Palestinians Are Starving to Death: This morning, Reuters is reporting that at least 101 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of starvation. Doctors and humanitarian workers are also “fainting on duty in Gaza due to hunger and exhaustion.” Not only is food scarce, but Israeli soldiers have killed dozens of people as they attempted to access food stations over the weekend. Yesterday, 25 countries demanded Israel end the war, but Netanyahu says he won’t stop until Hamas is defeated. That 35-day-old infant who starved to death on Saturday has nothing to do with Hamas, you fucking monster.
Seattle Protester Charged with Felony: A 33-year-old man from Monroe has been charged with third-degree assault and is being held in King County Jail for allegedly punching Cameron Higby in the head after the No Kings Day protest on June 14. The Seattle Times says Higby is a “self-described ‘America First’ influencer,” (he previously hosted a show for PragerU for years) and he was wearing a helmet and riot gear at the time. Prosecutors noted that they haven’t seen all of Higby’s medical records yet, so they may amend the charge. Higby says Lawson also harassed him online; others have accused Higby of “rage baiting.” Lawson told investigators, “I really didn’t think that a couple of (expletive) bare knuckle shots to the head at a protest after being antagonized all night was gonna come down to all this.”
Trump Tries the Distraction Method: Forget all about Epstein’s list, because the National Archives just released hundreds of thousands of files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on Trump’s orders. King’s family is calling bullshit. They released a statement, writing, “During our father’s lifetime, he was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). … Those who promote the fruit of the FBI’s surveillance will unknowingly align themselves with an ongoing campaign to degrade our father and the Civil Rights Movement.”
The Plan Didn’t Work: Because most of us aren’t toddlers with the brain of a goldfish, Trump’s plan to get everyone to look over there! look over there! hasn’t worked. So Todd Blanche from the DOJ is meeting with Epstein’s BSTF (best sex trafficking friend), Ghislaine Maxwell, to see if she “has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims.” They’re selling it as an attempt to out criminals and be transparent and yadda yadda yadda, but this is fucked! Todd Blanche is Trump’s guy! This meeting isn’t an opportunity to demand answers and appease the American people who don’t want a child rapist in the White House, this is some sketchy-ass shit!
Again, I suspect what Todd Blanche is trying to do for his client Donald Trump is to get Ghislaine Maxwell to implicate someone flashy (someone LIKE Bill Clinton, tho not necessarily Clinton), which Blanche will use to release her from prison. www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/22/t…
— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) July 22, 2025 at 6:32 AM
More Sketchy Business: Speaker Mike Johnson has shut down the House until September to avoid the Democrats’ demands to vote on the release of more Epstein files. He probably just wants everyone to have a great summer, and isn’t at all attempting to keep certain Presidents from being outed as child rapists, right? JK, he said he’s doing it because, “We’re done being lectured on transparency,” which is exactly what someone attempting to hide a very big, bad secret would say. This is fascism.
Trump Bans WSJ From Press Pool: Not only is Trump suing the Wall Street Journal for their reporting on his relationship with Epstein—and the pervy birthday card he made for him—Trump has also banned the news outlet from the press pool. WHICH IS ALSO FASCISM.
Don’t Worry, It’ll Be Over Soon(er): The world is starting to spin faster, and some days this summer have been shorter than the usual 24 hours. CNN reports: “July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, lasting 1.36 milliseconds less than 24 hours. … More exceptionally short days are coming on July 22 and August 5, currently predicted to be 1.34 and 1.25 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours, respectively.” This is quite normal, experts say, but also AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Speaking of Space: Betelgeuse has a bestie! One of our most famous stars in the sky has a “companion star (that) orbits Betelgeuse in an incredibly tight orbit.” Cute! “The star is doomed, however, and the team behind this discovery predicts that Betelgeuse will cannibalize it in a few thousand years.” I demand a Pixar-style film immediately.
BREAKING NEWS: This is delicious.
Don’t Forget to Vote! Your ballot! It has arrived, probably! VOOOOOOOTE! Our endorsements are here. My very passionate argument for why voting in the primaries is important is here.
Last Week, Charles Wrote About Crows: Y’all had some very good advice for Charles on how to deal with a family of loud, aggressive crows on his street in Columbia City. Any tips on how to deal with this cranky corvid that keeps BITING MY DOG?
Yes, I give it kibble! HELP!
@46: “saying Netanyahu is a rational actor doesn’t preclude him being a fucking murderous asshole.”
Maybe it’s just me, but that seems incongruous.
You can always count on the stranger crowd for some good ole cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy.
Why don’t you ask your team why they didn’t do anything regarding Epstein for a whole four years? Are y’all really that dolt to think that they wouldn’t nail him to the wall if he was involved? I will give you this though, if he is involved your team is all up in it as well. Otherwise we would know it all by now. The dems had all the power and all you did was riot and cry about pronouns. Get a mirror.
