As the carnage in Gaza continues, I have found scant agreement in online forums that Israel and Hamas both are responsible

     As the carnage in Gaza continues, I have found scant agreement in online forums that Israel and Hamas both are responsible.

Caitlin Johnstone News Letter

Biden administration officials are telling the press that they have no plans to place any conditions on military aid to Israel. 

Biden Intends To Keep Participating In The Incineration Of Gaza

Biden Intends To Keep Participating In The Incineration Of Gaza Caitlin Johnstone Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): Biden ad...

Sloan Bashinsky Writes Sloan’s Newsletter

I think Biden’s deep Christian roots programmed him like a robot to support and defend Israel no matter what Israel does. I think the Bible is why many American Christians on the right and on the left still support Israel. I think it doesn’t matter who is president next, they will support Israel. I think they all have their heads up where the sun never shines, and I wonder if that will ever change? I also wonder if the people running Hamas now wish they had not ordered the October 7 attack, and I wonder why they have not offered to return all the hostages that were taken, if Israel will stop attacking Gaza and will pull its troops out of Gaza? 

gypsy333 

Have to disagree. ByeDone’s Catholic. I was raised Catholic, and we were NOT Zionazis; in fact, the nuns at my school expressed no love lost between Catholics and Jews.

ByeDone’s a Ziobitch because it benefits him monetarily. It’s all about the Benjamin’s, ya know.  

Mike Fish
You’re too smart to be wasting your time and energy on this bullshitsky stuff.
Only knows one song.
Hamas Hamas Hamas.  

Sloan Bashinsky
Actually, it’s Hamas, Israel, Israel, Hamas, Hamas, Israel, Israel Hamas. It takes two to fight, tango, rumba, etc. :-)  

Mike Fish
Hamas founded - 1987.
Israel founded - 1948.
The tangle/tango has some features that don’t sound like a mutual waltz.
More like a death march.

Sloan Bashinsky
Hamas was founded to destroy Israel. They’ve been death waltzing ever since.  

russian_bot
Founded by whom, and to destroy why. Just a couple questions for the forum's enlightener based on his own statement.

Sloan Bashinsky
Based on your and my many tangos at Caitlin’s place, I figure you know very well the answer to your question, and you continue to courageously weave and dodge behind a fake name. For the benefit on anyone else watching on, I have posted this numerous times at Caitlin’s place:

PBS article

Hamas, an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (“Islamic Resistance Movement”), was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric who became an activist in local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. Beginning in the late 1960s, Yassin preached and performed charitable work in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which Israel occupied following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Yassin established Hamas as the Brotherhood’s political arm in Gaza in Dec. 1987, following the outbreak of the first intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

At the time, Hamas’s purpose was to counter Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another organization whose commitment to violently resisting Israel threatened to draw Palestinians’ support away from the Brotherhood.

In 1988, Hamas published its charter, calling for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine. In what observers called an attempt to moderate its image, Hamas presented a new document [PDF] in 2017 that accepted an interim Palestinian state along the “Green Line” border established before the Six-Day War but that still refused to recognize Israel. 

russian_bot

"courageously weave and dodge behind a fake name" - thanks for bringing up my pet peeve.
There's a Russian saying - I'm sure something like that exists in English too - that could be translated as "One is greeted by clothes (or appearance), and seen off by wits".
I have no way of ascertaining who you are, "Sloan". Moreover, I don't care. If you come in flashing your name and/or status you deliberately restrict interaction by imposing your supposed weight. Which results in losing authenticity as many people suffer from a groupie syndrome and are easily starstruck.
Therefore, I'm actually for the anonymity on the internet for these types of engagements. It's what you say that matters, not who you say you are. Do you get it?

Maybe now you'll understand why it cracks me up every single time you mention you were invited by Caitlin to join this forum. Implying, no doubt, how you feel obligated to suffer from engaging with the plebes here. Funny as hell you are, "Sloan".

Sloan Bashinsky

Heh, I freely engage with you and others at Caitlin’s place, and I wonder if anyone here will ever grow up enough give Hamas some credit for what’s going on in Gaza now? I sometimes mention how I arrived here so people like you can blame Caitlin for it, since I’d never heard of her before she subscribed to my Substack newsletter and invited me to subscribe to hers. I’m easy to find on Facebook, Substack, the free internet library (archive.org), and The Redneck Mystic Lawyer Podcast (YouTube and Torrent). The U.S. government and all its Big Brothers know where I live. If you live in America and want to drop by for a chat in a public place, I will give you an easy to find location. I once was harassed on a very large public blog forum in the Florida Keys by a lot of people, nearly all using fake names, and I offered to meet them anywhere they chose, and they could bring any weapons and any people they wished, and I would come by all by my lonesome, and there were no takers. 

