A couple of today's links include "source_utm=chatgpt.com" which is disheartening to see. Does The Stranger have an AI policy? Is a human even writing this anymore?

‘Trump’s Gaza “Peace Plan” is Disarm or Be Wiped Out’

The peace deal explicitly requires Hamas to disarm, and then exit the government of Gaza. If Hamas refuses, then an international stabilization force may disarm Hamas. If that doesn’t happen, then Israel can disarm Hamas.

Why does the Stranger claim any of this is objectionable?

If you have a paying job, and are so obnoxious and arrogant to go on strike, our obnoxious and arrogant state government will pay you for it.

I see the ChatGPT links have now been quietly edited out. Not great!

@1: Which ones? I was curious and went through them all and didn't see any. They're all links to web pages and any query parameter to the right of the "?" in the URL wouldn't be set by Marcus.

Tensorna is back in force, wading in the blood of civilians, as usual.

I've only been through one of America's many "corpo-imperialist war under a false pretense" episodes aka the war on terror and this attempt with Venezuela seems so flimsily pretensed it's baffling anyone would buy it. Like, they've got one page in their playbook with South America/elsewhere and it's embarrasing that they keep recycling it at this point. "(insert current vogue minority) are sexual predators/coming for our children and women!"-tier lazy lazy lies.

"Trump’s Gaza “Peace Plan” is Disarm or Be Wiped Out" - So the GOP & the DNC really are no different in the end. Same foreign policy.

@6: Are you worried that you wouldn't be come up with a rebuttal?

@2
I was about to state that not even Stranger SLOG commentators could possibly object to disarming Hamas, as I'm sure the peacekeeping troops from Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates would rather not have to disarm Hamas themselves.

But then @6 comes along and proves me wrong.

Wow, just wow, when did being a good progressive require being obsequious to a misogynistic, homophobic terrorist group?

@6: Yes, wanting a terrorist group disarmed, so the world can proceed to rebuild Gaza, en route to a two-state solution, is the very definition of bloodthirstiness. You people really do miss your favorite war, don’t you?

@8: There was no outcome of last year’s elections which would have put a pro-Hamas government in charge of the United States. Threatening VP Harris only resulted in Trump winning, just as we liberals told you at that time. And yet, you went ahead and did it anyway. You people really do miss your favorite war, don’t you?

@10: Ever since 10/7, at the absolute latest. This barrel really has no bottom. These people really do miss their favorite war.

@13 I don’t think they miss the war as much as they miss being aggrieved by something to get attention. Remember most of them can’t even tell you which River and which Sea. They are but cosplayers in search of clicks.

Last week Governor Fergeson's budget proposed to fund ongoing road maintenance with debt. Now the plan is to sweep climate funds into the general fund to backfill money squandered on roads. How will that maneuver get Washington State to carbon neutrality? Kudos for backing a millionaire’s tax in the most regressive tax state in the union but borrowing from future generations and sweeping climate funds into the general fund are big steps in the wrong direction.

Every transportation bill is a climate bill and its way past time to address the pig that is road transportation budgeting. Currently the per mile subsidy for private cars and trucks is huge. Gas taxes from drivers and weight fees pay only a small fraction of ongoing maintenance. Gas tax, EV tax, and weight fees should pay 100% of road maintenance. We should not borrow from future generations or use education and healthcare funding to fund ongoing road maintenance and policing. Nor should we plan road expansions (interstate bridge, SR509, SR2 trestle...) that exacerbate the funding maintenance issue and increases vehicle miles travelled.

Its time for a new approach. Its time to tell people, governor, that the roads budget is unsustainable and needs to be cut. Its time to charge road users for the roads they use.

@ 3: I don’t know why you hate unions so much.

@6: “…wading in the blood of civilians, as usual.”

Immediately after the ceasefire started, Hamas rounded up some Palestinian civilians it happened not to like, then mowed them down with gunfire.

Please provide us with your quote and URL from back then — you know, the one where you condemned this slaughter of civilians in Palestine. Thx!

Try imagining TS take on the following - an imaginary militant group, the Duwamish Liberation Front, bent on the destruction of "white settler colonists" in King County, stages an attack at the Ballard Farmers Market, complete with paragliders and ATVs. The carnage is devastating. Street celebrations break out within Duwamish communities while UW faculty and students immediately march in solidarity with the DLF and admonish Seattle for even considering retaliation. Libretto, in a paraxysm of excitement, finds himself once again dancing around on I5 with fellow "allies." The DLF is demanding total liberation of their ancestral lands, insisting all colonists move out of the zone, a population smaller than that of Israel BTW. One shudders to contemplate TS editorial position, though no one should be surprised.

Much more interesting takeaway from the Trump Netanyahu meeting was that Trump pressed Israel to stop their aggression in the West Bank. This will be a bigger problem for the Zionists because they don't have a 10/7 or Hamas boogeyman to blame their atrocities on. Let's see if Netanyahu takes any action and, if not, whether Trump does anything about it or just cowers like Biden.

First, it was Israel’s right to defend itself.

Then
it was a war,
even though, by Israel’s own military
intelligence database, 83 percent of the casualties were civilians.

The 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza,
living under an Israeli air, land and sea blockade,
have no army, air force, no mechanized units, no tanks, no navy,
no missiles, no heavy artillery, no fleets of killer drones,
no sophisticated tracking systems to map
all movements, or an ally like

the United States, which has given Israel
at least $21.7 billion in military
aid since Oct. 7, 2023.

Now, it is a “ceasefire.”

Except of course, as usual, Israel only abided by
the first of the 20 stipulations. It freed
around 2,000 Palestinian captives
held in Israeli prisons — 1700

of whom were detained after Oct. 7 —
as well as around 300 bodies of Palestinians,
in exchange for the return of the 20 remaining Israeli captives.

Israel has violated every other condition.

