food deprivation as weapons against civilians in Gaza, as well as their closure of the Rafah crossing and prevention of medical supplies and health delegations from entering. We hold them accountable for the ongoing humanitarian disaster, now in its eleventh month.

We call on the international community, all international and humanitarian organizations, and all free nations to pressure the "Israeli" occupation and the U.S. administration to stop the genocide and cease using starvation and food deprivation as political pressure tools. We also demand that they pressure for the reopening of the Rafah border crossing and an end to this severe humanitarian catastrophe.

20,Aug 2024 Official website -Hamas movement

[catgirlcaliphate]

VoteBlues love to say "Trump would be worse," but they'll never specify how.

Because getting specific would require them to acknowledge the ways the Biden administration has been supporting and participating in this genocide all along, and they don't want to face that.

Like I said: whoever the dems prop up will be aggressively and proudly pro genocide. Don't forget this just because it isn't biden. The democratic party line is pro genocide.

[falesten-iw]

What makes you react to what's happening in Gaza? and What makes you care about human lives? Is it empathy, ideology, culture, religion, knowledge, or something else that compels you to feel and act?

What would push your government to stop saying, "Israel has the right to defend itself"? What would make columnists stop focusing on self defense and what the demonstrators or students are doing "wrong" and instead use their platform to pressure their government to do what's "right" to stop this ongoing genocide? When did you start caring, and when will you start acting?

Is it when you have Palestinian friends?

When Palestinian children begged for food, safety, and water?

When over 45000 Palestinians had been killed & 98000 injured ?

When left-wing political parties around the world started criticizing Israel?

When Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations sounded the alarm for years?

When protesters took to the streets every week? Do you still hear their voices?

When human rights organizations like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch documented the atrocities? Was 60 years of human rights violations not enough?

When journalism associations worldwide recorded an unprecedented number of journalists killed in such a short period?

When UN agencies like the World Food Program or UNRWA reported on the humanitarian disaster and worsening famine?

When aid organizations like Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross warned of the total collapse of healthcare?

When child rights organizations like Save the Children or UNICEF constantly reported on children’s acute physical and mental health crises?

When Jewish groups like Jewish Voice for Peace declared, "Not in my name"?

When the International Criminal Court in The Hague found strong evidence of crimes against humanity and began prosecuting high-ranking officials? Are you waiting for the court to tell you act?

When your children were upset after hearing what was happening in Gaza? Did that stir your parental instincts?

When the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, repeatedly urged Israel to stop the killings?

When your favorite artist spoke out—did that make you reflect?

When students protested at universities around the world? Does the passion of young people give you hope?

When the Pope made a statement about the situation?

When military experts reported how many bombs Israel had dropped on Gaza?

When 2.5 million people were displaced under bombardment, with nowhere to escape in Gaza—a place already called the world’s largest open-air prison even before October 7?

When your employer gave you permission to speak out?

Are you waiting for Joe Biden to say the red line has been crossed and stop sending weapons?

Or are you waiting for Donald Trump to say the magic words: "Enough is enough"?

Or for Benjamin Netanyahu to say "Oh sorry that was a mistake"?

Or are you waiting for God Almighty to come down and say, "Enough is enough"?

Or for the most extreme elements in the Israeli government to say, "Now we can stop bombing"—but will there be any Palestinians left in Gaza by then?

Or will you stop waiting and act now, driven by empathy, knowledge, and solidarity with people who are being oppressed right in fornt or your eyes?

I’ve lost over 200 family members, friends, and neighbors in this genocide. I have 24 of my family’s members and 2 orphaned children, trapped in a makeshift tent and struggling to survive in this freezing winter in Gaza. Is that not enough to move you to act? Tell me then when ?—when will your humanity compel you to step in? Please, act now and donate!

Vetted and shared by @90-ghost: Link.

Verified and shared by @el-shab-hussein: Link

Listed as number 282 in "The Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser Spreadsheet" compiled by @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi : Link

Listed on the Butterfly Effect Project, number 957: Link

Additionally, Al Jazeera News has documented apart of my family's case: Link

If, for some reason, you couldn't donate via GoFundMe, you can donate via PayPal instead.

