#and trump is only going to kill Palestinians faster

[chemicalarospec]

Average American: I hate women and people of color and trans people and gay people and immigrants and non-Christians. And I don't believe in climate change.

Leftists who think this is going to push the Democrats left after an incredibly progressive VP pick lost and the sitting administration has been supporting worker's rights, fixing the economy, and making good progress (ex in climate policy): They did this because the Democrats are too centrist.

[cass-ass]

Criticism means nothing if you show the people you criticize that you will vote for them anyway, regardless of what they do.

By the way, Trump says “finish the job,” while the democrats are actively helping them do it. Y’all just don’t actually care.

You can criticize someone you voted for an intend to vote for. You can not fully like everything about a person that you vote for.

Your vote is to change something in this country and if your change is able to help other people keep their rights, is that not enough? Not only will choosing not to vote or choosing someone else give Trump more of a likelihood of winning; due to Project 2025 and the recent supreme court ruling on the Presidential power- it will also endanger and likely take away the rights of trans people, lgb+ people, POC, and immigrants in the US.

Dooming Everyone is NOT the outlook to have. Save the people you can with the power that you have- you cannot change the system by voting or not. Changing the system and the views of others happens on a local level first.

If your vote for president is not enough, have you looked at the House or Senate seats and seen whether anyone running in your state supports Palestine? Can you vote for Bernie Sanders (vermont), Mckayla Wilkes (maryland), Jamaal Bowman (New York), Cori Bush (missouri), Shahid Buttar (California), Shaniyat Chowdhury (NY), Arati Kreibich (New Jersey) or any others that are staunchly pro-Palestine?

And if you want to do more, then put your money and time into supporting Palestinians and going to protests and calling your local authorities about things. If your politician doesn't support what you do- then TALK about it. With people in your area. With people at the grocery store. With your neighbors. With your local authorities. Go to town hall meetings. Get people to care.

I have multiple signs up supporting Palestine in my office. It gets people to talk about it and show more vocal support. They feel more comfortable being able to bring it up with others. Maybe you could wear a pin, have a banner on your fb or instagram, or show your support in another way.

A large amount of Democrats do not support Israel. While Biden has absolutely not done what he could have with his position to protect Palestinians, Kamala and other democrats have not been in that position yet and deserve a chance and not an assumption that they'll do the same as their predecessors.

I personally do not think that it will be much better- especially given that the House overruled Biden's one refusal to send Israel weapons- but it WILL be better than Trump handing Israel an arsenal and telling them to wipe the Palestinians out. Because Israel absolutely will take advantage of that and more Palestinians will be hurt and killed at a much faster rate.

[todaysromano]

11.05.2024

Today, Romano got a call from America saying the he voted for Kamala Harris for president and he voted in all his local elections too because they're all incredibly important. Romano hopes that Harris is elected over Trump.

I'll be reblogging a few posts about voting for people's reference (tagged voting). If you're American and able to vote, please go and vote and please vote for Kamala Harris. Third party/write in statistically cannot win with our current system and Harris is our best bet as a country. I voted a week and a half ago for Harris/Walz. Voting as a woman is one of the only moments I'm proud to be an American. Please join me.

Arab.com link (please don't forget to do this today as well)

Trump will happily help kill Palestinians faster. I know some people don't like Harris because she won't do enough, but isn't helping by doing something better than killing these people faster?

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

"Trump would be worse! He'd kill more Palestinians and give Netanyahu anything he wants!"

No, he'd do it faster than Biden, but people who still pretend Biden is going to show mercy are willfully ignorant. Trump would likely use nuclear weapons on Gaza. But Biden has ensured that almost the same outcome will happen.

Have you ever lived near a toxic waste dump? I have. Thankfully, not close enough to experience personal health effects. But a family member of mine taught kids who grew up practically on top of it. He can spend five minutes just listing the names of former students who died of cancer.

And none of the waste in that toxic waste dump included chemicals like white phosphorous.

So here's what Biden's ensured:

Even if there were a ceasefire right now and an immediate influx of aid, more people would die of injuries and malnourishment because there are degrees of injuries and illnesses that medicine can't fix.

The land will be so polluted that anyone who lives there is at an incredibly high risk of developing cancer and other health conditions. That will last for generations, at least decades, but possibly longer.

Even when things are rebuilt, the rates of miscarriages, unviable fetuses, premature births, low birth weights, lung problems, and other conditions will sky rocket.

Palestinians will be forced to leave Gaza to find shelter and treatment, but the health effects from what they experienced will remain with them and possibly be passed down.

Those who can't afford to leave won't be able to get treatment because there is no health system anymore. They will likely die early.

People will die of suicide, unable to recover from the trauma.

Those who don't die of suicide will never be stable. They will raise kids, who will experience generational trauma. Being raised by parents with severe mental illness and growing up in an area where everyone is traumatized results in the kid developing trauma.

All of this combined could very well ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the land. Between those dying of the pollution and those forced to leave, Palestinians will be dispossessed of more land. And if Israel isn't held in check, it will steal Gaza and the West Bank.

Biden has already made it clear that even if Bibi starts the ground invasion of Rafah, Biden will not halt or put conditions on aid.

The only difference between what Trump would do and what Biden is doing is that Trump would do it quicker. Biden likes to play with his victims more cruelly than a cat ever would.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Trump Impeachment Acquittal on Track Ahead of Senate Vote (AP) President Donald Trump is on the verge of acquittal by the Senate, an end to only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history but coming at the start of a tumultuous campaign for the White House.

Report: At Least 138 Sent From US to El Salvador Were Killed (AP) At least 138 people deported to El Salvador from the U.S. in recent years were subsequently killed, Human Rights Watch says in a new report that comes as the Trump administration makes it harder for Central Americans to seek refuge here.

Electric dream: Britain to ban new petrol and hybrid cars from 2035 (Reuters) Britain will ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars from 2035, five years earlier than planned, in an attempt to reduce air pollution that could herald the end of over a century of reliance on the internal combustion engine.

Air Canada Boeing 767 Returns Safely to Madrid After Engine Issue (Reuters) An Air Canada Boeing 767 with 128 passengers and eight crew returned safely to Madrid’s Barajas airport on Monday after reporting an engine issue and a burst tyre on take-off that forced it to circle for hours to burn fuel before landing.

Italy’s Salvini risks new trial over alleged migrant kidnapping (Reuters) A special tribunal has recommended that far-right League leader Matteo Salvini should stand trial for holding scores of people on board a charity ship last August, in one of his last migrant standoffs as interior minister. In a court document seen by Reuters, magistrates in the Sicilian city of Palermo asked parliament for authorization to continue an investigation into the League leader on suspicion of kidnapping 107 migrants on the Spanish charity boat Open Arms. The migrants remained stranded at sea until prosecutors ordered the seizure of the ship and the evacuation of the people on board.

Migrants, refugees on Greece’s Lesbos chant freedom in second day of protest (Reuters) Hundreds of migrants rallied for a second day on the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday to demand the faster processing of asylum requests, while local residents staged a separate protest calling for the camps to close.

Hungarian teachers say new school curriculum pushes nationalist ideology (Reuters) A Hungarian teachers’ union on Tuesday protested against a new school curriculum it says is designed by the ruling Fidesz party to promote its nationalist agenda and curb academic freedoms. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the leader of Fidesz, has often come under fire from the European Union and human rights groups for a range of policies they say harm democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.

Rohingya refugees go back to school (Foreign Policy) Among a few government proposals for handling the huge population of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh--including repatriation to Myanmar and relocation to an island in the Bay of Bengal--Dhaka recently announced one that has Rohingya feeling hopeful. Last week, officials announced that Bangladesh would provide refugee children access to formal education after warning about the potential for a “lost generation.”

Hong Kong reports virus death as workers strike at hospitals (AP) Hong Kong hospitals cut services as thousands of medical workers went on strike for a second day Tuesday to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely, as a new virus caused its first death in the semi-autonomous territory and authorities feared it was spreading locally. All but two of Hong Kong’s land and sea crossings with the mainland were closed at midnight after more than 2,000 hospital workers went on strike Monday. Hong Kong health authorities reported two additional patients without any known travel to the virus epicenter, bringing the number of locally transmitted cases up to four.

Israel Hits Hamas Targets in Gaza After Renewed Rocket Fire (AP) Israel struck Hamas militant targets in Gaza early Wednesday in response to rocket fire toward Israeli communities overnight, the military said, the latest flare-up following the release of the Trump administration’s Mideast plan, which the Palestinians have fiercely rejected.

Turkey Deploys Extremists to Libya, Local Militias Say (AP) Syrian militants affiliated with groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are currently being sent by Turkey to fight on behalf of the U.N.-supported government in Libya, according to two Libyan militia leaders and a Syrian war monitor.

Malawi’s presidential election annulled (Foreign Policy) Malawi’s constitutional court voided the 2019 elections that would have granted President Peter Mutharika a second term, pointing to widespread electoral tampering, including the use of white out correction fluid to change votes on paper ballots. Judges have ordered that another election be held in the next 150 days.

[mastcomm]

John Bolton, Kobe Bryant, Grammy Awards: Your Monday Briefing

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

We’re covering new evidence related to the Trump impeachment inquiry, reaction to the death of Kobe Bryant, and the Grammy Awards.

New Ukraine details in John Bolton’s book

President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in aid to Ukraine until officials there investigated Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the since-ousted adviser, John Bolton.

A key element of Mr. Trump’s impeachment defense has been that the aid holdup was separate from his requests for investigations. Here are five takeaways from Mr. Bolton’s book.

Mr. Bolton has said he would testify at Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial if he were asked to do so, but lawmakers said the Senate was highly unlikely to call new witnesses.

How we know: Multiple people described Mr. Bolton’s account of the Ukraine affair to The Times, but the White House did not answer questions about Mr. Bolton’s assertions. Mr. Bolton’s lawyer accused the White House of disclosing the book’s contents.

What’s next: Mr. Trump’s legal team is to resume his defense today, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern. During an abbreviated session on Saturday, the president’s lawyers attacked his accusers as partisan witch-hunters trying to remove him from office because they couldn’t beat him at the ballot box.

Coronavirus outbreak intensifies

The death toll in China from the respiratory illness rose to at least 80 today, and the government extended the Lunar New Year holiday by three days in an effort to limit travel. Here are the latest updates.