@50, So you’re telling me you’re afraid of a children’s media production company, a holocaust survivor who donates to left wing causes, and trans people. Do you think you’re somehow not proving my point for me lol. Beyond parody.
@53: To be fair, you started the list with cities and children’s books.
@41, The money is nice for Israel. It keeps our foot in the door, but they aren’t going to ignore their fundamental strategic needs for it. They aren’t going to ignore existential threat. Never have, never will.
The annual budget of Israel is $755 billion. They can do without $4 billion.
Which Muslim nations have the capacity to drive them into the sea? They asked that after the Arab route of 47 and 48. They said that after Israel’s decisive win in 1967. They said that after them pulling decisive victory from the hands of a nearly fatal surprise in 1973.
For Israel, the neighborhood they live in has always been the Energize Bunny on steroids. No matter what they do, it just keeps coming.
When the current active hostilities end, and returns to just the normal few asymmetric attacks a year where they count casualties on both hands, the IDF and Israeli public will begin to prepare and innovate to handle the next one war. They will prepare for the next pogrom or holocaust event against Jews to occur either directly against Israel or in other places around the world. That is a feature of Israeli existence, not a bug, as is the possession of the Land or their Father Abraham.
It’s been like that since they returned to the land of their father Abraham, millennia ago.
Withholding some smart bombs, and 1/2 of 1% of their national budget, isn’t going to change that.
Likewise, there are those on the Palestinian side that will never accept being deprived of 100% control of the Land of Abraham. Today’s manifestation is Hamas and Shite Islam. Tomorrow it may be Sunni’s.
@54, ??? I said conservatives are afraid of children’s books and his reply was “yes actually we’re afraid of a specific company that produces children’s books!” How does that do anything other than support my point? Also why are you replying on behalf of this other account?
@56: Your point relies on a list of conservative stereotypes, as always, which are irresistible low hanging fruit for your debate adversaries to jam on.
I have no comment on your sockpuppet delusions.
@37, BINGO
@45 “Gaza is about real estate, and keeping Netenyahu out of jail. That’s all. That’s what the purity voters never understood.”
Who do you mean by purity voters? The people, like myself, who wanted the US to cut off arms to Israel understood this and it’s part of why we were so disgusted with the situation. It was the pro-Zionist set who really thought it was about defending the Jewish homeland or whatever.
“Not only is Trump suing the Wall Street Journal for their reporting on his relationship with Epstein—and the pervy birthday card he made for him—Trump has also banned the news outlet from the press pool. WHICH IS ALSO FASCISM.”
No, under actual fascism, honest political reporting would no longer exist, and so the Journal would not have reported what it did. It’s exactly Trump’s inability to impose The Leader’s Will upon the Journal which has him impotently kicking their reporter away. His own chosen actions admit fascism doesn’t exist here. (Not yet, anyway.)
@10: “Regardless of Hamas’ actions, the IDF has a responsibility to not commit war crimes by starvation of civilian populations.”
As I explained in yesterday’s Slog AM thread (with help from the aforementioned Wall St. Journal), Hamas has played both a long and large role in starving the Palestinians — a role Hamas eagerly continues filling today:
The new food-distribution plan exists because of Hamas’ long-standing practice of stealing humanitarian aid from Gaza, and either weaponizing it directly, or selling it for money to buy weapons. And Hamas is none too happy about this new system, either:
“Hamas has repeatedly threatened Palestinians who cooperate with the plan with violence. Last month, GHF [the newbie American contractor tasked with distributing food] said Hamas militants attacked a busload of its Palestinian staff, killing at least eight. This month, GHF and the Israeli military said they suspected that Hamas militants had injured two American security staffers with grenades.”
(https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/us-israel-gaza-aid-deaths-12d3fb35?mod=Searchresults_pos2&page=1)
Whenever I read or hear about starving Palestinians from the Stranger, or one of the sympathetic commenters here, I try to recall all of the times in the past they criticized Hamas’ cruel thefts of humanitarian aid from Gaza. When no instances come to mind, I simply remind everyone of what @1 said: Hamas can end the Palestinians’ suffering anytime it wants. And yet, Hamas chooses not to. Every time.
@60
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-14/gaza-aid-looting-gangs-yasser-abu-shabab-israel-netanyahu-hamas/105501926
Are we allowed to fire a water pistol at crows? I don’t know if that is considered a humane or inhumane action against nippy crows, but I would give it a try. The worst that could happen is you have to apologize for hurting a bullying crows feelings. Sort of like butt-hurt MAGAs who don’t like being called out on their crap.
@tensora
Israel can end the Palestinians’ suffering anytime it wants also. Guess they can’t really claim any moral high ground for being as bad as Hamas.
