Links and Notes for October 13th, 2023

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

Table of Contents

• Economy & Finance
• Public Policy & Politics
• Journalism & Media
• Art & Literature
• Philosophy & Sociology
• Technology
• Programming

Economy & Finance

The FTC Case Against Amazon Is Revealing the Extent of the Company’s Shady Market-Rigging by Rob Larson (Jacobin)

“From its early days, as Amazon moved beyond books into many other product categories, it was common practice for the company to use its software to monitor product prices at other retailers (like Wal-Mart and Target’s online stores) and automatically update its listings to match their prices. Able to monitor prices elsewhere online, Amazon’s growth left a great number of small enterprises in its wake, usually by copying their business models, underpricing them by making use of its monumental scale, and discarding competitors’ shriveled carcasses.”

“With all these costs, plus the need for small sellers to pay Amazon for advertising, Amazon takes nearly half of the revenue of third-party sales — 45 percent, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. These companies, many of whom built their business specifically to operate on Amazon, are utterly at the platform’s mercy.”

“[…] very early in his company’s history, Bezos said, “When you are small, someone else that is bigger can always come along and take away what you have.” You might think the moral of that is to have a level playing field, but Bezos clearly took the lesson to be that you must get big yourself so you can take what others have.”

As long as we make heroes out of these people, these are the kind of ethics our society will have. We get the leaders we deserve. The cream does not rise to the top—the dross does.

Bond market “rout” a result of major structural shifts by Nick Beams (WSWS)

“The scope of the selloff, which has seen yields on 10-year Treasury bonds move to around 4.9 percent (prices and yields move in opposite directions) is indicated in some calculations made by Bloomberg. It estimates that about 46 percent of the value of bonds with maturities of ten years or more has been wiped out in the market plunge. And 30-year bonds have lost 53 percent of their face value.”

““Ever since the Federal Reserve broke the inflation scare of the 1980s, Wall Street and Washington have shrugged off multitrillion dollar deficits, counting on America’s global standing to provide perpetual demand for its debt that could finance the spending. Now the steep decline in the prices of Treasuries—meant to be the world’s safest and easiest-to-trade investment—are forcing markets to confront the possibility that the rates required to place all this debt will be higher than anyone expected.””

“[…] the two conditions which determined the operation of financial markets over the past several decades—the endless supply of virtually free money to the financial and industrial corporations and the suppression of the class struggle—have been reversed.”

“There are a number of factors feeding into the operations of the market. First, there is the very size of the administration’s financing demands. More than $1.76 trillion of Treasury bonds were issued in September. As the WSJ noted, this was “higher than in any full year in the past decade, excluding 2020’s pandemic surge” with no decrease likely. Then there is the question of who will buy government debt. Banks have been a mainstay of the market, but they are starting to pull back.”

“A number of countries, including China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, are making efforts to lessen their dependence on the dollar in financing international trade.”

The Big Three’s CEOs are Ripping Off Their Companies by Dean Baker (CounterPunch)

“The most obvious explanation for the bloated CEO pay in the U.S. is that we have a corrupt corporate governance structure. It is obvious what keeps a check on the pay of ordinary workers. Management works very hard to ensure they are not overpaying assembly line workers, retail clerks, or administrative assistants. But who works to ensure that the company is not overpaying the CEO? In principle, that is supposed to be the job of the corporate board of directors. But for the most part, by their own account, reining in CEO pay does not even seem to be on their list of responsibilities.”

“In Europe and Japan, typically banks have a large stake in major corporations. This makes them long-term shareholders with a direct stake in corporate governance. They are well-positioned to ask whether they can pay CEOs less. In other words, they can act to put a check on CEO pay in the same way that management puts a check on the pay of ordinary workers. And that is why the pay of CEOs of major European and Japanese car companies is 10-25 percent of the pay of the U.S. CEOs.”

“[…] this excessive pay is not showing up in big returns for shareholders. To take GM as an example, its share price is virtually unchanged since it went public again following its bankruptcy in the Great Recession.”

“[…] excessive CEO pay is a major drain on the economy. CEO pay is not related to their performance, even measured narrowly as returns to shareholders. From the standpoint of those of us not in a position to benefit from the bloated pay structures at the top, it is simply a tax, and a very regressive one.”

Public Policy & Politics

Europe’s Leaders Are Lining Up to Support Israel’s War on the People of Gaza by Daniel Finn (Jacobin)

“The Israeli military has ordered more than a million Palestinians to leave the northern part of Gaza. It did not say when they would be allowed to return to their homes — if indeed their homes are still left standing after the Israeli offensive. A UN spokesman warned that the Israeli order would have “devastating humanitarian consequences,” turning “what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.” The Norwegian Refugee Council demanded that this “illegal and impossible order” be canceled immediately: The loss of civilian lives caused by deliberate or indiscriminate use of force is a war crime for which the perpetrators will have to answer. We fear that Israel may claim that Palestinians who could not flee northern Gaza can be erroneously held as directly participating in hostilities, and targeted.”

“Palestinians in Gaza are facing an impossible choice. If they leave their homes now, there is no guarantee they will be safe anywhere else, and no guarantee they will ever be allowed to return. If they stay where they are, Israel will claim that they voluntarily placed themselves in harm’s way as its military machine lays waste to Gaza.”

Site of Israeli retaliatory attack on Gaza

“Hamas took control of Gaza sixteen years ago. The median age for both men and women in Gaza is eighteen, and two-thirds of the population is under the age of twenty-four. According to Herzog, if they have not managed to overthrow Hamas by force — something Israel has been unable to accomplish with one of the world’s strongest armies — then they only have themselves to blame if an Israeli bomb or bullet takes their life. The statement is an unbridled declaration of war on civilians by Israel’s head of state.”

Even this ostensibly sympathetic treatment fails to write that “Hamas was elected”. While it’s true that they “took control”, they did so after having been elected to do so.

“Although von der Leyen is an unelected official, she is acting as if she possesses a democratic mandate to speak on behalf of the 448 million people who live in EU member states. Earlier this week, she issued the following statement as she ordered the Israeli flag to be projected onto the Commission headquarters in Brussels: “Israel has the right to defend itself — today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.””

God, Uschi is just odious. Just a great example of how awesome and conflict-free and equitable everything can be when women are in charge instead of men.

“In a particularly distasteful move, the coleader of Germany’s ruling Social Democrats, Saskia Esken, boasted on Twitter that she would be boycotting the launch of a book by Bernie Sanders because he did not “stand by Israel” to her liking. An American Jew whose family came from modern-day Poland, who was born while the Holocaust was taking place and lost close relatives in the Nazi death camps, thus has to deal with finger-wagging lectures from a German politician with no discernible record of achievement who believes that she has a better understanding of antisemitism than he does.”

Bravo. 👏👏👏 Beautifully put.

Palestinians walking through Gaza Strip on 14.10

The Savagery of the War Against the Palestinian People by Vijay Prashad (CounterPunch)

“Each of these attacks pulverizes the minimal infrastructure that remains intact in Gaza and hits the Palestinian civilians very hard. Civilian deaths and casualties are recorded by the Health Ministry in Gaza but disregarded by the Israelis and their Western enablers. As the current bombing intensified, journalist Muhammad Smiry said , “We might not survive this time.” Smiry’s worry is not isolated. Each time Israel sends in its fighter jets and missiles, the death and destruction are of an unimaginable proportion. This time, with a full-scale invasion, the destruction will be at a scale not previously witnessed.”

“Gaza is a ruin populated by nearly two million people. After Israel’s horrific 2014 bombardment of Gaza, the United Nations reported that “people are literally sleeping amongst the rubble; children have died of hypothermia.” A variation of this sentence has been written after each of these bombings and will be written when this one finally comes to an end.”

“The victory of Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement) was condemned by the Israelis and the West, who decided to use armed force to overthrow the election results. Operation Summer Rains and Operation Autumn Clouds introduced the Palestinians to a new dynamic: punctual bombardment as collective punishment for electing Hamas in the legislative elections. Gaza was never allowed a political process, in fact, never allowed to shape any kind of political authority to speak for the people.”

“The 1982 resolution “reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” You could not have a stronger statement that provides legal sanction for armed struggle against an illegal occupation.”

It doesn’t, though, allow war crimes, like targeting civilians. It’s not OK for anyone, neither Hamas nor Israel.

“Each time these Israeli fighter jets hammer Gaza, leaders of Western countries line up metronomically to announce that they “stand with Israel” and that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” This last statement—about Israel having the right to defend itself—is legally erroneous. In 1967, Israeli forces crossed the 1948 Israeli “green lines” and seized East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 sought the “withdrawal of [Israeli] armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” The use of the term “occupied” is not innocent. Article 42 of the Hague Regulations (1907) states that a “territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.” The Fourth Geneva Convention obliges the occupying power to be responsible for the welfare of those who have been occupied, most of the obligations violated by the Israeli government.”