It has tossed the agreement — brokered
by the Trump administration without
Palestinian participation — into the
bonfire with all the other agree-
ments and peace accords con-
cerning Palestinians.

Israel’s extensive
and blatant flouting of
international agreements and
international law — Israel and its allies
refuse to abide by three sets of legally binding orders
by the International Cout of Justice (ICJ) and two ICJ advisory opinions,

as well as the Genocide Convention
and international humanitarian law — presage a world
where the law is whatever the most militarily advanced countries say it is.

The sham peace plan — “President Donald J. Trump’s
Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” —
in an act of stunning betrayal of the Palestinian
people, was endorsed by most of the U.N.
Security Council in November, with
China and Russia abstaining.

Member states washed their hands of Gaza
and turned their backs on the genocide.

The adoption of resolution 2803 (2025), as the Middle East
scholar Norman Finkelstein writes, “was simultaneously
a revelation of moral insolvency and a
declaration of war against Gaza.

By proclaiming international law null and void,
the Security Council pro-claimed itself null and void.
Vis-à-vis Gaza, the Council trans-muted into a criminal conspiracy.”

The next phase is supposed to see Hamas
surrender its weapons and Israel withdraw from Gaza.

But these two steps will never happen. Hamas —
along with other Palestinian factions — reject
the Security Council resolution. They say
they will disarm only when the occu-
pation ends and a Palestinian
state is created.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed
that if Hamas does not disarm, it
will be done “the hard way.”

--by Chris Hedges

fawking oodles:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/rebranding-genocide-read-by-eunice

but, the Wormtongue
has already Declared
that 'the "War"
is Over!'

and anyone Unfooled
by this sham "Peace Plan
/Ceasefire!" must LOVE this
'War' on captive Palestinians

and Hate the Pause
in the Genocide
that's really
merely:

'Genocide, Lite."

@the Wormtongue
STILL selling us
this fucking
Genocide?

gee.
what a
fucking "surprise."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/israeli-settlers-attack-palestinians-with-impunity-halting-west-bank-olive-harvest

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166522

@16: I don't. SPOG a great union.

OK, I'll play: If the official response to said attack was a campaign of indiscriminate mass killing, destruction and dispossession aimed at the entire Duwamish population, not just the "DLF," I would expect and hope the Stranger would be at least somewhat critical of it, yes.

@23: Jews living on the West Bank = Aggression on the West Bank?

speaking of
the Biggest Dick
Rules, there's This

(it's
ALL News
until ya Read it):

WASHINGTON—Telling reporters that the move would do much to combat low U.S. fertility rates, President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday reversing vasectomies nationwide.

“We’re requiring all men to head to their doctors and have them undo these terrible, terrible procedures,” the president said in an address from the Oval Office in which he clarified that men over the age of 18 would be given 60 days to have their reproductive ducts reconnected or face imprisonment.

“Go to your urologist, get them to make a small cut—just a little cut on the scrotum—and put all that stuff back together. There will be some pain, but we want our men blowing full, beautiful loads to make the country’s future bright.

America’s vas deferens will be the envy of the world.” Trump added that this executive action would overturn the “awful Biden orders” that forced all men to get vasectomies in the first place.

June 9, 2025

https://theonion.com/trump-issues-executive-order-reversing-all-vasectomies/

@28 -- Jews Colonizing
Palestine's West Bank

in Violation
of International
Law -- attacking
Palestinians, Stealing
their Homes, burning
their Olive Orchards & all
whilst the IOF simply looks on

as per fucking Usual.

@28 More like "Israeli settlers steal Palestinian land and assault/murder Palestinians with impunity." It's not about the Israelis being Jews. It's about crimes that go unpunished by the government because they're committed by the favored group.

@23: Same request as of @6: please share with us your quote — backed up by URL, of course! — wherein you condemned that atrocity of Hamas rounding up civilians in Gaza and executing them en masse.

You know, so we can gauge just how much you actually care about atrocities against Palestinians.

@4, @5:

The utm_source=chatgpt links are still there, because the Stranger staff are largely incompetent:

US officials told CNN the CIA hit a remote dock on Venezuela’s coast last week—an escalation inside the country itself. [this space here is a hyperlink]That same week, US Southern Command announced another strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific that killed two people—without providing evidence of trafficking.

Since early September, the Pentagon says it has carried out 30 attacks on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 107 people. [this space here is a hyperlink] The ramp-up tracks with the Trump administration’s military buildup in the region as it intensifies pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

It's pretty lame that the Slog AM is just some moron regurgitating the results from some LLM prompt like "What is happening in the world today?" or whatever, but you didn't really expect quality journalism here, did you?

@15 hey jmath, here's some new math for you to do. What will happen to the prices of food, consumer goods and almost anything you consume that is delivered by truck under your climate plan? As the people of Washington bear the brunt of those cost spikes what will be the overall impact on the global climate? Here's a theorem for you try out. The solution to a problem can't be worse than the problem itself.

This is the first time Slog AM has been adjacent to the previous Slog AM, separated only by regurgitated content.

@36: It's not anti-journalistic to use AI as a tool per se, but I see what you mean.

@36 Or they asked ChatGPT for a set of sources about the topic. It's not how I would roll, but I can understand it given the enshittification of Google lately. But why not just jump straight to conclusions? It is bad form to leave the stuff after the question mark in any link anyway.

The Slog AM writers all have a distinctive voice. I'd expect them all to sound the same if they were actually using LLMs to write the content.

@15 - And along the lines of what @37 said, the notion that only the users of an expenditure (e.g. road maintenance) should pay 100% of the cost makes as much sense as having only students and their parents pay for taxes that go to education.

@31: "It's about crimes that go unpunished by the government because they're committed by the favored group."

Great! Then you should have no problem quoting yourself (complete with URL, natch!) from back in October, when you condemned Hamas (oh, look: double points, BOTH "the government," AND, "the favored group"!) for outright slaughter of Palestinians it happened not to like.

