A woman mourns the dead after an Israeli strike this morning. Ahmad Hasaballah / GETTY

Comments

1

Trump thinks Nikki Haley was Speaker of the House in 2021, and that barely makes the news.

2

I thought Biden called Hamas' Ceasefire counter-proposal "over the top". Since it was.

4

Sarju also asked to be left alone and not to be quoted out of context so here we go…

5

Ah, I see he also said Israel's campaign has been "over the top". It applies to both, but it could also be his "unreachable dementia". Whatever that is.

6

nyt: "Netanyahu
Orders Military to Plan
Civilian Evacuations in Rafah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
signaled an offensive in Rafah, where
roughly 1.4 million displaced Gazans have
crowded. It is unclear where they could go."

A. right straight to Hell.
--BiBi Nutnyahoo
hiding his corrupt ass
behind Hamas as he and his
Far riech-wing buddies Terrorize Gaza

with TWENTY THOUSAND DEAD
WOMEN AND CHILDREN

but Hamas
But Hamas!
BUT HAMAS!

well
Some of 'em
HAD TO BE hamas?

didn't they?

END the Fucking
GENOCIDE.

and END
BiBi's Reign
of Terrorism.

7

feast on that
Grammar
Nazis.

8

If anyone would know dementia, it's you Raindrop Dear.

But at least you admit that you are a parasite on the State of Washington.

9

@6: Aw, nobody playing along with your “genocide” game anymore? So, in your world, Bibi and the IDF are terrorizing Gaza because, um, they feel like it? Or because he’s “corrupt,” and this war will somehow “save” him? (Why can’t you have a world where a word means whatever you want it to mean, whenever you want it to mean whatever works best for you at that moment?)

How about, Hamas attacked Israel, and Israel now destroys Hamas? How about Hamas hides behind civilians, which is why so many civilians die? How about critics of this situation start demanding we throttle Hamas? (Ooh look: I’m using your doubleplus unallowed word! Where’s your Room 101 when you need to send me there?!?)

10

right on Schedule
Worntongue.

12

@9- however you feel about the I/P issue, Bibi and his legal troubles appear to be at least part of his motivation. Also, he’d be an asshole even if he wasn’t trying to stay out of jail.

14

Don't tax wealth. Don't tax income. Tax capital.

Also, we'll need a fully-transparent financial system. Otherwise all this talk of taxing this or that is just so many farts in the wind.

17

@13: Then why did the ICJ refuse South Africa’s request for a ceasefire order to Israel in Gaza? That seems like an odd refusal for the ICJ to make, if they were indeed part of the “[e]veryone” who “understood” that “genocide” was happening in Gaza?

18

@wormtongue

the
ICJ gave
Israel 30 days
to clean up it's War
on Gazans/Palestinians

don't be gloating
yourself's brilliance
too hard. the Reckoning
is a' comin' Wormtongue.

19

nyt:
Netanyahu
Asks Military
for Plans to Evacuate
Rafah, a Refuge for 1.4 Million

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
asked the army to draw up plans to
"evacuate the civilian population”
in Rafah, a border city where
displaced Gazans have
sought shelter.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/09/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news

certainly, BiBi!
They’ll all just go
WHERE? Oh, that’s
right -- Right straight to HELL.

End the Ethnic Cleansing:
Dethrone King BiBi

or bust.

21

@18: Read harder:

“The Court required that Israel ensure that it does not commit acts that might fall within the scope of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This includes that Israel takes steps to punish any Israeli who might have individually committed acts of genocide or incited others to commit acts of genocide in Palestine. More broadly, this ruling requires Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

(Please note the world could help “Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” by throttling Hamas.)

“The Court also took a very cautious approach to this case and was careful not to suggest that Israel is committing genocide.”

(https://global.upenn.edu/perryworldhouse/news/explaining-international-court-justices-ruling-israel-and-gaza#:~:text=The%20Court%20required%20that%20Israel,of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.)

What’s your definition of “genocide,” again? Is it the one the ICJ used, or your own personal double-secret definition you won’t ever give?

22

apologies
for the Double
fucking postings

@wormmy
tldr

23

@22: Yes, each and every time you refuse to give the definition of “genocide” you’re using, you should accuse someone else of dissembling. That always totally confuses all of your readers into forgetting you’re the one being dishonest.

How’s that working out for you? For Gaza?

