Regarding the Recent US “Sale” of Mega-Bombs to Israel

The Washington Post Headline: Trump’s planned sale of controversial bombs to Israel is largest in years. The pending transfer of the 2,000-pound munition, involved in scores of incidents resulting in civilian casualties, sets up a potential litmus test for Democrats."

Then, 4 paras down we see this: "Though described as a sale, the transaction is financed through a mechanism known as Foreign Military Financing, in which the United States provides the money that Israel uses to buy the weapons."

So headline says "sale," presumably for those readers who say "At least we are not giving Israel these massive weapons to finish off their genocide of Gaza." But then it's not really a sale. And it's for the genocide, even though the administration (according to the article) won't comment on "humanitarian concerns." They took that language through the laundry mat before publishing. One also has to wonder whether these bombs are especially useful because they vaporize bodies within 100 feet of the other center. This would leave much less evidence of dead bodies after Israel and the US use these bombs.

Here's another take on this sale of 40,000 bombs, each of them weighing 2,000 pounds by Tucker Carlson. This is another way of communicating the atrocious conduct of the United States and Israel. The U.S. is most definitely an accessory to this genocide, as well as an accessory to all of the crimes ("wars") Israel has coerced and bribed the US Congress and Presidents to fight for them. And none of these wars since and including Afghanistan have fought to defend the US (see below).

According to an informed federal official, in the coming months the Trump administration plans to send a total of 40,000 Mark 84 and Blu-117 bombs to the government of Israel. Each bomb weighs 2,000 pounds. This appears to be the largest transfer of conventional explosive ordnance from the United States in modern history.

How big is this shipment? It amounts to 40,000 tons of bombs. For perspective, the largest American air raid of World War Two was the Eighth Air Force’s attack on Berlin in March of 1945. Combined, the 2,023 Allied aircraft involved dropped about 3,000 tons of bombs. That’s 7.5 percent of what Trump is sending to Israel. That same month, March of 1945, the US Army Air Forces began the single most destructive bombing raid in human history, Operation Meetinghouse over Tokyo. More than 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed. By the end of that operation, the US had dropped 1,600 tons of bombs. That’s four percent of what Trump is sending to Israel. World War Two ended five months later, when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The shipment Trump is sending to Israel amounts to more than three times the destructive power of that nuclear explosion. There is no precedent for what the Trump administration is doing.

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How Israelis Removed Hundreds of Thousands of Palestinians In Order to Establish Their New Country

I just finished watching the documentary "1948: Creation and Catastrophe." I highly recommend it to anyone not well-informed about the formation of Israel.

If you watch this work, you will hear from dozens of people who (including both Palestinians and Israelis) who were witness to the events discussed.

What happened in 1947-1948? In short, the Israeli's cleared out hundreds of Palestinian towns and cities and 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes. Upwards of 12,000 Palestinians were killed, along with more than 6,000 Israelis.

I found the entire documentary to be gut-wrenching and emotionally exhausting, but I am now better prepared to understand modern events. I also found myself repeatedly wondering many things I don't yet know: For example, there had to be other options to this horror. What were those options? How was it possible that this nightmare for the Palestinians even considered? I know I'm looking at this with hindsight, but blowback had to seem like a certainty, even in 1948.  It seems like this operation was the equivalent of kicking the can down the road without any consideration for the lives of the mostly defenseless Palestinians. Also, I repeatedly wondered who funded this operation. It appears to have been through Jewish diaspora movements throughout the world, including from the US. I want to know more about the extent of US involvement in the operation. Who supplied these military grade weapons to the Israelis and under what understanding and conditions?

Also, 1947-48 seems to have been a well-oiled plan, damn the consequences, and there are hints of this throughout the documentary. There are also largely unexplored references to the involvement (and non-involvement) by the UN. I want to know more about who was pulling those strings. Despite the overall compelling story that Israel brutalized the Palestinians, the film-makers mention that some Israelis claim to this day that the Palestinians willingly gave up their homes and chose to not return. You'll hear contrary evidence on this bizarre claim throughout the film from the various witnesses.

Here is the description by the creators of this excellent documentary:

1948: Creation & Catastrophe is the story of the establishment of Israel as seen through the eyes of the people who lived it. Rather than being a history lesson, this documentary is a primer for the present. It is simply not possible to make sense of what is happening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today without an understanding of 1948.

1 hr 25 min. I found it on Prime.