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[heritageposts]

The Grayzone has obtained slides from a confidential Israel lobby presentation based on data from Republican pollster Frank Luntz. They contain talking points for politicians and public figures seeking to justify Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. Two prominent pro-Israel lobby groups are holding private briefings in New York City to coach elected officials and well-known figures on how to influence public opinion in favor of the Israeli military’s rampage in Gaza, The Grayzone can reveal. These PR sessions, convened by the UJA-Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council, rely on data collected by Frank Luntz, a veteran Republican pollster and pundit. [...] The Luntz-tested presentations on the war in Gaza urge politicians to avoid trumpeting America’s supposedly shared democratic values with Israel, and focus instead on deploying “The Language of War with Hamas.” According to this framing, they must deploy incendiary language painting Hamas as a “brutal and savage…organization of hate” which has “raped women,” while insisting Israel is engaged in “a war for humanity.” [...] Luntz’s Gaza war presentation puts his poll-tested tactics back in the Israel lobby’s hands, urging pro-Israel public figures to stay on the attack with incendiary language and shocking allegations against their enemies. In one focus group, Luntz asked participants to state which alleged act by Hamas on October 7 “bothers you more.” After being presented with a laundry list of alleged atrocities, a majority declared that they were most upset by the claim that Hamas “raped civilians” – 19 percent more than those who expressed outrage that Hamas supposedly “exterminated civilians.” Data like this apparently influenced the Israeli government to launch an obsessive but still unsuccessful campaign to prove that Hamas carried out sexual assault on a systematic basis on October 7. Initiated at Israel’s United Nations mission in December 2023 with speeches by neoliberal tech oligarch Sheryl Sandberg and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and speaking fees from Israel lobby organizations, Tel Aviv’s propaganda blitz has yet to produce a single self-identified victim of sexual assault by Hamas. A March 5 report by UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence Pramila Patten did not contain one direct testimony of sexual assault on October 7. What’s more, Patten’s team said they found “no digital evidence specifically depicting acts of sexual violence.”

They also advice to use different language for Democrat and Republican voters, which inadvertently provides one of the most succinct explanation of the difference between the two genocidal parties that I've ever come across:

To make their arguments stick, Luntz recommends pro-Israel forces avoid the exterminationist language favored by Israeli officials who have called, for example, to “erase” the population of Gaza, and to instead advocate for “an efficient, effective approach” to eliminating Hamas. At the same time, veteran pollster acknowledges that Republican voters prefer phrases which imply maximalist violence, like “eradicate” and “obliterate,” while sanitized terms like “neutralize” appeal more to Democrats. Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Donald Trump have showcased similar focus-grouped rhetoric with their calls to “finish them” and “finish the problem” in Gaza.

One of the slides, illustrating what language to use:

There are several more slides in the article. I recommend reading the whole thing, start to finish. One more thing I'd like to highlight though:

Luntz acknowledges Israel’s mounting PR problems in a slide identifying the most powerful tactics employed by Palestine solidarity activists. “Israelis attacking Israel is the second most potent weapon against Israel,” the visual display reads beside a photo of a protest by Jewish Voices for Peace, a US-based Jewish organization dedicated to ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine. “The most potent” tactic in mobilizing opposition to Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to Luntz, “is the visual destruction of Gaza and the human toll.” The slide inadvertently acknowledges the cruelty of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, displaying a bombed out apartment building with clearly anguished women and children fleeing in the foreground. But Luntz assures his audience, “It ‘looks like a genocide’ even though the damage has nothing to do with the definition.” According to this logic, the American public can become more tolerant of copiously documented crimes against humanity if they are simply told not to believe their lying eyes.

. . . full article on GZ (6 Mar 2024)

[repostedpoliticalarts]

When Hilter took over Germany it was effectively a one-party state, you were either a member of the nationalist-socialist party or disloyal.

Trump does not HAVE a one-party country. But just as he turned the republican party into the party where you are either FOR him or a disloyal Republican, the next four years is bound to see a massive outpouring of patriotic imagery from his administration. Military parades, mandatory flag waving and pledges of allegiance.

Any attempt to protest or take a knee will be (has already been) framed as being un-American. In the regime of Feuer Trump, protestors will be arrested. The military turned against “internal enemies of the state.” Ethical journalists will be intimidated and silenced.

All this will be an effort to turn America into a one-party state: the party of Trump. Just remember that he has the slimmest majority rule in a century. And that half the country actively disapproves of him before he’s even taken office.

Resistance looks like living your life, and loving loudly those they try to demonize. If you are queer, or brown, disabled, or indigenous, your existence and visibility is a radical act of defiance.

Also unlike Germany in 1942, the US is MASSIVE. With 50 states, and 337.5 million residents we do not have one single unifying culture, we are many. Every state, every region has its own culture and its own voice. Getting everyone to sign on to the same playbook of fear and hatred is going to be a far far more laborious undertaking than in a small European state with only 70 million inhabitants and no digital media.

Our strength is in our number, in our communities, and true power lies with the people.

The age of power OVER others is gone. This is the age of power THROUGH others.

Find your people. Love wildly, spread joy. We are not going anywhere.

