Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel)

Tuesday, April 09, 2024

Science post - Maya Empire, an exoplanet, jet-lagged trees

Science post. The past illuminates the present and the future. Let me toss that out there. Emily Chan (CHIP CHICK) reports:

For thousands of years, the Maya Empire flourished in the region now known as Guatemala. As a civilization, they are recognized for their achievements in agriculture, architecture, pottery, writing, calendar systems, and mathematics.

They peaked in the sixth century C.E., but by 900 C.E., the empire had fallen, and most of their cities were abandoned.

Many scholars have tried to figure out what caused the collapse of the once-thriving civilization, suggesting a number of theories like overpopulation, warfare, drought, or shifting trade routes. However, evidence for these theories has always been inconclusive.

Recently, a new study confirmed that the end of the Maya civilization can be traced back to drought. To reach this conclusion, researchers examined oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in sediment from Lake Chichancanab on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The lake was located near the heart of the Maya civilization, so it was able to provide an accurate sample of the climate conditions at the time.

A research student from Cambridge University and co-author of the study named Nicholas Evans analyzed the isotopic composition of water in the sediment from the lake to measure how much the rainfall levels declined during the end of the Maya civilization.

Rainfall levels dropped as a result of human's impact on climate and the civilization fell. We have to save our earth. Stories like that go to why. In other news, THE DAILY DIGEST reports:

Scientists have discovered an exoplanet that has some very interesting atmospheric conditions. Things on the planet's surface are so hot that it might contain a boiling ocean.

The exoplanet is known as 'Planet ' and lies at a distance of about 70 light-years from Earth, outside our Solar System. Its conditions were identified with the help of NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope.

According to scientists, the ocean would cover its entire surface in a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, revealing signs of water vapor and carbon dioxide.

"The ocean could be over 100 degrees Celsius," said Prof. Nikku Madhusudhan, who led and studied according to a report from The Guardian.

We need to convert 100 degrees Celsius. That's the equivalent of 212 Fahrenheit. Repeating 212 Fahrenheit.

Go on a globe-trotting flight and you’ll quickly get acquainted with your circadian rhythm. That grogginess you feel the next morning post-flight? That’s your internal clock completely out of whack. Humans and animals aren’t the only beings that rely on this unseen timekeeping, trees also can track time independent of inputs from their surrounding ecosystem, but a warming world could be confusing this system that trees rely on to sequester carbon — or even survive.

A new study by National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina studied lenga beech saplings of the species Nothofagus pumilio, a deciduous tree native to the Andes. Although capable of surviving in temperatures down to -22 degrees Fahrenheit, the tree isn’t a fan of warmer weather like its close cousin, Nothofagus obliqua. The scientists discovered that at higher temperatures, the oscillations of 24 genes that regulate the lenga beech’s internal clock were altered. The study was published on the preprint server Biorxiv.

Plant survival in a warmer world requires the timely adjustment of biological processes to cyclical changes in the new environment. Circadian oscillators have been proposed to contribute to thermal adaptation and plasticity in plants,” the paper reads. “We revealed that the upper thermal limits for accurate clock function are linked to the species’ thermal niches and contribute to seedling plasticity in natural environments.”

According to New Scientist, when the circadian rhythms were reset, the tree showed continued patterns of “genetic oscillation.” These changes in oscillations and warmer temperatures made the saplings of the cold-loving Andean beech smaller than the warm-loving N. obliqua. While data about the effects of these circadian oscillations is scarce, misaligned temperatures cues have caused other species of trees to go into out-of-season dormancy, the period when a tree prepares for freezing temperatures.

This is particularly bad news for trees like N. pumilio, whose warm-weather aversion could be an issue as global temperatures continue to climb.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, April 9,2024. War Criminal Netanyahu prepares more attacks on Gaza, Robert Kennedy Junior exposes himself as the tiny little tool for Donald Trump that most people expected him to be, Trump is on trial for fraud and his answer to that is . . . to defraud the court?

Starting with Jon Stewart and THE DAILY SHOW.

Jennifer M. Wood (THE DAILY BEAST) notes:

Sunday marked the six-month anniversary of Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. As such, Jon Stewart decided it was the perfect time for a quick “wellness check” on Gaza, and how America is responding to what has become an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

“As the war has grinded on, justice is beginning to seem more like cruelty,” said The Daily Show host on Monday. “But not to worry: America, the shining city on a hill, is on the case with our universal values.”