24

Ooops, President Biden. True, the special prosecutor who made the memory statement is a Trump appointee – so there’s that. Thing is, President Biden is going to pull a RBG and hang in there longer than what's strategically sound. He’s starting to look stiff and in decline, but the alternative is unthinkable, unimaginable, and unworthy of consideration. At this point, and only if Biden changes his mind about the next four years, who could the Democrats stick in that slot making people say, “Now you’re talkin’?”

I imagine working in Congress is a bloody nightmare. Once upon a time, ennui was commonplace for House members in the minority. You just can’t get ANYTHING done. Now we see Republicans in the House saying enough of this shit. Not because they can’t get anything done necessarily, but because they so often have to take positions and cast votes they might not have wanted to in order to please party leadership. Yeah, I bet that gets old, and you start to feel like what’s left of your soul is circling the drain. It’s having a mean boss who makes you dread going into work every day. I think I’d probably want to pack my bags, too.

That teacher giving children melatonin should have been fired. Maybe more. If I were a parent, I’d be furious. I remember a case in Tennessee, many moons ago, wherein a physician’s wife was giving her two children tranquilizers – prescribed by Daddy – that would shut the kids up for when Mr. MD got home in the evening. Seems noisy children got on his nerves. He lost his license to practice medicine, and I think Mama went to country club jail for a stretch.

I regret never making it to Machivelli’s (I don’t think). I see their prices were sane and their menu was classic. I used to be frequently on the search for a city’s best linguine and clam sauce. For me, in Seattle, it was Angelina’s Trattoria in the Admiral District (they didn’t always use linguini – they used what was on-hand like penne rigate). I still dream about it.

Valentine’s Day is a crappy joke, but I guess some need it. Like some don’t miss an episode of Hee-Haw or Three’s Company. Like the ones who bring a Jell-O salad to a potluck. Me? I think you should treat the person with whom you share your life with respect, gratitude, and tenderness every day. A card and a $25 box of chocolate on February 14 doesn’t make up for being an asshole. But I guess it does for some. And yes, there are some who live with people who say, "You BETTER come home with a gift!"

Enhanced Games? Man, what kind of world are we living in?

Have a fortunate Year of the Dragon, everyone.

25

I'm on Team Michelle Sarju.

26

Classic Bauhaus I @24. Got a laugh out of the colorful Valentine's Day rumination.

27

Also, Steely Dan's "Dirty Work" - songs in D-flat major can be haunting, but David Palmer's almost accidental, lucky break lead vocals churns my butter.

28

I'll bet the liability waiver for the Enhanced Games is epic.

29

"... who could the Democrats stick
in that slot making people say,
'Now you’re talkin’?'"
--@Bauhaus

A. the One guy who not only doesn't Want
the Job and therefore'd be Perfect at it
Plus his fucking NAME'S already
ON The fucking Building:

Sheldon fucking Whitehouse

other than Extremists
MAGA disciples and
hard-core Fascists
the guy's a shoo-
in and Smokin'
Joe wouldn't
hafta pull
an RPG

brilliant
suggestion.

with maybe a VP
Pramala Jayapal

or maybe Julia Louis-Dreyfus
she's got Oodles of Experience
just like Volodymyr Zelenskyy -- from
the teevee to Ukraine President overnight.

why not? she's
not MAGA
surely

30

@ 25
The things we do to women of color. God forbids they say anything, or call things by their name. They will be prosecuted, harassed, called names. All because they dare to speak out. Deep gratitude and admiration for Michelle that reminded many of us not to roll over when attacked, even if that brings the racist dog whistles out.
As fas as Vivian and Lisa go, I cannot stand this new wave politicians that exploit their ethnic origin. We saw the reality in full display at the City Council vote: a large number of Asian elders, many non-English speakers, supporting their candidate, Tanya Woo. Say all you want about Tanya, but be careful when you say it to the Asian elders because they will put you in your place.
Lisa RRRRRivera (like she wants to pronounce her last name now), proclaiming to have found her Comanche and Tarahumara roots (learn how to pronounce Tarahumara first, darling) has ZERO connection to the Latinx community, ZERO.

31

Thank you, Nathalie, for Steely Dan's Dirty Work!! The excellent classic rock choice made my day. I love the wailing sax solo. :)

It's sad to never have experienced Machiavelli's on Capitol Hill.
In my dreams of Seattle's Good Old Days, I still fondly reminisce about Trader Vic's
in first, the Washington Plaza Hotel and later, the Westin Twin Towers on 1900 5th Avenue.

