Incremental Genocide and Displacement and Replacement in Gaza
Courtesy of OpenSecrets.org, I saw a chart on AIPAC contributions to U.S. senators that showed that all 100 senators have taken AIPAC money. Leading the way are senate “giants” like Mitch McConnell (nearly two million dollars) and Chuck Schumer (roughly $1.7 million). Talk about bipartisanship! I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the U.S. Senate is so strongly pro-Israel. It obviously has nothing to do with the power of AIPAC and all that money.
Bipartisanship and no divisiveness. Who says we have a dysfunctional and divided Congress? Nonsense!
Here’s how AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) describes itself on its own web site:
The Largest Pro-Israel PAC in America
WE STAND with those who stand with Israel. The AIPAC PAC is a bipartisan, pro-Israel political action committee. It is the largest pro-Israel PAC in America and contributed more resources directly to candidates than any other PAC. 98% of AIPAC-backed candidates won their general election races in 2022.
That last sentence is a killer. AIPAC is reminding Members of Congress that if you want to be elected, or win reelection, you very much want AIPAC on your side. And if you don’t kowtow to their agenda, they will do everything in their power to defeat you.
Imagine if there was an American Palestine Public Affairs Committee, an APPAC, that contributed hundreds of thousands if not millions to every U.S. senator and that boasted of a 98% success rate in getting APPAC-anointed candidates elected or reelected. Do you think maybe the U.S. Senate would have a different position on Gaza and the West Bank?
Speaking of Gaza, I watched Chris Hedges interview Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian. Pappé put it simply and clearly: Israel is engaged in “incremental genocide” against the Palestinian people, a genocide in slow motion, a strategy of “displacement and replacement.” The “displacement” of the Palestinians is done by mass bombing, mass destruction, mass death, and (hopefully for the Israelis) mass migration, and the “replacement” will come when Jewish settlers take possession of Gaza (after a lot of munitions cleanup and infrastructure redevelopment, I suppose, probably paid for by the U.S. taxpayer).
There’s an Orwellian term for this. For mass death followed by forced expulsion, Israel is using the term “voluntary migration” (or “voluntary” emigration). But of course there is nothing “voluntary” about any of this.
If U.S. government officials appear clueless about what’s happening in Gaza, they’re not. They’re just bought and paid for.
Yesterday, Joe Biden kicked off his reelection campaign by visiting Valley Forge and echoing the dark times of George Washington in 1777-78 during the American Revolutionary War. In a campaign speech that lasted about 30 minutes, Biden declared that “Democracy is on the ballot,” by which he meant Trump is on the ballot. Biden denounced Trump and his MAGA supporters for the “insurrection” they launched on January 6, 2021, when “hell was unleashed” at the Capitol. We nearly lost America on that date, Biden opined, due to the Trump-inspired “violent assault” on democracy.
As a teenager, I loved to collect stamps, just like FDR did
Going further, Biden described Trump as “sick” and “despicable” and noted how recent language about “vermin” and “poison” echoed that of Nazi Germany. Trump and MAGA, Biden said, seek to “bury history” (or “steal” it) and “ban books,” with Trump himself being a sore loser who refused to admit defeat. Biden reminded the audience that being president is about duty and service to your country, including the willingness to walk away peacefully, relinquishing power gracefully when you lose.
All in all, it was a coherent speech that Biden read competently from the teleprompter. He occasionally came across as angry, especially when shouting for emphasis, but overall Biden, though he looked his age, appeared to be committed and engaged.
To me, the main problem with Biden’s speech was that it focused almost entirely on Trump. The essence was “Trump bad,” therefore vote for me, Joe Biden, to secure America’s future, with that “future” left entirely unspecified. The Trump future would be violent, racist, and divisive, marked by vitriol and vengeance, so Biden claimed. A Biden future wouldn’t be that, apparently, but no other details were offered. Biden offered no positive vision.
Biden closed his speech with the usual boilerplate: that America is “the greatest nation on the face of the earth” and “the greatest nation in the history of the world.” Biden said “We know America is winning,” but what exactly we’re winning was left unspecified. Rhetorically, Biden asked “Who are we?” then enjoined us “Just remember who we are.” Huh? Then he said we’re the people who emerge stronger after every crisis. Does that mean we should wish for another Trump crisis so we can emerge stronger still?