 

russian_bot
You didn't get it, "Sloan".
I don't care who you are, I only am (or not) interested in what you say.

Sloan Bashinsky
But you sure have a lot to say about what I say:-)

russian_bot
Not a lot, but quite a bit, yes. While not caring who you are. I guess I have to point it out every time now.

Sloan Bashinsky

I know you don’t care for who I am, or for me, that’s very clear, but it does seem you care a great deal about what I say, because it keeps riling you up :-), and you keep trying to belittle me, which actually means you care a great deal :-). 

russian_bot

Wrong again, "Sloan". You crack me up, and I appreciate you for that. That's why I check you out most of the time.

It's the same idea why I care about what David Brent would say or do. Get it? 

Sloan Bashinsky

Never heard of David Brent, so I couldn't relate to the analogy. I went online and saw he’s a fictional character in a British mocumentary. I’m not a fictional character, but I live among many people who prefer fiction to reality :-). At this forum, the biggest fiction by far is, what’s going on today in Gaza is 100 percent Israel and America’s fault, and Hamas has nothing to do with it.

Sloan Bashinsky

Well, Gypsy, something has programmed Biden like a robot to back Israel to the hilt, so far. I know, by living among them, that a lot of Christians on the left and on the right are fully beind Israel, and that is rooted in their religious beliefs - the Bible. I recall Donald Trump telling America and Israel that he was Israels best friend. So, if Trump gets elected in 2024, I expect him to live up to that. The irony is, Biden is losing votes by continuing to send Israel money, weapons and munitions, which increases the odds of Trump being elected in 2024. My hope is something will happen, perhaps in the courts, to take Trump out of that race, but even if that happens, most Republicans and I suppose all MAGAs are fully behind Israel, and the Republican candidate, if it not Trump, will be fully behind Israel. Where I live, Alabama, Israel supporters could care less what the UN, the rest of the world, or Americans against Israel think. 

Meanwhile, I still wonder if the people leading Hamas wish they had not ordered the October 7 attack, and why they have not offered to release all their hostages in exchange for Israel stopping its devastation of Gaza? I am left thinking Hamas wanted Israel to do what it is doing in Gaza, as part of some draconian scheme to turn the entire world against Israel. But I don’t think it will ever turn the Bible thumpers in America against Israel. They will never side with Islam against Israel. 

gypsy332

As I said, it’s ALL ABOUT donations from the likes of AIPAC, etc.

And I assure you, that growing up Catholic, we barely cracked open the Bible 😉  

Sloan Bashinsky

As far as I know, very few Catholics crack open the Bible, which I think dates back to when the Catholic mass was in Latin and only Catholic priests, bishops, cardinals and the pope read the Bible :-). I think there is more than AIPAC driving Biden, but that probably doesn’t matter. Clearly, he is talking out of both sides of his mouth, and clearly he does not want to cut off money, weapons and munitions to Israel, and he’s losing votes over that, and maybe he won’t be the Democratic candidate for president in 2024, and maybe he will. I can’t imagine any Democratic candidate campaigning on stopping aid to Israel, as long as the Republicans and the MAGAS exist :-). I hope something happens that gets Israel’s attention and it stands down. because I see no way it can defeat Hamas in Gaza, and I think IDF has already figured that out, but it is dealing with religious fanatics running Israel, and both IDF and those fanatics are looking really bad for ignoring lots of warnings that Hamas was about to attack Israel, and male egos are involved big time, and religious beliefs are involved big time, and it's a perfect mix that only someone like Steven King might dream up in a sequel to The Stand?

PXX

Both parties 100% on board with permanent blank check to Israel. In that respect, it makes no difference who is elected. Don't think Catholic it has anything to do with it. (few in Congress give a rat's ass about religious doctrine. Biden flipped on abortion, for instance, to get the votes) 

Sloan Bashinsky

Really, few in Congress give a rat’s ass about religious doctrine? I bet just about every Republican in Congress would beg to disagree, and quite a few Democrats in Congress, too :-) 

John Mann
I am a Christian, but for over 50 years I have been a supporter of Palestinian rights who has been boycotting Israeli products. 
Yes, I think the Bible probably does make a lot of Christians instinctively feel that the Israelis are the good guys. But in the past few weeks, a surprising number of people at church have said things to me that indicate that they don't think that is the case this time.

Sloan Bashinsky

I’m seeing that, too, with some Christians where I live and on social media. Yet, I live in a very red state, and I have conversations with enough people to think any US president, or candidate for president, who sides with Hamas against Israel, or is perceived do that, willl lose to a candidate who to stands firm behind Israel.   