Unfortunately, as Stewart came to realize, those values seem to be rather inconsistent—especially when comparing Joe Biden and other lawmakers’ response to the war in Ukraine versus the war in Israel.

When discussing the Ukraine-Russia war, the president was unequivocal in his stance that in any “battle for freedom… we need to be clear-eyed.” Biden was backed up by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called Russia’s weaponization of food in Ukraine “unconscionable”—a description Stewart agreed with, which brought him back to Israel.

“There is a literal famine in Gaza caused by the war,” said Stewart. “I assume America will also consider this unconscionable.” But, alas, not the case. When asked about the situation in Israel, national security communications adviser John Kirby could only confirm that America is indeed “concerned” about what’s happening. But left it at that.

“Well you can’t spell unconscionable without concern. At least part of it—the ‘con’ part,” Stewart offered.

Michaela Zee (VARIETY) also notes Jon:

“The verbal gymnastics that the American government must undertake so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of a country we provide most of the weapons for, is…” Stewart said of Israel before letting out an exasperated sound. “Every time America tells the world that there’s something we won’t allow, Israel seems to say, ‘challenge accepted.'”

The Associated Press reports more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of war — over 13,000 of them children.

Stewart added, “The subtext of all this is America knows this is wrong, but apparently doesn’t seem to have the courage to say it in a straightforward manner.”

Meanwhile, Morgan Rimmer (CNN) reports:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said last week that she believes international courts could interpret Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, according to a video posted by a GBH News reporter, after noting she thinks “what Israel is doing is wrong.”

“If you want to do it as an application of law, I believe that they’ll find that it is genocide, and they have ample evidence to do so,” Warren said at the Islamic Center of Boston in response to a question from an audience member on whether she thinks “Israel is committing a genocide.”

“For me, it is far more important to say what Israel is doing is wrong. And it is wrong. It is wrong to starve children within a civilian population in order to try to bend them to your will. It is wrong to drop 2,000-pound bombs in densely populated civilian areas,” Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said. “I think I can make a more effective argument by describing the behavior that is happening and whether I believe it is right or wrong.” Warren also said she wanted to “get people past a labels argument.”

In a statement to Politico, a spokesperson for Warren said that she “commented on the ongoing legal process at the International Court of Justice, not sharing her views on whether genocide is occurring in Gaza.”

Way to waffle, Liz. No backbone. That's why she did so poorly in the 2020 primaries.

At TRUTHOUT, Sharon Zhang explains:

Israel’s genocidal assault has killed or injured over 2 percent of Palestinian children in Gaza over the course of just six months, Save the Children has reported.

In the months since October 7, Israel’s assault has killed over 13,800 children in Gaza and injured over 12,000 children, according to counts by UN officials and the Gaza Ministry of Health cited by Save the Children. This means that Israel has killed or injured at least 25,800 children in Gaza, or over 1 in every 50 children living in the region before the assault.

The anguishing statistic is a show of the sheer brutality of Israel’s genocide, which numerous experts and government insiders have said has violated a wide range of international humanitarian laws. Killing and injuring children is considered by the UN to be a grave violation of international laws on armed conflict.

“This war is not only destroying Gaza, but also the fundamental tenets of childhood,” said Xavier Joubert, director for Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territory. “The world must act now to ensure an immediate and definitive ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access to end the horrifying destruction of life in Gaza. As with all children, we owe children in Gaza a dignified future — but at this rate, they are at risk of having no future at all.”

Previous reports have found that Israel is killing and injuring children at a rate that is unprecedented compared to any modern conflict. On average, Israel has killed about 75 children in Gaza each day over the course of the last six months, while many of the children who have survived have sustained lifelong injuries; an average of over 10 children are having one or both legs amputated every day in Gaza. Doctors in the region say that Israeli snipers have also been targeting children.

This morning, AP reports:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has escalated his pledge to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is filled with around 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom are displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip.