Finally, Biden used a phrase that Hillary used to use for us commoners: “everyday people.” Remember when presidents used to say, my fellow Americans, when addressing us? Now we’re “everyday people” as opposed to what, exactly? Someday people? In Washington, I gather there are special people, the elites, the best and brightest, like Joe Biden, and then there are the masses, the everyday people, like you and me.
And I think that’s a big problem for the Beltway crowd: the “everyday people” might just prefer Trump and the chaos he represents. Come November, we’ll find out.
Another “emergency” shipment of arms to Israel: What a way to end the year! First, the Biden administration sent $106 million in tank shells to Israel without Congressional approval. Now, the government is sending $147.5 million in fuses, charges, etc. to Israel for 155mm artillery shells, also without Congressional approval. Mind you, Hamas doesn’t have tanks or heavy artillery, so these shipments aren’t for “defense.” Tank and artillery shells are really for one thing: urban destruction. Artillery is the very definition of an area weapon, i.e. imprecise. Yet, even as the Biden administration sends this weaponry to Israel, which will enable more killing on a mass scale, it expresses concern that Israel is ethnically cleansing too fast, killing too many innocent civilians too quickly.
Along with bombs, this is what tanks and artillery shells are good for
You can’t have it both ways, obviously. You can’t send heavy calibre weaponry to Israel and then complain when they use it. And to justify this aid as an “emergency” for America’s national defense interests! If democratic processes can be bypassed simply by declaring an emergency that clearly doesn’t exist, there is no democracy. Thanks for making that obvious, Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Gaza continues to be pounded into rubble. Casualties there will soon exceed 100,000 as nearly half a million Palestinians begin to starve. The Israeli/US end game is clear: render Gaza uninhabitable, forcing the Palestinians to make a choice: leave or die.
The two self-declared democracies of Israel and the USA are combining to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians with the goal of incorporating its territory into Israel. Now I know why the world hates us: for our freedoms, right?
How can Israel commit such a crime? I suggest you watch the interview below with Gideon Levy, who explains it plainly and succinctly. As he notes:
Israeli Jews generally believe they are God’s Chosen People.
Israeli Jews generally believe they are the real victims here (the Holocaust; Hamas attacks).
Palestinians have been dehumanized as barbarians, as worse than animals.
The Chosen People, the eternal victims, are tired of the beasts in Gaza and are getting rid of them, one way or another.
“We [Israelis] live in denial,” Levy says. Ignorance is combined with nationalism. Most Israelis simply don’t want to know what their government is doing in their name. To that end, media coverage in Israel is entirely one sided; the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is almost never shown. The only people who suffer are Jews.
To Israelis, life is precious and dear; but Israel acts to show Palestinians their lives are cheap. Gaza, Levy says, was a “cage” for the Palestinians living there; Israel has now decided to empty that cage.
Levy has no illusions about the nature of the Israeli government under Bibi Netanyahu, which he calls a brutal dictatorship. And, if we accept him at his word, for he is an Israeli Jew who knows his country, America is aiding a brutal dictatorship in its goal of clearing the Gaza ghetto irrespective of the cost in lives of innocents.
What does that make the Biden administration? What does that make us?
Note: the video link below contains a warning about graphic material. It’s apparently designed to discourage viewing. There is nothing “graphic” about this video except the truths that Levy speaks.
News that the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Trump is ineligible to be included on the presidential ballot due to his encouragement of and participation in “insurrection” during the January 6th Capitol riot is being greeted as tidings of comfort and joy in many quarters, especially among Democrats facing lengthening odds in the 2024 election. Is this the way to beat Trump: to bar him from the ballot due to his alleged crimes against the Constitution and the country?
Readers of Bracing Views know that I’m not a Trump supporter, nor for that matter do I support Joe Biden. Trump, I wrote back in March of 2016, disqualified himself from office when he boasted during a debate that U.S. troops would follow his orders irrespective of their legality. The man is most definitely an ignoramus and therefore is a menace to himself and to others.
That said, being an ignoramus is not disqualifying for the presidency.
After a swift appeal, I’d wager the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse the decision of the Colorado Court, putting Trump back on the ballot. What then?