US, European powers fully implicated in Israeli mass murder by WSWS International Editorial Board (WSWS)

“Since launching its savage onslaught on Gaza Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces have dropped 6,000 bombs weighing some 4,000 tons on the enclave. According to Palestinian health authorities, 1,417 people have been killed, half of whom are women and children, but the death toll is undoubtedly far higher. The AP released video of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, with a population of 116,000 packed into 1.4 square kilometers. The AP noted that the camp had been “razed to the ground” by Israeli airstrikes.”

“Just two months ago, nearly three thousand, predominantly Jewish public intellectuals from all over the world signed a letter under the headline, “Elephant in the Room,” which described the conditions that preceded the attack from Hamas. They referred to “the direct link between Israel’s recent attack on the judiciary and its illegal occupation of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Palestinian people lack almost all basic rights, including the right to vote and protest. They face constant violence: this year alone, Israeli forces have killed over 190 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and demolished over 590 structures. Settler vigilantes burn, loot, and kill with impunity.””

“A totally false, lying narrative is being concocted, according to which Israel is the victim of Nazi-style attacks from the Palestinians, who in fact have been oppressed and subjected to repeated bombardments and massacres for decades. The Israeli government and its supporters are seeking to exploit the Holocaust to justify their own genocidal crimes.”

“Joe Biden’s speech Tuesday, denouncing the Palestinian uprising as the expression of “pure unadulterated evil.””

That’s a really good first step to establishing the diplomacy required for a cease-fire…right?

“The Israeli onslaught on Gaza must be seen in the context of the escalating US-NATO war against Russia, the initial stage of world war. The imperialist redivision of the world will assume the form not just of conflicts between countries, but an ever more direct and violent war against masses of people. The ruling elites in all the capitalist countries, moreover, face an intersecting series of economic, social and political crises which they are seeking to divert through an explosion of military violence.”

German parliament in a war frenzy by Peter Schwarz (WSWS)

“The Bundestag gave the Israeli government carte blanche to take cruel revenge on the Palestinian population for the uprising in Gaza and promised to support it by all available means. It threatened with military retaliation all regional organisations and powers that dared to help the Palestinians and pledged to prosecute, punish, and suppress any expression of sympathy with the Palestinians in Germany.”

“For Scholz, brutal violence is only permitted when it originates from oppressors, not from the oppressed. The Nazis had once used similar arguments to denounce as “terrorism” and brutally destroy any resistance that came from partisans, Jews, or other victims of their murderous politics.”

“Omid Nouripour (Greens) said: “This is not about two parties in dispute. It is about a democratic state defending itself against sheer terror.That is why there is no equidistance, to anyone. We only stand by Israel’s side.” Dietmar Bartsch (Left Party) spoke of “a new dimension of terror” that “simply wants to slaughter Jews” and reaffirmed “our solidarity with Israel.””

The Spiral of Violence that Led to Hamas by Peter Singer (Project Syndicate)

“Hamas reportedly holds roughly 150 hostages, and has said that it will kill one every time Israel bombs a Gazan home without warning. Hamas leaders surely remember that in 2011, Netanyahu, as prime minister, was willing to free over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of them terrorists, in exchange for the release of a single captive Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Against that background, they may believe that Israel will not be prepared to sacrifice the lives of the hostages in order to achieve its military objectives.”

They would be wrong, I suppose. It looks like Israel is calling them on it, telling them to put their money where their mouth is. That they hope for a prisoner trade has been the expressed intent of the kidnappings from the very first statement by Hamas, but we can, of course, disregard their actually stated goals and reasoning and instead predicate the goals and reasoning we’d like them to have instead. It makes things easier, I suppose. Israel has thus far been quite tight-lipped about the hostages—it seems almost as if they’re already treating them as martyrs.

“When Hamas attacks Israeli civilians, it knows that this will lead to Israeli counterattacks in Gaza that are bound to kill and injure many civilians. Hamas locates its military sites in residential areas, hoping that this tactic will restrain Israeli attacks, or at least lessen international support for Israel.”

“How far Israel will go with its declared intention to deny electricity, fuel, food, and water to the two million citizens of Gaza, many of them children, is hard to know. What is certain is that Hamas’s brutal crimes do not entitle Israel to starve children.”

We know a bit more about how serious they are. They seem to be deadly, deadly serious about it. The first trucks went in—20 of them for 2.3m people—just yesterday, about 10 days after the shutdown. There were concerns about whether Egypt would try to smuggle weapons to Hamas amid the food and water supplies.

These are reasons that sound like they make sense until you realize that the alternative—doing nothing for days on end—probably meant the suffering and/or expiration of thousands of innocents, of children.

We have international treaties for a reason, but they’re not worth the paper they’re written on when signatories ignore the rules to which they’d agreed when it pleases them. They would, of course, like the rules to apply when they are in need, when they are being oppressed, but Israel, like the U.S., can no longer conceive of a world in which they would be on the back foot.

They’re not on the back foot now, not really, stop blowing smoke up my ass—so they don’t have to care if the whole international legal structure collapses. It doesn’t benefit them anyway. Just like for the U.S., these international agreements that what they now perceive as weaker leaders of the past having signed are just getting in the way of their plans, of their empire, of their colonialism.

If they would take a step back, they might be appalled to realize that they are being held back from doing horrific crimes by ethical and moral codes to which they in more clear-headed times agreed. In the current bloodthirsty atmosphere, such concerns are swept away before a sheet of red that obliterates all but vengeance.

“And now what? Restore deterrence? How, exactly? Self-punishment in the form of a renewed occupation of Gaza? A land invasion is difficult to imagine. The atrocious level of destruction and casualties this would entail is one reason, with the many Israeli hostages now in Gaza providing additional insurance. The risk of Hezbollah opening an additional front from Lebanon in the north is another. Hezbollah’s capabilities dwarf those of Hamas, and a two-front war, with Iran possibly backing Israel’s foes, is an apocalyptic scenario. This is exactly why US President Joe Biden warned Israel’s enemies “not to exploit the crisis.” To drive home the point, Biden has ordered the US Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean.”

Singer’s certainty here now seems unwarranted. It’s unlikely that Hezbollah will join the battle. Israel is already bombing Syria and Lebanon preemptively, something that they are presumably allowed to do without reprobation by the international community. They haven’t dared attack Iran directly yet, but I’m really wondering whether the reaction of Europe would even be negative. After all, Israel is allowed to defend itself, is it not?

They may force the point, by forcing the U.S. to put its money where its mouth is, following up with force on the side of a deranged, reckless, genocidal power that already had overwhelming superiority over its declared foe.

“Netanyahu’s machine of poisonous political disinformation is already at work disseminating a conspiracy theory according to which leftist army officers were responsible for the negligence that led to this dirty war. No one should be surprised that Netanyahu would resort to the infamous “stab in the back” narrative – a conspiracy theory also peddled by the Nazis in the 1920s and 1930s. How else could the inciter-in-chief explain his criminal negligence?”

“Israelis will question the conceptziyya that they can reap the benefits of a Western nation-state while being inured to the hardships their neighbors seek to inflict on them.”

The phrase “seek to inflict on them” seems a bit out of place considering the overwhelming power that Israel has. They are the only nuclear power in the region. They have managed to display a deranged, anything-goes approach to foreign policy in which no slight is ever forgiven, no matter how small, in which every slight is answered a dozen-fold.

No-one sane would attack Israel, knowing that it is quite likely that a mushroom cloud will rise over their capital city, rising silently to the applause of all European and American leaders. So, no, I don’t think the Israeli fear of invasion by its neighbors is to be considered very likely.

Naturally, Israel will take a page from Dick Cheney’s book, citing the 1% => 100% doctrine, rounding up a vanishingly small danger to a certainty that warrants preemptive attack—just to be on the safe side. It’s balderdash, of course, but it will be sold as a perfectly normal way to reason about things, a perfectly just way of handling the situation.

IMF Showdown with China in Morocco by Michael Hudson (CounterPunch)

“At issue is not only what countries will be the major beneficiaries of future IMF and World Bank loan operations, but whether the world will back US unipolar dominance or start to move explicitly toward a multipolar philosophy of mutual support to increase living standards and prosperity instead of imposing anti-labor austerity in an attempt to maintain a trade and investment system that is now widely seen to be dysfunctional and financially predatory US demands to use these two organizations as arms of its New Cold War policy.”

“A 15% veto is able to block any policy change. And ever since the inception of these two organizations in 1944-45, the United States has insisted in having veto power in any organization it joins, so that no foreign countries will ever be in a position to dictate its policy – while enabling it to block any policy that it deems benefiting other nations more than itself. Its 17.4% quota (and 16.5% of the vote) gives it veto power in the IMF.”

“No other country remotely approaches U.S. power. US strategists were glad to let Japan obtain the second largest quota, now 6.47 percent. That reflects not only its great industrial takeoff in the 1970s and ‘80s, but US confidence that Japan will be like a “second US vote.” (That is why it tried to add Japan to the UN Security Council. The Soviet delegate vetoed this, citing Japan’s role as a US political satellite.)”