A top Chinese health official warned on Sunday that the virus’s spread was accelerating despite a lockdown affecting 56 million people. The quarantine could make the situation worse, including by exacerbating shortages of medical supplies.

The details: Most of the nearly 3,000 people who have contracted the virus live in China, but it has spread to 10 other countries. Five cases have been confirmed in the U.S.

Go deeper: Compared with China’s response to the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s, the government has responded faster to the current outbreak. But there are signs that officials, especially those at the regional level, were slow to recognize the danger and are continuing to mishandle the crisis.

Another angle: Many airlines are accommodating travelers who want to modify, delay or cancel China itineraries. Here’s what to expect.

Mourning an N.B.A. great

The death of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday shocked the sports world and generated an outpouring of grief.

Thousands of people gathered at Staples Center, and condolences poured in from presidents and celebrities. Several entertainers paid tribute to Mr. Bryant at the Grammy Awards, which took place at the arena hours later.

The helicopter carrying Mr. Bryant, 41, went down near Calabasas, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy conditions. Here are the latest updates.

Catch up: The helicopter was on its way from Orange County, where the Bryant family lives, to Mr. Bryant’s youth basketball academy, where he coached his daughter Gianna, who died in the crash. A baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa was also killed, as were his wife and daughter. The other victims haven’t yet been identified.

Obituary: Mr. Bryant jumped straight from high school to the N.B.A. in 1996 and won five championships with the Lakers before retiring in 2016. He was an unquestioned basketball great, but his legacy is not so straightforward.

Iran’s 72-hour lie

The country’s military officials knew for three days that their own forces had shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet over Tehran this month, but it took a resignation threat from President Hassan Rouhani and an order from Iran’s supreme leader before the government acknowledged its fatal mistake.

We have an in-depth report on the cover-up and its political implications. The main takeaway: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the elite force charged with defending Iran’s clerical rule at home and abroad, effectively sidelined the elected government in a moment of national crisis.

How we know: The Times interviewed current and former Iranian officials, ranking members of the Revolutionary Guards, and people close to the inner circle of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Another angle: The Pentagon said 34 American service members had sustained traumatic brain injuries when Iran fired missiles at an Iraqi military base this month. President Trump said last week that the troops’ concussion symptoms were “not very serious.”

If you have 6 minutes, this is worth it

The faces of life after the Holocaust

A ceremony today at Auschwitz will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

Before the event, our Opinion section published portraits of 75 Holocaust survivors. Among them are, clockwise from top left: Esther Meron, Motke Weisel, Sara Leicht, Thomas Geve, Batsheva Dagan and Avraham Harshalom.

Here’s what else is happening

A Middle East peace plan: President Trump is expected this week to reveal details of his long-promised proposal to broker peace in the region. But with the Palestinians refusing to participate in the process, diplomats in past peace efforts see the plan as a way to aid the re-election efforts of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

20 questions with Democrats: The Times interviewed six presidential candidates about foreign policy, the last book they read and more. Watch their answers here.

Changes to your credit score: Under a tweak to the widely used three-digit score, consumers in good financial standing should see their scores bounce higher. But those in financial distress may experience a fall.

Snapshot: Above, Billie Eilish accepted the Grammy Award for song of the year, “Bad Guy,” on Sunday. The 18-year-old won five awards and swept the major categories. Here’s a full list of the winners.

Metropolitan Diary: In this week’s column, a fresh start, a table at Grand Central and more reader tales of New York City.

What we’re reading: This Boston Globe investigation of the U.S. government’s inaction on E. coli outbreaks. The story of a 2-year-old boy who ate some of his father’s salad and developed the illness is “heartbreaking, terrifying and riveting,” writes our Times Insider editor, Jennifer Krauss.

Now, a break from the news

Cook: Slow cooker red beans and rice takes only about 20 minutes to set up in the morning.

Read: In her latest comic book endeavor, Roxane Gay adapts a short story, “The Sacrifice of Darkness,” from her 2017 collection “Difficult Women.”

Watch: “Miss Americana,” a Netflix documentary about Taylor Swift, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last week.

Smarter Living: Wirecutter recommends five cheap(ish) things to make over a cluttered closet.

And now for the Back Story on …

Bill Clinton’s impeachment

We asked Peter Baker, our chief White House correspondent, to reflect on a major moment in the lead-up to the last presidential impeachment and compare it with the current trial. He has covered both.

Twenty-two years ago this week came a milestone moment in the last presidential impeachment drama. President Bill Clinton was on the defensive after The Washington Post, where I was working then, broke the news that Ken Starr was investigating whether the president had committed perjury to cover up an affair with a former White House intern.

Mr. Clinton took to the microphone at the end of an event, glared angrily at the reporters in the room, wagged his finger and, with Hillary Clinton standing behind him, forcefully said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

We were struck by two things: One, that he seemed to briefly blank on her name, referring to her as “that woman,” before summoning it. But the second was the intensity of his denial. He was white-hot mad.

At that time, before the DNA and the grand jury testimony, we didn’t know if the story we were pursuing was bogus or if the president of the United States was lying to us and to the country. Of course, later we found out which it was.

Now, as Ken Starr re-emerges as a lawyer for President Trump in the current impeachment trial, and the administration’s explanations of what happened continue to fluctuate, it’s hard not to feel déjà vu.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S. • We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about whether football is too dangerous for children. • Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Chunk of ice (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here. • Monica Mark is our next Johannesburg bureau chief. She has covered some of the biggest stories in Africa for Bloomberg News, The Guardian and BuzzFeed News.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/event/john-bolton-kobe-bryant-grammy-awards-your-monday-briefing/

[beesandwasps]

Some Predictions

Assuming, of course, that Trump doesn’t get us all killed by actually setting off a nuclear war:

1. The US will now finally have to really leave Iraq and Afghanistan, and possibly be forced to leave the entire region. Our decades-long attempt to control the world’s oil supply is over, and the faster we admit it the less it will cost us in the long run. The Carter Doctrine turned out to be just as idiotic as sensible people were saying all along. (And the entire world owes a big “fuck you” to people like Henry Kissinger, the Bush family, and Hillary Clinton, who all thought we could keep it up forever and acted accordingly.)

2. The leadership of both major parties in the US are going to refuse to admit that our time is up, no matter how obvious it is to everybody else. (They did this with Vietnam, and also with the Iraq invasion — both GWB and Obama were given fully-funded “surges” to try and turn the Iraq disaster into a win despite the obvious futility of the attempt.) Republicans will insist, despite the US being almost universally opposed by the entire continent of Asia, that things are going well as it is, and Democrats will continue their insistence that the problem isn’t that we’re trying to do the impossible but that we’re letting stupid people try to do the impossible, and if we will just hand over control to the Democrats they will have the impossible done in six months. A year. Two years. Four years. Ten years…

3. Israel is not going to last. They’ve been trying to push the US into a war with Iran for decades now — Netanyahu was claiming every year that Iran was going to nuke Israel within the next year starting all the way back in the 1990s and running up through the Obama administration. They finally got what they wanted with Trump, and now the US is going to have to pull out, and without the US, Israel’s position is not really tenable. Serves ’em damn well right, but it’s a pity all this had to play out and harm so many innocents.

4. Saudi Arabia will, on the other hand, do pretty well out of this. They played the US for a bunch of suckers for years while being the ones to stab us in the back — 9/11 was mostly put together by Saudis (not officially acting on behalf of the government) (as far as we know, at least). They won’t be toppled by angry mobs, and of course they still have all that oil.

5. A large chunk of the US will spend the next several decades, presuming humanity continues to exist, claiming that if only we hadn’t been betrayed by Republicans or Democrats (depending on who’s talking) we would have kept the middle east under control. This will last at least until Millennials die off, so get used to it. (This is how the end of the empire worked with the UK, the French, the Dutch, and the Spanish.)

6. Although getting the US out of the middle east is overall a good thing, it does not mean that the middle east — or even parts of it — will suddenly become a utopia. Bad things will still be happening, the Saudis will still be a bunch of evil mass murderers, until Israel finally admits defeat there will still be all kinds of tension (and they’ll keep massacring Palestinians), and of course all the US-backed governments are now subject to new tensions while all the US-opposed governments will probably remain in tension for years. (If we pull out, for example, Syria won’t magically become peaceful even though we have already admitted that most of the turmoil was funded and inspired by our military and spy operations. It’s a lot easier to start trouble than to stop it.) And, of course, Russians, Chinese, and Europeans will be trying to do the same kinds of things the US has been doing, because nobody ever learns from history.

[crayonlead2-blog]

Links 3/18/19

Patient readers, we just this instant switched on the codes for a new advertising vendor. A very much unintended and unexpected side effect is that some of you may be seeing video and other pop-ups. We were very clear in that these types of ads were not allowed. We are working to make them go away as fast as we can, because we know how much you hate them (and we do too)! –lambert

Update by Yves: The site seems to load faster with the new ads (the ads were what would slow down loading times), so once we get the popups sorted out (which thank God are appearing only on the landing page and so aren’t interfering with reading articles), this should be a net plus to readers once we get past transition issues.

Stonehenge-like monuments were home to giant pig feasts. Now, we know who was on the guest list Science

What’s the cost (in fish) between 1.5 and 3 degrees of warming? Anthropocene

Home Of Strategic Command And Some Of The USAF’s Most Prized Aircraft Is Flooding (Updated) The Drive

Radical plan to artificially cool Earth’s climate could be safe, study finds Grist

Fire Breaks Out At a Houston-Area Petrochemicals Terminal Bloomberg. Second in a week. Video:

The heat is deforming this metal storage tank. Some of the first responders are worried it will collapse. pic.twitter.com/Y3ZsjJ96zj

— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) March 18, 2019

Leave the oil in the ground, and this doesn’t happen…

The Fed has exacerbated America’s new housing bubble FT

Churches are opening their doors to businesses in order to survive CBS

Some county treasurers have flouted Iowa gift law for years Bleeding Heartland

Corporations Are Co-Opting Right-To-Repair Wired

Brexit

What will it take to push May’s Brexit deal over the line FT. The arithmetic: “To overturn her 149-vote deficit, she would have to win over at least 75 MPs. The most plausible route starts with the DUP’s 10 MPs. If they backed her deal, then some 50 of the nearly 70 Tory Eurosceptics who voted against it last week may change sides. Then Mrs May would need a further 15 Labour MPs, in addition to the five Labour and former Labour MPs who backed her last week.”