@8 Catalina Vel-DuRay for the WIN!!!

@24 & @27 Bauhaus I: Keep rocking the house! Agreed with cressona @25--GOOD ONE re Valentine's Day, and Steely Dan! I hope we all can have a fortunate Year of the Dragon.

32

Closure of Machiavelli (and also of the Coastal Kitchen, if you follow the link back to Capitol Hill Blog, and read that entire post) comes as the saddest of moments. Both were automatic go-to locations for any of my out-of-town guests. I lived a few blocks from Machiavelli for half the time it existed (!) and was a regular there (when not hanging onto the bar at the Elysian).

During one stretch, the bartender and I lived in the same building nearby, and we traded favors: at the start of my daily commute, I ensured his morning paper made it from our front stoop to his door; during his working hours, he ensured my wait for a table was comfortable — and well-lubricated.

Come to think of it, the Coastal Kitchen, Machiavelli, and the Elysian together had the best signs on Capitol Hill. Each beckoned welcomingly the moment one saw it in the distance.

33

@1 - the be fair, the media is in the business of reporting news. As in things not everyone may know yet. Trump being a moron is as newsworthy as water being wet.

36

@34, @35: That’s because it exploits itself for us. It’s called “white privilege.”

(Also, of what ethnic origin is “white”? The Italians and the Irish weren’t admitted into it until far less than a century ago.)

38

Sarju also called the student board members racist and seemed to think her former colleagues had the power to control a “choir” of bad guys. Did not seem all there.

39

@37
No, nothing against diversity. At all. What I am against is ANYONE working the system the way these women did

40

@39: Tanya Woo was "working the system" by showing up in the CID, and caring about what was happening there. The CID's representative, CM Morales, could easily have done these things, but she chose not to. So voters turned out for the candidate who did. That's exactly the competition required to make our representative democracy succeed.

@30: "We saw the reality in full display at the City Council vote: a large number of Asian elders, many non-English speakers, supporting their candidate, Tanya Woo."

District 2 has many non-English speakers, and many immigrants, from many places. The incumbent is herself a woman of color. Your implication Woo (or her supporters) were "playing a race card," was as inaccurate as it was insulting.

41

Gazans
gotta go
back north
from whence
they came. other
than a little Domicide*

what the rub?

*what
Your Home?
oh. it's Gone
L o n g Gone.

sorry -- Hamas!

43

yep skiddy Nutnyahoo's
Bulldozed & Entombed
terrorized Gazans so they
Won't Have Any Reason to
bomb them Back to Smither-
eens from Whence they came

but once they Arrive?
what if there WAS a Hamas?

Ooops!
sorry! but
What Else
could we DO?

so Totes
NOT OUR
FUCKING FAULT.

so stfu and
watch, world.

OUR tax
dollars @ Work.

how Much to
Rebuild? blank
check Biden? are
We on the Hook too?

dump
BiBi & El
trumpfster too.

45

@42: If you actually believe you can get kristo' to admit Hamas has been hiding behind civilians in Gaza -- let alone Hamas' actions might actually have some large additive effect upon those civilians' casualty figures --then I suggest you read any of his many comments on the topic here. He spits nails whenever anyone mentions Hamas' well-documented behaviors toward either Israelis or Gazans.

47

@40 I am sorry I didn’t mean it that way. I respect Tanya Woo and the way she’s authentically engaged the Asian community. I was referring to Vivian Song who shamelessly played the system by renting apartments galore: one in Queen and then one in Ballard while living in her Capitol Hill mansion. A sweet place that has hosted a number of politicians and decision makers. The corruption in this city is rampant. Is not what you know but who you know.

49

Man, Bauhaus and Kristo raise an interesting question. In the highly unlikely event Biden opts out or has something tragic come to pass between now & November, would the DNC really be comfortable running Harris out there to carry the torch? I don't think she actually deserves anywhere near the amount of scorn and derision she's receiving, but it exists regardless and I feel like we'd be idiots to not consider it in context. That said...