@32 please share your quote and URL where you condemned the beating of this Russian teen (https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-881722) so we can gauge just how much you actually care about violence against Jews.

Also we already know you don't care about Israelis violating international law or attacking Palestinians so there really wasn't any need for this pathetic attempted deflection.

@42: Sure. Once you explain what Russia has to do with this. (I mean, you do know the place already had such an awesome history of homegrown anti-Semitism, it pretty much CREATED the modern Zionist movement, right? Please say you do.)

Meanwhile, yes, it was hugely annoying for you to have your own attempted deflection, from Gaza to the West Bank, re-deflected at you. That's just your fate here, and I'm truly curious as to why you keep on suiting up for these humiliations.

@42: And, @13, we see my most recent declaration for a two-state solution. Once the (insert formal name of future Arab State in Palestine here) government becomes the legal authority over all of the West Bank, what do you think might happen to (violently) criminal Jewish settlers there?

That's what I'm advocating -- and have been, for awhile, here. (Please let me know when you've finally given up trying to figure out what that is, and I'll happily do you the charity of explaining it to you.)

@43 wow you can't even bring yourself to denounce a blatantly antisemitic attack, obviously your alleged concern for the Jewish people was just a facade, your depravity knows no bounds

"you guys NEVER
Call Out HAMAS!"

--@the Wormtongue
regardless of any
Actual Facts

here ya go wormmy.
don't Forget to
Forget These
immediately:

Sure. Hamas's tactics and governance are reckless at best and put their own civilians in danger as well as inflicting unwarranted violence on the other side's civilians.

Hamas sucks and the Palestinian people deserve better. Likewise, Likud and the IDF's tactics and governance are reckless at best and put their own civilians in danger as well as inflicting unwarranted violence on the other side's civilians.

Likud and the IDF suck and the Israeli people deserve better. Both sides committed probable war crimes and crimes against humanity and the leaders of each should be held accountable to the fullest extent.

Your turn.

thirteen12 on November 8, 2025 at 1:18 PM

"And I want to say something very, very clear and very, very blunt. Nothing, absolutely nothing, justify — can justify or legitimize the carnage that Hamas carried out in the towns and kibbutzim and the villages in the southern of Israel. Nothing can justify it. It is appalling.

And even the occupation crimes, the crimes that Israel is guilty of, crimes of occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and the Nakba, those, either, cannot justify such carnage.

At the same time, nothing, and absolutely nothing, can justify the massacre that the Israelis carries out now in Gaza, not even the crimes of Hamas."

--Ofer Cassif

this is what you Get
when you Occupy
another People

& when your generations-olde
open-air concentration camp
squeezes and mashes its oc-
cupants til there's damn
little to actually Live for
& steals their Homes

and so now Isreal
shows it's horrific powers
of Retribution. to what End?

kristofarian on October 10, 2023 at 5:25 AM

BiBi wants to Eliminate
Hamas* and if he's gotta
Kill thousands* of Children
(collaterally) to Do so then by
Gawd let the Bombings continue

he's Up to it.
specially after
allowing Isreal's
Worst EVER Attack
on its holy Homeland

not to Mention his
supreme court-stacking at-
tempts to keep his Ass outta Jail

*not a Bad idea

*tens of thousands?

two-thirds of Gazans
do Not support Hamas

kristofarian on October 12, 2023 at 9:24 AM

@46: The sad part is, the Stranger and sympathetic commenters didn't flat-out ignore Hamas' mass execution of Palestinian civilians because you missed seeing the obvious short-term advantage in so doing, but because you understand perfectly well the potential long-term disadvantage if you do.

Your entire dishonest accusation of "genocide" comes from the alleged casualty figures of Palestinians during the war. Although actual news outlets (e.g. the Wall Street Journal) always note those figures both come from the Hamas-controlled health ministry, and do not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters, the Stranger lost no time in dropping those disclaimers. It has since become gospel here that the figures represent only civilians, every last one of whom who died only from Israeli military action.

Should you ever admit that Hamas slaughtered Palestinian civilians in broad daylight, in public, immediately after the war ended, that would lead immediately to the question of just how many Palestinian civilians Hamas murdered under fog of war. Your sacred casualty figure (at least the 100% attributed to the Israelis) starts to drop. Now we're also getting reports from the ground that Hamas used hospitals as military posts during the war. Your sacred number diminishes further. There's really nothing to prevent it from rapidly dwindling to a tiny fraction of the current size, with some number of the deaths which the IDF did unjustly cause being attributed to the chaos of urban warfare. Even as you gaze upon it, your beloved charge of "genocide" could simply evaporate, right before your eyes.

You've already helplessly watched your favorite war die; you're not going to watch your favorite false accusation die with it. So, you will not recognize Hamas' murders of Palestinian civilians, no matter how much evidence anyone presents to you. It must forever remain a doubleplus unfact to your Party.

"So, you will not recognize Hamas' murders of Palestinian civilians"

my calling Hamas
'a Terrorist Organization
that Terrorizes Gazans' -- whatchya
Think that Means, Wormtongue? they Tickle
their Victims? my God you couldn't Be any Stupider

but Kudos
to You for
Giving it
your All.

whilst rooting around in tS's memory banks
I happened to stumble over this, granted,
ancient gem, but, fair to say, it
certainly hasn't lost
its spark:

tensor is the worst kind of commenter.

Thinks he’s on a mission
to introduce fact and reason
to the Slog just because he read
a report or two and can copy/paste
a hyperlink, but he’s just a troll - when
checked, his positions crumble in a dust
of fallacy and false equivalence. I realize I
have now sunk to his level, but I hope it helps
him see himself for what he really is: one of the
multitude of people who ruin fora like this for other
users, especially when he presumes to tell people when

they can/cannot comment
or when they have or have not
made a valid argument. He also
dominates the end of every thread,
as if he who comments last, wins. He
who comments last needs to get a grip.