Northern Ireland’s farmers urge DUP to back Brexit deal FT

Around 40 Tory Rebels Told Theresa May: We’ll Vote For Your Brexit Deal If You Quit Buzzfeed

Labour likely to back public vote on UK PM’s deal, says Corbyn Reuters

Brexit by July 1 unless UK votes in EU election: Document Politico

The Irish Backstop: Nothing has changed? It has actually (PDF) Lord Bew and Lord Trimble, Policy Exchange. Bew is a Professor of Irish Politics. Trimble is a former First Minister of Northern Ireland and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Well worth the clickthrough to read the entire PDF. Here is the final paragraph:

All of this suggests that a backstop that functions for more than a short period of time – and the DUP has indicated in Parliament that it could live with a short backstop – is likely to be an extremely unstable affair. If it does not negotiate a trade deal with the UK in the next year or so, the EU is also likely to become increasingly aware that the Protocol will give it nothing but grief as it gets sucked into the Northern Ireland quagmire. In this quagmire, the UK Government (which has the support of the majority of the population in Northern Ireland and which pays the subvention which subsidises the entire society), holds most of the cards.

Politico’s London Playbook calls their report “a ringing endorsement of the tweaks to the backstop agreed by Theresa May in Strasbourg this month.” Readers?

NORMAN LAMONT: History will never understand Tory MPs if they kill off Brexit Daily Mail

Brexit will mark the end of Britain’s role as a great power WaPo. Surely Suez did that?

Macron calls for ‘strong decisions’ after violent Yellow Jacket protests Politico

Among the Gilets Jaunes LRB

Syraqistan

Months after saying US will withdraw, now 1,000 troops in Syria to stay Jerusalem Post but US denies report it is leaving up to 1,000 troops in Syria Channel News Asia. And what about the mercs?

Saudi Crown Prince’s Brutal Drive to Crush Dissent Began Before Khashoggi NYT

A Palestinian Farmer Finds Dead Lambs in His Well. He Knows Who’s to Blame Haaretz

Algeria After Bouteflika Jacobin

North Korea

Investing in resource-rich North Korea seems like a good idea — but businesses find there’s a catch Los Angeles Times

Picking Up the Pieces After Hanoi Richard Haass, Project Syndicate

New Cold War

How ordinary Crimeans helped Russia annex their home Open Democracy

How Russia Gets To Build Its Most Controversial Pipeline Riddle

Trump Transition

The Pentagon’s Bottomless Money Pit Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone. How are they gonna pay for it?

Government withholds 84-year-old woman’s social security, claims she owes thousands for college WISH-TV

737 Max

Flawed analysis, failed oversight: How Boeing, FAA certified the suspect 737 MAX flight control system Seattle Times

737 MAX disaster pushes Boeing into crisis mode Phys.org

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

All the Crime, All the Time: How Citizen Works NYT

Global Mass Surveillance And How Facebook’s Private Army Is Militarizing Our Data Forbes

More Than a Data Dump Harpers. Why Julian Assange deserves First Amendment protection.

Democrats in Disarray

Establishment Democrats Are Undermining Medicare for All Truthout. As I kept saying with my midterms worksheets, the liberal Democrat leadership’s #1 priority is to prevent #MedicareForAll, and to that end they shifted the center of gravity of the electeds against it. Now we see this strategy born out in falling sponsorship numbers.

Even a Vacuous Mueller Report Won’t End ‘Russiagate’ Stephen Cohen, The Nation. “[T]he Democrats and their media are now operating on the Liberty Valance principle: When the facts are murky or nonexistent, ‘print the legend‘.”

Venture capitalist Steve Case spreading funding to Middle America with “Rise of the Rest” CBS

Class Warfare

What’s Wrong with Contemporary Capitalism? Angus Deaton, Project Syndicate

Bill McGlashan’s firing exposes hypocrisy in impact investing Felix Salmon, Axios

The College Admissions Ring Tells Us How Much Schoolwork Is Worth New York Magazine

How Parents Are Robbing Their Children of Adulthood NYT

‘Filth, mold, abuse’: report condemns state of California homeless shelters Guardian

Wall Street Has Been Unscathed by MeToo. Until Now. NYT

What the Hell Actually Happens to Money You Put in A Flexible Spending Account? Splinter

‘Super bloom’ shutdown: Lake Elsinore shuts access after crowds descend on poppy fields Los Angeles Times. “Desperate for social media attention, some visitors have trampled through the orange poppy fields, despite official signs warning against doing so.” Thanks, influencers!

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Links on March 18, 2019 by Lambert Strether.

About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/03/links-3-18-19.html

[the-record-columns]

September 26, 2018: Columns

There is no shame to cry about your dog...

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher A trip to the Post Office was an event for me when I was a little kid. 

I can clearly remember my, daddy, the Preacher, holding me up and letting me put the key in the box and pull out his mail.  I would always look inside that small window to the inner workings of the Post Office.  I will never forget one morning when I opened the box and the then Postmaster Maurice Walsh's face was directly in front of me.  He said, "Boo," and I almost wet my pants.

As an adult, the Post Office has been a great place to stop and visit with folks -- one of my favorites being my second father-in-law, William Bundy.  Our schedules meshed perfectly and many was the day we have discussed everything from his daughter, to the weather, to even – gasp - politics and religion. 

Well today, I want to mention one of my current favorite Post Office partners, and, although our visits are infrequent, they are always memorable; and that person is Dorothy "Dot" Beamon.

Interestingly enough, it is through her friendship with my aforementioned father-in-law that I first heard about this wonderful lady and the blessing she has been to so many through the years as a mental health counselor and grief recovery specialist.

Well, the next best thing to visiting with Dot Beamon at the Post Office is to get mail from her.  In last weeks Record, I wrote about losing my dog, Powder, back in February, and the struggles involved with his fight with cancer, and just missing all the things he did to make life better for anyone he ever met. I was heartened by the many comments from other dog lovers, and in my mail I received a message from Dot. 

In her note she expressed her own sympathy for Powder’s passing and, in true Dot Beamon fashion, enclosed a sheaf of papers she had collected and copied about dogs through the years.  They included everything from sad to down-right funny, as she said, and I truly appreciate them. What follows is one of the things in Dot's care package for Powder and me.

A dog's nose in the palm of your hand can cure almost anything.

Dogs are made of love and fur.

Let your dog take you for a walk.

Dogs are a sure ting.

Some little known dog secrets:  Dogs have no secrets.

Dogs are like vanilla ice cream; reliably delicious.

Dogs are wise agents direct from Heaven.

If you had a tail, wouldn't you wag it?

There are no bad dogs.

Be your dog’s best friend.

Dogs like dancing, drive-in movies, and dreaming.

God made dogs and spelled His own name backwards!

Dogs make great therapists.

Kiss your dog all the time.

Some dogs are lap dogs.

Dogs invented unconditional love.

Dogs are party animals.

Apply dog logic to life: eat well, be loved, get petted, sleep a lot, dream of a leash-free world.

Live your dog's life!

Dorothy, I have no idea who wrote down all those things, but they must have known Powder.  I thank you for playing such an important part in the well-being of so many folks, and I thank you for being my friend.

And Powder’s.

Who are you?

By LAURA WELBORN

For The Record

You can look at “gossip” in several ways.

One it is the word on the street about what people think about something.  The other way to look at it is to examine what you are saying. Or maybe it is what people say about what they sense when they encounter us, their impression of what they see.

How often do we think about what we do in terms of the message are we sending out?  Is it one of forgiveness?  Love? Caring for others?  

We think of gossip as negative, but really if it is what people see us doing and if we are doing kind good things, then is it still gossip?  

I think about how our thoughts about ourselves direct us to how we act. When we feel good about ourselves we will feel better. What plays in our mind is so powerful, it determines our health and actually how we look.

I have a tendency to get ready in the mornings way faster than Ken. His response is: “It takes a long time to look this good.”

What if we spent as much time on working on the inside (our self esteem) as we do our outside?  If our inner person is good then the outside gets even better.  

So what is the recording you play about yourself?  What do you want other people to see and talk about?  The old saying if you don’t believe in yourself no one else will.  I think that it goes one step further, and that is, your inner peace and soul will shine through and blind everyone to your outside appearance.  When we think negatively we act that out and become less attractive.  

It’s when we let bitterness, or pity for ourselves about a situation consume us, our outside changes and we become heavy- and it shows.  When we let go and act out of kindness for others despite what they do to us we glow with a spirit that brings goodwill back to us.

Think of hurricanes and the eye of the storm which is calm when everything is swirling around outside of the eye. I want to stay inside the eye of the storm in my own peace and let the world spin around outside in chaos and destruction.

All this is to say, it’s not as important what people say as to how we act and feel about ourselves. I want to remind myself of my intentions and how I am working to live my life, for that will direct who I become. Laura Welborn, Mediator and Counselor for Donlin Counseling Services.

Do you know someone who is struggling with being over consumed with something in their lives (addictions of eating, alcohol, drugs or relationships)?  Refer to Donlin Counseling Services for help. DonLin has Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialists, Licensed Counselors who accept Medicaid or insurance. Certified Hypnotherapist and Herbalist on staff.  Individual and group therapy is available.  The Addiction Group meets on Sundays.  For more information visit  www.donlincounseling.com or call 336-838-7371.

The Weapon is Demographics 

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency or UNRWA as it is commonly referred was established for the sole purpose of assisting the Palestinians.  Never before has the UN established and staffed an agency to serve only one people group.  President Trump’s decision to slash U.S. support for UNRWA may dismay Islamists and their global backers but it’s good news for Palestinians languishing in refugee camps. For 70 years, UNRWA has refused to resettle the Palestinian refugees, leaving them in perpetual limbo, and lacing their school curricula with hate, martyrdom and terror against Israel, and promoting its replacement by a Palestinian state. 

But UNRWA’s most malicious strategy is its systematic goading of students (and adults) with false hopes for the “right of return” to Israel as an “exclusively Palestinian country,” according to the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education.