John Mann

Well, I live in rural Scotland, and political views over here are probably somewhat different from those where you are! An opinion poll a month ago showed that people in Scotland were more likely to be more sympathetic to the Palestinian side than the Israeli side, whereas in England and Wales, sympathies were pretty evenly split.

Sloan Bashinsky

America is very different from where you live, which I visited a long time ago and loved it. Starting at Glasgow, I rented a car and drove up past Loch Ness to Inverness and over to Aberdeen (spelling?), and to St. Andrews and then to Edinburg, as I recall the itinerary. Beautiful countryside. A very different world back then, than now, which America’s made up war in Vietnam helped birth. Now we have judges and prosecutors and their families receiving death threats over abortion rulings and anything having to do with Donald Trump, who plainly told Israel he was their best friend, so imagine where the MAGAs and Republicans stand on Israel. And many Democrats stand the same on Israel.

Bill Wolfe

I thought current US law prohibit US weapons sales and military aid to be used for offensive purposes or to kill civilians or violate international law or conduct ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Congress is letting Biden get away with bypassing Congressional approvals and vioalting US and international law.

Question for the Legal Eagles out there: Can some peace group or citizen sue to enforce the law? Do such groups have legal standing to sue? If so, why isn't homelike like Code Pink suing Biden? Biden is already being sued for complicity in genocide. A lawsuit to block US funding would be far more effective than the international criminal court enforcement of relying on a novel genocide prosecution in US federal court.   

 

Sloan Bashinsky

Are you willing to be the plaintiff? I’m a retired lawyer, who clerked for a U.S. District judge before practicing law, and there might be legal redress theoretically, but imagine the legal quagmire a federal judge would face, and imagine the appeals, and reflect on how it’s going in the federal and state court cases involving Donald Trump, and imagine lots of death threats the plaintiff and his/her lawyers and their families would receive, and would there be a favorable ruling against President Biden, and who would enforce it? Could anyone enforce it? I can imagine if President Biden cut off money, weapons and munitions to Israel, he and his family would receive death threats. They might be killed. I think Biden knows that. I also think he should rise above it, because when he became president, his first duty was to that office, and that duty superseded all that came before. 

Joy in HK
I firmly believe that trying to undo the sins of the nation state within the confines of the nation-state construct will lead to more death and destruction. Along with saving lives, part of what I want to do is to encourage more of us to think about new ways to think and act on this issue.
There must be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, not with Palestinians suffering under oppressive conditions, but as a place where all live with peace and equality. It is time for Pope Francis to do more than talk. He must go to Gaza and make a stand for peace and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
This is one small thing we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.

Sloan Bashinsky

I have not seen anyone who commented under any of Caitlin’s Gaza articles say they were going to Israel or Gaza to protest. Lots of people who comment use pseudonyms, which is understandable, given how crazy it’s gotten in America, for example. But when they don’t put their real name on their words, are they to be respected? Having said that, I agree with you about Pope Francis going to Gaza and trying to end the carnage. He took that name after St. Francis of Assisi, the first person in Christendom recognized by the Vatican to have received the stigmata wounds of Christ on the cross while still living in the flesh. I have read historical accounts of Francis of Assisi, before he was made a saint by the Catholic Church, going to Palestine and trying to win over the Muslims, who thought he was touched by God, or in the head, and they respected him for that and did not harm him, but they were not won over by him. Maybe Hamas would view Pope Francis similarly?

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

The war in Gaza is more proof that humanity’s problem is it killed Eve and Adam went nuts

    I realized many years ago, that my problem, and humanity’s problem, was we killed Eve. 

    Consider this newsletter and my comments below it.

Israel Supporters Would Defend Literally Any Israeli Atrocity
CAITLIN JOHNSTONE
DEC 10, 2023

Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

Upgrade to paid
Israel supporters are like, “No no you don’t understand, the side that’s killing babies and incinerating families and assassinating journalists and starving civilians and bombing cultural heritage sites and carpet bombing entire neighborhoods and driving an indigenous people off their land are the GOOD guys.”
❖
There is literally nothing Israel could do that its supporters wouldn’t defend. Try to fill in the blank in “Israel could _______ and people would defend it” with something that wouldn’t be true. Most of the insanely evil things you could put in that space are already actually being done. Genocide? They’re already doing that. Murdering babies? They’re already doing that. Killing thousands of children? Already doing that. Deliberately targeting and assassinating journalists, artists and scholars? Already doing that.
Israel supporters will defend any evil — literally any evil — as long as it is being perpetrated by their favorite regime. There are zero constraints of any kind, because Israel supporters are completely uninterested in morality. If they were, they wouldn’t be supporting one of the most immoral governments on this planet even after all it has done in the last two months.
Part of the problem is the widespread consensus that October 7 means Israel is justified in doing literally anything in response, no matter how heinous. Israel could exterminate the entire population of Gaza and its supporters would still be saying “WHAT ABOUT OCTOBER 7??”
❖