I know I do! "

--@Edward Bernard Patrick Murray on August 1, 2018 at 7:44 AM · Report this

oh
and
nutnyahoo
BANNING Doctors
Without Borders from Gaza?!

after his IOF
pretty much Destroyed
Palestine's medical facilities?

surely
you will
Condemn this
Latest Outrage, wormmy?

proving to us
you're not some
kinda Monster. Right?

@tenso. Your concern of Palestinians being murdered is noted, too bad it only concerns a small small minority of those Palestinians killed. It might appear you think the IDF killing Palestinians isn't an issue?
And it is great you as a keyboard warrior make mouth noises about the two state solution. Did the government of Israel officially agree to that in the peace agreement?
Also, not sure Hamas agreed to disarm. I don't much like Hamas but the Zionists are clearly a danger to Palestinians. Why do you like one genocidal team but not the other?

from: The Grayzone:

As Israel bans aid orgs in Gaza, notorious mercenary firm seeks "Targeter"

Are Israel and the Trump admin planning to revive the dystopian Gaza Humanitarian Foundation scheme that spawned famine and death under cover of humanitarian aid?

In its bid to continue the genocide* in Gaza, Israel has banned 37 international aid organizations from entering the decimated, militarily occupied coastal enclave. This leaves only five humanitarian groups still able to operate inside Gaza.

At the same time, one of the US mercenary firms responsible for securing the notorious Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites which were present during the worst periods of famine in Gaza, when at least 3000 Palestinian civilians were gunned down while seeking aid, has posted an ad soliciting former special forces soldiers for offensive operations.

--by Max Blumenthal

Oodles:
https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/as-israel-bans-aid-orgs-in-gaza-notorious

*damn, wormmy,
seems like EVERY-
One's calling it a damn
Genocide! you (and AIPAC)
[huh?] really gotta Step up your
Disinformation Campaign, little buddy!

stomp your Feet!
DEMAND they STOP!
BLAME THEM FOR ALL
THE BLOWBACK that Jews,
PLANETFUCKING WIDE're experiencing;

“Israel’s atrocities
and the impunity they receive are
undoubtedly the number one driver of anti-Semitism worldwide.

[NO! it's Calling it 'a Genocide'!
THAT;S THE O N L I E S T
REASON OF ALL!]

{but:
isn't That
what MOST
of the World's
CALLING IT? A
FUCKING GENOCIDE?}

And to show how little Israel
and its apologists care about anti-Semitism,
many are exploiting the Sydney massacre to justify
Israel’s rejection of a Palestinian state; baselessly blame Iran;
and demand more censorship of anti-genocide [there's That Word, Again!, wormmy!] protests.”

--by Aaron Maté

@53 -- Bingo.

@53: "...too bad it only concerns a small small minority of those Palestinians killed."

The Palestinian civilians Hamas brutally murdered, execution-style, out in public, in broad daylight, in the presence of multiple reporters from the Wall Street Journal, immediately after the war ended, do indeed represent a "small small minority" of those Palestinian civilians killed during the recent war, yes. As I already noted, there may be some much much larger number of Palestinian civilians, whom Hamas also brutally murdered, in other circumstances, during the war. We simply don't know, and the dead silence which emanates from the Stranger and supportive commenters on this question demonstrates exactly the true level of concern you all really have for the deaths of Palestinian civilians during the war. (Although someday, when we will all have always been opposed to Hamas, I retain great confidence you will cite your dead silence now as absolute proof you cared.)

"And it is great you as a keyboard warrior make mouth noises about the two state solution. Did the government of Israel officially agree to that in the peace agreement?"

Um, no. That's why I did not claim they had: "...so the world can proceed to rebuild Gaza, en route to a two-state solution..." (Readers might note that something "en route to" a place is, by definition, not actually at the place described.) Israel accepting a two-state solution is, however, a requirement for Israel's official recognition by Saudi Arabia. Hamas gang-raped and slaughtered Israelis on 10/7 to prevent these latter two events from happening. Once the war is completely over, Israel and Saudi Arabia can proceed with them again.

"Also, not sure Hamas agreed to disarm."

From the twenty-point peace plan, agreed to by all sides:

Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors...
Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.
Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.
A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people.

(https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1972736025597219278)

Well, at least we can say you're demonstrating far more knowledge of the peace deal than the Stranger and other sympathetic commenters have! (Note point 1, above, especially in the context of the United States long having designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.)

:If I had my slate cleaned
and could see the world through fresh eyes
it would never occur to me that I and my society would ever see

15 people being murdered in Australia
as more significant than 15 people
being murdered in Palestine.

I would expect them to be viewed as exactly as terrible.

And they should be.

Palestinians
don’t love their families
any less than Australians do.

Australian lives aren’t
any more significant or valu-
able than Palestinian lives. There is
no valid reason for the world to have focused
any less on the 15 people who were killed in Gaza on
March 16 than on the 15 people who were murdered on Bondi Beach.

But it did."

--Caitlin Johnstone

'Justice'?

JUST
For
us!

@49 -- OMG the fucking Breathtaking Brazenness of this guy:

"Your sacred number [of Palestinian Deaths]
[70,000! not counting the Untold likely 10s
of Thousands, Buried under the rubble]
diminishes further.

There's really nothing to prevent it
from rapidly dwindling to a tiny fraction of the
current size, [like, say, Maybe a couple hundred, tops, wormmy?]

with some number
of the deaths which the IDF did
unjustly cause being attributed to the chaos of urban warfare.

[targeting children?
with bullets to
Their fucking
HEADS, wo-
rmmy?]

["the chaos of urban warfare"]

Even as you gaze upon it,
your beloved charge of "genocide"
could simply evaporate, right before your eyes."

--@The Wormtongue

my Goodness
Gracious! What
Eleoquence in de-
Fense of a Genocide!