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With the Democrat Party Fully Captured by the Foreign Policy “Blob,” Populist Republicans Lose a Key Battle on FISA

I have increasingly turned to Mike Benz to help make sense of America's obsessive and unnecessary warmongering. Joe Biden, his neocon cabinet and the DNC have already capitulated to the war state. Among the Democrats, there's no need any more to discuss whether a war is truly necessary. No need to weight the pro's and con's. No need to concern ourselves with the possibility of nuclear war. No need to ask whether the American treasury should be allocated to (massive) domestic needs. We always need more war. Full stop. But why? What is the end game? How does this pro-war ideology benefit ordinary Americans? It doesn't. As George Carlin stated so succinctly,

In this video, Mike Benz explains the big picture. I have created a transcript of Mike's comments at Real America's Voice. On a daily basis, I fear that his assessment is accurate.

Note 1:  When Mike is using the term "the Blob," (as set forth in the third paragraph) he is referring to the internationalist side of the U.S. government associated with big international businesses associated with the energy market associated with the military. .

Note 2: "The Atlantic Council has seven CIA directors on its board. A lot of people don't even know that seven CIA directors are still alive, let alone all concentrated on the board of a single organization. That's kind of the heavyweight in the censorship industry." - Mike Benz

Natalie Winters:

On this as of course, Mike Benz who I'm so honored that last minute he was able to come on, Mike, I honestly just want to toss it to you your kind of thoughts on this whole FISA debacle. If you want to start with the press conference that we just saw, or even just the forthcoming Monday vote, what you think's gonna happen?

Mike Benz:

I share an identical rage that I feel that emanating from you here for him to take to the press conference like that and and pivot to the border reciting all of the principles, "If we don't have a border, we don't have a country." Well, you know, what if we don't have a secret police in this country, a political police in this country, we don't have a country? You know, this idea that "Oh, don't worry about it. There's checks and balances on it now."

No, there's not. It's an empty check. It's a blank check for the FBI to do whatever it wants and it's bluster instead of balances. FISA is as a Senator Mike Lee said it best federal investigators stalking Americans, and there's something very sick and twisted about what's happening right now with the FISA fight. visa vie, the Republican Party. The Republican Party is in the middle of a civil war between the internationalist sect of the GOP, the Blob side of it, versus the nationalist wing of the GOP, the populist faction, and Pfizer will not be used on the blob side, the internationalist side of the GOP, that side of the GOP associated with big international businesses associated with the energy market associated with the military. In that empire managerial class of the GOP, FISA is not an issue to them. It won't be used on them, but it will be used on their opposition in the GOP Civil War. Every single right-wing populist nationalist Republican is a target of FISA. FISA is this idea that you can get around the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, and use the Department of dirty tricks powers that our foreign policy establishment has to spy on foreigners, to spy on Americans if you simply use the word counter intelligence instead of intelligence. "We're not doing intelligence spying on our own people. We're doing counter intelligence spying on our people, because they might be being spied on by Russia."

Continue ReadingWith the Democrat Party Fully Captured by the Foreign Policy “Blob,” Populist Republicans Lose a Key Battle on FISA

Biden’s Ukraine War Judgment: Fool You Twice, Shame on You

With the track record he earned throughout the Iraq debacle, Biden should never have been trusted with regard to Ukraine. And now the Ukraine self-inflicted adventure is clearly and predictably turning into a debacle that risks nuclear war. The video in the Tweet (below) is a stunning reminder of how Biden shut down debate on Iraq, just as he has now done on Ukraine.

Biden had no end game in mind on either of these imperialist oil-driven excursions. And BTW, still no mention of Biden's culpability (based on Sy Hersh's article) regarding the Nord Stream pipeline in NYT, WaPo, CNN, NPR or MSNBC. Biden is as good at shutting down the corporate left-leaning "news" media as he is in shutting down the Nord Stream Pipeline. He bragged that he was going to shut down the Nord Stream. There is evidence that he gave the order to blow it up and then the news media became clueless about who did it, lacking even a drop of curiosity once Biden ludicrously blamed Russia for blowing up its own pipe line. That nonsensical claim was code for the corporate media to get in line and take orders from the White House. That's what goes for journalism these days.

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Memories of Istanbul

Until COVID struck, I was traveling once or twice per year to Istanbul, Turkey, to teach law school (week-long courses). I look forward to the day when I can again travel to Istanbul. I truly miss the visiting in person with students and friends. The Turks are awesome! I keep in touch with several of them. But I also miss the many astounding images one sees everywhere in Istanbul. I took the top photo in 2017. I reworked it tonight. This is an image of the Blue Mosque that I took from the Hagia Sofia (which was built in the year 532). The photo below is the interior of the Blue Mosque (built in 1609). Seeing these ancient buildings in person gives rise to deep emotions of admiration for the architects and builders. Seeing them with your own eyes caused me to think of the multitudes of people who have visited these structures at so many key points in their lives.

This final photo is one I took while riding one of the many ferries that plow the Bosphorus day and night.  The city of Istanbul is partly in Europe and partly in Asia, and the waters of the Bosphorus Strait mark the boundary.

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