I think it’s relatively easy to defeat Trump in November 2024: run a candidate whose views and deeds correspond to the views and desires and priorities of the vast majority of Americans. The working and middle classes.
Cartoons like this one are frankly unconvincing
If I were a candidate for the presidency, and wanted to maximize my vote vis-a-vis Trump, here are a few things I’d support:
Higher wages for American workers. A hike in the federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour.
Health care for all. Use the common wealth for common health.
“Free” college education at state colleges and universities. (By “free,” I mean subsidized at a tolerable level for students, with tuition and fees capped at $2000 a year.)
Legalization of marijuana for personal use across the USA.
Criminal justice reform that would greatly reduce the number of non-violent offenders held in prison.
Major reductions in military spending and a commitment to peace and diplomacy.
With the hundreds of billions saved from reductions in war spending, a major commitment to rebuilding American infrastructure, including the creation of a new Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) tied to alleviating damage due to climate change.
An end to divisive rhetoric and talk of “deplorables” and “blue and red” America. A national celebration of and renewed commitment to the U.S. Constitution.
The salute of brave people willing to inform Americans of crimes being committed in their name. The return of Edward Snowden to America and a celebration of his patriotism and service to America. The pardon and release of Daniel Hale from prison. The dropping of all charges against Julian Assange. A commitment to freedom of speech, the press, and indeed of all Constitutional rights.
Privacy for the people; transparency for the government.
That’s ten positions that I believe would garner the support of a majority of Americans in the 2024 election.
The problem is that the main rival to Trump in 2024, Joe Biden, is a “nothing will fundamentally change” guy who lacks the will, energy, and wherewithal to motivate and unify the American people behind these and similar popular positions.
What does Biden have going for him? Well, he’s not Trump. That’s seemingly the beginning and the end of Democratic messaging. And it’s not enough. Which is why Democrats are so excited about the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling.
That court ruling isn’t going to stop Trump. What will stop Trump is a candidate of courage and conviction who truly wants to serve the people. All the people, equally. The obstacle to be overcome is a Washington establishment, including most especially the corporate owners and donors, the big money people, that is determined to block any candidate or any party that is truly dedicated to the Constitution and to the needs of the people writ large.
I’m a member of the Eisenhower Media Network, or EMN. We’re a small network of retired military types and former U.S. government officials who are openly critical of the military-industrial-congressional complex, America’s open-ended forever wars (the global war on terror; the cold war against Russia and China), and rising militarism within and across our society.
Recently, EMN issued a new letter in opposition to the Washington bipartisan consensus for war and more war. I’m proud to say I had a hand in writing it, as did Matthew Hoh and other members of EMN. Here’s what we had to say:
Military and Foreign Policy Experts Open Letter on U.S. Diplomatic Malpractice
Does America inspire the world by the power of its example or the example of its power? Far too often, and despite President Joe Biden’s words during his inaugural address, America’s overmilitarized power and diplomatic malpractice are its examples to the world.
We must change that. To make America truly essential and indispensable, we must not remain the world’s leading arms maker and weapons exporter. We must instead become the world’s greatest and most committed peacemaker and diplomat.
The problem is that America continues to make war, continues being “essential” only as the world’s leading merchant of death, and continues seeking dominance through military supremacy that ends, in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and earlier in Vietnam, in mass death and colossal folly.
In our first open letter last spring in The New York Times, we, the undersigned, argued that a thoroughly militarized U.S. foreign policy would generate ruinous and worsening consequences and increasingly limited options for the U.S. and the world. Recent events bear this out.
The results of U.S. diplomatic malpractice are cruelly displayed in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. Risks of further escalation and a world war are rising. Predictably, a militarized foreign policy characterized by rejecting or ignoring international laws and treaties and by disingenuous negotiations and talks has offered no solutions to volatile wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East while making war more likely in the Indo-Pacific.
Militarized solutions breed and feed more war. Earnest and deliberate diplomacy is the best hope to bring peace, stability and reconciliation to the world.
We chose Ike as our inspiration because he warned Americans of the dangers of the military-industrial complex and because he rejected a world dedicated to manufacturing weapons to commit mass murder.
