your persistence, patience, humility, diplomacy, and unflappable persona , clif, have made an ineffable and irrevocable difference, clif. w/out blokes and blokesses like you, these approbatory demonstrations, plaudits, and physical signs of solidarity, which far out-number the condemnatory and nescient ones, would never have been forthcoming. we are in your debt, clif.
1) I attended a virtual hearing of the aforementioned Special Commission on Combatting (sic) Antisemitism last Friday, and then a debriefing with a group spearheading the opposition. This is getting more unsettling as I become further involved. This has all the classic signs (fingerprints?) of being a highly sophisticated operation to dupe, exploit, deceive a level of American government to suit Israeli/Zionist ends. Nothing is sacred in their zeal to do so. It has become all too obvious to me that we - those in opposition - are dealing with a very stacked deck against us. In the debriefing session, though the challenges were laid out, some member happily reported that in the 24 hours after the hearing took place, 600 people signed on to the coalition to stop the commission.
2) Can't recall if I had related this earlier, but I've subscribed to The Forward, a Jewish publication for its coverage and commentary particularly on the Middle East, free speech, and antisemitism. Along with signing up comes e-mail notices from supporting organizations, more about cultural and social things of interest to Jews, which I am not. Today came notice that the Israeli Philharmonic will be performing at Carnegie Hall. Tickets can be arranged by clicking a link.
If there's any semblance of justice in this world, no one will be in the audience.
I saw in Haaretz that the Royal Ballet and Opera has canceled a performance scheduled for Tel Aviv. Little by little, here then there then, I hope, everywhere the resistance will grow. The Forward is a good paper that has been around for a very long time.
Wow, surprised to hear that a Brit outfit would cancel (Starmer must be straining to finesse this one), Britain has been up to its eyeballs in rationalizing support for Israel since... well, 1906, according to Rashid Khalidi (Britain being the original instigator of the present long-unwinding apocalypse).
This from The Forward's website: "Launched as a Yiddish-language daily newspaper on April 22, 1897, the Forward entered the din of New York’s immigrant press as a defender of trade unionism and moderate, democratic socialism. The Jewish Daily Forward quickly rose above the crowd, however; under the leadership of its founding editor, the crustily independent Abraham Cahan, the Forward came to be known as the voice of the Jewish immigrant and the conscience of the ghetto. It fought for social justice, helped generations of immigrants to enter American life, broke some of the most significant news stories of the century, and was among the nation’s most eloquent defenders of democracy and Jewish rights."
They've had their head screwed on right for a long time.
my unbridled pleasure to have served you that icy, virtual, verbal-H2O refreshment, clif. it was not a 'ben-trovato' [undeserved] one. so many of us who cannot be w/ you on those chicago-area streets in the flesh are in your debt.
Today’s (Aug. 15th) daily brief from Haaretz arrived with the heading “How long before Israelis break under the weight of the country's chronic crises?” which has prompted me to ask, “How many Palestinian lives ended, upended since the riots of 1929, nearly a century ago, has it taken, will it further take, to bring about the end of faux Eretz – Ersatz – Israel?”
East Coast Update (8-14-25) – Well, I need to vent. Common Dreams is one of my regular sites for news and information. Today it ran two related articles referencing a statement with the headline "Burying the Idea of a Palestinian State" by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in which he said:
"This is Zionism at its best—building, settling, and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel. This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize. Anyone in the world who tries today to recognize a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground."
About a month ago I came across a site with several quotes by Golda Meir, this being one on the theme virtually identical to Smotrich’s: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist.”
To the heap of imponderables and unfathomables accumulating since Oct. 7, 2023 are added these two quotations. It has led me to petition for an Eighth Deadly Sin, Arrogance.
How does one deal with such miscreations who utter and subscribe to such quotations? These declarations have worth only insofar as they are protected under the First Amendment; the mentality behind them having none whatsoever. Therefore it is best to deal with them by sequestration in some well-cordoned off area, safely separated from humanity, allowed subsistence level nutrition and water, until they die off.
A guy who stopped traffic to oppose my demonstrating pointed to my Palestinian flag and said, "that doesn't mean anything" which is right in line with Golda and Smotrich. It's also obvious in the killing of unlimited numbers of Palestinians who are thought to be non-entities by the IDF. BTW, I think the guy who addressed me from his car is an Israeli as I have seen him before behind the counter at an Israeli owned business near here. The hypocrisy of a person holding both Israeli and American citizenship can't be topped.