“China is in third place, with 6.40%, closely followed by the weakening economies of Germany and Britain, thoroughly reliant on US gentleness as it imposes tightening US-centered dependency on their economies.”

“[…] the planned increase should not apply to “the emerging market and developing countries.” They are debtors and hence would support policies that help debtor countries recover instead of fall into deepening dependency on international bondholders and new US dollar loans from US/NATO creditors and the IMF.”

“In one sense, I wonder what all this kerfuffle actually is about. Who really cares what the IMF’s articles of agreement stipulate and what its staff recommends? We are no longer in a rule of law, but in a “rules-based order,” with US officials setting the rules on an ad hoc basis. This already had made a travesty of IMF rules and procedures.”

“The IMF’s recent loans to Ukraine have raised its borrowing to seven times its quota. The IMF no longer feels obligated to follow its articles of agreement, and quite openly acts as an agent of the US State Department and military to finance the US/NATO war against Russia and China (and really, of course, against Germany and Western Europe).”

“In addition to IMF loans to Ukraine violating its stated limits to member-country borrowing, it is lending to a country at war, also forbidden. And third, it violates the “No more Argentinas” rule that it is not supposed to make a loan to a country without some calculation that the country will be able to repay the loan.”

“Why should China help subsidize international organizations whose policies are adverse to those of China and its fellow BRICS+ allies? The World Bank is always headed by a US diplomat, usually from the military, and hopes to finance the US/NATO-backed alternative to China’s Belt and Road initiative. And the IMF’s neoliberal “stabilization” policies are anti-labor and hence most amenable to US client oligarchies, not the reforms that BRICS+ countries are seeking to put in place.”

Putin’s Valdai Speech, What You Need to Know by Ted Snider (Antiwar.com)

“The war started, according to Putin, when the United States “orchestrated a coup in Kiev in 2014.” Putin said that the U.S. “provoked the Ukraine crisis by supporting the coup in Ukraine in 2014. They could not fail to understand that this was a red line, we have said this a thousand times. They never listened.””

“In a recent essay , professor of international law John Dugard has said that it is neither clear what the rules of the rules-based order are nor “the method for their creation,” and has offered as a possible explanation of the rules based order that it is “international law as interpreted by the United States to accord with its national interests,” meaning whatever the U.S. needs it to mean in any given situation.”

My God! Yes! Fucking obviously! Stop wasting your time seeking to reconcile this obvious fact with America’s fairy tales about its own benevolence.

“It is often said in the West that Putin seeks to reestablish a Russian empire and reacquire vast territories, starting with Ukraine. Putin, though, says in contradiction to those claims, “The Ukraine crisis is not a territorial conflict, and I want to make that clear… [W]e have no interest in conquering additional territory.” He insisted, “This is not a territorial conflict and not an attempt to establish regional geopolitical balance. The issue is much broader and more fundamental and is about the principles underlying the new international order.””

“In response to the question of whether Russia objected to Ukraine joining the European Union, Putin responded that Russia had “never objected or expressed a negative attitude to Ukraine’s plans to join the European economic community – never.” He said that Russia opposes Ukraine joining NATO because NATO is a “military bloc” and a “tool of U.S. foreign policy.” But “the EU is not a military block,” and, as for “economic cooperation, or economic unions, we do not see any military threat.””

Gaza-Kommentare aus der US-Politik – Zwischen Morgenthau und ruandischem Hass-Radio by Jens Berger (NachDenkSeiten)

“In einem Interview mit Fox News stellte Haley zunächst einmal fest, dass die Palästinenser nicht nur die Feinde Israels, sondern auch die Feinde der USA seien, die sie – so Haley – genau so sehr hassten wie Israel. Ihre Forderung an den israelischen Premier Netanjahu: „Finish them! Finish them!“ Und damit meint auch sie nicht die Hamas, sondern die Palästinenser in Gaza; Zivilisten und Kinder eingeschlossen, und im gleichen Atemzug auch Iran. Nun müsse die USA eine klare Kante zeigen und zwischen „Gut und Böse unterscheiden“. Ansonsten würde Iran dem Vorbild der Hamas folgen und über die laut Haley ungesicherte Südgrenze in die USA (sic!) eindringen und dort das nächste 9/11 veranstalten. Da blieb sogar dem Fox -Moderator kurz die Spucke weg, bevor auch er in die wilde Verschwörungstheorie Haleys einstieg.”

“Zumindest von Seiten der Republikaner, die im US-Repräsentantenhaus bereits die Mehrheit haben, sie wohl im nächsten Jahr auch im Senat haben werden und die aller Wahrscheinlichkeit auch den nächsten US-Präsidenten stellen werden, scheinen die USA Israel grünes Licht für ein militärisches Vorgehen außerhalb des Völkerrechts zu geben. So sehr man auch die Aktionen der Hamas kritisieren muss und so sehr man natürlich auch Anteilnahme mit den zivilen Opfern Israels haben muss – was sich dort am Horizont zusammenbraut, muss ebenfalls scharf kritisiert werden.”

A Matter of Justice by Ray McGovern (Scheer Post)

““A more convincing swing at this issue was taken in an unclassified study published by the Pentagon-appointed U.S. Defense Science Board on Sept. 23, 2004, just two months later. The board stated: ‘Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the longstanding, even increasing support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf States.”

Israel’s Massive Intelligence Failure by Scott Ritter (Scheer Post)

“This reality was manifest in the words of U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, speaking at The Atlantic Festival a week before the Hamas attacks, when he optimistically concluded that, “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” adding that “the amount of time I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today, compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11, is significantly reduced.””

He had no clue. Way to keep your finger on the pulse, dipshit.

“[…] the fact that the U.S. had once again subordinated its threat analysis to Israeli conclusions —especially in circumstances where Israel saw no immediate danger — meant the U.S. did not spend too much time looking for indications that might contradict the Israeli conclusions.”

“Unit 8200 likewise has spent billions of dollars creating intelligence collection capabilities which vacuum up every piece of digital data coming out of Gaza — cell phone calls, e-mails, and SMS texting. Gaza is the most photographed place on the planet, and between satellite imagery, drones, and CCTV, every square meter of Gaza is estimated to be imaged every 10 minutes.”

“Denied the benefit of the contrarian approach to analysis put in place in the aftermath of the Agranat Commission, Israel set itself up for failure by not imagining a scenario where Hamas would capitalize upon the Israeli over-reliance on AI, corrupting the algorithms in a way that blinded the computers, and their human programmers, to Hamas’ true intention and capability. Hamas was able to generate a veritable Ghost in the Machine, corrupting Israeli AI and setting up the Israeli people and military for one of the most tragic chapters in the history of the Israeli nation.”

Slovakia’s Election Result Is About Declining Living Standards, Not Just Ukraine by Jakub Bokes (Jacobin)

“It was not, of course, “democratic Slovakia” that lost, but rather that part of the population which had disproportionately benefited from the political and economic reforms of the past three decades. Following the election, liberal commentators have lined up to express their disappointment and forecast a mass exodus of the young and educated. There is no doubt that Smer’s triumph will be celebrated most among pensioners, low-income workers in the country’s poorer regions, and those with limited access to political, cultural, and educational capital — the party’s traditional base.”

“[…] the Bratislava region — a region that has often been ranked as one of the richest in Europe — Smer came first in fifty-eight out of the seventy-two electoral districts across the country.”

“After three years of high inflation and falling living standards, Slovakia has a chance of having a stable social democratic government with a mandate to protect the welfare state. Should the next government fail to stop the erosion of the social safety net, this could pave the way for a return of an emboldened far right . Leftists need to choose their battles wisely.”

Washington’s Illegal, Immoral Meddling in Syria Faces Mounting Problems by Ted Galen Carpenter (Antiwar.com)

“There is little question that the presence of U.S. troops and armed contractors (mercenaries) is utterly illegal under international law. The Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, which is recognized by the United Nations and the vast majority of countries, never invited those forces to enter Syria. Moreover, Damascus has repeatedly demanded that they be withdrawn . U.S. leaders have flatly refused to do so […]”

“It is not a coincidence that northeastern Syria contains most of the country’s oil reserves, and that both the United States and the Kurds, Washington’s secessionist clients there, have profited handsomely from U.S. protection.”

“Such developments are not only an embarrassment for U.S. policy in Syria, it should be yet another source of shame. The United States has created a humanitarian catastrophe in that poor country in the name of trying to impede Iranian influence in the Middle East. Assad’s great sin was being Tehran’s close ally. U.S. leaders then became determined to oust him from power, no matter what the cost to the Syrian people.”

That’s also the ostensible reason why Israel bombs Syria, regularly and, of course, illegally.