The primary tool of UNRWA’s “right of return” mantra is the fraudulent inflation of the real number of Palestinian refugees; from 20,000 according to a State Department report classified by the Obama administration to a whopping 5.3 million today. UNRWA pulled these reproducing rabbits out its hat by multiplying five generations worth of refugees’ descendants—regardless of their settlement (and citizenship) in other countries, or homes—not refugee camps—in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

This exponential increase inflated UNRWA’s staff and budget, ballooning into billions in “humanitarian” aid from the world community for millions of Palestinian claiming refugee status when, in fact, they are not refugees at all. 

Demographic fraud lies at the heart of UNRWA’s failure to thrive as a humanitarian institution created to help, not thwart refugees.

In 1965 and 1982, UNRWA changed its definition of a Palestinian refugee to conflict with that of the UN, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and international law. 

UNHCR resettles its refugees, demolishes their temporary camps, and rarely, in special cases, adds their descendants to its rosters. “UNRWA is the only refugee agency in the world whose purpose is not to resettle refugees and help them go on with their lives,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice and counsel to President Trump.

Why? What’s the logic behind a U.N. agency created to provide humanitarian, medical and educational services to one sole ethnic group? Why change its mandate to distort the real numbers? And why did Palestinians in camps start burying their dead at night, not declaring them, asks documentary filmmaker Pierre Rehov for the Gatestone Institute? “As a result, for nearly 20 years, the official death rate in the camps was close to zero.” 

Israeli novelist Amos Oz hits the nail on the head: “The Palestinian right of return is a euphemism for the liquidation of Israel." 

The weapon is demographics. 

To confront the nay-sayers, consider Israel’s 1960s self-rehabilitation project in the former Egyptian area of the Gaza Strip to help Gazans become self-sufficient. PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat persuaded the UN to condemn Israel. The project was abandoned, and the refugees forced to return to their camps, Rehov said. 

As an example of Arab states’ manipulation of the Palestinians as a pawn against Israel, consider Gamal-Abdul Nasser’s 1961 statement: “If the refugees return to Israel, Israel will cease to exist.”  More recently, a 2017 UN Watch publication examined the Facebook pages of 60 UNRWA educators, revealing “gross breach[es]” of neutrality required of UNRWA staff. 

UNRWA teacher Khader Awad’s public Facebook page features an image of a Jew with three guns and a knife pointing at his head. Hebrew and Arabic captions read, “Blood=Blood. #Kill them” and “Kill the settlers.” 

Senior UNRWA assistant head teacher Mohammad Alsayyed celebrated the murder of three Israeli teens by Hamas that ignited the 2014 Gaza war. “Makes me happy, “ he wrote. “News of the awesome kidnapping. Their freedom in exchange for our freedom.”

Considering UNRWA’s history, these role models are no surprise. Since 1975, the PLO turned UNRWA refugee camps in Lebanon into “military bastions,” said author Thomas G. Gulick, quoting Lebanese Ambassador to the UN Edward Ghorra’s letter to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. Ghorra attached a second letter from Lebanon’s deputy prime minister documenting PLO installation of “heavy weapons” in UNRWA camps in Lebanon as early as 1969, and the PLO “occupying UNRWA offices in the camps.” Waldheim did nothing. 

The reasons for Trump’s cuts are clear. UNRWA's biggest donor is the American taxpayer—to the tune of $360 million in 2016. U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) vowed to “make certain not one cent of U.S. taxpayer dollars provided to UNRWA is redirected to terrorists or activities that support terror or promote a culture of hatred.”

President Donald Trump’s funding cut to UNRWA sends a strong message to radical Islamists, especially the Palestinian Authority and Hamas: The U.S. government will no longer fund those who support or collude with terrorists. 

Nor will the US support an agency that defrauds its donors and misappropriates humanitarian aid to implement a violent political agenda. 

If UNRWA reform is in the wings, America may once again support it—unless the baton passes to UNHCR. This may be the only stable path to statehood and sustainable development for the Palestinian people.

Just as the US expresses willingness to work toward reasonable solutions to ultimately benefit the Palestinian people, we will continue to defend Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state, to choose its own capital and to defend its borders. 

[republicstandard]

The Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi Supports the Patriarchy and the Victimization of Women

Well friends, it is another day ending in 'Y' and that means there is another feminist moonbat screeching at the sky about guns. Actually make that two but Jessica Valenti doesn't count as newsworthy anymore. Sorry Jess.

Our kids are literally being shot to death by weapons of war, and the government continues to do nothing. ~ Jessica Valenti

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Yes, it certainly appears that after decades of creeping gun control and a Soros-funded PR blitz featuring Teen-Bop Against The Evil Guns that the mean ole gubbermint just isn't doing enough to restrict the rights of people to protect themselves. H.R.5717 is a figment of your imagination. Lex B from the Freebird Forum describes 5717 thus:

Over 10 states looking to institute risk protection orders which authorise the unwarranted seizure of firearms from “dangerous” individuals. People like ex-girlfriends, postmen, welfare agents, mental healthcare workers, family members and others can petition to have your guns remove from your possession without evidence for a minimum of one year and a maximum of a lifetime. This outrageous law is supported thoroughly by the NRA! A bill is being introduced to the federal government to disburse more funds to states which adopt this risk protection measure. Spread this to your family members, friends and acquaintances, whether liberal or conservative. This is one of the most dangerous laws I’ve seen in my lifetime.

If you were under any doubt that the gun control agenda is going ahead full steam, Trump or no, #MAGA or no, this is your wake-up call. The Guardian columnist cries out in pain as she strips your rights.

Staying with the Guardian, Valenti's compadre Arwa Mahdawi describes herself as a Palestinian-Brit in New York; three intersecting aspects of identity that would lead most sane people to be avidly pro-Gun if they had any sense.

British: Strict gun laws don't stop acid attacks, global jihad and criminals using guns.

Palestinian: Having no guns to shoot at the Israelis with is proving a problem.

New Yorker: self-explanatory.

I won't even go into Greater London without at least a fully licensed concealed carry soup-spoon. It's that dangerous these days.

So, what is Arwa's burning issue?

I wrote about how feminism is cynically being used to sell guns https://t.co/ZqEvupaUvG

— Arwa Mahdawi (@ArwaM) May 18, 2018

Yes, it's the heinous reality of all-American babes openly expressing their love for the Second Amendment (and by crimminy it is a beautiful thing- but we'll get to the ladies later). The bee in Arwa's bonnet is that pure, innocent and beloved feminism is being used -used!- to sell guns. Heaven forbid that a cult which has no problem selling pussy hats and infantilizing coloring books be co-opted by women with a different opinion about what a self-determined woman means in 2018.

We begin with the unfounded conflation between "women" and "feminism". It's very easy for feminists to then claim that they speak for all women when they use this simple rhetorical trick. Note: Feminism and women are not the same thing. Will Wheaton is not a woman as far as we know, but he is undoubtedly a feminist. So is that guy who just jumped the shark with Star Wars VIII, you know. That guy who will never know what credibility or talent is. There are probably other male feminists out there too, but who cares.

Firearms, it would seem, have become a feminist issue. Second amendment proponents and the gun industry are using female empowerment, and even the #MeToo movement, to sell their products and fight back against gun control.

Ladies, through feminism you can become empowered! So empowered. Just not empowered enough to take responsibility for your home and your person, because that is actually being exploited by the gun industry. Could you imagine the look on Harvey Weinstein's face if he pulled out his piece and Rose McGowan had pulled out a piece of her own, with a thicker barrel? If we take Mahdawi's view, it is probably for the best that she was raped by one of the most powerful people in Hollywood; because you just can't allow women to become too good at not being raped by the literal physical and financial embodiment of the patriarchy. Maybe I'm a bad feminist, but I fully support the right of all women to shoot rapists square amidships.

When faced with examples of actual rape, the feminist mentality is forced into a paradox. What comes first? The victim, or the ideological need to subvert the dominant paradigm? In her own article, Arwa Mahdawi writes:

Shayna Lopez-Rivas, 23, who recently graduated from Florida State University, also bought a gun after being attacked. Lopez-Rivas grew up in an anti-gun household and always had a negative view of guns until she was raped on campus in 2014. “I had pepper spray, he had a knife,” she said. “I wasn’t fast enough or strong enough.” The first time she picked up a gun, Lopez-Rivas felt empowered. “As much as women are equal to men in every other way, the truth is that in a biological sense we’re not equal. They’re bigger, faster, stronger. We need to find something that is an equalizer. And for me that equalizer was a firearm.”

Arwa's response? Pure feminist sophistry.

It’s important to listen to women like Lopez-Rivas, who have found guns to be empowering. It’s crucial we don’t dismiss their experience. Nevertheless, it’s also crucial that we don’t let gun rights activists cynically exploit women’s rights to sell more guns. While firearms may empower some women, they kill a whole lot more.

Some wags out there might accuse Arwa Mahdawi of literally exploiting someone's rape to make her point in this very excerpt, but that would be uncouth. Correct, but uncouth. In the mind of the feminist, guns are simply part of capitalist patriarchy. There is no question that they are evil, and must all be destroyed- for the women. Actual rape victims like Ms. Lopez-Rivas who have been through hell on Earth are dismissed with a handwave; that they shouldn't be dismissed but, actually, dearie, even though if you had a gun you might not have been raped, the fact that guns also kill women means that you really should be quiet. Sisterhood, Yeah!

Live. Speak. Stand. Run. Carry with Confidence. Ladies, chances are your assailant is gonna be bigger, stronger and faster and that’s why you have @alexoathletica for your gun, your mace, or even your phone. Yeah, you’ve got it covered. #TeamTomi #alexoathletica #NotYourAverageGunGirl

A post shared by Tomi Lahren (@tomilahren) on Mar 22, 2018 at 5:54pm PDT

Hey, it's that Tomi Lahren girl from the TV who says stuff. Seems like she entirely agrees with the assessment of Ms Lopez-Rivas that according to the most horrifying field test imaginable, men are stronger than women and shooting a rapist is a good tactic that may prevent your rape. Mahdawi's response?

Much of this messaging seems to echo the NRA line that guns empower women.

Well Arwa, maybe -and I mean, just maybe- you could consider the possibility that the NRA are right, just this once? It is a very poor piece of thinking indeed to assume that your enemies are always wrong; not only is that almost certainly not true (except in the case of the Green Bay Packers) but it betrays a certain arrogance in that you consider your own position to be unassailable. Is it so far beyond the pale that the National Rifle Association might have a point?