"The hypocrisy of a person holding both Israeli and American citizenship can't be topped."
No, it can't be topped, nor can any other breach of law, custom, ethics, civil behavior, common decency, fundamental human concern, basic manners, what have you. In their arrogant belief that God has granted them exception and exemption, the Israelis carry on recklessly whether small-scale in holding up traffic to berate you, or large-scale in giving the finger to international law, at countless levels. There are no boundaries, no restraints. The only rules that apply are the Israelis' own, however, whatever sense or logic anyone outside that society can determine; everything else is beneath and beyond.
The aim is to have Israel bear upon everything - politics, government, military, media, education, whatever, to make Israel the center of the universe. That's why I say it not entirely in jest or as hyperbole, but things are getting to the point where even in basic math, 2+2 = Israel.
The rigid outlook that allows the atrocities we are seeing is rooted in the idea behind Zionism that the world is not a safe place for Jews and that the only way to deal with it is to create an entity that will be able to counter force with force, a nation. While this idea was rejected by the majority of Jews, along came Hitler to cement the concept that without a state, Jews are doomed. At the time, antisemitism was rife in the US so it was possible to say that nowhere could Jews be accepted and no Western country opened its arms to the survivors of the holocaust. Zionism was energized.
What was energized with Zionism was a hatred of non-Jews. What we see in Israel is any and all who contest what Israel does are, effectively, Nazis in the eyes of most Israelis and to be crushed without mercy. The Palestinians are at the top of the list of those to be crushed as they contest the very heart of Zionism - that Palestine is not for the taking. Netanyahu is an example of a person so filled with hate that he is insane, but not among people who share the insanity.
Whatever happens, there is no good outlook for Israel. It will continue on until the US drops support. Support is rapidly dropping now among Americans, but the midterm elections must happen to take back Congress and then there is another two years of Trump. Support by the 1% will remain rock solid unless the Epstein case is broken open revealing the role of Mossad in blackmail by way of sex that has kept the US in line with Israel no matter what it has done or does. Revelations will stun the world not least the average American who will realize we have been had.
Good analysis, thank you. I have found the Epstein case so revolting I have not followed it closely, at least to the inclusion of Mossad in the narrative, but it all figures...
"One Nation Under Blackmail" gives the lowdown on the intimate involvement of Mossad with US politicans and wealthy American Zionists such as Lew Wasserman (Hollywood mogul) and Les Wexner (property magnate and the guy who gifted Epstein with his Caribbean mansion/island), and Ghislaine Maxwell's media magnate father, Robert.
The book is heavily annotated, few pages without at least one footnote, nothing is stated without evidence. I have made it a point to check out the various personalities and incidents to find every one of the accounts in the book backed up by history found at Wikipedia. What makes the book outstanding is it connects the various personalities and innumerable phony businesses over the years, reminding the reader that, yes, this guy is the same one convicted back in xxxx for doing xxxx. Les Wexner pops up again and again and again as does the notorious Roy Cohn.
Reagan was in deep, as was Bush Sr. and both of the Clintons. Casper Weinberger, John Tower, "Scoop" Jackson, and on and on. But in every case where investigations were made that threatened to blow things up, they would be quashed. Clinton pardoned the notorious Zionist American Marc Rich. Why? "Suicides" happen throughout the book including that of one journalist, Danny Casolaro, who was about to come out with a story on what he called "the Octopus" when he was found dead.
The book is not a lively or entertaining read, but a must read because the sexual blackmail angle goes far back in US history and Israel's role is wound tightly through it, Israeli PM Ehud Barak in particular. There were 17 visits to the Clinton White House by Epstein in one year, way back in the 90's.
It is both alarming and jaw dropping. The Epstein story must be fully revealed.
I'll say, from what you describe. Epstein + AIPAC = What chance have we got? Separately I had heard of the Casolaro case, but filed it away as interesting fringe story... little did I know.
Back to Reagan and Bush père (and the rest)? Amazing, not only for the personages, but that being ~35 years ago? "How Long Has This Been Going On?", Gershwin song from almost a century ago.
If this not also behind the retraction of the Goldstone report, then certainly an inspiration for it.