[axolotlclown]

I am a little concerned that people aren't actually going on the candidates websites and reading their issues pages. Trump has branded his as "Agenda 47" and effectively lays out 47 key issues he wants to address during his presidency. It looks quite awful for the Palestinians and muslims living in the United States currently. It also looks like he's going to crack down on protests and make it harder to organize in support of Palestine.

Here are some pieces I took from his plan that should concern anyone supporting Palestine right now:

Biden banning Tiktok was a direct attack on our freedom of speech and ability to share information about Palestine. However, Trump is promising to bring back his muslim travel ban (which would succeed under his conservative Supreme Court). He will make it just about impossible for any refugees to get into America. It's already difficult for refugees to gain entry, but this is just opening the door to dangerous rhetoric.

American imperialism cannot be fixed in one presidency. That $95 billion foreign aid package that included $26 billion to support Israel was passed by Congress, with support from democrats. Biden signed it, but that's not something he can do by himself. If we want real meaningful change, we're going to have to vote for a whole lot more than just the president. Campaigning for third parties is going to have to maintain its momentum outside of election years.

Still, both candidates are supporting this war currently. They are both piss poor choices for a ceasefire. However, they are NOT equal! A Trump win could be devastating, not just for the Palestinians still struggling in the Middle East, but for the Palestinians living at home now. With the courts behind him, Chevron overturned, and a clear plan for Schedule F in place, I cannot seriously humor anyone saying that a Harris would be "just as bad" for Palestine.

"You're so privileged for caring about genocide" is not a take actually.

[mariacallous]

At noon ET on Monday, the US presidency changed hands, and one of the largest governments in the world rearranged itself in service to the petulance and vulgarity of the nation’s new president.

At the Pentagon, a portrait of a general who Donald Trump had found insufficiently deferential to him in his first term was removed from a wall; photographs of the empty spot circulated on social media. Trump was set to sign a bevvy of executive orders, pledging to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, to revoke policies promoting wind energy and electric cars, and to exert executive powers to speed up the construction of oil pipelines.

He was scheduled to revoke federal acknowledgement of transgender identity for the purposes of civil rights law, declaring in his inaugural address that “there are only two genders”. And Reproductiverights.gov, a federal web site aimed at helping women navigate abortion access, immediately went offline.

CBPOne, an app used by migrants to the US to manage their interactions with immigration officials, went dark when Trump was sworn in. An announcement posted on the programs website said that all existing appointments had been cancelled, leaving tens of thousands of people in the lurch. The press has reported that the new administration plans a series of high-profile raids in major cities this week, in search of immigrants to deport.

Latino businessowners in Chicago reported lost revenue as their clientele stayed home out of fear; a friend from college, a New York City public high school teacher, shared the instructions from her school administrators on how to protect her students in the event of an Ice raid. Meanwhile, Trump’s aides said he would issue an order ending birthright citizenship for the US-born children of immigrants, a move that would create a class of hundreds of thousands of un-Americans and move the concept of US citizenship from a legally protected status to something more akin to an inherited one.

It is not clear what authority, exactly, Trump has to do this; birthright citizenship, after all, is enshrined in the United States constitution. Like much of the inauguration’s declarations, the statements may be for show – grand pronouncements that will be muddled and eroded by the reality of policymaking, the grind of bureaucracy, the whittling-down of lawsuits.

Stephen Miller, the longtime Trump adviser and anti-immigrant crusader, has planned, according to the New York Times, a sort of shock-and-awe approach, hoping to issue as many executive orders and pursue as many maximalist policy changes as possible within the first days of the administration, hoping to terrify and exhaust the opposition. As is always the case with Trump, his statements are much grander than his actions. That doesn’t mean that his actions will not hurt people.

Trump returns to power with more loyal followers and more skittish, deferential and frightened enemies. The Republican party has been reshaped in his image, and so have the courts: just last summer, the US supreme court, including all three of Trump’s first-term nominees, voted to make him virtually immune from criminal prosecution for acts taken in office.

He has pledged to pardon all the convicted January 6 insurrectionists, and to halt prosecutions of those not yet convicted. And he is likely to use his authority over federal law enforcement to pursue civil and criminal proceedings against his enemies. On his way out the door, Joe Biden made a point of pre-emptively pardoning lawmakers who had investigated the January 6 attack, to protect them from Trump’s reprisals. The Democrats are weak, fractured, embittered and scared; the same consultants whose advice lost them the 2024 election are now telling them to defer to Trump, abandon resistance, and shift to the right. So far, many of them appear to be listening. The others are pointing fingers at one another.