https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1733252460352020645?s=20
❖
A new Israelis study found that Israel is killing civilians in Gaza at a significantly higher rate than civilians were killed in the world wars of the 20th century. Military analysts have said that the destruction in northern Gaza is comparable to the most aggressive World War II bombing campaigns in places like Dresden, Hamburg and Cologne.
US officials were reportedly shocked when Israeli officials indicated they were preparing to inflict civilian casualties in Gaza that would be reminiscent of world war horrors, and then, in typical Israeli fashion, they went and did even worse.
❖
Biden killing Ukraine peace negotiations and backing a genocide in Gaza are both worse than anything Donald Trump has ever done.
❖
Israel apologists often cite the fact that the majority of Jews support Israel to substantiate their ridiculous position that opposition to Israel is anti-semitic, but that statistic is not actually morally relevant or logically interesting. Any population that’s sufficiently saturated with propaganda and indoctrination will wind up mostly supporting the thing they’re being propagandized and indoctrinated into supporting; that’s the purpose of propaganda and indoctrination.
The majority of westerners subscribe to the mainstream worldview which supports western imperialism for exactly the same reason — because they were propagandized and indoctrinated into that worldview. This doesn’t mean western imperialism shouldn’t be ferociously opposed; it absolutely must be. Even if that puts you standing against the indoctrinated majority.
❖

https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1733652981399343420
❖
The funny thing about the claim that anti-Zionism is anti-semitism is that most Zionists aren’t even Jewish. The majority of them are Christians who hope all Jewish people go to Israel so that Jesus will return, then Jewish people get to either repent and convert to Christianity or go to hell. 
What that means is, in a very real and quantifiable way, most Zionists are actual anti-semites.
❖
It’s so surreal to get called the worst thing in the world for opposing the worst thing in the world. You oppose children being murdered by the thousands in Gaza and you’ll get accused of harboring the same prejudices that led to the Holocaust. It makes you feel you’re going mad.
❖
The US is sponsoring a relentless genocidal massacre that’s killing, crippling and tormenting innocents in the most horrific ways imaginable, and Americans are being persuaded to focus instead on a completely fictional epidemic of genocidal rhetoric against Jews at universities. 
And I do mean completely fictional — nothing of the sort is happening. It’s like pointing to a clip of Darth Vader destroying a planet in Star Wars to distract from the actual real life atrocities in Gaza.
The fake epidemic of genocidal chants on campus reminds me of the fake epidemic of Russian propaganda, when “Russian propaganda” was defined as “any criticism of US foreign policy”. Falsely define common pro-Palestine chants as calls to genocide Jews and you can then declare an epidemic of genocidal rhetoric.

https://x.com/caitoz/status/1733230855878066673?s=20
It goes like this:
Step 1: Arbitrarily declare that common innocuous pro-Palestine chants are actually calls for genocide.
Step 2: Pretend there’s an emergency epidemic of university students calling for genocide on campus because they use those chants.
Step 3: Kill pro-Palestine speech on campus.
❖

Just spitballing here but maybe the most efficient way to prevent western youth from becoming radicalized against Israel is not to censor the internet and kill free speech at universities but to make Israel stop murdering thousands of innocent people.

Sloan Bashinsky

I think, Caitlin, that you should steer away from the war in Ukraine, which Russia started and did and continues doing in Ukraine what Israel is doing in Gaza. 
I started reading your newsletters about three weeks ago, after you subscribed to my Substack and invited me to subscribe to yours. I already was reading Chris Hedges’s newsletters. 
You and Chris, and nearly all of your combined readers who commented, gave Hamas a pass. I am the only reader who kept pointing out that Hamas has a hand in it, too, and I kept getting slammed for doing it.
A couple of days ago, Chris published a newsletter entitled, "The Evil Israel Does is the Evil Israel Gets," Chris said Hamas’ Evils are small compared to Israel’s Evils, and back to bashing Israel Chris went. 
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-evil-israel-does-is-the-evil/comments#comment-45068074 

I commented,
"Perhaps this explains why Jesus said in the Gospels to resist not one who does evil, and to pray for and do good to your enemies? It still looks to me that Hamas figured out what would cause the people running Israel to go insane and have their military do in Gaza what it has done in Gaza, and that is what Hamas wanted to happen, otherwise, Hamas would have offered to return the October 7 hostages in exchange for Israel stop attacking Gaza and pull its troops out of Gaza. I think Hamas views all the dead and wounded Gazans as martyrs, necessary sacrifices to turn the entire world against Israel, and to turn every Gazan allegiant to Hamas. I think President Biden and the U.S. Congress also should be tried for war crimes, for not cutting off all money, weapons and ammo to Israel after its military attacked Gaza. I wonder if the only cure for what is going on in Palestine is Israel detonates its nukes, becoming a suicide national jihad, to make Judaism and Christendom’s so-called 'holy land' unlivable and nothing to fight over.” 