WHOA!

here's a Differing opinion:

The IDF is a foreign military force which,
as per the consensus of genocide scholars -
including in Israel itself - is committing genocide.

The International Criminal Court has
issued arrest warrants for war crimes and
crimes against humanity perpetrated by the IDF.

It was those conflating the IDF and Jewish people -
by claiming that attacking the former was
attacking the latter - who were act-
ually promoting antisemitism.

It is an outrage
to associate Jewish people
as a whole with the IDF’s war crimes.

--by Owen Jones; December 24, 2025

Oodles:
https://www.owenjones.news/p/two-crushing-defeats-for-pro-israel

I think, there are surveys that say that almost 90% of the population of the world wants this to stop, but there is no connection between democratically elected governments and the will of the people. It’s ended. So, the whole charade of Western liberal democracy is as much of a corpse under the rubble as the tens of thousands of Palestinians.

--Ahrundhati Roy

Oodles:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/26/arundhati_roy_on_new_memoir_mother

I mean, Israel, yes, it has devastated Gaza, but it has devastated itself, too. It is reviled in the eyes of the world for what it has done, you know? And it has also — I’m sure that all the young people that committed those horrible crimes, one day it will — it will destroy them, you know?

--Arundhati Roy, author of her new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me.

Oodles:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/26/arundhati_roy_on_new_memoir_mother

They can't start building the Gaza Riviera soon enough. It will be spectacular. The beaches are perfect, and adorned with luxury hotels, condos, casinos, and restaurants Gazans will reap the capitalism and Trump branding rights into everlasting financial security. Hamas will be long ago forgotten.

Thank you Jared!!!!

@60:

"[any] Gazans [still Living] [and still IN Gaza] will [grimly?] Reap the [Unbridled!] Capitalism!"

and
dancing
on Gazan's
Graves will be
GREAT -- AGAIN!

if he can Genocide
Gaza, KkKoolie, he
can Genocide you

maybe, he Like you!
and genocide*
You, Last!

HOW CAN WE
EVER THANK
YOU MISTER
'PRESIDENT'?

*better
get to Work
on your Groveling Skills
(and get the Good kneepads), KkKoolie.

@60: And, we should always remember, what we now call the West Bank carries a more poetic name in the Bible: "The Land of Milk and Honey," known for agricultural abundance. An Arab State in Palestine with those two territories could become quite affluent, indeed. (And, let's not forget tourist income, in both places, from Christians visiting their "Holy Land.") Let's disarm Hamas, and get on with it!

Apparently in The Stranger's world, the day before Christmas and the day before New Year are Federal or State recognized holidays.

I thought the Stranger's sympathetic commenters had hit an all-time low with not condemning mass murder, but even I would not have accused Slog's multiply-banned troll of outperforming them on admitting mistakes. Then I read @29. Ouch. That'll leave a mark!

From the Stillaguamish River to the Salish Sea, the best odds on craps are at the Angel of the Winds Casino Resort.

@63: It's Sleepy Creek Inc., what can you say....

@63, 66,

Yeesh, I'm sorry guys. It must suck to be a fucking loser with nothing better to do with your time when your least favorite website isn't publishing new material for you to whine and complain about.

@2 "The peace deal explicitly requires Hamas to disarm, and then exit the government of Gaza. If Hamas refuses, then an international stabilization force may disarm Hamas. If that doesn’t happen, then Israel can disarm Hamas."

Hamas didn't agree to disarm, so there's that. Also, it's embarrassing you haven't noticed, but Israel hasn't been able to disarm Hamas in over two years of genocide. Why would either an "international stabilization force" be able to, or even so the as yet unsuccessful IDF? Is it simply 'cus the "peace plan" sez so?

@68: “Hamas didn't agree to disarm, so there's that.”

As For wanting an end to the “genocide,” you guys all seem to have HUGE investments in Hamas not disarming.

As for whether Hamas has agreed to disarm or not, please see @55, specifically these points from the peace plan. All parties, including Hamas, have signed:

“Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors...
“Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.
“Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.
“A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people.”

@68

the 'peace plan' that ain't
the Ceasefire Israel's IOF
will Never Honor, alls
they Ever Wwere was
a cynical Ploy to get
Cadet Bonespurs
the Peace Prize.

and yet here comes
the Wormtongue to beat
the planet over the head with it

demanding we bow low
in its presence; not doing so
in wormmy's twisted (see what
I did there?) mind equals Hating
the peace plan cum ceasefire cum keep
bibi nutnyahoo the Fuck outta Prison campaign

for just a wee bit longer to forestall
his appearance in an Israeli court
for misfeasance malfeasance
&, probably, non-feasance.

the AIPAC
is Strong
in that
one.

pardon bibi
END the "War"
and the Atrocities
ON OUR TAX DOLLAR$

and Free Israel and
fucking Palestine
too. bib's gotta
stay the FUCK
AWAY From
POLITICS

FOR EVER.

@67: Well, you're the one that ALWAYS COMPLAINS when we make OBSERVATIONS about our beloved little rag.

@71: Are you saying that Bibi should be pardoned by Israel's President?

Are you feeling glum abut Gaza? Can't seem to scratch that "decolonize" itch? Need some ultraviolence right here in 206? The Duwamish Liberation Front is waiting for you!

I'm the Kossack, president, CEO, and "Vanguard" of the DLF. Our mission is simple - to pursue the complete decolonization of King County and repatriate its land to the Duwamish tribe. We aim to achieve this through what we call "kinetic restorative justice."

We take direct inspiration from Hamas, not merely for its tactics, but for the tremendous global support it received following its masterpiece in October of 2023.

But though Hamas has done so many things right to earn global sympathy for the Palestinians, we at the DLF believe we are a superior movement with far more practical goals. Let's take a look!