War in Ukraine
The failure to pursue diplomacy in Eastern Europe, both before and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has resulted in a costly and destructive stalemate for which there are two likely futures:
The collapse of the Ukrainian state due to a deteriorating economic and military situation hastened by corruption.Here, Ukraine’s fragility resembles that of previous houses of cards built by the U.S. in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam.
A harrowing and bloody stalemate in Ukraine where firepower, made more lethal by technological advances, rules a battlefield where neither side can achieve decisive tactical or operational gains. The pursuit of ways out of this stalemate likely entails horizontal and vertical escalation, neither of which offers solace to those seeking an end to death and destruction in Ukraine and the establishment of peace and stability.
Horizontal escalation sees the war extending further to civilian population centers and infrastructure and includes the possibility of other nations joining the conflict. Vertical escalation sees the expansion of arsenals to weapons of greater range, lethality, and consequence, including nuclear weapons. These two forms of escalation may be intertwined and reinforcing. So, as the war may expand horizontally to resemble The War of Cities between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, it may expand vertically as well with more powerful weapons being introduced by both sides. The use of nuclear weapons is increasingly conceivable under these conditions.
These two likely futures may intersect. For example, a Ukrainian collapse could see NATO forces, likely Polish and Romanian, marching into western and central Ukraine to counter a Russian push to fill a collapsing Ukrainian state. Such an event could lead to a war between NATO and Russia, a war that conceivably could go nuclear.
Hamas, Israel and the Middle East
The Russia-Ukraine War now rages concurrently with the war between Hamas and Israel. This war, too, is born of a U.S. refusal to foster diplomacy. Unlike the conventional war between Russia and Ukraine, we are witnessing an asymmetrical conflict more akin to the wars of insurgency many of us experienced in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Worse, the Hamas/Israel bloodletting in Gaza is characterized by an ethnic cleansing campaign that would be impossible without U.S. diplomatic, economic, media, military and political support. We are disgusted by and find repugnant the brazen and bipartisan support by the U.S. government for rampant violations of international law by Israel. Ethnic cleansing in Gaza, long planned by senior members of the Israeli government and powerful elements of Israel’s reactionary right wing, follows in the ghastly wake of Hamas atrocities against civilians on October 7.
Here, the U.S. government isn’t just passively witnessing war crimes; it is enabling them. With the frightening possibility of escalation to a regional or even a world war, the violence in Gaza has fed and feasted upon decades of deliberate diplomatic malpractice in America. Decades of putting Israel first, second, and last while ignoring the plight and pleas of Palestinians have made political settlements to the blockade of Gaza and the occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank nearly impossible.
Whereas a month ago, we lived with the risk of nuclear war as an outcome of escalating conflict in Ukraine, we now face the elevated risk of a rightfully feared world war as a consequence of entangling alliances between nuclear-armed Moscow and Washington in the Middle East.
China and the Path Ahead
To this, we must add the dangers of war with China, something hyped by leading U.S. politicians; the still unpaid costs of the $8 trillion wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; a militarized federal budget for which 60% of discretionary spending goes to war and all its wounds; and a hollowed American economy.
Decades of reckless U.S. war-making, both direct and via proxies, while coddling corrupt, ruthless, and unjust foreign governments has, not surprisingly, made the world more dangerous and less stable. Failure to invest in and maintain our country has weakened and corroded America’s infrastructure, institutions, and industries. A hypocritical flaunting of international law and an espousal of an ethereal rules-based order, coupled with an arrogant disregard for past U.S. crimes and blunders, have caused dozens of nations to flock to competitors – a movement away from America that will undoubtedly accelerate if we remain on our current militaristic path.
Moreover, decades of colossal military spending have witnessed few strategic gains for the U.S. Our military, often saluted as the world’s greatest by politicians, hasn’t won a major war since World War II. That same military annually faces significant recruiting shortfalls that cast considerable doubt on the integrity and staying power of the All-Volunteer Force. America’s legacy of failed wars is not redeemed by ongoing displays of vacuous military boosterism. Feel-good patriotism can’t suppress the bitterness many of us military veterans feel toward the past, nor does it calm the worries we have about our nation’s future.
Pope Francis has spoken of a “famine of peace” that exists in the world today. In this spirit, we call for immediate ceasefires, without conditions, in Gaza and Ukraine.
