#^d 2024-01-07 #^h Speaking of Which
I didn't open this until Friday, when I wrote the introduction to the Israel section. I only got to collecting links on Saturday. Still, quite a bit here. The main reason for the late start was work wrapping up the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll, including this blog post, and a big chunk of time I spent documenting the discussion generated by Matt Merewitz's Facebook post.
I should also note here that after posting last week's Speaking of Which a day early, I went back and added a few more links and notes, marked with a red border stripe, like this paragraph.
Israel: We speak of Israel's war against Gaza as genocide, because it fits the technical definition, and because genocide was formerly regarded as such an extraordinary crime as would compel other powers to intervene and stop. The classic model was what Nazi Germany did to European Jews during WWII -- the the discriminatory but less lethal period from 1933-39 now recognized as a precursor to genocide. But we've come to recognize other episodes of systematic killing and/or expulsion as other examples of genocide. (Some people like the term "ethnic cleansing" for expulsions, but the term first gained currency as used by Serbs in Bosnia, where it was plainly a euphemism for mass murder. I don't see any distinct value to the term, as the very idea of "cleansing" ethnics points to genocide.)
There can be no doubt that what Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide. (As for the West Bank, there is little difference between what Israelis are doing and what Nazi Germans did taking power in 1933, which doesn't necessarily mean that Kristallnacht, let alone Vernichtung, is coming, but certainly doesn't preclude it.) However, there is no precise word for what Israel is doing. The Germans had precise words to explain what they wanted: Lebensraum, Judenrein, Endlösung: they wanted land to settle, they insisted that no Jews could live there, and they meant this state to be final. What Israeli Nazis (I'd be open to a different term, but we routinely distinguish between Nazis and ordinary Germans, and that's precisely the distinction at work here) want in the West Bank is clearly articulated in the first two German terms (substituting Palestinians for Juden). But in Gaza they're moving straight to Final Solution, which they're willing to pay for even by giving up what has always been their prime directive: settlement (or Lebensraum).
There is a word for what Israel is doing, but it has rarely been used, and never by its practitioners: ecocide. Israel's goal (or to be more precise, the goal of the Israeli Nazis in power) is to make Gaza uninhabitable. If they succeed at that, they won't have to kill every Gazan. The land will be free of Palestinians, and Israel will have reasserted its Iron Wall. This shouldn't be much of a surprise. The catchphrase we've been hearing for decades was "facts on the ground." This was the motto of the post-1967 settlement movement in the West Bank: to establish "facts" that would make it politically impossible to undo. So while Israeli and American diplomats talked, in increasingly ridiculous terms, of "two-state solutions," Israeli policy was making any such thing impossible. And so, today, diplomats and pundits talk of postwar schemes for containing Gazans in their rapidly demolished surroundings, Israel is making life impossible, and irrecoverable.
The closest thing I can think of to an historical analogy is Sherman's efforts to exterminate the bison on the Great Plains. As a result, many Plains Indians starved, but more importantly the survivors realized that they couldn't sustain the way of life they had enjoyed when the buffalo roamed, so they gave up, trudged into the concentration camps the government set up for them as reservations, while settlers turned the vast grazing lands into farms. When Israelis spoke of their desire to turn Palestinians into "an utterly defeated people," I always thought back to the Plains Indians.
I also noted that at some point the US became satisfied with its Lebensraum, and realized that they didn't have to exterminate the last Indians, who in any case had started to adapt to their changed reality. The Final Solution turned out to be liberal democracy -- a stage that Israel is far from realizing, and may never given demographics and psychology. Indeed, any other "solution" would have failed, as Israeli history is repeatedly showing us.
This week's links:
Seth Ackerman: [01-04] There was an Iron Wall in Gaza: "Addicted to territorial aggrandizement and encircled by enemies of its own making, Israel has freed itself of all moral constraints." This is a fairly long historical piece, basic stuff to understand what's been going on for decades. Meanwhile, for today:
AP: [01-05] UN warns Gaza is now 'uninhabitable' as war continues: "Humanitarian chief fears 'famine is around the corner' with 85% of population displaced and more than 20,000 dead."
Mondoweiss:
[01-01] Day 87: As millions around the world rally for peace, an Israeli minister calls for ethnic cleansing.
[01-02] Day 88: Israeli army kills 4,000 students in Gaza, detains hundreds in torture camps.
[01-03] Day 89: Hamas and Hezbollah pledge to punish Israel following Aruri killing.