A dream last night nudged me to say finger-pointing and war are pure testosterone and zero estrogen, all yang and no yin, all Adam and no Eve. 

In Judaism, the Spirit of God is called Shekinah, feminine gender. In the Old Testament, Wisdom is assigned the feminine gender. According to Christianity, its Trinity is all male, and good luck convincing Christians that the Holy Spirit is the female side of God- Shekinah. 

Shekinah favors compassion, restraint, and looking in the mirror and taking fearless and searching inventories of the beams in our own eyes.

I hope Shekinah gains sway over the people leading Israel and Hamas, and over President Biden and the U.S. Congress, and over anyone who takes either side in that horrific war. 

 

russian_bot

"I started reading your newsletters about three weeks ago, after you subscribed to my Substack and invited me to subscribe to yours" - attaboy Sloan!
I started wondering whether you white clothes got caught up in the ladder somewhere as you failed to come down to us plebes here for a couple of posts.

Do you pinch your nose when you continue to sprinkle your diarrhea all over the forum? The stink is unbearable.   

 

Sloan Bashinsky

You are Caitlin’s “free speech” press secretary? :-)

Perhaps a south Alabama liberal white chick’s poem better represents Shekinah?

“Pigs in mud”

All want the security of the well fed pig.
Horror at the baseness unrecognized.
A lifetime spent in shirt stuffing.
And pen comparison.
Is truth more palatable when honeyed?
Is a stark soulscape less so with the eyes of Monet? 
May my affectations always be understood.

Or  a poem that up and leaped out of me a few years ago, to remind me to keep taking my own fearless and searching inventories?

"Bi Polar" 
the world's favorite
mood disorder
the cause of all
human ails,
including wars,
if the demons aren't counted 
bi polar disorder,
the destruction of the
south pole,
the feminine,
the north pole,
he ain't been
right in the head
since she's been gone

Some time passed, and this arrived:

"Eve's Answer”

Vexing Truth
Life is Poetry,
Poetry is Life,
There's no more to say,
but that would 
make God
a really dull boy,
now wouldn't it,
Eve?
So, Eve,
What say you?
After all,
You have been,
still are, blamed,
for everything that went wrong with

hu - MAN - i - ty.

Well, do you really want to hear
what I gotta say?
Is this one of those
be careful what you ask for
pregnancies?
Well, is it?
Probably, but say
what you wish -
I s'pect you need
to be heard.
Heard?
Funny you mention ears.
Yes, ears.
Such important receptacles.
Yet filled with concrete, 
shit, propaganda, beliefs,
certainties, well,
let's not leave out
SUPERSTITION
and
RELIGION,
should we?
By the way,
where do ya
suppose
God came from?
Or, out of?
And, 
why do ya s'pose
I made Eve
in my own 
IMAGE?
'Cause Adam was
so bored and dull -
so ... predictable
He was BORING!!!
the shit outta me!!!
That's why.
Now
Shusssssh -
Don't go round quoting me on
any of that -
I've had quite enough of
the religious right
ta last me 
the rest of forever

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

the people running Hamas and Israel, and President Biden and the US Congress who did not stop money and arms going to Israel, should burn in hell together

    It looks to me that Israel’s invasion of Gaza has driven a whole lot of people to hate Israel, and that is not anti-semitism - it is hate of a country that murders another county’s civilians. Alas, the same people do not seem to hate Hamas, which purposefully provoked Israel on October 7, 2023 to do precisely what it has done and will do in Gaza for the unforeseeable future. 

    For example:

There's Nothing You Can Say To Make Me Accept The Murder Of Thousands Of Children

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE Substack Newsleter

DEC 5, 2023

Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

I promise there is nothing you can say to me that will cause me to cease opposing the murder of thousands of children in Gaza. There is no name you can call me, no accusation you can scream at me, no talking point you can regurgitate at me that will ever make me shut up and accept this.

The unexamined premise behind the frenetic push to reignite outrage over October 7 using rape allegations is that if Hamas fighters did sexually assault any Israeli women during the attack, then everyone has to shut up and let Israel keep murdering children by the thousands. This is self-evidently stupid.