I'm sure that Whitehouse fellow Kristo mentions is a decent guy, but he couldn't be a whole lot more lacking in mainstream name recognition. He's also almost 70, which obviously, ha ha, isn't disqualifying in and of itself, but I've gotta imagine we'd be desperate to nominate someone considerably younger, if only to bring the issue into much sharper contrast with DJT. That same age issue would likely factor and probably disqualify Bernie, Warren and even Hillary, who I'm embarrassed to admit I'd probably at least have to give some consideration to (though I'm sure she'd be utterly disinterested.) I know there's some oddballs out there who are actively "declared" candidates for the formal Dem nom, though I couldn't possibly name one if my life depended on it.

I continue to have a giant man crush on Cory Booker, though his last campaign pretty clearly demonstrated that I'm very much a minority on that front.

I feel like it'd wind up being Harris, for better or for worse.

50

speaking of a
One World pov:

from: the Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Slanted Opinions on Gaza/
One Family’s Tragedy

Ralph welcomes Janine Jackson, of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and producer and host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show “CounterSpin” to give us her take on the corporate media landscape and in particular how the major outlets are opining on the crisis in Gaza.

Janine Jackson is the program director of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and she is the producer and host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show CounterSpin.

Ms. Jackson contributes frequently to FAIR’s newsletter Extra!, her articles have appeared in various publications, including In These Times and the UAW’s Solidarity, and in books including Civil Rights Since 1787 and Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism.

“What I like to say is: we hear a lot from the people we hear a lot from. The conversation becomes kind of insular, and it's very much a pro-U.S. and whatever the U.S. is doing position, with some criticism around the edges.

But the point is, you're not hearing from the people who are recipients/victims of U.S. policy. You're hearing overwhelmingly from the people who make that policy.

If you just read the New York Times and the Washington Post, the U.S. is the world. We're the only good country in the world.

Anything we do is democracy. Anybody we bomb, we're bombing in service to democracy. And you're just supposed to keep swallowing that.

And I feel that elite news media don't understand that people are not buying it. We're not buying it anymore.”

--Janine Jackson

“What [Dr. Tariq Haddad] relates is not going to be easy to take for our listeners, but bear with us, listeners.

We have to face up to it because it's your tax dollars, it's your US weapons… and cover—diplomatic and political—that is what Netanyahu wants and gets. The rest is just deceptive rhetoric.

--Ralph Nader

more Not courtesy
of the MSM:
https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/p/slanted-opinions-on-gazaone-familys?publication_id=1047405&post_id=141557305&r=k7ee3

"The rest is just deceptive rhetoric."

END the Madness:
Ceasefire NOW.

50

yeah
Mike, Whitehouse's
mostly Unknown but
Not 'cause he's Ineffective

and with all the Billions
'our' MSM's raking in
it'd be Simple to get
his name out there

I don't trust the "D"NC
a corporation beholden
to Itself to field a winning
Candidate. it seems to some-
how Not be in 'their' best Interests:

they've Already
got theirs.

51

oh and maybe
letting Juicers replace
lab rats in our struggle to
create human beings that'll
put an ant's strength to shame
not to Mention healing in 1/5 the
time normalies might take -- perhaps
Chemicals're not destined to be only the
shit we pick up from capitalism unchallenged
but stuff that'll jet us along to humans unscathed
by normal mortality. Juicers'll pay a price; they're Explorers.

52

@50: “If you just read the New York Times and the Washington Post, the U.S. is the world. We're the only good country in the world.

“Anything we do is democracy. Anybody we bomb, we're bombing in service to democracy. And you're just supposed to keep swallowing that.”

Examples of which would be…?

Or is this just “deceptive rhetoric”?

(Given no mention of Hamas, it well could be!)

53

@52

Iraq
Afghanistan
North Viet Nam

we can Justify
reigning Terror
over anti-Capitalists
Anywhere -- we've 900
USA military Bases planet-wide.

this is News?

how many foreign
Military Bases (other than
a few Chinese Police stations)
have we here in America? are we

Exceptional?
just Ask U.S.

54

and "right"
wormtongue:
if HAMAS is not
Mentioned in EVERY
fucking Comment it can
mean only ONE Thing: HAMAS!

keep on
Justifyin'
it's what
You do
"best."

54

and "right"
wormtongue:
if HAMAS is not
Mentioned in EVERY
fucking Comment it can
mean only ONE Thing: HAMAS!

keep on
Justifyin'
it's what
You do
"best."

55

@53: As I’d figured, you provided zero actual examples of the Times or Post acting as cheerleaders for American policy, or dodging chances to be critical of the US. And of course your “source” on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza wouldn’t even mention Hamas at all. Who’s covering for whom here, again? Who engages in “deceptive rhetoric”?