The surest way to prevent wars from exploding into uncontainable wildfires is to starve them of fuel. To think or speak that these conflagrations can be managed, adjusted as if by damper or thermostat, is a fool’s conceit or a liar’s word. We have been burned too many times in our professional lives to believe hot wars can be “won” by throwing more gasoline on them, whether rhetorically or in the form of cluster munitions, depleted uranium shells, and similar forms of “aid.”
A better path ahead is clear. Peace, not war, must be fostered. In embracing peace through diplomacy conducted in good faith, America would indeed exhibit the power of its example, becoming essential to a world that cries out for liberty and justice for all.
We are witnessing the obliteration of Gaza. The death toll has already surpassed 16,000 as Israel continues to pummel targets with American-made bombs and missiles. Even CNN is worried (from my email update this AM):
Top UN officials are warning of an “apocalyptic” situation in Gaza with “no place safe to go” for civilians as the deepening humanitarian crisis sparks international concern. Israel is expanding ground operations to the entire territory to “eliminate” Hamas and has told Palestinians to flee large swaths of southern Gaza, where many had previously sought refuge. But the war-torn region is in the midst of a near-total internet blackout as the last major telecommunications operator said services are completely cut off. This means many Palestinians are unable to communicate with one another or call for help while evacuating, and emergency workers can’t coordinate their responses.
Caitlin Johnstone has a telling article in which she states an important truth: Israel couldn’t be doing this without generous U.S. support. Israel is dropping the bombs, firing the missiles, and shooting the artillery rounds and bullets, but the U.S. is largely serving as the merchant of death for all this, though “merchant” is the wrong word. The U.S. is giving all this deadly weaponry to Israel as “aid,” even as there’s much rhetorical gnashing of teeth in Washington about Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing and wanton killing of Palestinian innocents, including thousands of children. I say “rhetorical” because as Johnstone notes, the U.S. government could curtail Israeli military action by turning off the spigot of arms flowing from U.S. arsenals and warehouses to Israel.
But that’s not going to happen. AIPAC has a hammerlock on Congress; those few members of Congress who’ve called for a ceasefire in Gaza are already being targeted by the powerful pro-Israel lobby, with AIPAC promising to spend upwards of $100 million to unseat those politicians who aren’t consumed by bloodlust against Gaza. The power of AIPAC is reinforced here by the MICC, the military-industrial-congressional complex that Ike warned us about in 1961, which stands to profit immensely from more war in the Middle East as well as Ukraine. The combination of AIPAC with the MICC is akin to Mechagodzilla, an almost unstoppable monster of immense power.
They create a desert and call it “peace”: Gaza turned to rubble
Godzilla in its various incarnations would be hard-pressed to duplicate the scenes of devastation we’re seeing in Gaza. Israel is practicing its own version of the infamous statement from America’s war against Vietnam: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”
The Israeli version: We had to destroy Gaza to save it from Hamas.
It made no sense in Vietnam, and it makes no sense today in Gaza. But this is not about making sense: it’s about power and vengeance and profit.
I had a great time this weekend with family, including my brother-in-law who’s a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. If I’m on the left, he’s on the right (whatever those often vague political labels may mean). Guess what we agree on? A lot, actually:
+ We both agreed the Iraq and Afghan Wars were disasters.
+ We both agreed $105 billion in more weapons and “aid” to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, etc. is a complete waste of money. We’d both rather see that money spent here in the USA, especially on America’s crumbling infrastructure. (“Crumbling” as a descriptor is inseparable from infrastructure here in America.)
+ We both agreed the government response to Covid was badly botched and that Anthony Fauci often lied to the American people. We both agreed government experts should have treated us like adults, admitting they couldn’t answer all the questions about Covid. We both think it’s more likely than not that Covid was a man-modified virus that leaked from a lab in China.
+ We both agreed Joe Biden isn’t the answer in 2024. My brother-in-law is open to Trump; I can’t vote for Trump for so many reasons. A minor disagreement, though we’d both like to see more and younger candidates, not a Biden-Trump rematch.
+ We both agreed a ban on assault weapons would do little or nothing to stop gun violence and mass shootings in America. There are already 20 million AR-15-type assault weapons in America; sorry, a ban won’t fix anything.