Western and Israeli propagandists are going to keep trying to find new reasons for you to reignite your outrage over October 7, because October 7 is their side’s only justification for a months-long mass atrocity that is far, far worse than anything that happened on October 7.

The US House of Representatives just passed a resolution saying that Judaism is synonymous with a colonialist ideology which routinely murders children.

https://twitter.com/codepink/status/1732150533190824433

I personally do not believe it’s anti-semitic to criticize Israel’s murderous actions in Gaza. See I have this wild idea that murdering children is not an aspect of the Jewish faith, and that saying otherwise actually has a very ugly history in our society.

The only way to have more sympathy for the 1200 Israelis killed on October 7 than the 16,000+ Palestinians who’ve been killed in Gaza since is to believe Palestinians are subhumans whose lives are worth a tiny fraction of what Israeli lives are worth. That’s the one and only way.

A recent poll found that 57.5 percent of Israelis believe the IDF is using too littlefirepower in Gaza, while 36.6 percent said it’s using just the right amount, with 4.2 percent saying they’re unsure and just 1.8 percent saying the IDF is using too much firepower.

One reason Israeli officials keep saying shockingly genocidal and fascistic things is because the kind of talk you have to use to win the support of Israelis is completely different from the talk you have to use to win the support of western liberals.

https://twitter.com/MarkJamesonArt/status/1731348764684628448

Israel is like, “We’re not killing children in Gaza, those are dolls. Okay maybe they’re not dolls, but Hamas is lying about death tolls. Okay maybe they’re not lying about death tolls, but they’re using human shields and they did 10/7, so every child we’re killing was actually killed by Hamas.”

The “Israel lobby” is really just a part of the western empire lobby — it’s a specialized arm of the nonstop influence operation geared toward keeping member states of the empire moving in alignment with a globe-spanning power structure centralized around the United States instead of acting like sovereign nations and taking care of their people in accordance with the will of the electorate.
Governments like the US and UK have legal tools in place that they use to stop foreign governments from influencing their national politics, but they generally only use them when the influence would be coming from governments which aren’t aligned with the western empire like Russia, China and Iran. If backing Israel militarily and diplomatically didn’t serve the interests of the empire, those legal tools would long ago have been used to shut the lobbying down. But because lobbying activities actually benefit the interests of the empire by keeping US-aligned war machinery targeted at all non-US-aligned groups in the geostrategically crucial middle east, they not only allow but actively encourage such lobbying.
It’s just one of the many types of adhesives necessary for keeping the disparate parts of an unacknowledged empire always moving in the same directions. The Israel lobby lets groups like Israelis, western Zionists and American fundamentalist Christians fund the influence operations of the western empire out of their own personal coffers. Why would the empire managers stop that from happening? It’s a great deal.

Sloan Bashinsky

Agreed, nor the murder of as many adult men and women in Gaza.

In my Apple newsfeed today was a Guardian article taking President Biden hard to task for dragging his feet instead of leaning hard on Benjamin Netanyahu and cutting off US financial and military aid to Israel. 

 

Biden now regrets the strength of his support for Netanyahu – he must act before it’s too late — Guardian US.

The onslaught on Gaza risks further destabilising the entire Middle East, says foreign affairs commentator Simon... https://apple.news/Ay5sSgb2rQmKgy0KaWRuegw 

My problem with your approach, Caitlin, and with your readers, who have engaged me here since you subscribed to my Substack newsletter and invited me to subscribe to yours, is you and they do not blame Hamas for provoking Israel to do what it is doing. 

For a long time, Hamas and the world have known Israel operates on the Doctrine of Disproportional Response to attacks. Meaning, Hamas knew Israel would respond disproportionally to the October 7 atrocities. Meaning, that was what Hamns wanted Israel to do. Meaning, in my option, the people running Hamas and Negtanyahu and other people running Israel, and President Biden, and the US Congress, who have not stopped money and arms going to Israel, all should burn in hell together. Nobody can talk me into giving any of them a free pass.

hierochloe

"they do not blame Hamas for provoking Israel to do what it is doing" take it easy with that paint sprayer

It's probably worth mentioning there's a potentially strong case being made that Israel is behind Hamas and it's actions in a number of ways. Seems like who provoked who is largely a game of chicken and egg, where to start the clock, and not so much a problem of approach here.  