“It will happen. There is a date,” Netanyahu said in a video statement Monday, without elaborating.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has said a ground operation into Rafah would be a mistake and has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians. Netanyahu spoke as Israeli negotiators are in Cairo discussing international efforts to broker a cease-fire deal with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Sean Seddon (BBC NEWS) adds, "In a joint intervention on Tuesday, the leaders of Egypt, France and Jordan warned Israel the offensive would have 'dangerous consequences' and 'threaten regional escalation'." ALJAZEERA notes:

The leaders of France, Egypt and Jordan have warned Israel an attack on Rafah would have “dangerous consequences” and urged an immediate ceasefire and the release of captives held by Hamas.

“Such an offensive will only bring more death and suffering, heighten the risks and consequences of mass forcible displacement of the people of Gaza. and threaten regional escalation,” France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II wrote in a joint editorial published in several newspapers.

This morning, Human Rights Watch released an extensive report which includes the following:

Children in Gaza have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime, Human Rights Watch said today. Doctors and families in Gaza described children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration, and hospitals ill-equipped to treat them.

Concerned governments should impose targeted sanctions and suspend arms transfers to press the Israeli government to ensure access to humanitarian aid and basic services in Gaza, in accordance with Israel’s obligations under international law and the recent International Court of Justice order in South Africa’s genocide case.

“The Israeli government’s use of starvation as a weapon of war has proven deadly for children in Gaza,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “Israel needs to end this war crime, stop this suffering, and allow humanitarian aid to reach all of Gaza unhindered.”

A United Nations-coordinated partnership of 15 international organizations and UN agencies investigating the hunger crisis in Gaza reported on March 18, 2024, that “all evidence points towards a major acceleration of death and malnutrition.” The partnership said that in northern Gaza, where 70 percent of the population is estimated to be experiencing catastrophic hunger, famine could occur anytime between mid-March and May.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported as of April 1, that 32 people, including 28 children, had died of malnutrition and dehydration at hospitals in northern Gaza. Save the Children confirmed on April 2 the deaths from starvation and disease of 27 children. Earlier in March, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials found “children dying of starvation” in northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals. In southern Gaza, where aid is more accessible but still grossly inadequate, UN agencies in mid-February said that 5 percent of children under age 2 were found to be acutely malnourished.

Human Rights Watch in March interviewed a doctor in northern Gaza, a volunteer doctor who has since left Gaza, the parents of two infants who doctors said died of starvation-related complications in both mother and child, and the parents of four other children suffering from malnutrition and dehydration.

Human Rights Watch reviewed the death certificate for one of the children, and photos of two of the children in critical condition that showed signs of emaciation. All had been treated at Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.

Human Rights Watch health advisers also reviewed verified pictures and videos online of three other evidently emaciated children who died and four others in critical condition who also showed signs of emaciation.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who heads Kamal Adwan hospital’s pediatrics unit, told Human Rights Watch on April 4 that 26 children had died after experiencing starvation-related complications in his hospital alone. He said that at least 16 of the children who died were under 5 months old, at least 10 were between 1 and 8 years old, and that a 73-year-old man suffering from malnutrition had also died.

Dr. Safiya said one of the infants died at just two days old after being born severely dehydrated, apparently exacerbated by his mother’s poor health: “[She] had no milk to give him.”

Nour al-Huda, an 11-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis, was admitted to Kamal Adwan hospital on March 15. Doctors there told her mother that Nour was suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, and an infection in her lungs, and administered her oxygen and a saline solution. “Nour al-Huda now weighs 18 kilograms [about 40 pounds],” her mother told Human Rights Watch. “I can see her chest bones sticking out.”

International humanitarian law prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies,” is a war crime.

Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, the Israeli government has deliberately blocked the delivery of aid, food, and fuel into Gaza, while impeding humanitarian assistance and depriving civilians of the means to survive. Israeli officials ordering or carrying out these actions are committing collective punishment against the civilian population and the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, both of which are war crimes.

Israeli government actions that undermine the ability of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to carry out its recognized role in distributing aid in Gaza have exacerbated the effects of the restrictions.

A doctor who volunteered at the European hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza for two weeks in late January said that medical staff were forced to treat patients with limited medical supplies. He described the difficulty of treating malnutrition and dehydration, lacking essential items such as glucose, electrolytes, and feeding tubes. He said that one patient’s mother, desperate for solutions, resorted to crushing potatoes to create a makeshift liquid for tube feeding. Despite its nutritional inadequacy, the doctor said, “I ended up telling my other patients to find potatoes and do the same.”