(And to think, I listened to “CounterSpin” regularly on KCMU, and subscribed to “Extra!” Damn, I miss the ‘90s in Seattle!)

57

@46: ...and you're givin' it all ya bloody well CAN, eh, Cap'n?

59

“When the Pentagon feels free and even gleeful about killing anybody and everybody who gets in the way of their vicious crusade for oil, the public soul of this country has changed forever, and professional sports is only a serenade for the death of the American dream. Mahalo.”

~ Hunter S. Thompson; 'Hey Rube:
Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine,
and the Downward Spiral
of Dumbness'

Congratulations
Taylor & Kelce!
awesomesause
on the PsyOps!

& Way to GO!
Kansas
City!

60

“Anything we do is democracy. Anybody we bomb, we're bombing in service to democracy. And you're just supposed to keep swallowing that.”

"Examples of which would be…?"
--@wormmy

Iraq.
Afghanistan.
North Viet Nam.

we can Justify
reigning Terror
over anti-Capitalists
Anywhere -- we've 900
USA military Bases planet-wide.

this is News?

61

speaking of
900+ US Military
bases Planet-Wide and
the Freedom to Bomb to
smithereens whomever We
deem Worthy there's this lil ditty

a reader’s comment on the nyt article:
Favoring Foes Over Friends,
Trump Threatens to Up-
end International Order

Former President Donald J. Trump suggested that he would incite Russia to attack “delinquent” U.S. allies, foreshadowing potentially far-reaching changes in the world order if he wins the White House again.

the reader’s comment:

@citybumpkin Historians haven’t called this era, from 1945, the Pax Americana out of mere benevolence, generosity, or sentimentality for the complex ways that empire operates.

The Pax Americana operates not only through state diplomacy and policymaking, but also in the stunningly lax regulatory business environment unique to the U.S. (and enshrined by SCOTUS in deciding a corporation is a person).

The totalizing reach of American corporations
the world over is an extension of that em-
pire wrought by this Pax Americana.

Remind yourself of this the next time you order from Amazon.

Remind yourself of this when you hold an Apple product in your hand or rely on a Microsoft product for work.

Remind yourself of this when you find yourself inside the cabin of a Tesla or read a “tweet” from X, when one is embedded within a news story.
--Caroline M.; Toronto, Canada

more comments on
El trumpfster and the
Upcoming fascist state:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/11/us/politics/trump-nato.html#commentsContainer

62

@58: I'd take you a lot more seriously if you'd drop the concern trolling, Cap'n Crunch.
It is obvious that stupidity, ignorance, a need for violent chaos, corruption, entitlement, misogyny, and racism are the main forces that drive Orange Turd lovin' MAGAts. Why else would so many of them be driven to a coup attempt on our nation's capitol on January 6, 2021? Batshit crazy sheeple disrupting what should have been a peaceful transition of executive power resulting from a fair and just election? Because the Orange Turd told them to. Are you aware that since 01/06/2021 these idiots have been serving prison time for high treason while the Orange Turd is out, free as a bird, chortling about running for the 2024 RNC ticket? The Orange Turd is laughing at them, and everyone else who doesn't fit its neofascist criteria:

1) Insanely wealthy
2) Corrupt as fuck
3) RepubliKKKan RWNJ
4) White
5) Men* who all bow and scrape to the Orange Turd, brainwashed into believing the 2020 election was "stolen",
and that the dictator wannabe should be in the White House for life if it wants to.
*insanely wealthy, corrupt, RepubliKKKan RWNJ white women are equally brainwashed into believing they're "safe" with the Orange Turd in charge

There. I fixed it for you, Cap'n.
Go eat your paste before it hardens.

@61 kristofarian: Wow. I'm grateful not to have a need for Amazon or Tesla.
I hope we survive the Year of the Dragon.

64

@60: Again, I meant actual material from the New York Times and the Washington Post, demonstrating their bias in favor of US policies. That you agree with the Nader show’s claim about that means absolutely nothing. (And “North Viet Nam” ceased to be a separate place almost FIFTY YEARS AGO, so bang-on with the relevancy there.)

As I hinted @55, CounterSpin and F.A.I.R. used to provide examples to support such claims, but they apparently stopped doing that so long ago, you didn’t even get the reference.


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