Sloan Bashinsky

PBS article
Hamas, an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (“Islamic Resistance Movement”), was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian cleric who became an activist in local branches of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. Beginning in the late 1960s, Yassin preached and performed charitable work in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which Israel occupied following the 1967 Six-Day War.
Yassin established Hamas as the Brotherhood’s political arm in Gaza in Dec. 1987, following the outbreak of the first intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
At the time, Hamas’s purpose was to counter Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another organization whose commitment to violently resisting Israel threatened to draw Palestinians’ support away from the Brotherhood.
In 1988, Hamas published its charter, calling for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine. In what observers called an attempt to moderate its image, Hamas presented a new document [PDF] in 2017 that accepted an interim Palestinian state along the “Green Line” border established before the Six-Day War but that still refused to recognize Israel. 

 

    From the day before at Catlin’s Newsletter, which perhaps explains the title of her newsletter today?

Sloan Bashisnky

I have wished President Biden would tell Israel to stand down, or get no more financial or military help from America, over which he has control. 
I imagine he has considered doing it, and he has considered doing it will get Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024, and before that the Republicans in Congress will file another impeachment action against Biden, and he and his family will start receiving a lot of death threats.
I imagine Biden also worries, if he abandons Israel, Israel will use its nuclear weapons, because for quite a while, Israel has made it well known that it applies the disproportion force doctrine when it is attacked. Hamas and other Islamic militant groups in Gaza, Lebanon, etc, learned that first hand in the past.
So when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and committed atrocities and took hostages back to Gaza, Hamas knew Israel would respond with disproportionate force. Ergo, that is what Hamas wanted to happen.
That is not a popular viewpoint, but it is the awful reality. As is, if Trump gets elected again, he will support Israel against Hamas, because his political base demands it. That, also, is not a popular perspective, but it is the awful reality. 
So, what’s the solution? I don’t see a solution, for so long as the state of Israel exists, because I don’t see America ever abandoning Israel, regardless of who is president and in Congress. If that seems unreasonable, look at this history of the state of Israel. What’s happening now is the next phase of that history.
I proposed several times that America offer Israel sanctuary in America, or America will abandon Israel. I was blasted for making that suggestion. “We don’t want those genocidists in America!” I was blasted for proposing America abandon Christendom’s Holy Land to Islam. 

When Caitlin subscribed to my Substack Newsletter and invited me to subscribe to hers, she knew I’m ornery and totally out of the box. If she wants me to go away, all she has to do is tell me.

Feral Finster

Assumes numerous facts not in evidence, along with a heaping spoonful of wishful thinking.
Oh well, before you were telling us that Biden really really wanted to stop the bloodshed but couldn't, because "religious fanatics", which you redefined to mean "anyone who has strong beliefs". Oh, and MAGA.

Of course, how Biden got Israel to stop in 2021 without being assassinated, and why Trump hasn't given his zombie MAGA legions the order already is left unsaid.

Sloan Bashinsky today

Biden can't get Israel to stand down, because Israel is being run by enraged religious fanatics. Israel will do whatever it wants to do, therefore, for the unforeseeable future. 

The religious fanatics in America won’t stand for Biden abandoning Israel. I wish he would abandon Israel, but I don’t see him doing it. His own religious beliefs scream against him abandoning Israel. I imagine he thinks abandoning Israel will give the White House and both sides of Congress to the Republicans in 2024, and if he abandons Israel, he and his family will receive death threats. None of that is a good excuse in the eyes of God, but it is what is in play.

Feral Finster
Again you assume facts not in evidence. 
Biden got Israel to stand down in 2021 without the hysterical consequences you describe.
You're just making excuses.

Sloan Bashinsky
Nope. America is very different today, and Israel has gone insane. Have you ever tried to reason with an insane people? I do it all the time. There is no way to reach them. I’m not taking Biden’s side. He fucked up something terrible. A lot of Americans who supported him have turned against him over how he dealt with Israel invading Gaza. Donald Trump and his legions and the Republicans are delighted with that. I live in America and I live in a deep red state and I dread seeing a red America after the 2024 elections. I don’t care for the Democrats, but they don’t remind me of Nazi Germany leading into World War II, and the reds do. The reds are fully behind Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which I think is insane, because I deal all the time with religious fanatics, and I know the people running Israel will use their nukes, if they think they need to.

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

the College Football Playoff (CFP) should not happen unless Michigan is replaced by Florida State

    This past Saturday, I took a break from my hectic spoof presidential campaign to watch some of the Southeastern Conference Championship game, where the 11-1 (after a few narrow escapes) Alabama Crimson Tide barely squeaked,  27-24, by the #1 ranked 12-0 Georgia Bulldogs, after the 12-0 Washington Huskies had barely squeaked, by 3 points, for the second time, past the 11-1 Oregon Ducks in the Pacific Coast Conference Championship game.