Right now the money is on Trump, and the money is substantial. The three richest men in the world – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – all sat in the front row at Trump’s inauguration. (His cabinet members were in the second.) The men are there to court lucrative government contracts and discourage regulation of their businesses, but they also appear willing to commit themselves to Trump’s ideological project, especially with regards to gender, and to wield the massive communications platforms that they control to further his culture war agenda.

Bezos has intervened at the Washington Post to tilt the editorial slant in Trump’s favor; Zuckerberg has removed many sex, sexuality and gender protections from the content moderation policies of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. Musk, meanwhile, is reportedly slated to be given an office in the West Wing, though he has no official government job. Speaking at a rally of Trump supporters held at an arena after the official inauguration ceremony, the billionaire effusively thanked the crowd in his mealy South African accent. Musk then jerked a flat hand from his chest into the air, in a gesture that resembled a Nazi salute.

There is something broken in the soul when such spectacles can no longer shock you. But I confess that they no longer shock me. America is ruled, now, by men who are extremely psychologically transparent: their resentment and greed, their desperate, seeking needfulness, their insecurity and rage at those who provoke it; these things seep off these men, like a stench. They are evil men, and pathetic ones: mentally small, morally ugly. They are relentlessly predictable.

Here is another prediction: these men will not succeed in all their schemes. They will not deport as many people as they say they will; he will not change the law as much as they pledge to; they will not, cannot, capture the institutions as completely, or bury dissent as successfully. They cannot do everything they aim to do. Because politics is not over; because our institutions are not all collapsed; and because the existing institutions are not the only methods of resistance and refusal.

The Trumpist movement that ascended to power on Monday is relying on a tired, defeated America, one too diminished to do anything but submit to their demands and schemes. But the American spirit is indefatigable: it loves freedom and equality, abhors tyranny, values minding your own business and hates, above all, to be told what to do. When Trump was last in office, Americans found, at the end, that they did not like it. They will not like it now, either, and that dislike, however tardy, will have political consequences.

[robertreich]

Why Trump Is Partnering With Christian Nationalists

Donald Trump is portraying himself as a religious savior. He says Election Day will be: …”the most important day in the history of our country, and it’s going to be Christian Visibility Day.”

Trump has repeatedly compared his criminal trials to the crucifixion of Jesus, promoted videos calling his reelection “the most important moment in human history,” and that describe him as a divinely appointed ruler.

He claims to be a holy warrior against an imaginary attack on Christianity.

TRUMP: They want to tear down crosses//But no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration. I swear to you.

He’s even selling his own version of the Bible.

Trump is playing to a rising white Christian Nationalist movement within the Republican Party.

Christian Nationalists believe that the law of the land is not the Constitution, but instead the law of God as they interpret it. Under this view, atheists and people of other faiths (including Christians of other denominations) are all second-class citizens.

Trump’s supporters are increasingly overt in their calls to replace democracy with a MAGA theocracy.

The idea that the will of voters is irrelevant because God has anointed Trump was a recurring message in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In previous videos, I’ve highlighted how MAGA Republicans have embraced core elements of fascism. They reject democracy, stoke fear of immigrants and minorities, embrace a gender and ethnic hierarchy, and look to a strongman to lead and defend them.

The combination of fascism and Christian Nationalism is called Christofascism, a term first used half a century ago by the theologian Dorothee Sölle. Fascists rise to power by characterizing their opponents as subhuman. Christofascists take it a step further by casting opponents as not just subhuman, but actually demonic.

Framing opponents as enemies of God makes violence against them not only seem justifiable, but divinely sanctioned, and almost inevitable.

Christofascists want to strip away a wide range of rights Americans take for granted. Former Trump staffers involved in developing plans for a second Trump term have called for imposing “Biblical” tests on immigration, overturning marriage equality, and restricting contraception.  

And MAGA-aligned judges are already setting their dogma ahead of the Constitution. In his concurring opinion on the case that declared frozen embryos are people, Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker cited God more than forty times and quoted the Book of Genesis and other religious texts.

Nothing could be more un-American than the Christian Nationalist vision. So many of America’s founders came here as refugees seeking religious freedom. The framers of the Constitution were adamant that religion had no role in our government. The words “God,” “Jesus,” and “Christ,” don’t appear anywhere in the Constitution. And the very first words of the Bill of Rights are a promise that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Christofascism, or any religion-based form of government, is a rejection of everything America has aspired to be — a secular, multi-racial society whose inhabitants have come from everywhere, bound together by a faith in equal opportunity, democracy, and the rule of law.