“The effort to unseat Assad has resulted in hideous carnage, as well as the displacement of innocent people throughout Syria. In addition to the more than 300,000 Syrians who have perished in the fighting since 2011, some 6.8 million have become refugees.”

“Washington’s illegal and immoral military presence in Syria needs to end immediately. Unfortunately, the Biden administration exhibits no pangs of conscience, much less a willingness to change policy.”

The Last Planet on the Left: Climate Change as Rape Revenge by Nicky Reid (Exile in Happy Valley)

“There is a creature stalking the human race, a colossal ferocious beast with tentacles that lash every last corner of the globe, a pitiless monster the likes of which mankind has never encountered, and this thing is out for blood. Its methods are as brutal as they are efficient. Its weapons are as deadly as they are diverse. It will reduce entire villages to ash with blazing infernos and it will drown entire islands in the deep blue sea. It will erase ancient agrarian civilizations in the blink of an eye and engulf once fertile bioregions in billowing waves of towering sand dunes.”

“The story of a group of sadists who rape and murder two teenage girls only to find themselves at the mercy of one of their victim’s vengeful parents, Last House on the Left was actually a brutal statement about a nation who had willingly engaged in a genocidal war in Southeast Asia but was somehow mystified by the fact that their global campaign of ultraviolence had followed them back home in the form race riots and serial killings.”

“Solar farms, wind turbines and electric cars aren’t solutions to this rampage. They are shallow attempts to pay off our terrestrial victim with trinkets of silence so we can continue on with our debauched modern lifestyles and this bribery will only be met by more violence.”

“There exists no form of green energy on the planet that can adequately sustain our globalist, fossil-fueled superstate, our freeways and metropolises and world trade deals. That is because oil itself is not the problem, we are. This rapacious crime spree that defiled the planet began long before the automobile which has become its perpetrator’s weapon of choice. It began with the Agricultural Revolution. This is when human beings first began to take more from the earth than what we gave back so we could take more and more and more.”

“This doesn’t mean going green. This means going small. Drastically reducing our global presence by dismantling our entire multinational corporate infrastructure and returning to some form of sustainable village life. A world without highways. A world without skyscrapers or jumbo jets. A world without standing armies or the Westphalian nation state.”

“[…] we don’t need a Green New Deal, we need an Amish New Deal.”

Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: a Cold War Debate Re-ignites in Geneva by Daniel Warner (CounterPunch)

“As the Geneva Observer revealed, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Chinese are proposing a resolution to prioritize economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights ahead of the traditional Western civil and political rights. Beyond geopolitical and material confrontations, an ideological battle dating to the Cold War is being re-ignited over the universality of human rights and their implementation.”

We should admit that the possession of civil and democratic rights has been profoundly hacked. The most rapacious offenders against human rights can legally claim to be democracies. The goal was to be humane and fair with one another, to have justice. Democracy and civil rights are a mechanism. They are not working.

Inequality, hunger, and extreme poverty are at what should be considered to be unacceptably high levels in countries that shout their democratic credentials from the rooftops, all while building fiefdoms, monarchies, and feudalism under a veneer of freedom indoctrinated with a strictly controlled information and media environment.

“An exception to Western prioritizing civil and political rights has been the Australian N.Y.U. Professor of Law Philip Alston. The recent U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Alston started his 2020 final report with a damning critique of the failure to eliminate extreme poverty: “The world is at an existential crossroads involving a pandemic, a deep economic recession, devastating climate change, extreme inequality, and a movement challenging the prevalence of racism in many countries,” he wrote. “A common thread running through all these challenges and exacerbating their consequences is the dramatic and longstanding neglect of extreme poverty and the systemic downplaying of the problem by many governments, economists, and human rights advocates,” he noted. Long a champion of ESC rights, Alston visited the United States and the United Kingdom during his tenure, harshly criticizing both countries for their inaction to eradicate extreme poverty.”

The US Is Just As Culpable As Israel For The Atrocities Committed In Gaza by Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin's Newsletter)

“If there were two million Jewish people trapped by Christians in a giant concentration camp and placed under total siege, being told that half of them had 24 hours to relocate into the other half or be killed, nobody would have any confusion about what they were witnessing.”

“[…] the State Department has been circulating internal emails telling staff to avoid calls for peace, instructing them to refrain from using phrases like “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm.”

“Asked about progressive congressional members calling for a ceasefire, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “we believe they are wrong, we believe they’re repugnant, and we believe they’re disgraceful.””

Gay, black women can also not only support war crimes, but can be disgusted by people who don’t. You’ve come a long way, baby.

This Way for the Genocide, Ladies and Gentlemen by Chris Hedges (SubStack)

“Israel taught the Palestinians to communicate in the primitive howl of hatred, war, death and annihilation. But it is not Israel’s assault on Gaza I fear most. It is the complicity of an international community that licenses Israel’s genocidal slaughter and accelerates a cycle of violence it may not be able to control.”

Roaming Charges: Gaza Without Mercy by Jeffrey St. Clair (CounterPunch)

“Haaretz called for the immediate exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas: “No government, and certainly not the most reckless government in Israel’s history, has the right to traffic in the lives of innocent civilians and decide to sacrifice them on the altar of national pride. We must pay whatever is demanded, with no delays, no fancy maneuvering and no tricks.””

“Haaretz’s lede editorial, October 7, 2023: “The disaster that befell Israel is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister… completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession, while embracing a foreign policy that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians”.”

“Biden has ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to deploy near Israel this week in support of the country. That group includes the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy; and four Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers—USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt. One of the last times the US did this was during the Six-Day War, when the Israelis attacked and almost sank the USS Liberty. killing 34 US sailors and wounding 174.”

“Is there room enough in the Mediterranean for the armada of ships racing from the US and UK to support Israel against a captive population that doesn’t have a Navy? Wouldn’t they be better served rescuing migrants in unseaworthy dinghies fleeing the nations destroyed by NATO bombs? But aid here is only allowed for those who already have plenty. Recall that in 2010, Israel attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a group of six ships trying to break the naval blockade and bring humanitarian aid to the starving residents of Gaza. The Israeli navy forcibly boarded the Turkish ship MV Mavi Marmara. When some of the activists on board tried to fend off the Israeli commandos with iron rods, the Israelis opened fire, killing 9 Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American […]”

“Yes, there are two sides to this war. But only “one side” has an air force. Only “one side” has a Navy. Only “one side” has guided missiles. Only “one side” has phosphorous bombs. Only “one side” has tanks. Only “one side” has an air defense system. Only “one side” has nuclear weapons. Only “one side” controls the water supply, electrical power and food supplies of the other. Only “one side” has freedom of movement. Only “one side” gets $3 billion a year from the US government and an “unwavering” pledge to refill their stockpiles of depleted munitions.”

““History has no mercy. There are no laws in it against suffering and cruelty, no internal balance that restores a people much sinned against to their rightful place in the world. Cyclical views of history have always seemed to me flawed for that reason, as if the turning of the screw means that present evil can later be transformed into good. Nonsense. Turning the screw of suffering means more suffering, and not a path to salvation. The most frustrating thing about history, however, is that so much in it escapes language, escapes attention and memory altogether. – Edward Said, “The Screw Turns Again.””

…and nothing happened after that.

The Plan to Wipe Out Hamas by Seymour Hersh (SubStack)

“Over the past week Israeli jets have conducted around-the-clock bombing of non-military targets in Gaza City. Apartment buildings, hospitals, and mosques were torn apart, with no prior warning and no effort to minimize civilian casualties.”

“I have been told by an Israeli insider that Israel has been trying to convince Qatar, which at the urging of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a long-time financial supporter of Hamas, to join with Egypt in funding a tent city for the million or more refugees awaiting across the border.”

It’s Not The ‘Israel-Hamas War’, It’s The Israel-Gaza Massacre by Caitlin Johnstone (Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix)

“The mass media asked you to believe the Hamas attack was “unprovoked”. Then they asked you to believe blatant babies-on-bayonets atrocity propaganda. Now they’re asking you to believe Jewish kids were in school before dawn on a Saturday morning in Israel. Western journalism, folks.”

“Before engaging an Israel apologist in a debate about the ongoing Gaza purge, it’s probably a good idea to ask them to clarify whether there’s any amount of death and destruction Israel could inflict there that would cause them to stop supporting what Israel is doing. Is there a death count that they’d consider too much? How many dead Palestinian civilians are they willing to tolerate in this current operation? Tell them to give you a number.”

Israel Should Respond, Not React by Ted Rall

“Hamas’ October 7th operation was meticulously researched and planned. It is not even slightly likely that Hamas leadership did not foresee the Israeli response that we are seeing: a brutal bombing campaign followed by a massive ground invasion determined to replace the Hamas government with a puppet regime. Rule one of strategy: when you find yourself following a predictable set of actions, your enemy is winning.”