On January 26, the International Court of Justice, in a case brought by South Africa, ordered provisional measures, including requiring Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid” and other actions to comply with the 1948 Genocide Convention. On March 28, the court indicated that Israel had not complied with this order and imposed a more detailed provisional measure requiring the government to ensure the unimpeded provision of basic services and aid in full cooperation with the UN, while noting that “famine is setting in.”

Governments should impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against officials and individuals responsible for the continued commission of the war crimes of collective punishment, deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid and using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war.

Several countries have responded to the Israeli government’s unlawful restrictions on assistance by airdropping aid. The United States also pledged to build a temporary seaport in Gaza. However, aid groups and UN officials have said such efforts are inadequate to prevent a famine. Another attempt to deliver aid by sea was halted after an Israeli attack on aid workers on April 1.

On April 4, the Israeli cabinet agreed to several measures to increase the amount of aid entering Gaza, apparently following pressure from the US government.

“Governments outraged by the Israeli government starving civilians in Gaza should not be looking for band-aid solutions to this humanitarian crisis,” Shakir said. “Israel’s announcement that it will increase aid shows that outside pressure works. Israel’s allies like the US, UK, France, and Germany need to press for full-throttle aid delivery by immediately suspending their arms transfers.”

Starvation in Gaza

Prior to the current hostilities, 1.2 million of Gaza’s then-2.2 million people were estimated to be facing acute food insecurity, and over 80 percent were reliant on humanitarian aid. Israel maintains overarching control over Gaza, including over the movement of people and goods, territorial waters, airspace, the infrastructure upon which Gaza relies, and the population registry. This leaves Gaza’s population, whom Israel has subjected to an unlawful closure for more than 16 years, almost entirely dependent on Israel for access to fuel, electricity, medicine, food, and other essential commodities.

Nonetheless, before October 7, large amounts of humanitarian assistance reached the population. “Before this crisis, there was enough food in Gaza to feed the population,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Malnutrition was a rare occurrence. Now, people are dying, and many more are sick.”

The WHO reported that the number of children under age 5 who are acutely malnourished has jumped from 0.8 percent before the hostilities in Gaza to between 12.4 and 16.5 percent in northern Gaza. Oxfam said on April 3 that since January, people in northern Gaza have been forced to survive on an average of 245 calories a day, “less than a can of fava beans.”

According to a nutrition vulnerability analysis conducted in March by the Global Nutrition Cluster, a network of humanitarian organizations chaired by UNICEF, 90 percent of children ages 6-23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women across Gaza faced “severe food poverty,” eating two or fewer food groups each day.

Children with preexisting health conditions are particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects of malnutrition, which significantly weakens immunity. And starvation, even for survivors, leads to lasting harm, especially in children, causing stunted growth, cognitive issues, and developmental delays.

Gaza’s Health Ministry announced on March 8 that about 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and inadequate health care. Poor nutrition during pregnancy harms both the baby and the mother, increasing the risk of miscarriages, fetal deaths, compromised immune system development, growth impacts, and maternal mortality.

Older people are also at particular risk of malnutrition, which increases mortality among those with acute or chronic illnesses. HelpAge International reported that even before October, 45 percent of older people in Gaza were going to bed hungry at least once a week, with 6 percent hungry every night.

The impact on Gaza’s population of the Israeli government’s use of starvation as a weapon of war is compounded by the near-total collapse of the healthcare system. Out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), only 10 are operational, none of them fully, both as a result of the Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport, as well as the severe restrictions on the entry of fuel and other supplies.

Accounts from Gaza

On March 19, Andrea De Domenico, head of OCHA in the occupied Palestinian territory, visited Kamal Adwan hospital, where he said about 15 malnourished children arrive daily due to shortages in food, water, and proper sanitation. He described dire conditions at the hospital, noting damage to certain areas and its reliance on a single generator.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 186 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." ALJAZEERA notes, "153 killed, 60 injured in Gaza in last 24 hours: Health Ministry. The casualties bring the total number of people killed in Gaza since October 7 to 33,360, with 75,993 wounded, according to the ministry." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

And the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second World War."