[01-04] Day 90: Hezbollah says the killing of al-Aruri will not go unpunished.
[01-05] Day 91: As hunger and cold take their toll in Gaza, all eyes turn to Lebanon.
[01-07] Day 93: Israel surpasses three months of Gaza bombing campaign, UN warns of starvation.
MEE Staff:
[12-29] Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calls on US to bring down Iran: "In the Wall Street Journal op-ed, the former leader also admits Israel was behind an assassination and sabotage operations in Iran."
[01-03] Israel mulls hiring Alan Dershowitz to represent country in ICJ genocide case.
[01-06] Heavy exchange of fire across Israel-Lebanon border, as Gaza toll climbs.
Yuval Abraham: [01-05] Inside Israel's torture camp for Gaza detainees.
Ahmed Al-Sammak/Elis Gjevori: [12-26] Netanyahu looking for countries 'to absorb' ethnically cleansed Palestinians: There are several reports like this. They remind me that before started building extermination camps, they floated the idea of expelling Jews to Madagascar (then a Vichy French colony, but still "impractical" -- and probably not "final" enough).
MEE Staff: [01-05] Israel 'in talks with Rwanda and Chad' to exile Palestinians.
Paul Woodward: Ethnic cleansing: Israel in talks with Congo and other countries on Gaza 'voluntary' migration plan: Cites Times of Israel and Al Jazeera reports.
Ruwaida Kamal Amer: [01-04] In Gaza 'safe zone,' Palestinians are living out their nightmares.
Zack Beauchamp: [01-03] Israel's Supreme Court just overturned Netanyahu's pre-war power grab.
Jason Burke: [01-02] Saleh al-Arouri: assassinated leader was Hamas's link to Iran and Hezbollah. "Most recently, Arouri played a role in talks brokered by Qatar, which led tot he release of some of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas."
Isaac Chotiner: [01-03] Gaza is starving: Interview with chief economist of the World Food Program, Arif Husain.
Stanley L Cohen: [01-05] Guilty as charged: A New York City lawyer looks at the the laws governing genocide and war crimes.
Alain Gabon: [01-02] Israel's eight methods of genocide.
Tareq S Hajjaj: [01-06] The new Nakba generation enters a new year in Gaza: "Israel's genocidal war of expulsion is nothing like the people of Gaza have ever seen -- not this generation, not their parents' generation, and not the generation that survived the Nakba."
Ibtisam Mahdi: [12-20] Gaza's health crisis 'catastrophic,' say Palestinian experts.
Nicola Perugini: [01-06] Safe zones: Israel's technologies of genocide: "The designation of safe area in Gaza allows the Israeli army to carry out war crimes more efficiently and then to deny them."
Meron Rapoport: [01-02] The 'second Nakba' government seizes its moment: "Israeli leaders are explicit about reusing the methods of 1948 in Gaza today."
Matt Shuham: [01-04] Israeli officials' calls for 'voluntary' migration of Palestinians alarm human rights experts.
Richard Silverstein:
[01-01] US rejected Palestinian deal that would have avoided 10/7.
[01-03] Security source confirms Israel assassinated al-Arouri.
[01-05] Why Hamas might have already won: I don't care for this style of argument, in large part because I never see winners in war, no matter how contented a side is with the damage meted out. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack was inexcusable, except retroactively by Israel proving that Hamas's desperation was warranted. Still, such vindication is hardly a win. It's really a massive loss for both sides. This piece led me to David Hearst: [12-22] Netanyahu wanted to 'collapse' Hamas. This war could collapse Israel: "The Gaza war has been a huge miscalculation for Israel. As well as being a moral and military disaster, it is fuelling resistance and reigniting the embers of anger across the Arab world." Well, not just there.
Philip Weiss:
[12-31] Weekly Briefing: At year's end, Israel's dead end: "Israel has no vision. It appears now to want world war as a fix to its core problem -- that Palestinians have no rights."
[12-03] Advocating one person/one vote for Israel is antisemitic -- 'Forward' editor: "Judy Rudoren, the editor of the Forward, offers a frank rationale for Zionism, stating that it is opposed to equal rights in the American tradition."
[12-07] Weekly Briefing: Claudine Gay was brought down by the Israel lobby.