In the aftermath of this year's school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Loesch also defended guns by arguing that arming women would help them defend themselves against sexual assault. Framing gun rights as a feminist issue feels disingenuous and exploitative when there is a huge amount of research that shows women are more likely to be killed by a gun than saved by one.

Here is the crux of Mahdawi's case- it's one that has been drip fed into the cultural zeitgeist by virtually every liberal media outlet available; and generally it comes down to this utter mess of an assertion. Women are more likely to be killed with a gun than to save themselves with a gun. Therefore, guns are bad for women.

NEWSFLASH. Guns are bad for everyone. That's what guns do. That's why you want to be a competent gun owner when faced with someone with a gun or some other weapon who wishes to do you a mischief. The data this claim comes from appears to stem from this study by the anti-gun Violence Prevention Center. In it, the claim is made that a woman is more than 100 times more likely to be killed with a gun than to save herself with one. The message is clear; save the ladies, get rid of your guns.

Fortunately, it appears that the women of America are smarter than gun-grabbing feminists.

I have no apologies for my graduation photos. As a woman, I refuse to be a victim & the second amendment ensures that I don't have to be. pic.twitter.com/5CKmQobrMb

— Kaitlin Bennett (@KaitMarieox) May 15, 2018

I don’t take normal college graduation photos... pic.twitter.com/eI1NvLFYHs

— Brenna Spencer (@BrennaSpencer) April 7, 2018

Further, Mahdawi recognizes this truth. Female gun ownership is on the rise, and they are buying guns for self-defense. Even with the flawed comparison of all women killed by gun versus all women saved by gun on the table, the result is not less guns, in reality. It is more women making the smart choice that, in a world in which feminists have demanded equality even when there is none, self-defense is a personal responsibility.

According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, women are more likely than men to say that the only reason they own a gun is for protection. While 27% of women say protection is the sole reason they own a gun, only 8% of men say the same.

Wyoming: 53.8% of people own Firearms Gun Homicide rate: 1.7 per 100k DC: 25.9% of people own firearms Gun Homicide rate: 18.0 per 100k https://t.co/VtRvV733Bp

— Andrew Quackson🇺🇸 (@AndrewQuackson) May 21, 2018

One might speculate that the breakdown of the nuclear family may have had something to contribute to these figures, which gall Mahdawi so much but please me immensely. It is my suspicion that perhaps if feminists had not been quite so keen on demonizing men and all we stand for that, perhaps, we may see far fewer spinsters needing to defend themselves with firearms; that would be a husband's job, after all.

The gatekeeping by the feminista media denizens is nothing short of anti-woman, anti-liberty hypocrisy. Of course, Mahdawi doesn't give a damn about rape victims, murder rates or women at all. This is a one-hundred-percent ideologically-driven poop-fling from the cheap seats; because it cannot be allowed to stand that pretty girls can responsibly promote responsible gun ownership in an era when pretty girls are kidnapped and murdered by MS-13. In the United States. In liberal Houston. By El Salvadorean Dreamers! It must be that the NRA hates women!

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Ok, let's wrap this one up. Mahdawi has in the past published overtly racist and misandrist articles, whatever this is:

Latest column is on frugality porn, LinkedIn broetry, and condom snorting https://t.co/NfhG0BiDP4

— Arwa Mahdawi (@ArwaM) April 4, 2018

And, of course, literally subverting other people's businesses that she is paid money to do a serious job for with SJW-lite nonsense.

am currently freelancing at an agency, drafting corporate manifestos. have amused myself by peppering manifestos with Black Panther quotes ('build bridges not barriers' etc). unfortunately this has now been found out...

— Arwa Mahdawi (@ArwaM) February 22, 2018

Now I feel bad about picking on Arwa. She clearly can't help it, the Kool-Aid is just too damn strong.

Go buy a gun today, ladies.

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[empyreanwilliwaw]

I dunno maybe all those liberal voters who care about ending the genocide CAN FUCKING VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE THAT WANTS TO END THE GENOCIDE??? If the majority of Americans able to vote are not in favor of ending the genocide than we’re in much worse shit than anything Project 2025 proposes.

You say it makes your blood boil, but what are you ACTUALLY going to do about it? Prioritize your own safety apparently. Because that’s what liberals always do. It’s never the “right time” for progress, because seeing Justice done might cost YOU too much.

How much time do you think the Palestinian people have? How long must they wait till you’re willing to help make it stop? Even the bombs and bullets aside, food is scarce and the water is laced with polio. They might not have 4 months much less 4 years.

Jasmine Sherman is on the ballot in 48 out of 50 states. That is massive for a 3rd party candidate, this is our best shot at not just ending the genocide but at breaking the stranglehold Republicans and Democrats have on the US. But of course, that would require enough liberals be willing to take a chance on a 3rd party even if it risks splitting the vote and getting Trump elected. It’s the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The only way to win is to not make the selfish choice and trust everyone else to do that same. But you won’t of course. Trump and Project 2025 is just too scary for YOU. So you’ll write the Palestinians off as damned either way, no matter how much it makes your heart ache which I’m sure is a great consolation to them.

But hey, why don’t you ask some Palestinians how they feel about the slower, smaller backhoe killing them and their families instead of the bigger one. Cause see, the things about differences is that they’re all relative. A peregrine falcon is a lot faster than a wolf, but if I’m a little bunny with a broken foot it doesn’t fucking matter which one is hunting me. My odds are zero either way. Similarly, when things reach a certain level of bad it’s hard for it to be meaningfully worse. It’s impossible for Trump or Kamala or whomever gets elected to make the Palestinian Genocide meaningfully worse. It is already a genocide. Every other day there’s the reveal of a new crime against humanity, another cruelty or injustice gleeful inflicted on starving children. This hole isn’t getting any deeper, and all Trump or Kamala are gonna do is maintain this course.

Look. Whatever happens you and I will be fine enough. Even under another Trump presidency we can probably get by ok. It won’t be nice, it’ll be a lot of hard work, but we can do it. We have before. Palestinians are being genocided right now, a genocide aided and abetted by our president. Everything they are is at risk. Every song, every painting, every recipe, every man, woman, and child. Nothing we might go through compares to that. Nothing. We need to be brave and do what’s right, even if it costs us our privilege and comfort. THIS IS NOT ABOUT US.

Congress gave Netanyahu a standing ovation this week. Democrats and Republicans both. Neither party is going to fix things because they financially benefit more from them being broken. A 3rd party president is the most direct and PEACEFUL resolution we have a genuine shot at, and can go a long way to nipping a lot of other serious problems in the bud. The world is a pressure cooker right now, and it’s fit to blow any second. Climate Collapse is ongoing, looming over us like the Sword of Damocles and in some parts of the world it’s already dropped. People are dying because of us. Humanity cannot afford another president who’s only interested in maintaining the American Empire and pleasing corporate interests no matter the human cost. You need to have solidarity with your fellow humans, both at home and abroad, it’s the only way any of us are getting out of this alive.

under harris and trump my cousin will continue to be preyed on by police. under harris and trump he will not be able to stay in his home state. under harris and trump the man i befriended at the airport after a six hour flight will continue to have to travel from the northern us border over the southern on a laundry worker's salary to see his family. under harris and trump palestinians will continue to have their slaughter go unquestioned by its sponsors. under harris and trump my other cousin will continue to hate being black.

i really don't care that us white queers will suffer more under trump. i think voting to save ourselves is enacting violence on our loved ones. i care to have a world where they can go about their lives with ease. i care to tell my government that their continued actions against that will never have my support. i don't care to save my own skin when it pushes that future away from my family and the virtual strangers i hold in my heart.

don't vote harris. for the love of god or the love of your friends. please. voting for sherman, or de la cruz if their standing is too risky, or abstaining entirely is a greater step toward progress than voting blue no matter who.

if no one ever took a step toward progress that risked their own wellbeing then we wouldn't have progress in the first place. why should we be the only ones not to suffer. why should i save my skin while cementing my friends further into danger.

[mysteryshelf]

BLOG TOUR - Mind Virus

  Welcome to

THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF!

DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by Roger Charlie Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.

About the Book

Robin Fox is a peace-loving professor of world religions, trying to atone for his crimes as a U.S. Army interrogator. But at a Washington prayer rally, a suspect is caught trying to disperse a rare encephalitis virus, the same one used in an attack in Iraq that Fox once foiled. A CIA agent, John Adler, asks Fox for help.

Troubled by this request, Fox consults Emily Hart, his colleague at the United States Peace Research Institute and wife of its strongest supporter in Congress. She, however, has her own troubles. Leila Halabi, a Palestinian peace educator, has disappeared on the way to Washington for a lecture tour. Fox accepts Adler’s request, in exchange for the CIA’s help in finding Leila.

Fox works with a joint FBI-CIA interrogation team, and worries that Adler’s prejudice against Muslims is clouding his judgment. The suspect eventually reveals that he is part of an international conspiracy to eradicate religion, “using one virus to cure another”.

Fox deduces that the next attack is planned for Israel during Passover. Meanwhile, Emily learns that Leila has been imprisoned in Israel, and travels there to campaign for her release. Spurred by danger to the woman he loves – although he could never admit it, even to himself – Fox boards a plane that will reach Tel Aviv before her.

By careful observation, Fox catches another suspect at Ben-Gurion Airport. Now a hero to Israel, he persuades the head of Shin Bet to release Leila and let him interrogate the suspect.

He infers that the next attack is planned for Jerusalem on Holy Saturday. Joined by Adler, he sets up surveillance at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but fails to prevent an explosion.

Suspecting that this attack was a diversion, Fox reinterprets his clues and concludes that the real target is the Vatican. He and Adler fly to Rome in time to catch a suspect in the act of planting an aerosol device in the dome of St. Peter’s during Easter Vigil Mass. Fox breaks her silence by intimating that her love for the group’s mastermind has been betrayed. She reveals the name by which she knows him, and gives up enough information to identify the next target: Westminster Abbey, at an Easter service with the Royal Family attending. But at the same time, he receives a menacing message: Emily has been abducted by the mastermind, who threatens to kill her if any cameras catch Fox there.

Fox goes to London, enters the Abbey in disguise, and uncovers the most elaborate strategy yet: a sleeper agent in the Abbey choir planted the virus in a fire extinguisher, and used a time-release flammable agent to make the Archbishop’s vestments spontaneously combust.