“Israel could turn the power back on, let food and water back in and beef up its lame security along its border with Gaza. It could treat the attacks as a police matter and demand that Hamas turn over suspects for prosecution. It could jumpstart negotiations to finalize a two-state solution, which everyone knows is the only viable long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It could embrace the wisdom of Nelson Mandela, who understood that a cycle of violence would never end unless one side, the side in charge that happened to be the African National Congress after he was elected president, declared amnesty so the country could move past apartheid. And if it finally did—after careful consideration—decide to invade Gaza, it could [do] so with full knowledge and understanding of what form of governance would follow Hamas.”

We Are Palestine’s Only Hope by T.J. Coles (CounterPunch)

“[…] in 2003, four former heads of Israel’s internal Shin Bet force issued a statement, that the continued torture of Palestine will only blow back against Israel: “We must once and for all admit there is another side, that it has feelings, that it is suffering and that we are behaving disgracefully … [Palestinian terrorism] is the result of the occupation.””

“The so-called Democratic administration of Creepy Joe Biden illuminated 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the white and blue of the Israeli flag. The Tory government of Great Britain, run by PM Rishi Sunak, projected the same onto both 10 Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament, as the neoliberal regime of France run by Emmanuel Macron projected the Israeli flag onto the Eiffel Tower. Perhaps sickest of all, the neoliberal Social Democratic Party of Germany, which has long abandoned its Marxist principles, run by Olaf Scholz, lit the Brandenburg Gate in the colors of the Jewish State.”

“The people of Palestine courageously practice non-violence most of the time. During the 2018 Great March of Return, for instance, Gazans peacefully demonstrated to the world that they have a right to end the blockade and to return to their homelands. Israel responded by murdering 223 and shooting healthy young males (mostly) in the kneecaps.”

Julia Salazar: Palestinians Deserve Liberation Because They Are Human by Julie Salazar (Jacobin)

“[…] the reason Palestinians deserve liberation is not because they are perfect victims. There is no such thing as a perfect victim. Instead, Palestinians deserve liberation because they are human. Internationalist solidarity means understanding that our collective liberation, as human beings and as working people across the globe, is incomplete as long as any of our neighbors are struggling for their own liberation. Acting on that solidarity means calling for our own government to stop fueling oppression and instability through military aid and hawkish diplomacy, and instead affirming the full and equal rights of Palestinians and Israelis.”

Israeli Intelligence Suddenly Able To Intercept Hamas Communications by Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin's Newsletter)

“It’s certainly possible that Israeli intelligence services are phenomenal at spying on Hamas communications, and it’s certainly possible that Israeli intelligence services had no idea Hamas was preparing its attack. It’s also possible that both are false. But it’s very difficult to believe they’re both true.”

No One Wants Independence by Freddie deBoer (SubStack)

“I said very clearly all that needs to be said about Hamas. Theocratic ethnonationalist movements are obviously completely incompatible with everything I’ve asked for. I just didn’t do that in the way prescribed by the current emotional moment, loudly, with performative anger. And I focused on the actions of the Israeli government, as I always do, because Israel is the dominant power and the only entity that can create the conditions necessary for peace.”

As it gives Israel green light for genocide, US prepares war against Iran by Andre Damon (WSWS)

“Friday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, “There is a risk of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north, and, of course, of Iran’s involvement… It’s why the president moved so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the Eastern Mediterranean, to get aircraft into the Gulf, because he wants to send a very clear message of deterrence.”

“In an editorial Sunday night, the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The Ayatollahs in Tehran need to understand that more than their terrorist proxies are at risk. They need to know that their nuclear sites and oil fields are also on the target list.” Echoing these points, Senator Lindsay Graham raised the prospect of a declaration of war against Iran, which he said he had discussed with the White House.

““I’ll introduce a resolution in the United States Senate to allow military action by the United States, in conjunction with Israel, to knock Iran out of the oil business,” he said. “Iran, if you escalate this war, we’re coming for you.””

Those are all quotes. The lunatics are truly running the asylum.

Fareed Zakaria GPS by Mustafa Barghouti on October 8th, 2023 (CNN)

“Today the whole West Bank is paralyzed by 560 military Israeli checkpoints. And these checkpoints were there during the last 30 years.

“We are suffering from a wall that is built on our land. The whole West Bank has been divided in 224 small ghettos, separated from each other. And the settlers are everywhere attacking Palestinians. You speak about right-wing government in Israel, already Israel is a right-wing government. Israel is already having fascists in its government.

“Smotrich described himself as a fascist homophobe. And that man Smotrich who is also a settler said that Palestinians have one of three options only, either to immigrate, or accept a life of subjugation to Israelis or die. This is the Israeli minister of finance. Netanyahu never negated these statements. And both Smotrich and Bibi (ph) said that their plan is to annex the West Bank.

“Can we stop what’s going on now? Yes, of course. All these Israelis who are now in Gaza can be released tomorrow, including everybody if there are civilians, also the civilians, even the generals of the Israeli army can be released if Israel also accepted to release our 5,300 Palestinian prisoners who are in Israeli jails. Including 1,260 Palestinians who are in jail without knowing why under the so-called administrative detention.

“They don’t know why they are arrested. They are not charged. Their lawyers don’t know why they are arrested and that is the life we have.

“Look, Fareed, we have lived all our lives under occupation. My father lived under occupation. My daughter is living under occupation. We want a time when we, the Palestinians, will be free.

“Hamas was not there 30 years ago or 40 years ago. But before that, we are all described as terrorists. Any Palestinian who struggles for his rights or for freedom is described as terrorist.

“And the question here, do we have the right to struggle for freedom? Do we have the right to struggle for real democracy? Do we have the right to have normal democratic elections which unfortunately Israel and the United States don’t support? I think we are entitled to that.

“But the unfortunate thing if we struggle in a military force (ph) we are terrorists. If we struggle in an unviolent way we are described as violent. If we even resist with words we are described as provocateurs.

“If you support Palestinian and you are a foreigner, they describe you as anti-Semite. And if you are a Jewish person, and there are many of those, who support Palestinian cause, they call him self-hating Jew.

“This should end. It doesn’t make sense. We should all have equal life. We should all have peace. We should all have justice and we should all live in dignity.

“The main way to achieve that is to end occupation, end the system’s apartheid that I am sure no Jewish person can be proud of. Time has come for that and time has come for justice and freedom. If we achieve that, there will be no violence and nobody will be hurt.”

Biden declares total support for Israel’s destruction of Gaza by Andre Damon (WSWS)

“The entire trip was a flagrant display of contempt for global public opinion. Amid mass protests throughout the region opposing Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians, Biden chose to deliver the most provocative statement he possibly could, making graphic and inflammatory allegations against the Palestinians, comparing them to ISIS and calling their actions “evil.”

“Biden spent the vast majority of his speech recounting alleged Palestinian atrocities, or praising the Israeli government, or describing how he would arm Israel. Just six lines mentioned the Palestinians, and those were focused on blaming them for being massacred by the Israelis.

“He began his speech with the declaration: “I come to Israel with a single message: You are not alone. … As long as the United States stands … we’re going to stand by your side.””

“Immediately after Biden left the country, Israel launched a series of airstrikes targeting Syria and Lebanon, both allies of Iran. Israel, which is intent on expanding the war, is doing everything possible to provoke a military response from Tehran. Any such response would be used by the United States to put into practice long-held plans for war with Iran.”

From Applauding Nazis To Backing An Actual Genocide In Under A Month by Caitlin Johnstone (Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix)

“The idea was never really to abuse Palestinians into accepting abuse, that’s just the cover story; the real goal has always been to abuse them to the point where you can justify eliminating them. To push an inconvenient people into an impossible corner and then when they push back hard enough say “Well, we did all we can and we learned you just can’t help these savages. They’re going to have to go.””

“Honey I took down the Ukraine flag to put up the Israeli flag, where should I put it?”

“Bottom drawer.”

“The one with the Black Lives Matter flag?”

“Yeah, just throw it on top.”

“It doesn’t fit, there’s too many other flags in there.”

“Throw out the MeToo one then.”

“Not the Pride one?”

“Whatever, I don’t care.”

“I’m always getting people calling me a Hamas supporter and saying I’m “spreading terrorist propaganda” these last two weeks. Before that I was a Chinese agent who was “spreading CCP propaganda”. Before that I was a Russian troll who was “spreading Kremlin propaganda”. I’m never just a person on the internet sharing her opinions, because any opinions which go against US information interests are “propaganda”.”

It’s Not a Hamas-Israeli Conflict: It’s an Israeli War Against Every Palestinian by Ramzy Baroud (Mint Press News)

“Israel was never a graceful winner. As the size of territories controlled by the triumphant little state increased three-fold, Israel began entrenching its military occupation over whatever remained of historic Palestine. It even started building settlements in newly occupied Arab territories, in Sinai, the Golan Heights and all the rest.”

“This changing reality meant that Israel could invade South Lebanon in March 1978 and then sign the Camp David Peace Accords with Egypt six months later.”

Incredible that no land concessions were extracted from an invading state.