Robert Wright: [01-05] Israel's ethnic cleansing push. Wright cited this piece in a tweet, "If anyone tells you Biden doesn't have the leverage to wind down the Gaza war before it turns into a regional conflagration, read them this quote":
Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick was quoted recently in Mother Jones as saying, "All our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it's all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can't keep fighting . . . Everyone understands that we can't fight this war without the United States. Period."
Israel, America, and the search for a larger war in the Middle East:
Erin Banco/Lara Seligman/Alexander Ward: [01-04] The war in Gaza may widen. The Biden admin is getting ready for it. But note: "a Quinnipiac poll in November showed that 84 percent of Americans were either very or somewhat concerned that the U.S. would be drawn into the Middle East conflict. And with each passing month, more and more Americans fear the Biden administration is offering too much material support to Ukraine."
Ramzy Baroud: [01-05] Rage over Gaza: Washington will pay for its support of Israel.
Oliver Eagleton: [01-05] Joe Biden's unconditional support for Israel risks creating a regional war. Biden's desire to be seen as backing Israel let him be suckered into sending forces into the Mediterranean and Red Sea, in addition to the troops already in Iraq and Syria, on the theory that they would deter others from attacking Israel. What they did was to give Israel cover for striking Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. If they manage to draw the US into war with them, that will give Israel further coverage for genocide in Gaza.
Connor Echols:
[01-02] Israel kills Hamas leader in Beirut, fueling escalation fears.
[01-03] Bombing of Soleimani mourners in Iran kills over 100 people: "The attack is the latest indication that the Gaza war could become a regional conflict at a moment's notice."
Tanya Goudsouzian:
[01-02] Iraq can't hold off Gaza's spillover much longer: "Prime Minister Al-Sudani's balancing act between the US, Iran, and a pro-Palestinian public can break at any moment."
[01-05] Iraqis: Don't use our country as a 'proxy battleground': "US strikes in Baghdad that killed an Iraqi militia leader are testing the fragile relationship."
Ellen Ioanes: [01-06] What Houthi attacks in the Red Sea mean for global shipping -- and conflict.
James North: [12-30] Israel is provoking the U.S. into a conflict with Iran -- but the media ignores the danger: "In addition to killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has been routinely attacking at least four other nations in the region: Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon."
Trita Parsi: [01-03] Will Israel drag the US into another ruinous war? "Biden refuses to pursue the most obvious way of de-escalating tensions and avoid American deaths: a cease-fire in Gaza."
Paul R Pillar: [01-03] Israelis step up assassination tactics outside Gaza: "Killings at the center of Iran-supported militant groups in Lebanon and Syria may force a 'wider war' everyone says they don't want."
Mitchell Plitnick: [01-06] The U.S. can't blindly support Israel and prevent escalation in the region at the same time.
Mustafa Salim/Louisa Loveluck/Dan Lamothe/Alex Horton: [01-04] U.S. strike in Baghdad raises specter of wider regional war: "Iraq says the strike violated agreements between Baghdad and Washington."
David Sylvan: [01-02] Washington's Gaza kabuki: "Professions of concern about the war's destruction are unlikely to be translated into real pressure on Israel."
Israel, genocide, and conscience around the world: Israel is not just fighting Palestinians. They're also, with American help, waging a propaganda war around the world, not just against sympathy for Palestine but against the possibility that people around the world will develop a conscience and try to hold Israel accountable.
Joe Allen: [01-04] A new anti-war movement emerges in America. Picture is a sign: "You fucked with the wrong generation."
Michael Arria:
[01-04] The Shift: Gay resigns, Biden official quits. The Biden official was Tariq Habash, who worked in the Dept. of Education. More on Gay below.
[01-05] Crackdown on Palestine in education goes far beyond universities.
M Reza Benham: [01-04] Palestine: The greatest moral issue of our time.
Jessica Corbett: [01-03] Bernie Sanders: No more US money for "grossly disproportionate" Israeli war on Gaza.
Alaa Hachem/Oona A Hathaway: [01-04] The promise and risk of South Africa's case against Israel.
Ellen Ioanes: [12-31] South Africa's genocide case against Israel, explained.
John J Mearsheimer: [01-04] Genocide in Gaza: On the South African ICJ charge.
Benjamin Moser: [01-02] Anti-Zionism isn't the same as antisemitism. Here's the history.
Michelle Weinroth: [01-07] Why we have to make the Jewish Ghetto comparison.
Other statements:
Trump, and other Republicans:
Isaac Arnsdorf/Marianne LeVine: [01-06] Trump tries reappropriating 'insurrection' on Jan. 6 anniversary.