2024 is a presidential election year in the US. Let's turn to the topic of the presidential campaigns and let's start with this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!:

Meanwhile, ProPublica is reporting Trump’s legal team may have violated ethics rules by not telling an appellate court that a billionaire financier had agreed to help Trump post the full $464 million bond set by the court in his civil fraud case. Despite the offer from billionaire Don Hankey, Trump’s lawyers told the court it was a “practical impossibility” to pay the original bond, which was then lowered to $175 million.

So let's just all get on the same page. Donald Trump is charged with fraud and the response from him and his legal team is to . . . defraud the court? How is he not behind bars right now?

On the Biden campaign, John Seewer and Marc Levy (LOS ANGELES TIMES) report:

President Biden could be left off the ballot in Ohio this fall unless the state's Republican-dominated legislature creates an exception to the ballot deadline or the Democratic Party moves up its convention, according to the office that oversees the state's elections.

Ohio's deadline to certify presidential candidates for the general election is Aug. 7, nearly two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, at which Biden is expected to be nominated to run against Republican challenger Donald Trump.

Ohio law requires that presidential candidates be certified 90 days before the general election, which is on Nov. 5 this year, said a letter written last week by Paul DiSantis, chief legal counsel for Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

“Please contact me as soon as possible with any information that can assure this office of timely compliance with Ohio law,” the letter said.

The law's the law. If the Biden campaign can't follow it, that's not just their problem, it's reflective on the entire team.

Lifelong failure Robert Kennedy Junior continues to pursue his vanity campaign even as it's revealed that he's only trying to run for president in order to harm Joe Biden's chances and elect Donald Trump.

Hafiz Rashid (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been described as a spoiler candidate for president by supporters of Joe Biden, and even by Kennedy himself. But the Kennedy campaign’s New York director is taking it a step further.

In a meeting with Republicans in the Empire State, Rita Palma said that “our mutual enemy is Biden.”

“The only way that Trump can even, remote possibility of taking New York is if Bobby is on the ballot. If it’s Trump versus Biden, Biden wins. Biden wins six days, seven days a week. With Bobby in the mix, anything can happen,” Palma said on video of the meeting, dated Friday and viewed by CNN.

The video, which was posted to YouTube before being taken down, showed Palma arguing for Kennedy’s candidacy as a way to block Biden from being reelected.

“The only way for him, for Bobby, to shake it up and to get rid of Biden is if he’s on the ballot in every state, including New York,” she said.

Palma even told people to go to Pennsylvania, a swing state, to knock on doors for Trump, saying that she had done so in 2016 and 2020.

The following sites updated:

Monday, April 08, 2024

Science for kids

Lily e-mailed and asked that I note this video.

Absolutely can and will. We need more science in our lives and we need to do more to teach children about science.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, April 8, 2024. Calls grow for Netanyahu to step down six months into the never-ending assault on Gaza.

Saturday, throughout Israel, protests took place calling for early elections and for Netanyahu to resign. Charlie Summers (TIMES OF ISRAEL) notes the protests continued on Sunday,

During the demonstration, large sections of the crowd repeatedly broke into chants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, eschewing the Hostage and Missing Families Forum’s staunch refusal to take a partisan stance and reflecting growing frustration among many over the government’s inability to negotiate freedom for the captives, which include 129 kidnapped on October 7 and four others in captivity for nearly a decade. The number includes the remains of over two dozen captives Israel believes to be dead.

During a speech by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, protesters drowned him out with cries of “Deal now!”

“Half a year is half a year too much, for each and every one of the hostages,” said Lion.

The anti-government tone intensified as Yehuda Cohen, father of the captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, tore into the current government, calling on Netanyahu to resign. Swaths of the crowd responded jeered with each mention of Netanyahu’s name.

Netanyahu is a War Criminal. He is also a failure who should have made a deal to bring all the hostages home immediately but instead allowed them to continue to be held for a month, for two, for three, for four, for five and now for more than six months.

It's not just the stress that this has put on the loved ones that needs to be called out, it's also the fact that the longer someone is held, the less chance that they will make it out.

The people of Israel wanted the hostages back, they wanted them to be released. Instead, Netanyahu has dicked them around for six months and put his own interests ahead of the needs of the people he is supposed to be serving.

Protests with chants to bring the hostages home did not start last week, they've been taking place all along and Netanyahu has ignored this demand, has ignored his responsibility to the hostages and to see that they are returned safely.