The Arab people calling themselves "Palestinians" and posing as some kind of indigenous group is laughable. The Arab tribes that struck north out of the Hejaz centuries ago were in fact just another conquering people that once inhabited the region, which had hosted kingdoms (Judea), empires (Babylonian, Ptolemic, Mamluk, Ottoman), while over here in the Puget Sound, there is no record of the Duwamish seizing this land from anyone. The Duwamish - bona-fide indigenous! Palestinians? Cheap fraudulent knockoffs!

The DLF is far more practical than Hamas. First, the liberation of our ancestral lands will affect far fewer colonists and encompass fewer square miles. In addition, we are not out to destroy the US, simply eject them from our historic lands. On this topic, we take special umbrage of people of Scandanavian descent, who we simply term "Vikings." Did you know that Vikings drain the blood of indigenous people to use in their Lutheran rituals? It's true! You can read about it in the Protocols of the Vikings of Puget Sound.

Localize the Intifada! Join DLF today! Step one - become a member of the tribe. Sign up at the Duwamish website. Remember, tribal identity, like any identity, is a social construct. Your membership in the tribe may be performative, but just wait until the DLF straps an explosive vest on you and sends you into a crowd - it will be the performance of a lifteime! Do note - the Duwamish currently insist on proof of lineage, but we have legal experts here at DLF HQ working closely with food aid charities in Minneapolis to find workarounds.

Step two - remember what you meant when you chanted "this is what resistance looks like!" Well, here's you chance to prove it. DLF will be right behind here (well, in our new micro mansions in Qatar right across the street from Tucker Carlsons new place) to applaud and commend your martyrdom!

Step three - this one is for all those young beautiful ladies who made history a few years ago by having campus sleep ins while donning kaffiyehs. Here at DLF, we put young women in all the leadership positions. What's more, for those gals who are the most committed we have an elite inter organization group - Duwamish Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DDOS). For anyone not familiar with the concept, see Keith Raniere.

Happy New Year! Let 2026 be the year we send the infidel Vikings back to their squalid fjords!

Kossack
Vanguard
Duwamish Liberation Front

@74

and
Here
I thought
is was The British
who claimed greater Israel
for the Jews who Germany decimated

to get 'em
the Fuck Outta
Europe and Into an
"Unoccupied Territory"?

where they could keep the
Locals in a cage and starve
'em and beat 'em and have
their Way with them as They
saw "Fit." who tf Knew I had it

'Zactly Bassackwards? well,
OTHER Than wormmy,
AIPAC & the Zionists
currently Genocid-
ing the "current"
Residents of
Palestine?

thnx,
for 'Clearing
that Up,' kossy!

@73 -- I'm saying
depose nutnyahoo by
whomever does the Deposing.

painful as it is,
Pardon his War
Criming ass -- long
as he Never Resurfaces
In ANY KINDA POLITICS

END THIS FUCKING
INSANITY & Let Palestine
GOVERN ITS FUCKING SELF

sans
Hamas,
Naturally.

whatchya
Say, lad?

@72,

The very first OBSERVATION you made in this thread was to shit on unionized workers and the elected officials who support them. The very last OBSERVATION Neale made prior to this one was to register yet another whiny complaint in a never-ending stream of them that the writers continually neglect to cater to his sick, macabre, and bloodthirsty coverage demands. It's obvious neither of you respect the writers or anything they stand for, and it's also obvious they don't respect either of you, based on the fact that you've both been banned from posting here many times.

Have a Happy New Year, but also go away.

IDK who Neal is; however, I will say my complaint is that they are not consistent. You used to know what hill The Stranger would die to report on. Now they are not consistent at all. What are their editorial values and voice? Under Noisy Creek, it would seem they are just throwing stories at the wall to see what generates the most eyeballs on ads for maximal revenue, like any other free market capitalists.

@77, See also @78. Kind makes me think The Stranger has a lot in common with Rupert Murdock. They aren't so much committed to issues or causes, than they are committed to finding a niche of readers they think that no one else is serving as well as they do, that advertisers will pay money to reach.

@72: I can't believe you're serious given you came here expecting a Slog AM on a non-holiday as well. Face it, the trickling amount of content and apathy the writers have shows through. Remember Slog back in the old days when the writers were quite busy and they gave us puzzles to solve in their absence for Wednesday staff meetings? I don't see the Contribute button anymore, I image they're too embarrassed.

It will get better. I'm sure Viv will have assign more investigating reporting content as a new year's resolution. Also, she did a "So you want to have a vagina" piece a while ago, I anticipate she'll publish "So you want to have a penis" completed before Easter.

@80 refers to @77

@75. See Kristo, that's what I mean! There is no more joy for you in that conflict. It's time for you to join DLF. Come to our main operating base (the basement of Seattle Children's Hospital) to pick up your membership welcome gift box. When you step out of the stairwell, look for the first pink haired twink then do the security clearance procedure - casually toss an empty soda can or candy wrapper on the floor and stare at it until tears form in your eye like Iron Cody from the 70s commercial. They/them will hand you your welcome box. Dont open it. Instead immediately drive to Molly Moons and...uhh...wait for further instructions.

End of year thought:

It is impossible to be homosexual and non-binary at the same time, as gay or lesbian affirms the binary same-sex attraction.

@78 here is a person on quora who self-identifies as neale frothingham with credentials including “use of force expert and researcher” and “witness for the prosecution in three felony trials” making some of the same tedious arguments you make here, like the idiotic belief that it’s anti-democratic to object to laws

https://www.quora.com/profile/Neale-Frothingham

@78's a fucking dumbass who can't spell his own first name.

@39: “The Slog AM writers all have a distinctive voice. I'd expect them all to sound the same if they were actually using LLMs to write the content.”

You can set an LLM to write in different styles. Some of my fellow geeks had a contest, to see whom could turn the same short, tightly factual paragraph (i.e. a fictional business e-mail) into a lengthy and abstruse mess. The difference in word counts alone were amazing, so you can imagine how different the resultant styles became.

@85: Is that your expert sockpuppetologist research at work?