Michael Bader: [01-02] Poor, pitiful conservatives: How the right's counterfeit victimhood narratives harm us all.
Zack Beauchamp: [01-02] How death threats get Republicans to fall in line behind Trump: "The insidious way violence is changing American politics -- and shaping the 2024 election."
Michael C Bender/Lisa Lerer/Michael Gold: [01-06] Trump signals an election year full of falsehoods on Jan. 6 and democracy.
Jamelle Bouie:
David Dayen: [01-05] Republicans don't want to win an immigration policy fight: "They just want to sustain the image of an immigration crisis."
Melvin Goodman: [01-05] The commonality of megalomania: About Trump, and some other guy.
Ed Kilgore: [01-06] How Republicans learned to love January 6.
Althea Legaspi: [01-06] Trump says Civil War could have been 'negotiated' in bizarre Iowa speech.
Charisma Madarang: [01-05] Trump on Iowa school shooting: 'get over it': "comments come a day after a gunman killed a sixth grade student and wounded five other people at Perry High School."
Amanda Marcotte: [01-05] Jan. 6 was bound to be celebrated by Republicans -- it was only a matter of time.
Harold Meyerson: [11-27] The blueprint: "The far right has a plan to remake America. They even wrote it down." I've noted "Project 2025" before, but somehow missed this important piece.
Molly Olmstead: [01-06] The radical evangelicals who helped push Jan. 6 to wa ge war on "demonic influence": "Mike Johnson has deep ties to groups that encouraged the Capitol raid -- out of conviction that they're in a literal battle between supernatural forces of good and evil. Interview with André Gagné, author of American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times.
Charles P Pierce:
[12-28] Lauren Boebert is runnin' scared: "Behold, a belligerent yahoo sprinting away from the Democrat she just barely beat last time." For more:
[01-05] Okay, can we care about the emoluments clause now? "The minority of the House Oversight Committee just released a 156-page report on exactly how the former president put his office up for sale."
Jacqueline Alemany: [01-04] Trump businesses received $7.8 million in foreign payments during presidency.
Tatyana Tandanpolie: [01-04] "White House for sale:": Report reveals Trump made over $6M from China and Saudi Arabia in office.
Jeremy Schulman: [01-06] Trump's own appointees will decide if he stays on the ballot. That's a good thing. "If the ex-president is disqualified from office, it will be because at least one of the justices he nominated votes to do it."
Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [01-07] How Trump captured Iowa's religious right.
No More Mister Nice Blog: [01-07] Would Trumpism have happened even without Trump? This starts with "an interesting question" from Ross Douthat, which I won't bother you with (hint: not that interesting, and probably not at all by the time Douthat gets done with it), but I felt like quoting this comment:
I think I know why right-wing populism is thriving. It's fairly simple: Moneyed interests worldwide don't want to cede any more of their ill-gotten gains than they do now, and they have power -- especially in America -- to prevent any additional wealth transfers to the have-nots. That means liberalism always disappoints voters, whose material circumstances are never allowed to improve. Right-wing politicians don't even bother trying to improve the lives of ordinary people, but right-wing populists at least know how to create liberal and left-wing scapegoats for the public to hate. For many voters, watching a right-wing populist treat, say, immigrant asylum seekers or LGBTQ people cruelly feels like at least some kind of victory. It's more than liberals can offer as long as the plutocracy always has the final say.
I'd take the next paragraph in a slightly different direction, but the idea that Democrats can implement necessary reforms while still catering to the super-rich has clearly been tried, and found wanting. Democrats have to deliver concrete results, and where they fail, they need to clearly assign blame, which means they have to start shaming the moneyed interests, even the ones whose checks they seek. So in the end, sure, "confront the superwealthy directly," but make sure the message is clear.
I also recommend this blog piece: [01-05] Don't be afraid to insult the Republican Party, Democrats. And for an example: [01-05] There are no mainstream Republicans: On Nikki Haley and her endorsement by Don Bolduc.
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Edward-Isaac Dovere: [01-02] How the Biden campaign hopes to make 2024 less about Biden and more about a contrast with Trump. The worst part of this strategy is the temptation to try to drive a wedge between Trump and supposedly less extreme Republicans (like Nikki Haley?). There is no practical difference. Forget about Trump and Biden for the moment. Democrats do much better in generic polls than when they're represented by Biden, in large part because people understand that Republicans are worse. Campaign on that. The only downside is realizing that Biden is dead weight, dragging the whole ticket down.