He is a disgrace on every level and the anger aimed at him -- from all over the world -- has been earned and then some.

For six months now, the world has allowed Netanyahu's killing spree and War Crimes to continue.

Retired Air Force Master Sgt Wes Bryan appeared on PBS' THE NEWS HOUR Friday on a segment about the murder of the seven aid workers on the World Central Kitchen mission to deliver food to the starving in Gaza. He observed, "I think that, when you have an overall culture of what seems to be callousness and indifference towards civilian harm, disregard for international humanitarian law and an overaggressiveness, really an emotional campaign that's being waged by the IDF, the probability of these kind of targeting mistakes increases tenfold." That sentence more than sums up the actions Netanyahu has ordered and pursued for six months.

Around the world, the 'woopsie' is not being accepted. They deliberately killed seven aid workers. It's an international outrage. What the Israeli government did not grasp is that the horror has become personal. The world watches the Palestinians attacked daily, murdered and wounded, starved. And the world is horrified. Aid workers go to assist the Palestinians and the world wants to believe that they can help but watches as the aid workers are murdered, watches as people who were there to help are instead murdered and it's outrageous. It registers -- we can all imagine being in need of aid and wanting people to help us and to see those trying to help being murdered is outrageous.

Andrew Mitrovica (ALJAZEERA) notes:

To understand why seven aid workers were killed by Israel earlier this week in Gaza only requires a short-term memory.

Their deaths were not a “tragic event … that happens in war”, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a statement meant to blunt the “outrage” over the killings.

No, the seven souls, employed by World Central Kitchen (WCK) travelling in a convoy in Deir el-Balah after unloading 100 tonnes of food aid at its central Gaza warehouse, were casualties of a directive issued by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on October 9.

Gallant’s remarks were televised to convey to the world Israel’s uncompromising resolve and intent.

“We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed. We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly,” Gallant said.

Gallant has kept his word. Famine is rampant in Gaza. Israel’s aim is to starve Palestinians into submission and capitulation. Anyone, from anywhere who feeds the Palestinians is, de facto, a legitimate military target and Israel has acted “accordingly”.

THE NATIONAL reports:

Israel has not yet provided a satisfactory explanation for the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

"We don't find the explanations to be satisfactory to this point," he told state broadcaster ABC.

"We need proper accountability, we need full transparency about the circumstances, and I think that is what the Australian public would expect."

Mr Albanese declined to say whether he would consider diplomatic sanctions on Israel should it fail to provide more information about the strikes.

Australia has appointed a senior former military official to study Israelis investigation into the killings, which it has called a "grave mistake".

REUTERS notes the 'woopsie' from the Israeli government over the murders of the seven aid workers is not flying with a humanitarian group, "The Doctors Without Borders medical charity (MSF) said on Thursday it rejected Israel's position that an airstrike which killed seven aid workers was a 'regrettable incident', saying many humanitarian personnel have been attacked previously." Of course, they don't accept it. The murders of the seven -- Australian Lalzawmi 'Zomi' Frankcom, US-Canadian Jacob Flickinger, Polish Damian Sobol and British James Kirby, John Chapman, James Henderson and Paletinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha? Those weren't the first aid workers killed by the Israeli government. AP counts 224 aid workers killed in the last six months. Health care workers? AP counts 484. Journalists? 95. Indiscriminate killings taking place daily.

That includes the murders of at least 13,800 children (that's the Save The Children figure).

Over half a million children right now are sheltering in Rafah -- they were told this was where to go -- by the Israeli government -- and now they shelter in fear because Netanyahu now wants to attack Rafah. BBC NEWS notes:

We’ve been hearing from some of the 600,000 children sheltering in the city of Rafah about their fears of coming under attack and the destruction that awaits them in their hometowns.

The Israeli military previously told people across Gaza to evacuate to Rafah, declaring it a safe zone, but now appears to be planning to enter the city, saying an offensive is necessary to eliminate Hamas.

Saad Ouda, 14, is originally from Khan Younis and told BBC Arabic that he hoped to return there, even if his house is no longer standing.

“Go to Khan Younis and you will find everything destructed, all our houses have been destroyed,” he said.

“And yet I would rather sit on the remains of my house rather than sitting in Rafah.