Beware.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Warning With Steve Schmidt:

Four years ago today, after losing a presidential election, Donald Trump incited an insurrection against the US Constitution. His mob stormed the Capitol, pissed on the walls and shat on the floors. They did $1.5 million in damage, caused injuries to at least 174 of Capitol police officers, and caused the deaths of five people. Trump will soon pardon the January 6 criminals, lionize them, and hang medals around their necks. Have no doubt about this. Meanwhile, Elon Musk has denounced Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Reform Party, saying that he is unfit to lead it. He has also stepped up his interference in the forthcoming German elections. He has also begun severely limiting criticism of himself and others on X with a social media scoring system that is straight out of China.

The Washington Post is in a state of collapse. The paper’s best political writers, journalists and commentators are like the first-class passengers on Titanic being lowered into half-filled life boats taking them to the Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, but the truth is that there aren’t enough life boats for all. Everyone is going to want off a ship that is sinking into disgrace. Whatever private commitments were made between the Graham family and Bezos when he bought The Washington Post regarding its stewardship have been shattered. The most incredible part about the capitulations — which are not the least bit surprising — is how quickly they happened, and without so much as a soft whimper or scuffle.

By doing so, most editorial leaders of these institutions have demonstrated the only place they are truly fit to work is the Trump White House. There, they could combine the practice of moral appeasement, fecklessness, dishonesty, weakness and self-interest with being cheered, promoted and celebrated. Instead, these low men and women have to face the reality that the person staring back at them in the mirror is a different version of Lindsey Graham — only they call themselves journalists as opposed to senator. The farce is the same. The cowardice is the same. The record will show that when the starting gun sounded nobody came close to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski with their Usain Bolt-like dash to Mar-a-Lago. Bezos must look at them through his capitulant lens as visionaries. Perhaps they will have the opportunity to summer aboard Koru, his yacht, with the Lady Sanchez in the south of France. Given that Bezos has green-lit a Melania documentary that explains her reemergence from witness protection, maybe she could be there as well, softly purring about her deep love of Donald and America.

[...] Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and all the rest of America’s oligarchs hold the American people in contempt. Because they do, they can’t see the character of the steelworker, trucker, nurse, teacher or cop. They only see one thing, and that in the end, is why this whole miserable MAGA project will crash and burn. They are locusts preparing to swarm to engorge themselves even though they feel no hunger and want for nothing. Donald Trump will keep pushing until someone, somewhere, some day, effectively pushes back again. I hope that day comes soon because until then they are going to be full speed ahead. By the time the inaugural address is over there will be perfect clarity around what must be fiercely opposed as indecent and un-American.

Steve Schmidt’s column is on the nose here. It’s insulting to see so many people and institutions obey in advance and capitulate to Trumpism, especially the Washington Post.

[historyforfuture]

What kind of criminals are these ?👹

They have corrupted and transgressed .

"The soldiers insert fire hoses into the prisoners buttocks", the lawyer @khaledmhajna explains what the Palestinian prisoners from Gaza Strip have been facing in "Sde Tman" prison over the past 9 months. Via @alaa.daraghme

[iamnmbr3]

Trump supports peace.

Turn off your tv and you’ll realize that

You know that's not true because if you actually thought it was true you would've provided an example, but you can't provide even one.

Donald Trump is a violent fascist who among many other other crimes has:

Incited and praised a violent terrorist attack on the US government (x x x)

Tried to have his own vice president killed as part of an effort to violently seize power by force (x)

Called for the US military to kill American citizens he doesn't like (x)

Raped women and given his relationship with pedophile Epstein probably children as well (x x x x)

Expressed admiration for Hitler on numerous occasions (x x)

Called Netanyahu to urge him to not do a ceasefire and to keep bombing (x)

Worked with and praised sadistic dictators like Putin and Kim Jong-Un (x)

Said we should return to the way things were in the 1790s when slavery was legal (x)

Incited violence against immigrants (x)

Encouraged police brutality (x)

Praised and pardoned war criminals (x)

Incited violence against the press (x)

Incited violence constantly and systematically against innumerable targets (x)

Trump is the definition of violence. And you know it.

You aren't a victim of Trump's propaganda. You're a perpetrator. You're trying to use this blog as a platform to spread lies in the hope of supporting Fascism.

But it won't work. We're not going back.

We are going to use our power - our voice and our votes - to spread the truth and to get out there on election day and kick the fascist GOP out of power for good.

[historyforfuture]

The hypocrite world politics are partners in all zionists crimes when they only take the speeches way while souls are dying and blood is being shed through many massacres .

It,s v .clear for any one who has eyes and heart that it is an ethnic cleansing it is a hate bombing over innocents who don,t have even a pistol to defend .

This rotten army can,t face as men they are thieves who have no rights to defend and instead trying to get rid of all the people who have the rights .

First moment of the bombing on the camp today .