“Many Palestinian intellectuals argue that “this is not a conflict” and that military occupation is not a political dispute but governed by clearly defined international laws and boundaries. And that it must be resolved according to international justice.

“That is yet to happen. […] Without actual enforcement, international law is mere ink.”

Israel Is Just A Nonstop Bombing Campaign With A Flag by Caitlin Johnstone (Notes from Edge of the Narrative Matrix)

“A guy stole my phone. Wasn’t sure where he was staying so I had to set fire to the entire neighborhood. A lot of people died, but it’s his fault for being where noncombatants are. He was using his neighbors as human shields. He is 100% responsible for their deaths, not me.”

“Israeli rightists are so bat shit insane that they literally assaulted and spit on the families of the Israeli hostages for trying to keep their loved ones alive.”

Is this true? Just recording the first time I’ve read of it. It’s possible—spitting seems to be quite a thing for some people. It’s quite provocative. I know it would drive me right around the bend.

“Electronic Intifada reports that an Israeli woman who was taken hostage at the rave on October 7 told Israeli media that she watched other hostages get mowed down by IDF troops who were firing indiscriminately on Hamas fighters.

““They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she told Israeli radio. “There was very, very heavy crossfire” and even tank shelling.

“This will never, ever be acknowledged. If they’re blaming Hamas for all Gazans killed by Israeli bombs, they’re sure as hell going to blame Hamas for Israeli hostages killed by friendly fire.”

“End the apartheid regime, establish equal rights for all, and all wealthy governments who’ve been backing Israel’s abuses pay so many reparations to Palestinians that they can live a quality of life so high it will be like the abuse never occurred.”

Illinois landlord murders Palestinian-American child: The product of US imperialism’s propaganda campaign by Patrick Martin (WSWS)

“In an interview on “60 Minutes” over the weekend, Biden said that Hamas’ October 7 raid “is as consequential as the Holocaust.” Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis’ “Final Solution” exterminated 6 million Jews, approximately 40 percent of the total world Jewish population at the time.

“The Hamas raid of October 7, which resulted in approximately 1,000 Israeli deaths, was the action of oppressed people who had broken out of a open air prison camp. To compare this to the Holocaust is a grotesque anti-Palestinian slander.”

The sitting president of the U.S., ladies and gentlemen. What an absolute eyesore of a person.

Media whitewashes own role in killing of Palestinian-American child by Wyatt Reed (The Grayzone)

“While corporate media and establishment politicians deliver performative displays of sadness over the lethal hate crime, Illinois State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, has pointed a finger directly at legacy media and US politicians for inciting the killing.

““Let’s be clear: This was directly connected to dehumanizing of Palestinians that has been allowed over the last week by our media and by elected officials who lacked a moral compass and courage to call for something as simple as de-escalation, as peace,” the Palestinian-American legislator told the New York Times.

“But just a few hours later, the quote had been heavily redacted. “This was directly connected to dehumanizing of Palestinians,” the new statement read — a rewriting which effectively erased Rashid’s condemnation of establishment lawmakers and media figures.

“That very same day, the editorial board of America’s so-called ‘paper of record’ published a piece originally titled “Israel Is Fighting to Defend a Society That Values Human Life” — a headline which was subsequently massaged to the less-hallucinatory “Israel Can Defend Itself and Uphold its Values.””

“Days after falsely claiming to have seen photographs showing Hamas beheading 40 Jewish Israeli babies – a claim the White House had to disown hours later – President Joe Biden claimed he was “shocked and sickened” by the young Palestinian-American child’s “horrific” killing. He avoided naming the child, however, and did not bother to meet his family.”

Former ambassador and Assange advocate Craig Murray detained under UK terror laws by Kit Klarenberg (The Grayzone)

“Murray told The Grayzone that British police warned him he would be committing a criminal offense and would be prosecuted if he refused to answer questions, answered untruthfully, deliberately withheld information, or refused to provide passcodes for his electronic devices. After his phone and laptop were seized for analysis, the interrogation began.”

Cool country you’ve got there, English folk. I wonder if that’s true, or if the officers were just trying to scare him into giving up everything? It’s not true in the states. You have the right to remain silent. I’m not so sure about Great Britain.

The rest of the article is interesting in that it goes on to examine the questions that the officers asked Murray, as if that’s material. They detained him for no reason other than that their government doesn’t like the things he says. You don’t have to go into detail explaining why their questions were particularly odd—any question they asked was unjustified. He’s a British national.

For example,

““My lawyer has never heard of such a question being asked during interrogations before,” Murray said, adding that “they speculate police have a surveillance photo of me in the proximity of someone they consider a ‘terrorist.’”

““I’ve no idea who that could be,” the outspoken human rights campaigner admitted. But, as he quickly observed: “If you attend a rally where 200,000 people are present, you can’t know who everyone is!””

Do you see how he’s trying to justify himself against accusations that are completely fantastical? That he has, in fact, made up for them? I’m shocked to see Murray so rattled that he bothers justifying himself here. Of course you can attend a peaceful rally. Of course you’re not responsible for any of the other protesters there. Of course “guilt by association” is a bullshit. Don’t give them the satisfaction of trying to prove their questions wrong. Their whole basis for even asking is wrong.

They took his laptop and phone and didn’t return them. That is theft.

“This April, British counter-terror police detained the French publisher and political activist Ernest Moret, who had led large protests in Paris against the neoliberal reforms of President Emmanuel Macron. Moret was detained under the same powers as Murray, then arrested when he refused to hand over passcodes to his electronic devices. He was ultimately held in British custody for almost 24 hours.”

“Anyone who has agitated the British national security state and plans on traveling to the UK may want to be careful what they keep on their devices. As one of Ernest Moret’s interrogators boasted to him, Britain is “the only country where authorities can download and keep information from private devices” forever.”

This is according to two laws named Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Wikipedia), the “National Security Act (Wikipedia), which was passed in July 2023”, and “Schedule 3, Section 4 of Britain’s 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Act (Wikipedia)”.

The Insane Idea That Nations Get To Do War Crimes Whenever Something Bad Happens To Them by Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin's Newsletter)

“Dropping military explosives on children is just as wrong now as it was on October 6th. Wars of aggression were just as wrong on September 12th 2001 as they were on September 10th. But there’s this idiotic belief in mainstream culture that a nation experiencing a traumatic event means it gets to go on a murderous rampage until it feels better.

“As soon as the Hamas attack occurred we were inundated with messaging from the western political/media class which conveyed the idea that because something bad happened to Israel, Israel now gets to do a little genocide, as a treat. This is stupid nonsense, and should be rejected by all thinking people.”

“If you saw your friend stumbling around with his car keys in one hand and a bottle in the other after losing his job, you wouldn’t tell him you stand with him and support whatever it is he’s getting ready to do. You’d understand that people can make unwise decisions after something bad happens to them, and you’d do what you can to help steer them away from it.”

“The death toll from Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza has already more than doubled the death toll from the Hamas attack, and we can expect it to keep multiplying because there’s no meaningful opposition to the bloodshed. The United States, who as an indispensable backer of Israel could end all this with a word, has refused to draw a single red line on what Israel may or may not do if it wishes to retain US support — even its indiscriminate use of white phosphorus, which violates international humanitarian law. War crimes are being committed not just openly but announced in advance as Tel Aviv commits itself to the collective punishment of Palestinians with a complete siege of Gaza, and Israel’s allies have no objection to this.”

There are two points here: Hamas blew its whole load on October 7th. There will be no more meaningful resistance now. Perhaps they will be able to launch some of their rockets (Norman Finkeltstein said he’d read claims that they have 100,000 of them), but they’re unlikely to hit useful targets, like chemical factories, that could do real damage to Israel. Gazans are buttoned down and will suffer what Israel sees fit to mete out.

The other point is that this is exactly what the major powers want to happen. They don’t green-light war crimes because they’re confused about what war crimes are. It’s because laws against war crimes are only there to be wielded against enemies. They don’t apply to anyone inside the circle of trust. If you’re useful to empire, then you get to do what you want. Empire will decide which laws apply to you based on your usefulness.

If you’re useful, you get a free pass to do whatever you like—and you never have to answer for it. If you’re not useful, or if you have something useful that empire wants without paying for it, you are forced to pledge fealty to empire, to mouth the words that it wants you to say, to “condemn” terrorists. To make nuance-free statements that are nowhere near to expressing your actual beliefs.

The article International Hypocrisy: The U.S., Once Again, Leads the Way by Robert Fantina (CounterPunch) contains many interesting citations from “Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K., Husam Zumlot” from his interview on BBC News.

“How many times have you interviewed Israeli officials (question by Ambassador Zumlot to the interviewer)? How many times? Hundreds of times. How many times has Israel committed war crimes, live, on your own cameras? Do you start by asking them to condemn themselves? Have you? You don’t.”