No he just has one account at a time. Say what you will about neale but at least he doesn’t use multiple different profiles to have conversations with himself like some weird shut in.

@83. I'm not sure, but here is a resource that might be helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H00Uf597sgg&list=RDH00Uf597sgg&start_radio=1

@69 "As For wanting an end to the “genocide,” you guys all seem to have HUGE investments in Hamas not disarming.

As for whether Hamas has agreed to disarm or not, please see @55, specifically these points from the peace plan. All parties, including Hamas, have signed"

No, it's simply a fact. Or two, really. You aren't afraid of facts, right? Because it really seems like it.

Fact 1: Hamas has refused to lay down their arms.
Fact 2: Israel hasn't been able to "disarm" Hamas in over two years of butchering children, women, the elderly, and everyone in between while destroying all hospitals, schools, housing, mosques, government buildings, libraries and other cultural institutions, all of which are hallmarks of genocide. And therefore the International forces in Trump's "peace plan" will not be able to disarm them either.

Be as judgy as you like, these are just facts.

@70 agreed, a peace plan that says, "you stop firing while I keep bombing you," is certainty not going to lead to peace.

@91: More like Hamas hasn't been able to be disarmed because it has no problem with "over two years of butchering children, women, the elderly, and everyone in between while destroying all hospitals, schools, housing, mosques, government buildings, libraries and other cultural institutions, all of which are hallmarks of genocide."

If it did, there would have been peace years ago. Genocide is music to Hamas' ears. They don't care about Palestinians.

@22/74/82 stop trying to make "DLF" happen, it's not going to happen

@94. And neither is your "River to the Sea" fantasy." To assuage western colonial guilt, you can indulge in any fantasy you like. I choose a nice group of folks right here and imagine a liberation far less insane than, say, throwing your emotional lot in with an Islamist death cult bent on destroying a Jewish nation of 9 million people half way around the world. In any case, I can run my imaginary militant organization any way I like since I'm the CEO.

Happy New Year!!
Kossack
President, CEO, Vanguard
Duwamish Liberation Front

PS - Let's decolonize King County in 2026!! We just need the same kind of people who tirelessly worked for decolonizing Jews from their ancestral....wait a minute! In any case, we are kicking off a new membership drive this month. Step into the basement of Tops Middle School, Garfield High, or any area Unitarian Church to receive your new member gift box! If you do, remember not to open your box until receiving further instructions. Thats very important. If your gift box is vibrating, humming, or leaking fluid, just call our tech support. We just set it up....while waiting for a support rep you will be treated to "Listening Wind" by Talking Heads.

DLF?
nah. let's
Defund tf outta
Genociders ~ oh, and 'our'
reichwing corporate masterminds
price gouging us into the poorhouse,
rapidly leading us into Climactic Disaster
and soon enough into global thermonukular War

perhaps they'll magically, mutually, coincide?

😊

and speaking of ai and
whatevertheFuckhappened
to thumpfsorna T. Wormtongue

he with the Smiling,
Happiest of Faces when
gleefully Endorsing bibi's Gen-
ocide cum prison avoidance campaign:

"Some of my fellow geeks had a contest . . .
so you can imagine how different
the resultant styles became."

thanks, wormmy!

@94, @95: But DLF would work, if only the Popular Front for Liberation of Duwamish would re-join! Splitter!

@91: Fact #1 you diligently ignore is that Hamas’ leadership signed the peace deal. So Hamas’ refusal to disarm on the ground is an internal matter for Hamas’ leadership to resolve. If they cannot, then as @10 noted, the international force can do it.

Fact #2 you ignore is the Palestinians in Gaza themselves, who long ago tired of Hamas using them for human shields. They might not want to help the IDF disarm Hamas, but they’re far more likely to help the international force do so.

Finally, when you guys tried to (ab)use the word, “genocide,” as a club to beat the rest of us into line with your stupid “ideas,” you took a big risk — and lost. Now, you’re completely stuck in a rhetorical trap of your own making, and none of the rest of us have any reason to give you a hand out of it. Good luck with that. (Decades from now, in the Geezer House, when the Group Room TV shows a pleasant and peaceful Palestine on the news, and you begin frothing at the mouth and shrieking, “genocide!,” the arriving staff will sedate you, not anyone else. Just so you know.)

@97

speaking of genocide:
and the coverup:

"Israel has banned 37 aid groups from working in the Palestinian territories,
citing plainly spurious reasons. Among the aid groups banned are
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Oxfam.

Israel banned the aid groups from Gaza for
the same reason it continues to ban journalists.

Of course it’s about eliminating aid itself,
but it’s also about eliminating witnesses.

Doctors and aid workers
largely became the de facto journalists on the
ground in Gaza when Israel banned international news media
and began systematically assassinating Gaza-based Palestinian journalists.

So Israel wants to get rid of those de facto reporters to hide its crimes.

Doctors Without Borders was one of the top humanitarian groups
publicly accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza in 2025."

["Finally,
when you guys tried
to (ab)use the word, “genocide,”
as a club to beat the rest of us into line... "

--@the Wormtongue, above, @97, ever the Genocide Denier]

[Doctors Without Borders, ever the Liars!?]

[Perhaps they're just "misinformed"?]

"A lot of what we learned about the Israeli massacres
of starving civilians at 'Gaza Humanitarian Fund'
sites came from MSF doctors describing the
gunshot wounds they’d been seeing
at medical facilities.

MSF were the first to report
the horrifying story of IDF soldiers
entering hospitals they’d attacked in Gaza
and destroying individual pieces of medical equipment
to make them unusable, providing unassailable proof that
Israel was actually targeting Gaza’s healthcare system itself rather
than “Hamas bases in hospitals” as Israel falsely claimed.

Doctors Without Borders were constantly putting out reports
condemning Israel’s attacks on medical facilities where it
had staff, and its doctors often spoke to the western
press about the horrors they’d seen in Gaza."