The civilians tents r clear

biden = netanyahoo both r criminals

[imagitory]

I've never been more heartbroken in my life.

I was gobsmacked in 2016, don't get me wrong. I was devastated and frightened and shaken beyond words. I even had to go behind a wall and collect myself at one point that horrible November 9th, 2016, after colliding with a man wearing a red MAGA hat at work. A good chunk of us at work talked amongst ourselves about it, offering each other comfort.

But this? This is different. I could imagine dumb people making excuses for voting for Trump in 2016 -- saying that they thought a businessman would be good for the economy, saying that they wanted someone who wasn't a "Washington insider" like Hilary Clinton. Sure, it was stupid, but people can be stupid. Quite frankly, a lot of people are stupid, in this country and otherwise.

But now? Anyone who voted for Trump now has voted for a man who not only rounded up immigrants and put them in concentration camps separated from their families; bungled the response to COVID-19 so badly that the American death toll easily surpassed every other country on Earth; has poisoned the Supreme Court to the extent that they overturned years of precedence with Roe V. Wade and has basically given Trump cart-blanche to do whatever he wants while he's president; was the first president in history to refuse to concede on election day; was impeached for crimes in office not once but TWICE; was instrumental to and passionately supportive of the full-on attempted coup at the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021 that could've very easily resulted in the deaths of his own Vice President and multiple members of Congress; has spoken glowingly of despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and even said he will be "a dictator on day one" if elected again; has both used slogans originally used by modern American Neo-Nazis ("America First") and purportedly told one of his ex-subordinates that he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler's...but also has by the day proven more and more just how mentally inept, vindictive, and mean-spirited he truly is.

And unlike in his previous races, Trump is ahead in the popular vote too. We can't just blame this on the electoral college being antiquated and gerrymandered AF like in the Trump-Clinton or Bush-Gore elections. Even if all of the third-party voters in this country had grown a bloody brain cell and voted for Harris so as to show solidarity against Trump and his form of American fascism, it still somehow wouldn't be enough. We could potentially blame this on lower voter turn-out -- according to what I'm seeing so far, even with all the votes not counted in this race yet, it looks like there were far less votes cast this election than in the last one, though likely still more than the 2016 race. But even so, I don't think that's the only problem. I truly think there were just a lot of people who turned out en-masse to vote for Trump. And all I can think in regards to those people is...

This is beyond stupidity or even selfishness. This is cruelty. This is large swaths of people deciding that they want fellow American citizens to suffer -- because in their minds, if those people suffer, that'll somehow make them happy. This is a large chunk of America saying, "yeah, you know all that crap about 'liberty and justice for all'? Screw that, I want a 'strong man' to bully people different from me for my own amusement." And -- perhaps -- there's also an element of feeling like their vote doesn't really have any consequences for them, so why should they care if the man they voted for is a god-awful person? It's not like that man will hurt them.

I had hoped. I had hoped, seeing the outpouring of support from liberals, independents, and conservatives for Harris/Walz. I'd hoped, seeing how many ex-Trump appointees were standing up against him, how much people were shouting their disdain for Project 2025 from the rooftops, and how many women were protesting in the face of Roe V. Wade being overturned. I truly had started to hope that America would prove we'd grown beyond our country's own original sin -- how our United States preached freedom for all while still being built on the backs of slaves and refusing to grant a vote to over half their population -- by electing a smart, successful, charismatic woman of color who sees our country as great in potential and wants us to pursue that potential as our first female president, rather than backtracking all the slow progress we've made over the last 200+ years.

But now...my hope has faded. My heart is in pieces and the world is so dark. I hardly know how I'll function at work tomorrow, even if I know somehow, I have to try. We'll all have to stand somehow. Somehow, someway...we'll have to find the strength. We'll have to stand, and we'll have to keep moving forward, even when it feels like we're a Little Mermaid walking on knives.

We'll have to stand.

[docprof]

Mene mene tekel upharsin Part 5 - NATO Ukraine USA stand defeated

The money laundering of Democrats Obama Biden Kamala Harris is bleeding USA to DEATH... the empire is crumbling.... Ukraine is dead with no soldiers left to fight .... over 1.1 million UKRANIAN Soldiers are dead... NATO is rendered toothless demilitarized with over 600K NATO soldiers dead... so much so that FRANCE is desperately urging , EVERY EU Nation to send soldiers to Ukraine ; to which Poland and most Violent Russophobe Eastern European states refused...

The reason is simple.... they all know, they can't survive on the battleground ... it is a different thing, to shout from your chairs and chambers , but in reality even British Army , as per their own internal assessment, can't last for a week against Russian army....