After stopping the attack, Fox roughs up the suspect but learns nothing. His escort from the Security Service takes him to question the mastermind’s mentor at Oxford. Shocked to hear how his teachings have been twisted, he gives up a name: Theodore Gottlieb. They go to Gottlieb’s house, to find him calmly awaiting them with high tea and high explosives.

After a standoff, the bombs detonate and set fire to the house. Fox, cut off from the police, has to chase Gottlieb to the room where Emily is being held hostage. Using his military training, he succeeds in seizing Gottlieb’s pistol, but his principles of nonviolence will not allow him to shoot. They struggle, Gottlieb falls, and the firefighters rescue Fox and Emily in time.

They return to Washington. Adler has promised to tell the Saudis about the final target, Mecca during the Hajj, but Fox suspects he is lying and goes to the Saudi embassy himself. A furious phone call from Adler confirms his suspicions: the CIA was planning to let the attack proceed, and use an Army-designed antiserum to blackmail the entire Muslim world.

After launching Leila’s tour, Fox and Emily walk together through the GWU campus. He yearns to tell her that, when he was sure his life was over, his only thought was of her. But discretion trumps valor, and when they say goodnight, his true feelings for her are still a secret.

  Interview with the Author

What initially got you interested in writing?

  I’d have to go back in time and ask my 6-year-old self; he’s the one who got me hooked on writing stories, and I haven’t been able to stop since. I finished my first novel-length manuscript in high school, and after a slight detour when I was led astray by the siren song suggesting that publishing academic papers in peer-reviewed journals would be a more prudent channel for my literary ambitions, I’m happily back on track with creative writing.

  How did you decide to make the move into becoming a published author?

  The time was right. I had a story inside me that wouldn’t let me rest until I shared it with the world. Did I tell it well? You can judge for yourself.

  What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?

  I hope they’ll take away a new perspective. This book has a religious theme, and religion, whether you’re a believer or not, affects everyone and everyone has an opinion about it. And for most people, these opinions are so strongly entrenched that you could hurl arguments at them until doomsday and never move the needle; the only chance you have of getting anyone to see an alternate point of view is through story. Wherever you fall on the scale, from firebrand evangelical to firebrand atheist, you’ll probably find something in this book to challenge you. Judging from the reviews, it will make your heart beat faster – and it might raise your blood pressure, too!

  What do you find most rewarding about writing?

  I love the way the story takes on a life of its own. I think writing, as an art form, is less like painting or sculpture and more like growing bonsai: you may start with a clear image of the finished product, and you can twist and trim your material into the shape you want, but it’s still a living thing, and it sometimes wants to grow in a different direction from the one you had in mind, so you have to be flexible and acknowledge that it might know better than you. There are times when a character seems to be speaking to me, suggesting something I hadn’t previously thought of. I love those moments, because it feels not so much as though I’m creating the story out of nothing, as that it’s telling itself through me.

  What do you find most challenging about writing?

  The difficulty of getting Time, Energy and Inspiration in the room together: they all seem to have such crazy schedules and I can rarely get more than two of them to sit down with me. Sometimes I wake up bursting with ideas, but can’t get a moment to write them down until late at night when I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone remember what the muse was whispering in my ear that morning. Other times, I’m well rested and have a rare block of free time, but the well is dry. I often resort to stealing moments throughout the day for writing – and if you piece together enough stolen moments, eventually you have a book.

  What advice would you give to people wanting to enter the field?

  There’s a Japanese saying: “Do the best you can and await orders from heaven.” If you have a story inside you fighting to get out, then write it, and polish it, to the best of your ability. Then, when the time is right, it will find its audience. It took years of pounding the pavement before I found my editor, but in light of world events during that time, I’ve come to feel that perhaps the story was waiting until a time when it would be most relevant. So if you ever have moments when you start to doubt your story will ever see the light of day – and I suppose every aspiring author does – don’t be discouraged. It always seems impossible until it’s done.

  Is there anything else besides writing you think people would find interesting about you?

  I’ve lived most of my adult life in Japan. How I got there, and what I’ve been doing there, would be the subject for a whole different interview, but in large part, I have my life in Japan to thank for this book. Living in a very secularized society helped give me the inspiration for the story, and the desire to keep some kind of connection with my homeland helped light a fire under me to write it.

  What are the best ways to connect with you, or find out more about your work?

  You can find out more about Mind Virus and my other works on my website: charleskowalski.com. Looking forward to seeing you there!

  About the Author

  Charles Kowalski currently divides his time between Japan, where he teaches English at a university, and his family home in Maine.

His previously unpublished debut novel, Mind Virus, won the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Award and was a finalist for the Adventure Writers’ Competition, the Killer Nashville Claymore Award, and the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association literary award.

Other novels and short stories by Charles Kowalski:

“Let This Cup Pass From Me” (Finalist, American Fiction Short Story Award (New Rivers Press); Honorable Mention, The Maine Review Short Story Competition)

“Arise, My Love”

“The Evil I Do Not Mean To Do”

Charles can be found at his website, and on Facebook and Twitter (@CharlesKowalski).

  About the Publisher

About Literary Wanderlust

Literary Wanderlust publishes well-written novels and short story anthologies in the romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and thriller genres, as well as obscure history and research topics. Visit us at www.literarywanderlust.com

  BLOG TOUR ��� Mind Virus was originally published on the Wordpress version of The Pulp and Mystery Shelf

[firedupreadytogousa-blog]

Day 9 (1/28): Temporary Ban for Muslim Countries Leaves Out Main Countries of Previous US Terror Attacks (Which Trump Happens To Have Business Ties To)

Featuring: -Yesterday, In Trumpland- The Resistance Report- Weekend Actions-

-YESTERDAY, IN TRUMPLAND-

RED ALERT! The Trump administration has demanded that all ads for Obamacare be canceled! That is $5 million of already paid ads just going down the drain. And you know how many procrastinators sign up late. There is always a surge in signups the last few days, so essentially the GOP are being assholes. You have until JAN 31st to sign up on healthcare.gov. So do so NOW!

 Also, Trump signed 2 executive orders yesterday because of course he did:

 - #1 “Extreme Vetting” (No One Knows What That Means Exactly)

Officially dubbed, “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” the order includes a temporary 120-day ban on refugees and visas of immigrants from 7 Muslim countries, excluding the ones that he has business interests in because remember he DID NOT divest anything and is STILL PROFITING FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. Where the hell are all these people with these lawsuits!). Ironically enough, the Cato Institute reported that of the terror attacks that have happened, “Foreign nationals from those seven countries have killed a grand total of 0, yes 0, Americans.” In fact, “Terrorism by Muslims makes up one-third of 1 percent of all murders in the US.” Forget the fact that banning refugees from entering this country goes against all American Values, even if he thought he had cause, Trump didn’t even pick the right ones! Some of the countries on the list are known terrorist “hot spots,” but they haven’t committed acts of terror in the US. Vox helps us Break it down:  

San Bernadino shooting that killed 14 people= US Born Pakistani and US legalized citizen of Pakistani descent 

The Orlando nightclub shooter who murdered 49 people= US Born citizen of Afghan descent

The Boston marathon bombers=  Kyrgyzstan, grew up in Boston

The militant who killed four Marines in TN= Kuwaiti Born US Citizen his parents being Jordanian and Palestinian

The attempted Times Square bomber= Pakistani-American

The infamous “underwear bomber”= Nigerian

The man who attempted to blow up a plane with explosives in his shoes= UK born, his mother was white, and his father was mixed race Jamaican

The man who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009= born in Virginia to Palestinian parents

The 9/11 Hijackers= 15 Saudi Arabians, 2 From the UAE, 1from  Lebanon, and 1 from Egypt

Osama Bin Laden was from Saudi Arabia and his top dogs were all from Egypt

NONE of those countries are on this banned list! NOT A SINGLE ONE! And if anything this shows that people who would carry out an attack in the US are already here and are probably citizens.

Not to say that some countries on the list, like Iran, don’t make sense, but these countries are more likely to train other countries such as Yemen and Lebanon, to take out attacks against other Arabs, which is why those citizens are trying to escape the middle east in the first place. There was an incident this year when a Somali immigrant injured 10 people in Minnesota (But In NYC the American Subway slashers injured 11). 

The order did say that the ban would be lifted only for those escaping religious persecution, meaning Christians Only. I wonder what the Pope has to say about this... But, with what the data show, (which i know a lot of people are allergic to facts these days) this is certainly not a serious counter terrorist move and if anything probably leaves us more vulnerable. But still, the likelihood of a US citizen being killed in an attack by an immigrant is 1 in 3.6 million. If you have a republican senator or representative, make them tell you where they stand and come with the facts! This is one of the most Un-American orders put forth thus far, and it’s only week 1.

Whether you are a republican or a democrat, we should all agree that this is NOT the right move!

 - #2 “Military Preparedness” If he keeps this up we might actually need this one.

This one seemed more symbolic than anything else, but the President wants to add $300 billion dollars on top of the $584 billion dollars already budgeted to go towards building up the army for new planes, ships, tools and resources including upping the number of active duty troops by approximately 161,000. Sounds like a primer for war time type activities. So you’re probably wondering if this is a lot of money or what? Well we can tell you how much of our discretionary spending budget is spent on the military because unlike Spicer, we have charts… with actual facts:

NATIONAL DISASTERS. ACTUALLY SAD :(

Leaks Are popping up everywhere, and now they’ve extended to Iowa in probably the worst way possible. Less than 24hrs after Trump beamed about getting DAPL and Keystone XL pipelines moving again, IOWA suffered the worst pipeline leak it’s had in 16 years. You think folks might have changed their tune on these pipelines by now? Ugh, don’t hold your breath.

But hopefully IOWA can get some support because Trump still has not issued any Federal funds to help the Red States of Mississippi and Georgia recover from the deadly tornadoes that destroyed hundreds of homes. It’s been days, and still no response from FEMA. Must be because these Governors are not on Trump’s hit list for revenge; No time, gotta get that wall going you know? Thank goodness for Anheuser-Busch InBev for donating water to these poor people. Our thoughts are with them.

