Day: June 10, 2024

Why No Outrage?

How many times have you heard about Russia or China using trolls to influence everything from elections to phone carriers?

It is disgusting that cyber attacks go on a cowards way of dealing with controversy.

And yet when it comes to these attacks by Israel absolutely no one with the exception of NYTimes has nothing to say…..why is that?

Israel has spent millions on a covert and still-active influence campaign targeting the US public and lawmakers in an effort to boost support for its war in Gaza, according to reporting by the New York Times. Commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, the $2 million campaign allegedly involved Tel Aviv political marketing firm Stoic and dozens of tech startups, which were tasked with spreading pro-Israel messages. Starting in October, hundreds of fake accounts across X, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit began trying to rally support for the war in the US and Canada while dismissing claims of human rights abuses. The accounts were made to appear as if they were controlled by North Americans when, in fact, they were linked to Israel’s own government.

Public support for Israel’s war in Gaza has been falling steadily with reports of widespread bombing and civilian deaths. The operation, “the first documented case of the Israeli government’s organizing a campaign to influence the US government,” shows “the lengths Israel was willing to go to sway American opinion,” per the Times. It was an “irresponsible, reckless, and anti-democratic act,” says Achiya Schatz, executive director of FakeReporter, an Israeli watchdog group that first identified the campaign in March, per Politico. At least 128 members of Congress were targeted, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Politico reports, citing data from FakeReporter.

FakeReporter found the campaign had limited reach, with fake accounts gaining more than 40,000 followers. In a statement last week announcing it had disrupted the effort, Meta also claimed the campaign hadn’t reached a large audience. Many of the posts were crafted using ChatGPT. Some referred to antisemitism on college campuses and suggested Jewish people were being persecuted. Some included Islamophobic content, per Haaretz. The statement “I gotta reevaluate my opinions due to this new information” appeared across 118 posts. Some linked to fake news sites that shared material to promote Israel’s stance on the war, the Times reports. The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs has denied involvement.

(I must be doing something right for have one of these bastard trolls that comes to IST….he goes to Spam but he still tries to sneak in from time to time)

Interference in our government and we just shrug it off……why is that?

I realize that cyber attacks are common place these days….but if we are gonna go off and sanction or whatever lame ass response against say Russia or China why is Israel exempt?

We get butt hurt when other nations interfere in our elections and such then why do we turn a blind eye to Israel doing the very thing that we condemn others of doing?

Now we see who controls Congress and the Executive office…..don’t we?

I have About had enough of this preferential treatment Israel gets…..time to reassess our relationship with this country.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden Apologizes

WTF?

It seems that over last week the president set about apologizing to Zelensky for cash outlays delays….

Again I ask….’WTF?’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked President Biden for America’s support in his country’s fight against Russia—and Biden apologized for the six-month delay to the latest military aid package. “I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what’s going to pass in terms of funding because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass,” he said during their meeting in Paris on Friday. “Some of our very conservative members were holding it up. But we got it done finally.” Russia launched an offensive and gained territory in parts of Ukraine during the gap in funding from the US, the Hill reports.

  • “We’re not going to walk away.” “We’re still in,” Biden told Zelensky. “Completely. Thoroughly.” He added: “You haven’t bowed down. You haven’t yielded at all. You’ve continued to fight in a way that’s really remarkable,” per the Washington Post. “We’re not going to walk away from you.”
  • Zelensky pleads for WWII-style unity. Zelensky thanked US lawmakers for passing the aid package and called for unity, the AP reports. “It’s very important that in this unity, United States of America, all American people stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II,” he said. “How the United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe. And we count on your continuing support in standing with us shoulder to shoulder.”
  • Pointe du Hoc speech. Biden drew a parallel to Ukraine in remarks at a D-Day commemoration ceremony Thursday. He will make another speech in Normandy on Friday, at Pointe du Hoc, where Army Rangers scaled 100-foot cliffs on D-Day, the New York Times reports. Ronald Reagan delivered what was considered one of his most powerful speeches at the same spot 40 years ago. He praised the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” as the “champions who helped free a continent.” In remarks Biden is expected to echo on Friday, Reagan denounced isolationism, saying it “never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.”

Personally I do not see why an American president had anything to apologize for…..I mean Ukraine has gotten countless millions in cash and equipment….and the president apologizes?

There are countless programs in this country that would love to get uncountable millions….but it is far more important to keep some god awful war going.

Zelensky should be thankful for the assistance but instead he bitches that we and our allies have not done enough.

Personally I am disappointed that Biden felt he had to apologize for anything…..maybe using American ordinance to kill civilians if he must apologize for anything.

Then there was Biden’s Pointe du-Hoc speech where he invokes the words of Reagan on isolationism.

President Biden invoked the Army Rangers who scaled the cliffs on Pointe du Hoc on D-Day as he delivered a speech at the Normandy site on Friday, saying they’re “asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy.” He described how the 225 Rangers ran toward Nazi gunfire and clawed their way up the precipice after Nazis cut their ladders and ropes. The heroes of that day, Biden said, would want Americans to fight Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Europe. In 1984, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech in the same spot in Normandy, warning against American isolationism.

  • “As we gather here today, it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery that day, June 6, 1944,” Biden said. “It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. To hear them. Because they are summoning us.”
  • “They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs,” the president said, per CBS News. “But they’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for. They’re not asking us to give or risk our lives. But they are asking us to care for others in our country more than ourselves.”

(Seriously?  Care more for our country?  Is that why Ukraine and Israel get whatever they want and children go hungry in America?  Seriously?)

He threw out the hint of how bad isolationism is for our country…..while echoing Reagan….

Isolationism is the political and economic policy of avoiding involvement in international affairs. It is a strategy of protectionism which generally seeks to avoid economic entanglements with other nations. It is often used to protect a nation’s resources, economy, and citizens from the perceived dangers of international relations.

Isolationism is not synonymous with xenophobia, but rather a rejection of the idea that a nation must rely on foreign influence or support to remain strong. Examples of successful isolationist nations in modern history include North Korea and Cuba.

Wanting our money to remain here is not isolationism…for if you think that multi-national corporations will withdraw from the world economy then you are smoking crack.

Most opponents just want the US to stop or at least slow down the forever spending on forever wars….is that too much to ask?

On a side note:  Pres. Biden looks old and frail in his speeches….not a good look for his re-election push.

I have had enough of the tough talk….I want to see some action that illustrates the Congress and the president actually cares about the people of this country more that others.

So far I have not seen this at all.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”