Noah Lanard: [12-22] How Joe Biden became America's top Israel hawk: "The president once said 'Israel could get into a fistfight with this country and we'd still defend' it. That is now clearer than ever."
Ruy Teixeira: [01-03] How did we get stuck with Biden and Trump again? I should read this more carefully, and maybe even read the book he wrote with John B Judis (Where Have All the Democrats Gone? -- on my proverbial bedstand), but I'm suddenly gobsmacked by the bio line: what kind of Democrat cashes checks from the American Enterprise Institute?
Michael Tomasky: [01-05] Americans don't care about democracy? Well, Democrats -- make them care: "What Biden needs to tell American voters today -- and every day until the election." Actually, Democrats need to do more than lecture Americans on their civic duty. They need to show the people that democracy serves them, and not the special interests (which most of them spend most of their time pursuing).
Legal matters and other crimes:
Ian Millhiser:
[01-03] The Fifth Circuit just made it even more dangerous to be pregnant in a red state: "The Trumpiest court in America just tried to neutralize a federal law requiring most hospitals to provide medically necessary abortions."
[01-05] The Supreme Court's new, nightmare abortion cases, explained.
[01-05] The Supreme Court arguments for (and against) removing Trump from the ballot, explained.
Climate and environment:
Charles P Pierce: [01-04] You're going to want to remember the name 'Willow Project': "The potential for environmental damage from this drilling project goes beyond fossil fuels."
Maanvi Singh: [01-03] A tearful farewell to the 21 species we declared extinct in 2023.
Economic matters:
Eric Blanc/Alex N Press: [01-05] The US labor movement had a banner year in 2023.
Joseph E Stiglitz: [01-04] Time for a victory lap? "Those who believed inflation would be transitory were proven right, and those who demanded the sacrifice of mass unemployment proven wrong."
Ukraine War:
Connor Echols: [01-05] Diplomacy Watch: Ukraine aid officially runs out.
Anatol Lieven: [01-04] Ukraine facing increasingly unfavorable odds: "As the war drags on, the Russians will slowly gain advantages and reduce any leverage Kyiv may have in peace talks."
Around the world:
Toby Helm: [12-30] Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons. Just 22% say Brexit has been good for "UK in general," but it polls even worse for every one of nine specific questions.
Joshua Keating: [01-06] Why Taiwan is 2024's first big election to watch.
AP: [01-05] Boeing still hasn't fixed this problem on Max jets, so it's asking for an exemption to safety rules. Then, a day later, there's this coincidence:
Jeff Wise: [01-06] Alaska Airlines inflight blowout raises new doubts about 737 MAX. Branch Rickey used to say that "luck is the residue of design." So, surely, is bad luck, the residue of bad design, sloppy execution, a mentality that never looks beyond the bottom line, and an arrogance that thinks nothing else matters.
Dave Barry: [01-01] 2023 in review: Or, as the title appeared in my local paper: "2023 was the year that AI and pickleball came for humanity."
Fabiola Cineas: [01-05] The culture war came for Claudine Gay -- and isn't done yet: "Harvard's former president is just one target in the conservative uproar over higher education." Also:
Adam Gabbatt: [01-03] 'A bully': The billionaire who led calls for Claudine Gay's Harvard exit: Bill Ackman.
Aaryan Morrison: [01-04] On white supremacy and Zionism: a reflection on Claudine Gay's tenure as president of Harvard University.
Jon Schwarz: Let's seize this opportunity to destroy Harvard! "After that, progressives should extirpate the entire Ivy League." Right-wingers may see Harvard as a bastion of the left, a view not shared by many real leftists.
Christopher Sprigman: [01-07] Neri Oxman and Claudine Gay cases show we need new rules on plagiarism. Like, maybe, who cares? I recall a story about a semi-famous programmer having a placcard on his desk saying something like "any idea worth having is worth stealing." Everything creative comes from other sources, some conscious, some not. Even Newton "stood on the shoulders of giants." If he didn't quote and footnote them properly, was he a fraud? You can't steal something that's not property. Do we really want every idea, every sequence of words or notes, to belong to other people, to monetize and collect rent on? According to some laws, I guess we do, but really, should we?
Jeffrey St Clair: [01-05] Roaming Charges: Let the (far) right ones in: Leads off with the Harvard/Claudine Gay story, roaming afterwards.