In a master chess move Putin and Erdogan of Turkey reached a deal pitching NATO Vs NATO... Turkey forces are fighting USA backed militia in Syria... Sec Blinken had to rush to Turkey to urge them to not kill all NATO militia in Syria ..... Vultures have started gathering... Erdogan is talking of cancelling 100 year old WW1 treaty and re-enacting OTTAMAN Empire ... the ancient battle ground has opened up... all this thanks to inferior USA weapons and technology .... and the weakening of the USA .... thanks to stupid American voters who kept Democrats in powers for so long .... they have done nothing but looted USA and pardoned the corrupt .

America is trying to win an imaginary war by propaganda like it always has... USA is on its knees; few steps away from surrendering or breaking away... Can Trump Save it? Perhaps not... hence he is proclaiming to make CANADA and MEXICO American states... The dethroned bankrupt empire of lies and deceit can now only rule its own neighbors... Kiss Rule based order good bye....

While delusional Ukrainian NATO Europeans are dreaming of Russia breaking and surrendering .... not knowing their master is about to desert them... to save itself... from nuclear oblivion.... loser NATO Ukraine EU can't dictate terms and will not be allowed to.... ad infinitum WWIII...

Nothing unites the human playground quite like one intrepid soul willing to stand, fight, and humble the bully.

The tripartite alliance of Russia, China, and Iran is an adversary more than adequate to roll back imperial rule by leaps and bounds, and in a relatively short span of time.

Many of the “middle powers” can also see which way the wind is blowing, and are positioning themselves accordingly. Spheres of influence are being aggressively pursued and secured in every quarter of the earth.

And perhaps most meaningful of all, they are cooperating to progressively repudiate the empire’s debt notes as the coin of the realm. They have come to understand that a prerequisite to “fixing the world” is to return its money system to a much more equitable and sustainable basis.

An alternative currency is coming... USD will come to an end much sooner than FED would have stupid americans believe.... The corruption of Obama Biden Harris Democrats has rotted America to the core ... USA lost the big war...

The DEATH OF EMPIRE IS MARKED........ whether it goes down slowly, or takes away whole earth in a fit of rage, by launching nuclear war which it can't win.... remains to be seen .... having lost the traditional proxy war .... with armies no longer willing to fight as proxy for it....

USA Democracy farce and hypocrisy stands exposed with increasing governments calling it out... including the majority nations in the UN...

It appears Russia has cut the empire into pieces.... it has achieved what Gorbachev and soviets compromised to not achieve for peace... The days of americans will be numbered with poverty , hunger and reality shocks, as World economy, decouples from the USD over coming years.... No more money printing will save the EMPIRE or turn the tide..........

PART 6 TO COME.....

[geezerwench]

Rebecca Solnit 

onrSpseodt5f8511fcll002h9itlfafm0758hf1tif3i882u585hagg2881u  ·

They're spitting in his eye. Latin American presidents are not cowed and not cooperative.

The Trump people assume that power and bullying are the same thing, and they don't understand that real power often lies in the ability to persuade, ally, convince people that they might want to do something rather than attempt to force them to do it against their will. Sometimes yes they can force, often they find they can't and they've shrunk the amount of cooperation and support they'll get (but they don't understand cooperation, because bullies). Which makes enemies and often backfires, as with much of their bullying around the hemisphere. It's crisis of masculinity tactics, I guess. And how you act when you know your policies are unpopular.

[Gustavo Petro is the president of Colombia and when Trump slapped tariffs on their exports, he did the same to ours. Brazil used the arrival of handcuffed detainees to make a big propaganda point against Trump and the US. Mexico turned the first deportee planes around.]

Here's Petro's full tweet in Spanish and then translated (badly):

Trump, a mi no me gusta mucho viajar a los EEUU, es un poco aburridor, pero confieso que hay cosas meritorias, me gusta ir a los barrios negros de Washington, allí ví una lucha entera en la capital de los EEUU entre negros y latinos con barricadas, que me pareció una pendejada, porque deberían unirse.

Confieso que me gusta Walt Withman y Paul Simon y Noam Chomsky y Miller

Confieso que Sacco y Vanzetti, que tienen mi sangre, en la historia de los EEUU, son memorables y les sigo. Los asesinaron por lideres obreros con la silla eléctrica, los fascistas qué están dentro de EEUU como dentro de mi país

No me gusta su petroleo, Trump, va a acabar con la especie humana por la codicia. Quizás algún día, junto a un trago de Whisky qué acepto, a pesar de mi gastritis, podamos hablar francamente de esto, pero es difícil porque usted me considera una raza inferior y no lo soy, ni ningún colombiano.