+ We both agreed the New England Patriots suck this year, but that Mac Jones isn’t solely to blame for an offense that simply can’t score points.
+ We both agreed Budweiser went well with our turkey and sausage gumbo.
+ We both agreed “White Heat” (1949) with Jimmy Cagney is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Top of the world, Ma. Jimmy Cagney at the explosive conclusion to “White Heat”
+ Finally, we both agreed we are immersed in Operation Ongoing Bullshit, a felicitous phrase my brother-in-law came up with. We are constantly being bullshitted by “our” government. I put “our” in scare-quotes because we agreed we have a pay-to-play government. Pay a lot, as in millions of lobbying dollars, you get to play a lot. Can’t pay? Too bad. You have no say.
Operation Ongoing Bullshit is one of the more honest names I’ve heard to describe what the U.S. government is usually up to. Right and left can heartily agree on this, I think.
Far too often, we’re told there are unbridgeable differences between right and left in America. Differences exist, of course, yet there’s so much Americans can and do agree on. To cite only one example, I think most Americans agree with James Madison that ongoing war (and ongoing BS, for that matter) contributes to the death of democracy. And also to our colossal national deficit, now in the neighborhood of $34 trillion.
There shall be no wall between the state and (my) church
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made news again by claiming the idea of a wall between religion and state in America is a “misnomer.” Johnson blamed Thomas Jefferson for the misnomer, stating that there is no Constitutional injunction separating church and state.
Of course, by “church,” Speaker Johnson means his church, a Christian one that is evangelical and nationalist. He didn’t mention freedom of religion in America, or Muslims or Hindus or atheists or Wiccans. Johnson, who’s said that the Christian Bible is his operating manual and his belief system, has only one church in mind.
Preacher Mike Johnson
Johnson sees himself as a Christian preacher. He should resign his position, take up the Bible and cross, and preach. Because he totally misunderstands the intent of the founders.
From its earliest days, the colonies were a haven for Christian dissenters, meaning those who didn’t kowtow to the establishment Church of England, which indeed was and is a state church. Among the founders were deists like Thomas Jefferson and non-theists like Thomas Paine. Not surprisingly in the “rational” Age of Enlightenment, America was founded on the notion of freedom of belief and tolerance of others and their beliefs, however imperfectly that tolerance was often practiced. (Few Americans, even today, for example, cop to being atheists, especially if they’re in politics.)
The colonists recognized that the conjunction of state power with organized religion corrupted both. They knew history, including their own, hence that “wall” that Thomas Jefferson spoke of. That wall wasn’t anti-church or anti-religion. It was erected to protect religion and personal beliefs from being tainted by state interests and power.
Preacher Mike Johnson wants to tear down that wall—as long as the state embraces and advances his version of Christianity and not any other version, or for that matter any other religion.
It’s a sign of the times that when America most needs talented and skilled leaders, it gets instead a self-admitted Christian zealot who takes his guidance from his particular reading of the Bible.
Can someone please tell Mike Johnson he’s Speaker, not Preacher, of the House?
Don’t worry, be happy about unaccountable weapons exports to Israel
Just in case you missed this story (courtesy of ReThink Roundup):
Biden’s secrecy on arms transfers to Israel unnerves some Democrats. As Palestinian civilian deaths mount, President Biden faces growing pressure from Congressional Democrats to publicly disclose the scope of U.S. arms transfers to Israel. Contrary to Ukraine military aid, for which the Pentagon releases recurring fact sheets about the U.S. arms transfers, the administration has not made public the quantities of weapons it is sending to Israel. The administration is also pushing for the authority to bypass notification requirements to Congress that apply to every other country receiving military financing, a move members of Congress and advocates have criticized.
I think Biden’s secrecy on arms transfers to Israel should unnerve all Americans, don’t you?
And why should Israel be the only country in the world where weapons can be shipped, funded by U.S. taxpayers, where Congress won’t be notified?
What is it about this shameless kowtowing to a far-right government in Israel? A government that is bitterly resisted by many Israelis? One led by Bibi Netanyahu, who has said that the idea for killing all Jews in the Holocaust came from an Arab leader rather than Adolf Hitler? Seriously, he said that.