@63: Cute, if false. (See 10/7, see rocket attacks from Rafa since.) And I wasn’t claiming any moral high ground for anyone. I was pointing out the blatant falsity of the narrative claim here, that Hamas isn’t starving children. That is exactly what they are doing, and they’re not even being anything less than obvious about it. You simply don’t admit it’s true.
@64 because it’s not true it’s Israeli propaganda
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/cindy-mccain-hamas-israel-aid-b2757707.html
Hamas could surrender and release the hostages. It worked for the Nazis.
@67 Israel could give back the land they stole
From the link @61: “…it’s now widely believed that Abu Shabab has been armed and protected by the Israeli government…”
Well, that’s obviously incontrovertible proof! And we know it’s his gang which has been stealing the food aid, right?
“Some of the men say they have worked with a gang leader named Yasser Abu Shabab.”
Well, that proves it then!
But wait, there’s more! From the link @66:
“During her appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, McCain shot down claims that Hamas was disrupting the aid distribution process.”
Can’t wait to see the evidence she ga-
“McCain told Margaret Brennan that her agency’s staffers on the ground in Gaza had seen no evidence of an effort by Hamas to loot aid trucks.”
Well, nothing screams “TRUTH!!!1!” like a right-wing politician’s “no evidence” denial. Especially here at the Stranger, where the self-serving denials of right-wingers have the status of Gospel.
I quoted the Wall Street Journal. You linked to this nonsense. Thanks for the laughs.
@69
“The United Nations has identified Abu Shabab’s gang as one of those raiding aid convoys when they entered Gaza, saying they were doing so with the apparent protection or indifference of the Israeli military.
Former French diplomat Jean-Pierre Filliu, who spent one month in Gaza with Doctors Without Borders from December 2024 to January 2025, said he witnessed the gang being protected by the IDF while looting trucks.”
And Cindy McCain is the executive director of the World Food Programme
Everything tensorna posts regarding Gaza is a carbon copy of what Netanyahu says and removes all agency from Israel and the IDF, placing the blame fully on Hamas, in order to enable everything the IDF does and continue its sick and inhuman war.
@65: The WSJ is “Israeli propaganda”? A guy who cited FOX NEWS (!) gets to lecture anyone else on propaganda?!?
Again, “Hamas has repeatedly threatened Palestinians who cooperate with the plan with violence.” “The plan” being the only entity currently bringing food into Gaza. So Hamas now openly tries to starve Palestinian children. Full stop. This monstrous crime, accusations of which you all freely throw at Israel every chance you get, in reality also belongs to Hamas. And then you respond with thunderous silence, followed by feeble denials, and then angry personal attacks. (Don’t forget to whine loudly, and with utmost self-pitying nasality, when the rest of us conclude you’re either pro-Hamas, morally unfit to lecture anyone on pretty much anything, or both.)
And I’m not talking about a recent, poorly-sourced story about theft from a truck or two. I mean Hamas has been stealing humanitarian aid from Gazans for years, using techniques — and gaining successes — which would make any mob boss envious. Because not only are they an armed terrorist gang, they also have their hands firmly on the levers of Gaza’s government. Again, from our country’s premier economic news source:
“The group [Hamas] has used the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods to build new income streams… This has included charging taxes on merchants, collecting customs on trucks at checkpoints, and commandeering goods for resale.”
Note that while all of these activities either reduced the amount of humanitarian aid getting to Palestinians, increased the price, or both, “…commandeering goods for resale,” was actual, outright thievery. Hence Hamas’ demands to have the UN and other relief agencies again provide rivers of humanitarian aid for Hamas to skim, grift, and steal, and why they threaten violence to stop the only current flow of food to Gaza’s children. They want that money, and they want that money so they can kill more Israelis. Have you an inkling now as to why the IDF will have none of it?
(https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/food-aid-becomes-main-sticking-point-in-gaza-cease-fire-talks-18f2c614?mod=Searchresults_pos2&page=1)
@71: Context matters. If Slog hosted a fact-based dialog, then you would have read even more from me about how Gaza is a humanitarian disaster, how war criminals need prosecution without regard to their identities, how there’s plenty of blame to go around, etc. But we’re not having a reality-based dialog, because this web site has spent over a year and a half obediently supporting Hamas’ messaging against Israel, the United States, and the only political party of any power in the United States which even tried to restrain Israel. So I don’t bother pretending we’re having a reality-based dialog, but rather, I behave as if anything I type which reads as even slightly balanced will be intentionally misquoted and used as a gotcha. Because I have been given every reason to believe it will be.
“Everything tensorna posts regarding Gaza is a carbon copy of what Netanyahu says…”
kristofarian loved to paint me as Bibi’s puppet, too. I strongly suggest you follow him no further, for fear of where his path may well have permanently ended.