Así que si conoce alguien terco, ese soy yo, punto. Puede con su fuerza económica y su soberbia intentar dar un golpe de estado como hicieron con Allende. Pero yo muero en mi ley, resistí la tortura y lo resisto a usted. No quiero esclavistas al lado de Colombia, ya tuvimos muchos y nos liberamos. Lo que quiero al lado de Colombia, son amantes de la libertad. Si usted no puede acompañarme yo voy a otros lados. Colombía es el corazón del mundo y usted no lo entendió, esta es la tierra de las mariposas amarillas, de la belleza de Remedios, pero tambien de los coroneles Aurelianos Buendía, de los cuales soy uno de ellos, quizás el último

Me matarás, pero sobreviviré en mi pueblo que es antes del tuyo, en las Américas. Somos pueblos de los vientos, las montañas, del mar Caribe y de la libertad

A usted no le gusta nuestra libertad, vale. Yo no estrecho mi mano con esclavistas blancos. Estrecho las manos de los blancos libertarios herederos de Lincoln y de los muchachos campesinos negros y blancos de los EEUU, ante cuyas tumbas llore y recé en un campo de batalla, al que llegue, después de caminar montañas de la toscana italiana y después de salvarme del covid.

Ellos son EEUU y ante ellos me arrodillo, ante más nadie.

Túmbeme presidente y le responderán las Américas y la humanidad.

Colombia ahora deja de mirar el norte, mira al mundo, nuestra sangre viene de la sangre del califato de Córdoba, la civilización en ese entonces, de los latinos romanos del mediterraneo, la civilización de ese entonces, que fundaron la república, la democracia en Atenas; nuestra sangre tiene los resistentes negros convertidos en esclavos por ustedes. En Colombia está el primer territorio libre de América, antes de Washington, de toda la América, allí me cobijo en sus cantos africanos.

Mi tierra es de orfebrería existente en época de los faraones egipcios, y de los primeros artistas del mundo en Chiribiquete.

No nos dominarás nunca. Se opone el guerrero que cabalgaba nuestras tierras, gritando libertad y que se llama Bolívar

Nuestros pueblos son algo temerosos, algo tímidos, son ingenuos y amables, amantes, pero sabrán ganar el canal de Panamá, que ustedes nos quitaron con violencia. Doscientos héroes de toda latinoamerica yacen en Bocas del Toro, actual Panamá, antes Colombia, que ustedes asesinaron.

Yo levanto una bandera y como dijera Gaitán, así quede solo, seguirá enarbolada con la dignidad latinoamericana que es la dignidad de América, que su bisabuelo no conoció, y el mio sí, señor presidente inmigrante en los EEUU,

Su bloqueo no me asusta; porque Colombia además de ser el país de la belleza, es el corazón del mundo. Se que ama la belleza como yo, no la irrespete y le brindará su dulzura.

COLOMBIA A PARTiR DE HOY SE ABRE A TODO EL MUNDO, CON LOS BRAZOS ABIERTOS, SOMOS CONSTRUCTORES DE LIBERTAD, VIDA Y HUMANIDAD.

Me informan que usted pone a nuestro fruto del trabajo humano 50% de arancel para entrar a EEUU, yo hago lo mismo.

Que nuestra gente siembre maíz que se descubrió en Colombia y alimente al mundo

Trump, I don't really like travelling to the US, it's a bit boring, but I confess that there are some commendable things. I like going to the black neighbourhoods of Washington, where I saw an entire fight in the US capital between blacks and Latinos with barricades, which seemed like nonsense to me, because they should join together.

I confess that I like Walt Whitman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller

I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, are memorable in the history of the USA and I follow them. They were murdered by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are within the USA as well as within my country

I don't like your oil, Trump, you're going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe one day, over a glass of whiskey, which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it's difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I'm not, nor is any Colombian.

So if you know someone who is stubborn, that's me, period. You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance, like they did with Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don't want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom. If you can't accompany me, I'll go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn't understand that, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aureliano Buendía, of which I am one, perhaps the last.

You will kill me, but I will survive in my people, which is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea and of freedom.

You don't like our freedom, okay. I don't shake hands with white slavers. I shake hands with the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white farm boys of the USA, at whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I reached after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid.

They are the United States and before them I kneel, before no one else.

Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond.

Colombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization of that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the black resistance fighters turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take refuge in its African songs.

My land is made up of goldsmiths who worked in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete.

You will never rule us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, who is called Bolívar, opposes us.

Our people are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naive and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, today's Panama, formerly Colombia, which you murdered.

I raise a flag and as Gaitán said, even if it remains alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, an immigrant in the USA,

Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and you will give it your sweetness.

FROM TODAY ON, COLOMBIA IS OPEN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY.

I am informed that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same.

Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world