“My siblings are scared and crying. My only wish in life is to go back home and live in peace. Enough humiliation and enough bombardment.

“We sleep here in Rafah with our eyes open. The forces told us to go to Rafah [and] that it is a safe zone but it is completely unsafe.”

He said that, for him and the other children of Gaza, “life has been a constant war ever since we were born”.

“What can we do? We as children in Gaza didn't have the privilege to enjoy life like children in the rest of the world. Nothing, no games, no water, no food,” he said.

“We are always suffocating and trapped and our life is unlike the rest of the world. We have been at war for six months and not a single passing day was good.

“Everything is war. Our eyes don’t shut, nor do we sleep like other people, nor is their food, nor is this our life.”

Who is going to save these children? Joe Biden? Is that a joke? He's not saying no to invading Rafah, he's saying have a plan. These children are being terrorized and the president of the United States will not come to their aid. Joe won't even cut off the weapon supply to the Israeli government.

Sara Pequeño (USA TODAY) observes:

Cameron Jones is a sophomore at Columbia University. He has family in Israel and has visited more than once, but he’s also a member of the college’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and a vocal opponent of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

His family abroad doesn't know about the organizing he's done, nor do they know that he is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Columbia after the JVP chapter was suspended in November.

Since Hamas strikes prompted Israel to begin attacking Gaza on Oct. 7, Jones and other students – mostly queer people, people of color and women – have been organizing to demand Columbia divest from companies and institutions that support Israel.

“I feel as though I have more of a duty to stand up against what is wrong,” Jones told me during a recent phone call.

Almost 33,000 Palestinians have died in the past six months. The images and information coming out of the Gaza Strip, like the Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers last week, have been difficult to see.

Calling for an end to the conflict is important to the nation’s youngest voters, and President Joe Biden needs to take a firm stance on the issue ahead of the election. He is one of the most powerful men in the world; what he says can impact how Israel is seen by its peers. If Biden called for a cease-fire, even a short-term one, it would likely be taken seriously by Israel. Biden has come out against the dangers that civilians in the region are facing, but it's not enough.

While Joe refuses to hear these voices and refuses to grasp how it is harming him in an election year, others in the Democratic Party who've been silent appear to grasp the voters are willing to walk away. Over the weekend, In the US, even politicians are starting to say "Enough." Australia's ABC reported:

US representative Nancy Pelosi, former House speaker and a key ally of President Joe Biden, has signed a letter urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.

Ms Pelosi signed a letter from dozens of congressional Democrats, calling on Mr Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to stop the transfer of weapons to Israel on Friday.

Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) adds:

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine on Friday became the latest centrist Democrat to display a shift in tone regarding the Biden administration's continued support for Israel—and despite months of intensifying demands from progressive lawmakers and the international community for President Joe Biden to push for a change in policy from Israel, the newly minted critics have appeared to have more success.

The Virginia Democrat, who serves on both the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, cited the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week in a lengthy statement in which he said Israel's "current approach is not working" and pushed back against the White House's opposition to an independent investigation into the attack.

"The United States should join in the call for an independent and international investigation into Monday's strike on World Central Kitchen volunteers, in which an American was killed," said Kaine. The senator also renewed his call for the administration to "prioritize the transfer of defensive weapons in all arms sales to Israel while withholding bombs and other offensive weapons that can kill and wound civilians and humanitarian aid workers."

Kaine's comments came a day after Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)—said to be Biden's closest ally in the Senate—told CNN that the U.S. is approaching a point at which it must consider placing conditions on military aid to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

"If [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale... and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, I would vote to condition aid to Israel," Coons said, referring to the southern Gaza city where Israel has threatened to start a ground offensive and where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are staying in shelters and makeshift tents. "I've never said that before, I've never been here before."

Gaza remains under assault. Day 185 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "Thirty-two Palestinians were killed across Gaza in the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll in the enclave to 33,207, according to the latest update from the health ministry. Another 47 people were wounded, taking the total number of injured to 75,993 after six months of war." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

The following sites updated:

Sunday, April 07, 2024

So drunk that she lost her panties

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB & THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS & THE COMMON ILLS -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

MEDICAL MIRACLE LAUREN BOEBERT -- THE ONLY KNOWN LIVING HUMAN BEING BORN WITHOUT A BRAIN -- CONTINUES TO SET THE STANDARD FOR TASTE AND DECORUM.

