Day: June 11, 2024

Assault On Free Speech

The country and most of the world is voicing its disapproval of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza….protests have erupted all over the US mostly lead by university students and it has begun to spill over in the general public (shades of the 60s and 70s).

Congress has taken up these protests by making it against federal statues to voice an opinion or carry out a boycott….in other words they are trying to silence the voices of dissension.

What is driving this assault on free speech?

It should be no surprise that so much of the Congress’s attention in recent months has been devoted to the alleged dangers of people saying things and reading things. The foreign policy establishment in the US has been increasingly pushing for ever more US involvement in Ukraine and the Middle East while agitating for a new Cold War with China. As war fervor spreads, freedom always fades. 

Fortunately, there is growing voter opposition to US involvement in these active war zones, and regime agents have been unable to whip the taxpayers into a paranoid hysteria with the ease of decades past. The old bipartisan consensus supporting whatever new war the regime cooked up appears to be disappearing. Support for various wars is now a highly partisan issue. For example, a majority of polled Republicans say the US regime gives “too much” aid to Ukraine, and there is an active faction of Republicans in the Congress opposed to ongoing US involvement in that ten-year-old dispute. Meanwhile, support for the State of Israel’s mass-murder campaign in Gaza is in free-fall among Democrats. According to Gallup, 75 percent of Democrats oppose Tel Aviv’s current military campaign. (Notably, 60 percent of “independents” also oppose Israel’s war in Gaza.)

From the perspective of the neoconservatives and other foreign-policy “elites” in Washington, this is all awful news, and something must be done. That “something” turns out to be attacks on freedom of speech and independent media. Apparently, it is not enough that the federal government collude with social media corporations to fight “disinformation” and other opinions not approved by the regime. It is also “necessary” that the War Party insert into federal law new presidential powers over media outlets. 

https://mises.org/mises-wire/war-hysteria-fuels-new-attacks-free-speech

Making it an offense to criticize Israel is just BS….the criticism can be stated without it being linked to religion….but that matters not when AIPAC is paying these slugs in DC to protect them from criticism.

I will not be silenced….you do what you like but until Israel starts acting like a responsible nation then I shall continue my writings.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is This A Step Forward?

The carnage has been raging in Gaza since October and in that time there have been many calls for a ceasefire to get humanitarian aid to the civilians that are starving and in need of medical assistance.

Finally a glimmer of hope…..I did say a ‘glimmer’.

The US achieved a rare victory at the United Nations on Monday, when the Security Council endorsed the three-phase peace plan that begins with a ceasefire in Gaza. The vote was 14-0; Russia abstained but did not block the measure. The move adds to the international pressure on Israel and Hamas to end the fighting, the New York Times reports. The resolution states that Israel has accepted the US-backed plan’s terms and urges Hamas to do so, per the BBC. “Israel has already agreed to this deal,” US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, per the Hill, “and the fighting could stop today if Hamas would do the same.”

Israel’s acceptance has been muddied, though, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying publicly that the attacks on Gaza shouldn’t stop before Hamas’ military capability is destroyed and all hostages are released. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Netanyahu on Monday to lobby for the ceasefire, and he was in Egypt earlier in the day to build support for it. “My message to governments throughout the region is: If you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say yes,” Blinken said in Cairo.

Hamas released a statement after the vote welcoming such provisions as a prisoner exchange and reconstruction in Gaza. Russia’s ambassador complained that the Security Council doesn’t know exactly what the US has agreed to with Israel. The US asked the council to take its word that Netanyahu’s government accepts the terms, declining to spell that out in the wording. Despite that issue, Vasily Nebenzya said Russia abstained because the plan had broad support among Arab countries, per the Times

Keep in mind I did say a ‘glimmer of hope’.

But for those that keep a shut mind here is the full text of a plan announced by Biden.

This framework’s purpose is the release of all civilian and military Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip whether living or not whom have been detained during all periods in exchange for a number that will be agreed upon of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, and restoring a sustainable calm which would achieve a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction of Gaza, opening of the border crossings, and facilitating movement of people and transfer of goods.

The framework agreement is made of 3 stages which are interconnected, subject to the following:

The First stage (42 days):

1. Temporary cessation of military operations by both Parties and the withdrawal of Israeli forces eastwards away from densely populated areas along the borders in all areas of the Gaza strip including Gaza valley (Netzarim axis and Kuwait roundabout) as mentioned below.

2. Temporary cessation of aerial movement (military and surveillance) in the Gaza strip for 10 hours daily, and for 12 hours daily during days where exchange of hostages and prisoners will take place.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-text-ceasefire-proposal-approved-israel

The plan is pretty thorough and a bit convoluted….but at least there is a plan and now is the time for such cessations to begin.

MSM is reporting that HAMAS has not responded to the proposal….not so….

Al Jazeera has obtained a copy of the Gaza ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it accepted on Monday. The deal, which was put forward by Egypt and Qatar, would come in three stages that would see an initial halt in the fighting leading to lasting calm and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territory.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/6/text-of-the-ceasefire-proposal-approved-by-hamas

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop and I am sure it will be doing so sooner than later…..what will be the stumbling block this time?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”