 MORE ON IMMIGRATION

- Miami-Dade county’s mayor has lost his damn mind announced they would not be joining the sanctuary cities club and ordered his officials to fully cooperate with Trump. The mayor says he “never considered [Miami] a sanctuary city” despite the fact that they have the 2nd highest number of immigrants in the US. Hmmm… I smell $$$$$. And this is why I never go to Miami. I’d rather take my talents to Los Angeles. Now he also has people outside his office protesting. Viva La Resistance and good luck to that guy.

- Trump and Steven ‘alt-right’ Bannon are putting forward an order for the Secretary of Homeland Security to post a weekly report of every crime that is committed by an immigrant in cities that don’t comply with the Furher. This is SO beyond dangerous; this is what the Nazi’s did to the Jews back in… well you don’t need me to explain. Breitbart tried to do this with the BLM movement, so you know this was all Steve Bannon’s idea. SOOO glad that guy is there pulling the puppet-in-chief’s stings. Chills, literal chills. I know, but her emails though!

- So it looks like Propaganda Today FOX News finally has a legitimate story to run ad nauseam *eye roll.* The official economic performance report came out today, and while it showed the US economy grew by 1.6% in 2016, it’s still chugging along at a very slow pace compared to where we’ve been. In fact, it’s the lowest growth rate we’ve reported since 2011. Of course this is all Obama’s fault, right? Not like we’re still coming back from that one time when we had The Great Recession or anything. Some of you may ask, how can this be? Hasn’t unemployment dropped from 10% in 2009 to 4.7%? Well the economic growth rate is largely measured by the rate of productivity coming out of our country vs the imports coming in. So what this report tells us is that we produced cars, gidgets, and widgets at a slower rate than we have in the past 5 years compared the the amount of imports that have come in. This was one key reason a lot of Trump Supporters voted for him in the first place and why he’s doing things like meeting with major business leaders, and trying to figure out how to keep manufacturing jobs in the US. But he’s made a lofty goal of doubling the estimated economic growth rate from 2% to 4%, which is YUGE! However, trying to summon the second coming of the industrial revolution is not going to be enough to do it. He also is looking to rewrite the tax code to give big business a large tax break and roll back regulations (like the pipelines and other environmentally hazardous practices) to get the economy moving faster. So TBD on this one Donny. I guess we’ll see how great of a businessman he actually is.

- Trump also met with the Brexit Prime Minister… But really nothing interesting happened other than him refusing to answer a legitimate question. It was basically Trump saying, “We’re Isolationists and xenophobic, you’re isolationists and xenophobic. We should get along GREATLY.” She did use this time to express to Donald that NATO is uber important. Never thought I’d say it, but Thank God He Picked Mattis.

Today Donny will talk to his BFF Putin, I’m sure to thank him for the assist. Unclear if he’s taking this one from his personal Android phone (btw he would be an Android user). or his actual secure phone. TBD on what happens there.

 - RESISTANCE REPORT-

- All Senate Dems officially confirm they will vote NO to DeVos! Yes! Now we have to flip the republicans!

- Luckily, This site will allow you to send faxes to every Senator’s office from your phone or computer for free! People are just brilliant! Send one Today, and everyday!

- The Resistance is on the Cover of TIME! Time Magazine has put the Pussy Hat, the symbolic symbol of The Resistance, on the cover of its latest issue and reminds the world that the majority of Americans will always fight for America’s virtues and values no matter who is in charge! YES! Rise Up & Resist!

- If you haven’t seen it yet, somebody bought alternativefacts.com… I won’t spoil the surprise, but this person, whoever he/she may be, is a genius!

- And now there’s a Rogue POTUS staff twitter account! @RoguePOTUSStaff. Let Freedom TWEET! Maybe they are the ones that gave us this Audio leak of the GOP admitting they have no replacement that could work for the ACA.

- The Calls are working! On Weds, the Government backed off on the plan to have the EPA scrub all climate pages from it’s website. Keep Pushing! Keep calling, faxing, emailing. This is a democracy, these people work for us!

- #AdiosStarbucks is trending in Mexico, because face it, they are pissed. I don’t blame them. They are attempting to hurt US businesses located in Mexico by instituting a nationwide boycott. However, this might not go very far. One time my mom tried to boycott things made in China... she lasted 1.5 days...

- This is one geneticist that has had enough. He’s so fed up, he is making a run for the Senate for 2018! I haven’t read up on him yet, but go Michael Eisen for feeling inspired to run for office! 

-ACTIONS- JOIN THE RESISTANCE!

ACTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND

 - Sunday Join MoveOn.Org’s conference call for planning this upcoming #ResistTrumpTuesday at 8pm est. Last call had 15,000 people on it and there were 60,000 on their first call. Last week’s conference call inspired me to get involved in the 2018 Midterm election efforts to Flip Red Seats Blue! So TBD on that front.

- A fellow Blogger posted an awesome guide entitled “Shy Person’s Guide to Calling Representatives.” Because introverts are resisters too! I know a lot of people are like what?! Call someone… like on the phone… and speak to an actual human? Can’t we just text? NOPE, our government does not text… I mean they still use fax machines and this site will allow you to send faxes to every Senator’s office from your phone or computer for free. But it is not as effective as a call. But this guide will help take a lot of the anxiety out of it! With so many issues at hand, there are plenty of calls to make!

 - I will be researching effective ways to help folks obtain Government issued state ID cards in All Red States. If the GOP votes to enact unconstitutional voter ID laws, we will be ready to mobilize thousands in the Resistance network to make sure people can enact their constitutional right! If you have ideas, let me know.

Well that’s the first week of this circus… whooo I am freaking exhausted and mentally drained. But it’s important now more than ever to remember to take care of yourself. Turn the news off, watch some garbage/ mindless TV, go to the gym, SHOWER. This post does a great job of reminding you how to balance outrage and not lose your mind.

 UPCOMING DEMONSTRATIONS & TRAININGS- Join Events by clicking on links

1/29 (SUN) 8pm est- Moveon.org Conference Call for Tuesday action at our Senators’ offices

NYC

1/30 (MON) 7pm- Marshall Training for Protesters. 208 W 13th Street

1/30 (MON) 4:15pm- Stop DeVos (and Other unsavory picks)- 780 3rd Ave

1/31 (TUE) 6pm- What The F*^k Chuck Rally- Grand Army Plaza in BK

1/31 (TUE) 6pm-8pm Women’s March: Write In and Postcard mailing, Dream Baby downtown

1/31 (TUE) 7pm-8:30pm Rise & Resist Meeting 208 W 13th Street

2/2 (THU) 12pm-2pm- Rally. Resist Trump’s Environmental Agenda, 780 3rd Ave

2/23 (THU) 7pm- Organizing 101 (Don’t Panic, Organize)

4/15 (SAT) 1-4pm: Tax March NYC, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza)

 Washington DC

1/29 (SUN) 10am: Oppose Betsy DeVos! Columbus Circle, Washington DC

4/15 (SAT): Tax Day Rally to demand Trump turn over his Taxes. Everywhere. Link will show you where your local march is

4/29 (SUN): People’s Climate March

5/6 (SAT) 10am-5pm: The Immigrant’s March on Washington

6/11 (SUN) 10am-6pm: National Pride March

[newstfionline]

As Trump bars Syrian refugees, life in their camps is getting harder

By Louisa Loveluck and Suzan Haidamous, Washington Post, January 28, 2017

GHAZZEH, Lebanon--Clutching Syrian drums and instruments made of spruce and walnut wood, 12 Syrian children filed nervously into a packed room in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley this week. None had been musicians before they fled Syria’s war, but after months of practice they were ready for their show.

The crowd of refugees stayed quiet as an Aleppo love song filled the air. But when it slipped from its verse to the chorus, suddenly a whole audience was singing.

“That’s it,” cried a woman from the front row, closing her eyes and smiling as she swayed. “I’m in Syria.”

None of the refugees had expected to stay away this long. As the tendrils of war crept through their homeland in 2011, the families crossing earliest into Lebanon thought they would return in weeks. Months at most. Instead the fighting swallowed everything, smashing homes, dividing communities, and turning those months from seasons into years.

As President Trump suspended the resettlement of Syrian refugees, many of the more than 1 million displaced to Lebanon have found their resources stretched to a breaking point.

“Life here is harder than we could ever have imagined,” said Om Ahmed, a widow from Aleppo, grabbing her son in a bear hug as he charged out of the performance room. “If you saw our tent, you wouldn’t believe we’d left Syria to give our boys a better life.”

According to a recent United Nations assessment, conditions for Lebanon’s refugees have deteriorated for a sixth year in a row. Ninety percent of households are taking out loans to afford basic necessities, leaving the average family to survive on less than two meals a day.

“When people first fled, they may have had some resources and were able to meet their needs,” said Niamh Murnaghan, Lebanon country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council. “As the crisis wore on, their money was used up.”

In the Bekaa Valley, a sweeping expanse near Syria’s western border, informal camps have become warrens of tents stacked on muddy ground. Many are kept neat as a pin, but no amount of care can save wooden boards from rotting or water from seeping through mattresses, blankets or anything else that touches the floor.

“Our children are starting to believe we were born like this, and this is how life is meant to be,” said Mounira Mohamed, 32, standing outside her tent in a small settlement near the town of Saadnayel. “They ask us about Syria as if it’s a place on the television.”

With a weak economy, a pre-war population of just 4.5 million, and a history of accepting displaced Palestinians who later became a permanent fixture, Lebanon is ill-equipped and reluctant to offer long-term sanctuary to a new wave of refugees.

But as neighbor to one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century, it has found itself without a choice.

In an executive order signed Friday, Trump suspended the admission of not only Syrian refugees but all Syrians until further notice. In Europe, public attitudes are turning against similar programs, as populist leaders ride a global wave of anti-establishment sentiment with calls to limit immigration taking center stage.

“If someone can tell me honestly that there will be security in my homeland, I would go back tomorrow,” Mohamed said. “I would go back faster than that.”

She left Aleppo the day a barrel bomb smashed through the family home, killing her sister outright and leaving three orphans in her care. Now 8 years old, the youngest boy recalls Syria only in the memory of his mother’s body in the rubble.

With limited opportunities to work, families can be heavily dependent on monthly cash payments from the U.N. refugee agency.

For Mohamed Ahmed, a 27-year-old former real estate agent from Syria’s western city of Homs, this has meant a downward spiral into debt.