I can't recall from which site it was recommended, but just the other day I picked up "Bondage of the Mind" by R.D. Gold. It's a critical look behind religious fanaticism, especially Orthodox Judaism. Also, to what extend if any can the Bible be considered a historical source? I'm trying to get some understanding as to why the Israelis/Zionists are so unhinged and allowed to persist.
Yesterday I mailed my request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law to the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism for records – in whatever medium, e.g., documents, e-mail, etc. – essentially to the validity of the information they are using in their deliberations and recommendations. For example, they have made it clear that they use ADL-provided statistics on antisemitism in Massachusetts and elsewhere, but do they have information on the authoritative analyses showing that the ADL statistics are methodologically untenable? Are they aware that the ADL has a long history of spying on United States groups and individuals critical of Israel? That the ADL together with AIPAC has supported anti-Palestine legislation at the federal level, such as H.R.9495, the so-called “non-profit kill bill,” which could remove the non-profit tax status of such organizations which support Palestine? The request will put them on record whether they know of all this, yet choose to ignore it.
Records in other specific areas were asked for as well. The two biased, hostile co-chairs are not going to like this, being called to account.
Under law, the commission ten business days in which to respond to my request. Should they fail to do so, the Secy of the Commonwealth, overseer of the Public Records Law steps in. I am anticipating pushback.
Just a few hours ago I received an e-mail notification from the coalition (which I have joined) opposed to the workings of the commission about a public hearing at the State House to be held tomorrow. I will attend virtually. In its notification, the coalition outlined the built-in and accumulating biases of the commission toward what can accurately be termed fulfilling the Zionist agenda.
This does not look pretty. The trash train is gaining momentum as it races down the track to its final report to the legislature due the end of November. As the commission has embraced the IHRA definition of antisemitism, free speech and academic inquiry are at considerable risk, among other assaults on our liberties and lives, especially the warping of K-12 education.
As the way the commission was spawned by the legislature, largely escaping public oversight and input, the deck is stacked. It looks as if the bastards will win. But I speak prematurely, we’re not at that point yet, this train may yet get derailed, or sidetracked. I’ll do what I can toward those ends.
your persistence, patience, humility, diplomacy, and unflappable persona , clif, have made an ineffable and irrevocable difference, clif. w/out blokes and blokesses like you, these approbatory demonstrations, plaudits, and physical signs of solidarity, which far out-number the condemnatory and nescient ones, would never have been forthcoming. we are in your debt, clif.
your thank you is the virtual equivalent of that icy cold cup of water the guy gave me : )
East Coast Update (8-12-25) Two items:
1) I attended a virtual hearing of the aforementioned Special Commission on Combatting (sic) Antisemitism last Friday, and then a debriefing with a group spearheading the opposition. This is getting more unsettling as I become further involved. This has all the classic signs (fingerprints?) of being a highly sophisticated operation to dupe, exploit, deceive a level of American government to suit Israeli/Zionist ends. Nothing is sacred in their zeal to do so. It has become all too obvious to me that we - those in opposition - are dealing with a very stacked deck against us. In the debriefing session, though the challenges were laid out, some member happily reported that in the 24 hours after the hearing took place, 600 people signed on to the coalition to stop the commission.
2) Can't recall if I had related this earlier, but I've subscribed to The Forward, a Jewish publication for its coverage and commentary particularly on the Middle East, free speech, and antisemitism. Along with signing up comes e-mail notices from supporting organizations, more about cultural and social things of interest to Jews, which I am not. Today came notice that the Israeli Philharmonic will be performing at Carnegie Hall. Tickets can be arranged by clicking a link.
If there's any semblance of justice in this world, no one will be in the audience.
I saw in Haaretz that the Royal Ballet and Opera has canceled a performance scheduled for Tel Aviv. Little by little, here then there then, I hope, everywhere the resistance will grow. The Forward is a good paper that has been around for a very long time.
Wow, surprised to hear that a Brit outfit would cancel (Starmer must be straining to finesse this one), Britain has been up to its eyeballs in rationalizing support for Israel since... well, 1906, according to Rashid Khalidi (Britain being the original instigator of the present long-unwinding apocalypse).
This from The Forward's website: "Launched as a Yiddish-language daily newspaper on April 22, 1897, the Forward entered the din of New York’s immigrant press as a defender of trade unionism and moderate, democratic socialism. The Jewish Daily Forward quickly rose above the crowd, however; under the leadership of its founding editor, the crustily independent Abraham Cahan, the Forward came to be known as the voice of the Jewish immigrant and the conscience of the ghetto. It fought for social justice, helped generations of immigrants to enter American life, broke some of the most significant news stories of the century, and was among the nation’s most eloquent defenders of democracy and Jewish rights."