“You know why I refuse to answer that question (why he won’t condemn Hamas for its violence of last week)? Because I refuse the premise of it. Because at the very heart of it is misrepresentation of the whole thing. Because it is the Palestinians who are expected to condemn themselves.”

“You bring us here whenever Israelis are killed. Did you bring me here when many Palestinians in the West Bank, more than 200 over the last few months (were killed)? Do you invite me where there are such Israeli provocations in Jerusalem and elsewhere?”

The only time you will be given a voice is to say things that empire wants. Empire cannot learn new things from you because it already knows everything there is to know. It knows that it is Empire and that you are not. What could it possibly learn from you? Your only job is to say the things that Empire wants you to say when it wants you to say them in order to enjoy a slight benefit, to bask in the warm, though oft wan and temporary, beneficence of Empire, to not lose your livelihood, your home, your family, your life. This is the implicit bargain of living with Empire—the implied threat for non-compliance is always destruction of everything you hold dear. Empire doesn’t care because it doesn’t cost Empire anything, whereas it amuses Empire to throw your pitiful life away for its purposes, for its own enrichment, even if it’s a total waste—it still feels good to use its power.

And don’t go looking for consistency. Superficially, there is none. Bianca Graulau writes, “Filter the propaganda through this lens: the US empire will always choose sides based on its own interests.” That is 100% the correct context within which to process information coming from the Empire.

More long-windedly, but still worth quoting, Fantina writes,

“The U.S. isn’t interested in human rights, international law or self-determination. Certainly it has no interest in peace in the Middle East. It is interested in power over the entire world and the profits that that power will bring them. So what if its hands are dripping with the blood of Palestinian children? Biden cares no more about that than George Bush cared about the blood of Iraqi children. No, the geopolitical goals of the U.S. are always front and center. Human rights and international law are nowhere on the U.S. list of priorities.”

This has been obvious for the long part of my lifetime during which I’ve paid attention to international affairs, with a focus on the affairs of Empire. It is of no value to listen to what Empire says; you must watch what Empire actually does.

Is It Fascism Yet? Neoliberalism is Killing the Poor by Rob Urie (CounterPunch)

“Most Americans likely imagine that life expectancy is about the same for all of us, made variable by ‘lifestyle choices.’ In fact, the rich live about fifteen years longer than the poor in the US due to a combination of having nutritious food to eat, receiving adequate healthcare, including dental, and having lower levels of stress. The TED Talk fantasies about new lifesaving medical technologies provide cover for a healthcare system that has the worst outcomes in the developed world. Most Americans would be stunned at how little regulation is applied to medical devices. Many ordinary procedures have zero empirical research to support them. They are make -work programs for medical scamsters.”

“The point is that the Liberal distinction between passive and active violence makes more sense to the well-to-do than to the poor. If the world doesn’t owe us a living, then why the persistence of class? Some people are born with a living provided while most aren’t. Those who aren’t face exponentially higher levels of explicit violence than those who are. The levels of implicit violence— hunger, homelessness, and the social exclusion that un- and under-employment cause, place the US in 2023 in a special category amongst ‘rich’ nations. We were dying needlessly by the thousands. Now we are dying needlessly by the millions.”

“When a slumlord can buy a house for $75K and illegally rent it out for $24,000 per month, they earn a return of 32% per month on their initial ‘investment.’ And what precisely does the term ‘earn’ mean here? Once the house has been purchased, very little more is required of a slumlord than to collect the rent. To the extent that maintenance is required, it is the neighbors who do it or it doesn’t get done.”

“[…] when my liberal friends speak of their fears of fascist violence, I don’t disagree with their concerns. But consider, that poor people live fifteen years fewer than rich people in the US (graph above). Poor people tend to live in food deserts where nutritious food is unavailable. Many of my neighbors have been refused by doctors who won’t take their health insurance. Obamacare requires an address, telephone, computer, internet access, and spreadsheet skills to choose a policy on which premiums must be paid but coverage remains at the whim of insurers. What are inconveniences for those with resources are life and death struggles for the poor.”

You only have the luxury to worry about overt fascist violence when you’re not already dying by a thousand cuts.

“Having spent twenty-five years using math and statistics to perform economic research, the number of Americans dying from preventable illnesses, so-called ‘excess deaths,’ has been at genocide levels since the onset of the Great Recession. Use of the term ‘genocide’ here would be inflammatory if it had no basis. But it does. The large numbers of people dying aren’t random throughout the population. They are poor.”

“The Liberal contention that this sort of violence may be regrettable, but it isn’t political, depends on the dubious distinction between economic and political power. But the systematic nature of the violence suggests otherwise. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden passed the 1994 Crime Bill that increased mandatory prison sentences while it made appeals for wrongful convictions virtually impossible to win. Joe Biden claimed to have written the Patriot Act, which ended restraints on police behavior toward the population. These aren’t considered to be failures by Liberals; they are considered to be successes. Just ask Hillary.”

American Liberals are useless. They don’t understand the slightest thing about the moral underpinnings of their empty ethics. They don’t care about actually making life better for everyone. They care foremost about being right and always having been right, as well as for their own ability to enjoy the luxuries of an advanced quality of life, one that could be provided to all, were we in post-capitalist communist luxury, but we’re not, so it’s just a lucky few who get it, and think that they’ve earned it with more than just being spectacular bastards or having benefitted from the earnest striving of a spectacular bastard.

“[…] the problems in my neighborhood aren’t evidence of neoliberal failure, they are evidence of neoliberal success. American oligarchs put their servants in government to the task of deindustrializing the nation, and they did so. Why? To break the back of organized labor as they avoided environmental regulations and the payment of taxes. Up until about two weeks ago the news had it that Americans are living in the greatest economic boom in modern history. While my homeless friends may beg to differ, no one is asking their opinion.”

“[…] these aren’t Liberal failures, they are Liberal successes in the sense that they are the outcomes that American Liberals and their sponsors legislated to make happen. Four to six million excess deaths before the Covid pandemic hit were caused by the neoliberal healthcare system that Liberal Democrats created. Twelve and one-half million citizens are likely to be permanently disabled by Long Covid due to the Biden administration’s Covid policies. If Liberals want to claim criminal stupidity, okay. That has been my theory for a long time.”

“I share the fear of political violence emerging from a second Trump administration, but what part of the prior seven pages didn’t you read? The bodies are piling up in my neighborhood right now. The Liberal city government has followed the national Democrat’s model by firing one-third of the fire department so the City Manager could give himself a fat raise. Since then, the city government has ended the dissemination of public information regarding the shootings, apparently to protect investors […]”

Journalism & Media

Hamas Clarifies They Meant To Start The Type Of War Where They Get To Do Whatever They Want And No One Fights Back (Babylon Bee)

There are many more irony-free and completely non-self-aware headlines from the Babylon bee like this one these days. A good satirist would somehow note that this is literally how Israel was acting two weeks ago.

In the same vein, a usually reasonable and judicious Eugene Volokh goes all-in on Jews == Israelis and writes in a libertarian magazine that Some Cancellations are Justified by Eugene Volokh (Reason). Hey, cool, that’s what liberals/progressives think too! Nice to see you all have so much in common.

At the same magazine, you’ve now got the already idiotic Ilya Somin arguing that the problem is that Israel has been taking it too easy easy on the Palestinians in the article Hamas Attack Should Teach Us the Folly of Hostage Deals with Terrorists by Ilya Somin (Reason). Some people’s bloodlust is never slaked.

I can’t even read Scott H. Greenfield lately because he’s literally babbling in every article, as if he’d sustained a grievous head injury. For example, Short Take: The Death of “But For Video” by Scott H. Greenfield (Simple Justice) is only about how things that people allege that Hamas has done are all true, even without any proof. When he needs horrific things to be true in order to justify the horrific things his “side” is perpetrating and will perpetrate, when his usual adherence to evidence is right out the window. And he doesn’t even seem to notice it.

I can’t imagine writing a comment gently trying to remind him of his former adherence to a higher standard, when the victims weren’t Jewish. One person tried by writing “Is there any place for genuine discussion about Israel’s misdeeds in the current situation?” to which Greenfield riposted in what he clearly assumes is a manner that he wears well, “There is a place for that discussion: a sophomore critical studies classroom. Just not among reasonable or knowledgeable people.” I.e., anyone who mentions ongoing or upcoming Israeli war crimes or tries to contextualize is sophomoric, a child, neither reasonable nor knowledgable, unlike Greenfield, whose opinions are so unimpeachable as to be fact. It’s his blog, but man, I miss the reasonable guy who used to run it rather than the Zionist maniac who’s running it now.

Like the Babylon Bee, he seems completely unable to see the irony of his statements, as they would apply to Israel just as well as to Hamas, e.g., from a comment of his, “It’s unclear whether or how many babies were beheaded although there is no question that they beheaded adults. After all, murdering babies by shooting, burning, dismembering or otherwise is totally less barbaric.”