“Every day I work to pay it off, but the children still need to eat. So we buy more vegetables on credit, take another loan for medical bills. And then there’s another thing to pay off,” he said, standing by the rack of cellphone chargers and bootleg Bruce Willis DVDs he now sells as one of two jobs.

Like many small businesses in the area, his shop allows the refugees to communicate daily with loved ones back home.

“These calls keep Syria alive for us,” said Mohamed, the mother from Aleppo, admitting that sometimes she did not know whether it was better to know or hide from what was happening to her relatives. “We worry about them and they worry about us. No one has mental peace here,” she said.

But everyday life also features memories of better times. In Saadnayel, a group of women stuffed pale-green zucchini with rice, bickering gently over whose recipe for the Syrian dish--known as mahshi--was the best. “This technique came from my mother,” one woman said with a shrug. “How can you argue with that?”

Relief groups are also bringing traditional music to camps and urban refugee communities, hoping that those they teach can someday earn a living through their new craft.

“Until early 2015, most of the people we worked with seemed to think this was temporary, that the regime would fall one day, and then they’d go back. But that didn’t happen,” said Basma el-Husseiny, director of the charity responsible for the children’s concert, Action for Hope.

“When they learn an instrument, they learn to stop feeling like victims. They’re not waiting for help, they are contributing,” she said.

As the performers darted around the organization’s kitchen after their show, many were still humming the tune to their final song.

“Did we sing this in Syria?” one girl asked a woman nearby. “Yes, love,” came the reply. “Yes we did.”

[howaboutcastiel]

I know that because of Biden’s complacency (and downright contribution) in the genocide of Palestine, a lot of people say they’re not going to vote for him. And I fucking get it, I really do.

And I know it sounds like a broken record to talk about the “lesser of two evils,” and I know that your personal moral code probably tells you to vote for a third party even though they can’t win (yes. They *can’t* win. Not ‘they won’t win.’ They fundamentally can’t in the US’s election structure)

But listen.

My degree is in political science. Does that make me an expert? No. Does that make me more knowledgeable than about 80 percent of Americans when it comes to US government and politics? Yes, absolutely it does.

And if you choose to let Trump win through your inaction, it WILL get worse, for EVERY group. Including Palestinians. Donald Trump is aggressively, pathetically pro-Israel and anti-Palestine, with the added bonus of being both expressly anti-Semitic and anti-Arab.

Things will not get better for Palestine because you didn’t vote for Biden.

But, they WILL get worse. For Palestine. For women. For the LGBT community. For young people. For old people. For sick people. For people of color. For poor people. For people living in cities. For people living in suburbs. For people living in rural areas.

You can not be a living, breathing person and be treated fairly by the Republican Party. Certainly not by Donald fucking Trump.

And yes. The democrats suck. Joe Biden sucks. He’s a coward, he’s an idiot, he’s old, he’s racist, he’s complicit. All of those things. But the alternative is unimaginably worse. Fundamentally anti-democracy. Anti- human rights. Anti-compassion. Profit above all else, and hatred for the sake of hatred.

So Jesus fucking Christ. Vote. Vote democrat. Vote for Biden. Not because we want him. Not because we need him. But because we need to keep republicans from killing us faster. I know it sucks. It’s not what we want. Not what we deserve. But it IS the only option in 2024. Please fucking do it.

For the first time in US history the Courts took rights away from individuals when they overturned Roe v Wade. In his concurring opinion, Clarence Thomas indicated they were not stopping there, but would also reconsider the right to contraception and marriage equality.

This election is critical if you believe in individual autonomy and democracy. VOTE.

[mastcomm]

John Bolton, Kobe Bryant, Grammy Awards: Your Monday Briefing

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

We’re covering new evidence related to the Trump impeachment inquiry, reaction to the death of Kobe Bryant, and the Grammy Awards.

New Ukraine details in John Bolton’s book

President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in aid to Ukraine until officials there investigated Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the since-ousted adviser, John Bolton.

A key element of Mr. Trump’s impeachment defense has been that the aid holdup was separate from his requests for investigations. Here are five takeaways from Mr. Bolton’s book.

Mr. Bolton has said he would testify at Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial if he were asked to do so, but lawmakers said the Senate was highly unlikely to call new witnesses.

How we know: Multiple people described Mr. Bolton’s account of the Ukraine affair to The Times, but the White House did not answer questions about Mr. Bolton’s assertions. Mr. Bolton’s lawyer accused the White House of disclosing the book’s contents.

What’s next: Mr. Trump’s legal team is to resume his defense today, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern. During an abbreviated session on Saturday, the president’s lawyers attacked his accusers as partisan witch-hunters trying to remove him from office because they couldn’t beat him at the ballot box.

Coronavirus outbreak intensifies

The death toll in China from the respiratory illness rose to at least 80 today, and the government extended the Lunar New Year holiday by three days in an effort to limit travel. Here are the latest updates.

A top Chinese health official warned on Sunday that the virus’s spread was accelerating despite a lockdown affecting 56 million people. The quarantine could make the situation worse, including by exacerbating shortages of medical supplies.

The details: Most of the nearly 3,000 people who have contracted the virus live in China, but it has spread to 10 other countries. Five cases have been confirmed in the U.S.

Go deeper: Compared with China’s response to the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s, the government has responded faster to the current outbreak. But there are signs that officials, especially those at the regional level, were slow to recognize the danger and are continuing to mishandle the crisis.

Another angle: Many airlines are accommodating travelers who want to modify, delay or cancel China itineraries. Here’s what to expect.

Mourning an N.B.A. great

The death of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday shocked the sports world and generated an outpouring of grief.

Thousands of people gathered at Staples Center, and condolences poured in from presidents and celebrities. Several entertainers paid tribute to Mr. Bryant at the Grammy Awards, which took place at the arena hours later.

The helicopter carrying Mr. Bryant, 41, went down near Calabasas, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy conditions. Here are the latest updates.

Catch up: The helicopter was on its way from Orange County, where the Bryant family lives, to Mr. Bryant’s youth basketball academy, where he coached his daughter Gianna, who died in the crash. A baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa was also killed, as were his wife and daughter. The other victims haven’t yet been identified.

Obituary: Mr. Bryant jumped straight from high school to the N.B.A. in 1996 and won five championships with the Lakers before retiring in 2016. He was an unquestioned basketball great, but his legacy is not so straightforward.

Iran’s 72-hour lie

The country’s military officials knew for three days that their own forces had shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet over Tehran this month, but it took a resignation threat from President Hassan Rouhani and an order from Iran’s supreme leader before the government acknowledged its fatal mistake.

We have an in-depth report on the cover-up and its political implications. The main takeaway: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the elite force charged with defending Iran’s clerical rule at home and abroad, effectively sidelined the elected government in a moment of national crisis.

How we know: The Times interviewed current and former Iranian officials, ranking members of the Revolutionary Guards, and people close to the inner circle of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Another angle: The Pentagon said 34 American service members had sustained traumatic brain injuries when Iran fired missiles at an Iraqi military base this month. President Trump said last week that the troops’ concussion symptoms were “not very serious.”

If you have 6 minutes, this is worth it

The faces of life after the Holocaust

A ceremony today at Auschwitz will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

Before the event, our Opinion section published portraits of 75 Holocaust survivors. Among them are, clockwise from top left: Esther Meron, Motke Weisel, Sara Leicht, Thomas Geve, Batsheva Dagan and Avraham Harshalom.

Here’s what else is happening

A Middle East peace plan: President Trump is expected this week to reveal details of his long-promised proposal to broker peace in the region. But with the Palestinians refusing to participate in the process, diplomats in past peace efforts see the plan as a way to aid the re-election efforts of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

20 questions with Democrats: The Times interviewed six presidential candidates about foreign policy, the last book they read and more. Watch their answers here.

Changes to your credit score: Under a tweak to the widely used three-digit score, consumers in good financial standing should see their scores bounce higher. But those in financial distress may experience a fall.

Snapshot: Above, Billie Eilish accepted the Grammy Award for song of the year, “Bad Guy,” on Sunday. The 18-year-old won five awards and swept the major categories. Here’s a full list of the winners.

Metropolitan Diary: In this week’s column, a fresh start, a table at Grand Central and more reader tales of New York City.

What we’re reading: This Boston Globe investigation of the U.S. government’s inaction on E. coli outbreaks. The story of a 2-year-old boy who ate some of his father’s salad and developed the illness is “heartbreaking, terrifying and riveting,” writes our Times Insider editor, Jennifer Krauss.

Now, a break from the news

Cook: Slow cooker red beans and rice takes only about 20 minutes to set up in the morning.

Read: In her latest comic book endeavor, Roxane Gay adapts a short story, “The Sacrifice of Darkness,” from her 2017 collection “Difficult Women.”

Watch: “Miss Americana,” a Netflix documentary about Taylor Swift, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last week.

Smarter Living: Wirecutter recommends five cheap(ish) things to make over a cluttered closet.

And now for the Back Story on …

Bill Clinton’s impeachment

We asked Peter Baker, our chief White House correspondent, to reflect on a major moment in the lead-up to the last presidential impeachment and compare it with the current trial. He has covered both.

Twenty-two years ago this week came a milestone moment in the last presidential impeachment drama. President Bill Clinton was on the defensive after The Washington Post, where I was working then, broke the news that Ken Starr was investigating whether the president had committed perjury to cover up an affair with a former White House intern.

Mr. Clinton took to the microphone at the end of an event, glared angrily at the reporters in the room, wagged his finger and, with Hillary Clinton standing behind him, forcefully said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

We were struck by two things: One, that he seemed to briefly blank on her name, referring to her as “that woman,” before summoning it. But the second was the intensity of his denial. He was white-hot mad.

At that time, before the DNA and the grand jury testimony, we didn’t know if the story we were pursuing was bogus or if the president of the United States was lying to us and to the country. Of course, later we found out which it was.

Now, as Ken Starr re-emerges as a lawyer for President Trump in the current impeachment trial, and the administration’s explanations of what happened continue to fluctuate, it’s hard not to feel déjà vu.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S. • We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about whether football is too dangerous for children. • Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Chunk of ice (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here. • Monica Mark is our next Johannesburg bureau chief. She has covered some of the biggest stories in Africa for Bloomberg News, The Guardian and BuzzFeed News.

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