They've had their head screwed on right for a long time.
my unbridled pleasure to have served you that icy, virtual, verbal-H2O refreshment, clif. it was not a 'ben-trovato' [undeserved] one. so many of us who cannot be w/ you on those chicago-area streets in the flesh are in your debt.
Hey, today someone went one better and bought me a chocolate malt, hand delivered to me on the street corner complete with straw! : )
Is the new venue in front of a synagogue?
Today’s (Aug. 15th) daily brief from Haaretz arrived with the heading “How long before Israelis break under the weight of the country's chronic crises?” which has prompted me to ask, “How many Palestinian lives ended, upended since the riots of 1929, nearly a century ago, has it taken, will it further take, to bring about the end of faux Eretz – Ersatz – Israel?”
East Coast Update (8-14-25) – Well, I need to vent. Common Dreams is one of my regular sites for news and information. Today it ran two related articles referencing a statement with the headline "Burying the Idea of a Palestinian State" by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in which he said:
"This is Zionism at its best—building, settling, and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel. This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize. Anyone in the world who tries today to recognize a Palestinian state will receive an answer from us on the ground."
About a month ago I came across a site with several quotes by Golda Meir, this being one on the theme virtually identical to Smotrich’s: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist.”
To the heap of imponderables and unfathomables accumulating since Oct. 7, 2023 are added these two quotations. It has led me to petition for an Eighth Deadly Sin, Arrogance.
How does one deal with such miscreations who utter and subscribe to such quotations? These declarations have worth only insofar as they are protected under the First Amendment; the mentality behind them having none whatsoever. Therefore it is best to deal with them by sequestration in some well-cordoned off area, safely separated from humanity, allowed subsistence level nutrition and water, until they die off.
A guy who stopped traffic to oppose my demonstrating pointed to my Palestinian flag and said, "that doesn't mean anything" which is right in line with Golda and Smotrich. It's also obvious in the killing of unlimited numbers of Palestinians who are thought to be non-entities by the IDF. BTW, I think the guy who addressed me from his car is an Israeli as I have seen him before behind the counter at an Israeli owned business near here. The hypocrisy of a person holding both Israeli and American citizenship can't be topped.
"The hypocrisy of a person holding both Israeli and American citizenship can't be topped."
No, it can't be topped, nor can any other breach of law, custom, ethics, civil behavior, common decency, fundamental human concern, basic manners, what have you. In their arrogant belief that God has granted them exception and exemption, the Israelis carry on recklessly whether small-scale in holding up traffic to berate you, or large-scale in giving the finger to international law, at countless levels. There are no boundaries, no restraints. The only rules that apply are the Israelis' own, however, whatever sense or logic anyone outside that society can determine; everything else is beneath and beyond.
The aim is to have Israel bear upon everything - politics, government, military, media, education, whatever, to make Israel the center of the universe. That's why I say it not entirely in jest or as hyperbole, but things are getting to the point where even in basic math, 2+2 = Israel.
The rigid outlook that allows the atrocities we are seeing is rooted in the idea behind Zionism that the world is not a safe place for Jews and that the only way to deal with it is to create an entity that will be able to counter force with force, a nation. While this idea was rejected by the majority of Jews, along came Hitler to cement the concept that without a state, Jews are doomed. At the time, antisemitism was rife in the US so it was possible to say that nowhere could Jews be accepted and no Western country opened its arms to the survivors of the holocaust. Zionism was energized.
What was energized with Zionism was a hatred of non-Jews. What we see in Israel is any and all who contest what Israel does are, effectively, Nazis in the eyes of most Israelis and to be crushed without mercy. The Palestinians are at the top of the list of those to be crushed as they contest the very heart of Zionism - that Palestine is not for the taking. Netanyahu is an example of a person so filled with hate that he is insane, but not among people who share the insanity.
Whatever happens, there is no good outlook for Israel. It will continue on until the US drops support. Support is rapidly dropping now among Americans, but the midterm elections must happen to take back Congress and then there is another two years of Trump. Support by the 1% will remain rock solid unless the Epstein case is broken open revealing the role of Mossad in blackmail by way of sex that has kept the US in line with Israel no matter what it has done or does. Revelations will stun the world not least the average American who will realize we have been had.