    Also on Saturday, the 11-1 Texas Longhorns, who had out-muscled Alabama, 34-24, in the opening game of the season in Tuscaloosa, blew out the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 49-21, in the Big 12 Conference Championship. While the 12-0 Michigan Wolverines blanked the 10-2 Iowa Hawkeyes, 26-0.

    Saturday night, I watched the 12-0 Florida State Seminoles, without their lost-for-the season superstar quarterback, out-defense the 10-2 Louisville Cardinals, 16-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game.

    That left 12-1 Texas and 12-1 Alabama and 13-0 Florida State competing for the two remaining places in the CFP tournament for the national championship.

    Sunday morning I watched on TV the CFP selection committee pick Texas and Alabama to join Michigan and Washington in the playoff tournament. In the first round, Alabama will play Michigan and Texas will play Washington.

    This morning, I posted this on Facebook and got a few nibbles.

Sloan Bashinsky

I read online yesterday, that when the Michigan team and its coaches learned Alabama had been selected over Florida State, there was “Oh” response. As in, they had hoped to play Florida State in the semi-final game. 
What I cannot wrap my mind around is Florida State, Washington, Texas and Alabama’s coaches, athletic directors and presidents did not, and still don’t, raise bloody hell about Michigan being allowed into the playoff after it was judged by the Big 10 to be guilty of stealing other teams' signals, and its head coach was suspended for three games (but not the conference playoff game against Ohio State). What kind of signal did that send to every power-5 college?

I think Alabama, Texas and Washington should tell the CPF selection committee, if they don’t remove Michigan and add Florida State, there won’t be a playoff. If Alabama, Texas and Washington don’t do that, they are accomplices after the fact.

South Alabama Elizabeth

My husband has been having words about that.

Sloan Bashinsky

I dunno, Eliza, maybe them coaches, ADs, presidents and selection committee members need to have a SIGNAL you once wrote swam up their hind ends where their heads already swam?:-)

Sloan Bashinsky
Ahem -

All want the security of the well fed pig.

Horror at the baseness unrecognized.

A lifetime spent in shirt stuffing.

And pen comparison.

Is truth more palatable when honeyed?

Is a stark soulscape less so with the eyes of Monet? 

May my affectations always be understood.

Sloan Bashinsky

Meanwhile, from Joe Goodman’s article in Al.com:

Before we get into the nasty business of Florida State dropping from No.4 to No.5 in the rankings despite a brilliant win against Louisville in the ACC title game, an even bigger disgrace by the College Football Playoff committee probably first needs to be addressed.

I’m talking about the no-good, dirty-rotten-scoundrel Michigan Wolverines, God bless’m.

Michigan, which won the Big Ten title game on Saturday against Iowa, is lucky to be included in the College Football Playoff at all after the sign-stealing scandal that led to coach Jim Harbaugh being suspended for three games. Michigan shouldn’t even be allowed to compete for a national championship this season, but the morally bereft CFP selection committee chose to turn its head to all that and ignore the fact that the Wolverines gained advantages in games this season by cheating.

So, not only did the CFP tell everyone that it’s OK to cheat by selecting Michigan, the selection committee also ranked Michigan No.1 because of its impressive defense. That leads me to the committee’s laughably corrupt omission of Florida State. Florida State’s defense was better than Michigan’s this season, and FSU didn’t even know what plays were coming.

Don’t take my word for it, though. Just ask the guy who’s probably going to win the Heisman Trophy. He’ll tell you all about it.

LSU’s Jayden Daniels had a great season. Had better numbers than Joe Burrow, or at least that’s what people are saying. Daniels looked pretty ordinary against the Noles, though. In LSU’s 45-24 blowout loss to FSU to begin the season, Daniels was lucky to get out of Orlando without an injury. Daniels had one passing touchdown to one interception in the game and was sacked four times. The Tigers only scored seven points in the second half and would have lost the game no matter who was at quarterback for FSU.

Sloan Bashinsky

Here’s what I wrote in an email to Goodman:

I wonder if you or an AI will get this?

I love your Florida State got the shaft article. Instead of being put into the sports Guantanamo, the Wolverines and their coach got coronated top of the immoral totem pole. I think the head coaches, ADs and presidents of the three schools that got on the totem pole should tell the selection committee, if they don’t remove Michigan and add Florida State, there won’t be a playoff.

Ciao,

Sloan Bashinsky (It bounced back)

Elana 

Thought it was Michigan State.

Sloan Bashinsky

It was Michigan. See my comment above to Eliza re Joe Goodman’s thoughts about it in his article.

Tom

Says: keep doing what you’re doing but don’t get caught!!

Sloan Bashinsky

I think it says, the playoff selection committee will take you even if you get caught.

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com