These people are ordinarily capable of talking about justice in relatively detached terms, when it doesn’t involve them or “their people”. Now that Israel has been attacked, they literally throw all of their principles out the window and start to bend over backwards to justify genocide or to simply not care about proof, or whatever. The point is that they are incredibly hypocritical.

Grinding for Elon bucks by Ryan Broderick (Garbage Day)

“These replies are just galleries of refried edgy memes with no coherent theme, posted by scammers and weirdos, surrounded by ads for brands I’ve never heard of and products that probably don’t exist, with poorly-aggregated headlines sitting next to them on the sidebar. It’s 9gag. Elon Musk paid $44 billion to make 9gag. And his big plan to improve it, according to Fortune this week, is to start charging new users $1 a year to use it.”

Art & Literature

Spores by Justi Smith-Ruiu (Hinternet)

“See Judith Jarvis Thomson, “A Defense of Abortion,” Philosophy & Public Affairs 1/1 (1971): 47-66. “[S]uppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You don’t want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective, and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house?””

Philosophy & Sociology

Statement: The Russell-Einstein Manifesto on July 9th, 1955 (Pugwash)

“Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful, and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race: or shall mankind renounce war? 1 People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish war. The abolition of war will demand distasteful limitations of national sovereignty. 2 But what perhaps impedes understanding of the situation more than anything else is that the term “mankind” feels vague and abstract. People scarcely realize in imagination that the danger is to themselves and their children and their grandchildren, and not only to a dimly apprehended humanity. They can scarcely bring themselves to grasp that they, individually, and those whom they love are in imminent danger of perishing agonizingly. And so they hope that perhaps war may be allowed to continue provided modern weapons are prohibited.”

“Whatever agreements not to use H-bombs had been reached in time of peace, they would no longer be considered binding in time of war, and both sides would set to work to manufacture H-bombs as soon as war broke out, for, if one side manufactured the bombs and the other did not, the side that manufactured them would inevitably be victorious.”

“There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.”

Interesting by Apen Warr

“When you encounter evidence that your mental model mismatches someone else’s model, that’s an exciting opportunity to compare and figure out which one of you is wrong (or both). Not everybody is super excited about doing that with you, so you have to be be respectful. But the most important people to surround yourself with, at least for mental model purposes, are the ones who will talk it through with you.”

“Analysis paralysis is no good when a tiger is chasing you and you’re worried your preconceived notion that it wants to eat you may or may not be correct.”

“[…] almost always, it’s better to get everyone aligned to the same direction, even if it’s a somewhat wrong direction, than to have different people going in different directions. To be honest, I quite dislike it when that’s necessary. But sometimes it is, and you might as well accept it in the short term.”

“You know what’s even worse (and more embarrassing, and more expensive) than being wrong? Being wrong for even longer because we ignored the evidence in front of our eyes.”

“Some days it feels like most of the Internet today is people “debating” their weakly-held strong beliefs and pulling out every rhetorical trick they can find, in order to “win” some kind of low-stakes war of opinion where there was no right answer in the first place.”

“What’s really useful, and way harder, is to find the people who are not interested in debating you at all, and figure out why.”

Worse 2 by Zack Weinersmith (SMBC)

SMBC: Worse 2

“Batman: I’m just out here fighting obvious bad guys[, which] gives the public the impression that good civic life is a matter [o]f pointing out who is obviously bad then taking any action that thwarts them.

“But the real origin of most human suffering is diffuse things like scarcity, ignorance, and our latent tendency to intergroup animosity.

“The only solution to those things is trustworthy, widely-venerated institutions and norms, things like service clubs, a free press, engaged citizens, and deliberative bodies responsible to a well-educated public.

“If everyone believes an individual large rich man can and should fix it, they not only vacate their responsibility to personal involvement, they come to believe anyone who can’t heal the world in a way that is clear, fast, and amusing to watch must be a coward or a cheat.”

Going off-script by Drew DeVault

“Of course, it is entirely valid to want the “scripted” life. But you were not asked if you wanted it: it was just handed to you on a platter. The average person lacks the philosophical background which underpins their worldview and lifestyle, and consequently cannot explain why it’s “good”, for them or generally.”

You are brainwashed/indoctrinated into wanting those things. Ostensibly for the good of society, but practically for the good of the ruling elite.

“This approach to life favors the status quo and preserves existing power structures, which explains in part why it is re-enforced by education and broader social pressures. It also leads to a sense of learned helplessness, a sense that this is the only way things can be, which reduces the initiative to pursue social change – for example, by forming a union.”

“Ask yourself: who are you? Did you choose to be this person? Who do you want to be, and how will you become that person? Should you change your major? Drop out? Quit your job, start a business, found a labor union? Pick up a new hobby? Join or establish a social club? An activist group? Get a less demanding job, move into a smaller apartment, and spend more time writing or making art? However you choose to live, choose it deliberately. The next step is an exercise in solidarity. How do you feel about others who made their own choices, choices which may be alike or different to your own? Or those whose choices were constrained by their circumstances? What can you do together that you couldn’t do alone? Who do you want to be? Do you know?”

The path to solidarity leads through examination of the ego?

Technology

The Dead Internet To Come by Robert Mariani (New Atlantis)

“in 2016, panic over fake news and Russian “troll farms” emerged, which somehow continue to be taken seriously as an explanation for how Donald Trump became president. During the 2020 presidential campaign season there was hysteria about an impending wave of deepfake videos that would jeopardize the election; this hysteria unceremoniously died when the election was resolved in a way the alarmists liked.”

“The good news is that these machines are not intelligent, and, the fears of otherwise-smart people aside, a terminator apocalypse will require something entirely different from GPT-4. The bad news is precisely that it doesn’ t need to be intelligent to pass our tests; it passes because our tests are dumb and we’re gullible.”

“LLM chatbots are rapidly proliferating and the Dead Internet Theory is dangerously close to being vindicated as the Dead Internet Prophecy, because the idiots behind search-engine-optimized spam websites and the bot accounts in your Instagram are about to get superpowers.”

“The elderly are scammed out of their savings with alarming frequency by bots telling credible-sounding fake stories, sometimes over the phone; many old people are unable to accept that they weren’t communicating with a real person. This combines with age-related illnesses to form an entirely new kind of mental health crisis for a demographic fundamentally unequipped to navigate the era’s strange gradients of truth, which even the legal system struggles with.”

“Malicious actors employ AI bots to generate convincing synthetic media of individuals engaging in compromising or illegal activities. These fabrications are then used to extort, blackmail, or ruin professional reputations. Actual wrongdoers are able to use deepfakes as an evergreen excuse, and separating honest and dishonest people becomes a matter of tribal alignment more than ever before.”

“A game changer could be an “everything subscription” — the tech giants could go in on a consortium that allows users to pay a few dollars a month to gain verified access to every major platform.”

This will never exist, or, if it ever does, it will be priced out of range of most people, and definitely out of range of nearly all people who could benefit from it the most.

“ChatGPT is the Star Trek computer we’ve been waiting for — a search engine that gives us answers rather than ad spam — and its descendants will change the world in ways we cannot yet imagine.”

Bullshit. It will change to deliver adspam as well. People are just wicked shitty at prompt engineering. They never learned to really use search engines, which have vastly more features than most people are aware of—and yet most prompts are just something along the lines of “Jenifar Lawrenz Biibyz”.

What’s New in Unicode 15.1 & Emoji 15.1 by Keith Broni (Emojipedia)

'Family' Emojis

Am I the only one that thinks bad thoughts when he sees, for example, the third emoji in this list? I know that they think it’s a parent with a child, but does that not look like a gender-neutral blowjob to you? You won’t be able to unsee it, either. In fact, I can’t look at any of the four pictures and see “family”. Look at the second one! That’s two people “sharing”! How does the emoji committee not see this? Or maybe they do! Maybe they’re making emojis for “three-way” (the first two), “blowjob” and “swinging”.

Oh, and apparently there are a bunch of characters important for “China’s mandatory GB 18030 standard” and there are a bunch of emojis for people in wheelchairs, with canes and stuff, which I guess is good…but I can’t get past these “family” emojis.

Programming

LSP could have been better (matklad)

“LSP papers over this fundamental loss of causality by including numeric versions of the documents with every edit, but this is a best effort solution. Edits might be invalidated by changes to unrelated documents. For example, for a rename refactor, if a new usage was introduced in a new file after the refactor was computed, version numbers of the changed files would wrongly tell you that the edit is still correct, while it will miss this new usage.”

“The Dart model is more flexible, performant and elegant. Instead of highlighting being a request, it is a subscription. The client subscribes to syntax highlighting of particular files, the server notifies the client whenever highlights for the selected files change. That is, two pieces of state are synchronized between the client and the server: The set of file the client is subscribed to The actual state of syntax highlighting for these files.”

“I think the idea behind the rider protocol is that you directly define the state you want to synchronize between the client and the server as state. The protocol then manages “magic” synchronization of the state by sending minimal diffs.”