Good analysis, thank you. I have found the Epstein case so revolting I have not followed it closely, at least to the inclusion of Mossad in the narrative, but it all figures...
"One Nation Under Blackmail" gives the lowdown on the intimate involvement of Mossad with US politicans and wealthy American Zionists such as Lew Wasserman (Hollywood mogul) and Les Wexner (property magnate and the guy who gifted Epstein with his Caribbean mansion/island), and Ghislaine Maxwell's media magnate father, Robert.
The book is heavily annotated, few pages without at least one footnote, nothing is stated without evidence. I have made it a point to check out the various personalities and incidents to find every one of the accounts in the book backed up by history found at Wikipedia. What makes the book outstanding is it connects the various personalities and innumerable phony businesses over the years, reminding the reader that, yes, this guy is the same one convicted back in xxxx for doing xxxx. Les Wexner pops up again and again and again as does the notorious Roy Cohn.
Reagan was in deep, as was Bush Sr. and both of the Clintons. Casper Weinberger, John Tower, "Scoop" Jackson, and on and on. But in every case where investigations were made that threatened to blow things up, they would be quashed. Clinton pardoned the notorious Zionist American Marc Rich. Why? "Suicides" happen throughout the book including that of one journalist, Danny Casolaro, who was about to come out with a story on what he called "the Octopus" when he was found dead.
The book is not a lively or entertaining read, but a must read because the sexual blackmail angle goes far back in US history and Israel's role is wound tightly through it, Israeli PM Ehud Barak in particular. There were 17 visits to the Clinton White House by Epstein in one year, way back in the 90's.
It is both alarming and jaw dropping. The Epstein story must be fully revealed.
"It is both alarming and jaw dropping."
I'll say, from what you describe. Epstein + AIPAC = What chance have we got? Separately I had heard of the Casolaro case, but filed it away as interesting fringe story... little did I know.
Back to Reagan and Bush père (and the rest)? Amazing, not only for the personages, but that being ~35 years ago? "How Long Has This Been Going On?", Gershwin song from almost a century ago.
If this not also behind the retraction of the Goldstone report, then certainly an inspiration for it.
I can't recall from which site it was recommended, but just the other day I picked up "Bondage of the Mind" by R.D. Gold. It's a critical look behind religious fanaticism, especially Orthodox Judaism. Also, to what extend if any can the Bible be considered a historical source? I'm trying to get some understanding as to why the Israelis/Zionists are so unhinged and allowed to persist.
Yesterday I mailed my request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law to the Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism for records – in whatever medium, e.g., documents, e-mail, etc. – essentially to the validity of the information they are using in their deliberations and recommendations. For example, they have made it clear that they use ADL-provided statistics on antisemitism in Massachusetts and elsewhere, but do they have information on the authoritative analyses showing that the ADL statistics are methodologically untenable? Are they aware that the ADL has a long history of spying on United States groups and individuals critical of Israel? That the ADL together with AIPAC has supported anti-Palestine legislation at the federal level, such as H.R.9495, the so-called “non-profit kill bill,” which could remove the non-profit tax status of such organizations which support Palestine? The request will put them on record whether they know of all this, yet choose to ignore it.
Records in other specific areas were asked for as well. The two biased, hostile co-chairs are not going to like this, being called to account.
Under law, the commission ten business days in which to respond to my request. Should they fail to do so, the Secy of the Commonwealth, overseer of the Public Records Law steps in. I am anticipating pushback.
Just a few hours ago I received an e-mail notification from the coalition (which I have joined) opposed to the workings of the commission about a public hearing at the State House to be held tomorrow. I will attend virtually. In its notification, the coalition outlined the built-in and accumulating biases of the commission toward what can accurately be termed fulfilling the Zionist agenda.
This does not look pretty. The trash train is gaining momentum as it races down the track to its final report to the legislature due the end of November. As the commission has embraced the IHRA definition of antisemitism, free speech and academic inquiry are at considerable risk, among other assaults on our liberties and lives, especially the warping of K-12 education.
As the way the commission was spawned by the legislature, largely escaping public oversight and input, the deck is stacked. It looks as if the bastards will win. But I speak prematurely, we’re not at that point yet, this train may yet get derailed, or sidetracked. I’ll do what I can toward those ends.