["... frothing at the mouth and shrieking, 'genocide!'"
--also @97, still frothing & lashing out]

--by Caitlin Johnstone; December 31, 2025

fawking Oodles:
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-bans-aid-groups-for-the-same

Out with the Olde
and IN with
the New:

Happy New Year!

damn.
sure Wish
we had an
Edit Button
(replete with
"History") and a
Delete button, too:

MSF were the first to report
the horrifying story of IDF soldiers
entering hospitals they’d attacked in Gaza
and destroying individual pieces of medical equipment
to make them unusable, providing unassailable proof that
Israel was actually targeting Gaza’s healthcare system itself
rather than “Hamas bases in hospitals” as Israel falsely claimed.

@the Wormtongue, somewhere, above:
"You people really do miss your
favorite war, don’t you?"

@kossy: "There is
no more joy for
you in that
conflict."

you've been listening
to the Wormtongue.
too much, kossy.

I find NO joy in watching tens of Thousands
getting Schlaughtered -- IN OUR NAME

and a Population about to endure
at Least a couple more Generations
of Heavy Trauma. this World is Devolving
when it Should Be Thriving and we've Hitched
our Wagons to Socio- and Psychopaths, hell bent
on Domination~or~mutual self-Destruction
and seemingly fine with Either One

"We take direct inspiration from Hamas,
not merely for its tactics, but for the
tremendous global support it
received following its master-
piece in October of 2023."

yeah they
were between
arock & a Hard Place

but Getting Power
Corrupted their asses
and they turned on their
Constituents nearly Two Decades
previous, who merely wished to Live in
relative Peace like they'd been Doing for Ages.

pay no nevermind
to that sick
puppy.

Huge brawl broke out New Year's Eve in front of KOMO near Seattle Center between nasty gangs:

https://x.com/i/status/2006804550561444121

and, in slightly Better News, from
the Northwest Progressive Institute:

U.S. 2
reopens between
Skykomish and Stevens Pass

With U.S. 2 open to the pass from the west side,
it’s no longer necessary to detour around
using I-90 and U.S. 97.

Just don’t use it for cross-state travel:

Really want to emphasize that U.S. 2 should NOT
be used for cross-state travel while restrictions
and the Chumstick Highway detour
remain in place.

I‑90 (Snoqualmie Pass), U.S. 97 (Blewett Pass)
and SR 28 through Quincy are all better
east-west options right now.

Over the past several days, crews in Skykomish
benefited from unseasonably good weather
allowing emergency contractors and crews
finish clearing debris and complete repairs
at two washouts at milepost 54
just east of town.

We’ve also uploaded a new map to this post
that reflects the new U.S. 2 travel conditions
as of 6 AM January 1st. Safe travels,
don’t pass the pilot car, and
Happy New Year!

But again, if you are going further than Stevens Pass,
you should not use U.S. 2 for your journey.

--by Andrew Villeneuve on January 1st, 2026

Oodles:
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2026/01/u-s-2-reopens-between-skykomish-and-stevens-pass.html

@101 where's the "huge" or "massive" brawl, I saw 2 people fighting with maybe 5-6 more joining in at any point. Choe's really scraping the bottom of the fearmongering barrel here. Almost as sad as kossack's painfully drawn out metaphor. Happy New Year to all you reactionary dorks!

@103: A dash of hyperbole in reporting doesn't negate the depravity of the event.

@103: "Almost as sad as kossack's painfully drawn out metaphor."

Splitter!

@104: 1312 has long demonstrated an extremely high level of tolerance for other persons' needless physical discomforts. Hungry infant crying because protestors jammed traffic? Hey, parenthood ain't no picnic, pal. Jewish students told to renounce their religion by "River to the Sea" crowd? Why, they should just feel lucky we even let 'their kind' study here! Late-night gang fight outside your residential window? Welcome to the big city, loser.

(Now, if, instead of actual hunger or threats or violence, the issue was another commenter wittily mocking 1312's beliefs, then yeah, THAT should deserve all of the sympathy in the world!!!)

@105:

"kringeofartian is a
gooner"

He may not Agree with what You Say,
But He Will defend to the death
His right to demand tS
Ban You FOREVER
For saying it
Even one
Time
!!!
!!
!

Really wish Stranger would fix the formatting issue that prevents page 2 comments from displaying upon being posted. I think raindrop/coolidge has posted a fix here before, some minor edit you can make to the URL to get them to display, though I don't remember what it is.

@107: For the URL, use the original post's URL, with "/comments/N" added, where "N" is the number of comments shown in the blue "Comments" button at the bottom of the original post. (I find I may have to tweak that value of N a few times, especially if checking to see if my own comment posted, or if several comments posted recently.)

For example, to read your comment, I used "https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/12/30/80395865/slog-am-cia-strikes-venezuela-trump-threatens-hamas-and-the-new-year-brings-good-news-for-washington-workers/comments/107"

I got here anyway. If you post a comment, you can then access the page 2 comments by going into your profile's posting history and clicking your recent post there. Really wish they'd fix this still.

@108,

Ah thanks, that sounds familiar. I was also able to get here by posting 107, then going into my profile's comment history and clicking that comment to load/display page 2. Sure do still wish they'd fix this.

only getting ONE comment on page two, @tS.

@109 -- just tried that, unsuccessfully

Naturally, @the Wormtongue
@116, Sympathizing with
the loserest poster, just
recently Banned like
FOUR f'g times for
Total Assholery
in rapid succes-
sion but Yeah,
Wormmy it
turns out
not All

assholery is Permitted here.

but, at least his Dipshittery
has slightly Decreased

oh
and
thnx
I guess
for imitating
tho your flattery
whilst totes unimpressive

must've given you
Quite the
Thrill!

@105 (thee
Biggest Loser):

roa rawa; kaore e
taea te whakararuraru.
engari he Kare tonu koe.