Rachel M Cohen: [12-29] Why treatments for severe mental illness looks radically different for rich and poor people: "And a new way to understand cities' response to tent encampments." Interview with Neil Gong, author of Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles.
Sheon Han: [01-05] What we lost when Twitter became X: "As former Twitter employee, I watched Elon Musk undermine one of the Internet's most paradoxical, special places."
Sarah Jones: [01-04] Who gets to be a person? By the way, she's become my favorite columnist of the past year, so let me remind you of a few of her pieces:
Fred Kaplan: [01-05] Nostalgia for Cold War diplomacy is a trap: "Compared with the international problems of today, post-World War II diplomats had it easy." Responds to an article in Foreign Affairs, which given that foreign policy wonkery is a reserve for elites is beyond my budget -- the piece is Philip Zelikow: The atrophy of American statecraft: How to restore capacity for an age of crisis -- I can't fully engage in. I will note one aspect of Cold War diplomacy that I am nostalgic for: mutual fear that even small conflicts could escalate into world war (as, e.g., happened after an assassination in Sarajevo in 1914) led the US and USSR to force ceasefires urgently, as happened with Israel's wars in 1967 and 1973. Since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the US has never shown any urgency in ending conflicts, because that fear of escalation has been lost, and more fundamentally because the US is increasingly in the business of intimidation and escalation, and as such has set the model for other nations -- above all our supposed enemies -- to follow. The irony is that peace has never been more urgent, because the world has become ever more complex, interdependent, and fragile.
Kaplan quite rightly points out that the Cold War diplomats were pretty fallible. I would also add that they enjoyed two big advantages over current diplomats: after WWII, America was very rich, compared to the rest of the (largely devastated) world, so could afford to be generous in its dealings; and the US enjoyed a great deal of good will, largely because the US was not viewed as an aggressor in the World Wars, and had a relatively small and benign imperialist footprint. Both of those advantages dissipated over time -- especially the latter, as American bases, arms, and banks replaced colonial with capitalist exploitation.
Still, the sorry decline of American diplomacy since 1990 isn't a mere function of declining advantages and increasingly complex terrain. A toll is also being taken by arrogance, greed, special interests, domestic political calculations, the persistence of myths (many dressing up plain stupidity), disregard for justice (partly due to increasing inequality in America), and sheer pettiness. One could (and someone should) write a book on these mistakes. It is hard to think of any other area of public policy where so many ostensibly smart people have been so wrong for so long with such disastrous consequences, yet they continue to be celebrated in the annals of elite publications like Foreign Policy. (Need I even mention Henry Kissinger?)
Doug Muir: [01-06] The Kosovo War, 25 years later: First of a promised series of three posts.
Rick Perlstein: [01-03] You are entering the infernal triangle: "Authoritarian Republicans, ineffectual Democrats, and a clueless media." The former is what it is, but we rarely examine it critically, or even honestly. Much of the blame for looking away lies with the latter two, for which the author gives numerous examples. Argues that "all three sides of the triangle must be broken in order to preserve our republic, whichever candidate happens to get the most votes in the 2024 Electoral College."
Nikki McCann Ramirez/Tim Dickinson: [01-05] Longtime NRA chief resigns ahead of corruption trial: Wayne LaPierre.
Clay Risen: [01-06] Arno J. Mayer, unorthodox historian of Europe's crises, dies at 97: "A Jewish refugee from the Nazis, he argued that World War I, World War II and the Holocaust were all part of a "second Thirty Years' War." A little late -- I've cited pieces on the late historian two previous weeks running -- but does a good job of defending his "nuanced" view of the Nazi Judeocide and his disillusionment with Israel, both of special relevance today.
Paul Rosenberg: [01-01] Project Censored top 10 stories: Corporate abuse and environmental harm dominate: "The pattern signals a deeper truth about economics and human survival." Fyi, let's list these:
Dean Spears: The world's population may peak in your lifetime. What happens next? Argues that world population will peak with six decades, then lead to a precipitous depopulation, which is supposed to be some kind of problem -- one in need of "a compassionate, factual and fair conversation about how to respond to depopulation and how to share the burdens of creating each future generation." People who worry about such things worry me.
Emily Stewart: [01-04] You don't need everything you want: "Our expectations around money are all out of whack." Pull quote: "There is nowhere you can look in society that isn't screaming at us to spend, spend, spend."