Strangely, Netanyahu is a Holocaust denier in the sense he claims the idea came from Arabs rather than Hitler and the Nazis.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, Biden’s mostly likely opponent in 2024, is arguably even more virulent in his support of Israel and its attacks on Gaza.
All these U.S. government officials and candidates who love Israel so passionately should grab assault rifles, head to Gaza, and go down into the tunnels and root out Hamas. Put your mouth where you’re sending America’s money.
The Curious Case of Dean Phillips and the Democratic Party
I first noticed Dean Phillips, a Democratic Congressman from Minnesota, a few months ago. He started appearing on mainstream media shows like Meet the Press to suggest that Joe Biden might be a bit too old to run for reelection and that he, Dean Phillips, might be a viable option, a Biden 2.0, if you will. (I say Biden 2.0 because Phillips praises Biden and basically agrees with everything he’s done.) Subsequently, Mr. Phillips has announced a bid for the presidency, garnering notices in outlets like The Guardian and The Atlantic (the latter magazine is a neocon mouthpiece for establishment Democrats).
Biden 2.0? Congressman Dean Phillips (Wikipedia)
Whereas Democratic progressive challenger Marianne Williamson has been completely ignored by the mainstream media, Phillips has won considerable praise. Take this gushing beginning to a piece posted at the end of October at The Atlantic:
DEAN PHILLIPS HAS A WARNING FOR DEMOCRATS
By Tim Alberta
OCTOBER 27, 2023
To spend time around Dean Phillips, as I have since his first campaign for Congress in 2018, is to encounter someone so earnest as to be utterly suspicious. He speaks constantly of joy and beauty and inspiration, beaming at the prospect of entertaining some new perspective. He allows himself to be interrupted often—by friends, family, staffers—but rarely interrupts them, listening patiently with a politeness that almost feels aggravating. With the practiced manners of one raised with great privilege—boasting a net worth he estimates at $50 million—the gentleman from Minnesota is exactly that.
But that courtly disposition cracks, I’ve noticed, when he’s convinced that someone is lying. Maybe it’s because at six months old he lost his father in a helicopter crash that his family believes the military covered up, in a war in Vietnam that was sold to the public with tricks and subterfuge. I can hear the anger in his voice as he talks about the treachery that led to January 6, recalling his frantic search for some sort of weapon—he found only a sharpened pencil—with which to defend himself against the violent masses who were sacking the U.S. Capitol. I can see it in his eyes when Phillips, who is Jewish, remarks that some of his Democratic colleagues have recently spread falsehoods about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and others in the party have refused to condemn blatant anti-Semitism.
What a guy that Dean Phillips is! He’s earnest! A gentleman! Yet he’s tough too, ready to defend the Capitol armed with a pencil! He’s rich and Jewish and ready to take on his fellow Democrats, who are hesitant to condemn “blatant anti-Semitism”!
Maybe Phillips is simply on a quixotic quest, an ego trip, but I don’t think so. I think he’s been given permission by the Democratic establishment to run against Biden. In essence, he’s a younger, richer, Biden, a 2.0 version in case Joe falters in the next year.
Again, my guess (I stress “guess”) is that he’s been given the nod to run so that Democrats can say Biden does have challengers within the party, that the DNC supports democracy, while at the same time providing a viable backup in case Biden stumbles badly, whether due to advanced age or dramatically falling poll numbers.
If Biden remains relatively strong, Mr. Phillips will quietly slip away, with a couple of winks and perhaps a clap on the back from the DNC. But if Biden is behind catastrophically to Donald Trump next spring or early summer, Phillips may emerge as the Democratic version of Trump: not quite as rich, not nearly as radical, but the model of a successful businessman who allegedly knows how to fix America and put us all “back to work.”
In the person of Dean Phillips, the owners and donors are hedging their bets. With Kamala Harris and Mayor Pete not ready for prime time, Phillips could be the new Biden. The DNC most certainly prefers Phillips to a Democratic challenger like Williamson or (obviously) third-party/independents like Jill Stein, RFK Jr., and Cornel West.
Stay tuned, America. If Biden falters, Biden 2.0 is already ready to roll in the person of Dean Phillips.
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