WORD EMERGED OVER THE WEEKEND OF BOE-BOE'S WILD AND DRUNKEN WAYS AT A DONALD TRUMP PARTY. REACHED FOR COMMENT, BOE-BOE TOLD THESE REPORTERS -- MUST CREDIT BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB & THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS & THE COMMON ILLS -- -- "SURE, I GOT S**T FACED BUT A GIRL'S GOT TO PARTY. SURE I GOT S**T FACED BUT LIFE CAN'T BE ALL JUDGMENT AND SCORN, GIRL'S GOTTA KICK UP HER HEELS AND GET THOSE LEGS IN THE AIR! I HAD SO MUCH FUN. THEY SAY JASON ALDEAN WAS THERE AND EATING THE HOT WINGS AND YOU KNOW THAT MOTHER F**KER IS FAT SO HE ATE WAY TOO MANY AND HE GOT THE SQUIRTY DUKES! INSTEAD OF EMBARRASSING HIM, I GOT DOWN ON MY KNEES AND STARTED MOUTHING ON THE WET SEAT OF HIS JEANS SCREAMING 'MILK, MILK, LEMONAIDE, AROUND THE CORNER FUDGE IS MADE!' SURE I GOT S**T FACED BUT THAT'S WHAT HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUTS DO EVEN AT THE AGE OF 36. YEE-HAW!"

BOE-BOE STOPPED SPEAKING FOR A MOMENT TO BURP LOUDLY AND SHAKE HER HEAD BEFORE ASKING, "WHAT WERE WE TALKING ABOUT AND WHO ARE YOU? WHY AM I STANDING HERE IN JUST A PAIR OF MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEN'S GRANNY PANTIES? "

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

THE TIMES OF LONDON quotes Former Royal Artillery officer-turned-author Christopher Lincoln-Jones stating, "The British Army would under no circumstances have fired on that convoy even if we could positively identify a Hamas gunman getting into one of the cars. You would know that every single person travelling in the car would die. It would be inconceivable that the British or the Americans would do that. The fact the Israelis destroyed all three cars is utterly unforgivable." He's referring to the Israeli government killing the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week. Australia's ABC notes, "The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the killing of the seven aid workers from WCK was 'not an isolated incident'. As of March 20, at least 196 humanitarians, including at least 175 UN workers, had been killed since the start of the war on October 7, the OHCHR reports." Josef Federman (AP) observes:

Israel enjoyed broad international support following the Oct. 7 massacre, which was the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust. However, that goodwill has been replaced by impatience and outrage as conditions in Gaza worsen.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials whose death toll doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters. International aid officials say roughly one-third of Gaza’s population is dealing with catastrophic hunger.

Initial expressions of solidarity from Israel’s allies have given way to calls for a halt to the fighting. Meanwhile, the U.N. world court, looking into genocide allegations against Israel, has ordered Israel to do more to protect Gaza’s civilians.

This isolation appeared to peak on March 25, when the U.N. Security Council, over Israeli objections, passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire. The U.S. infuriated Israel by allowing the resolution to pass.

Things have only worsened for Israel since then, especially following its killing of seven aid workers in what it says was an errant airstrike. Six of the victims were volunteers from countries allied with Israel, antagonizing them and outraging U.S. President Joe Biden. The alleged Israeli airstrike on an Iran’s embassy in Syria and Netanyahu’s efforts to shutter the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera have further alienated allies.

Today, THE WASHINGTON POST notes, "Israeli strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza earlier this week were 'carried out in serious violation' of the military’s procedures and were a 'grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification' that the convoy of vehicles was carrying Hamas operatives, according to the findings of an Israeli military investigation released Friday. The aid group has emphasized that its convoy had coordinated its route with Israeli military officials." The Israeli government has 'completed' their 'investigation' into their own actions and it was all just a mistake, you understand, and complete accident and, here we'll even fire two people over it so it's all good, we're done, we're good here.

Not everyone rushes to agree with that nonsense.

BBC NEWS notes:

[T]he World Central Kitchen (WCK), which is calling for an "independent commission" to be created to investigate the killings.

The charity says Israel's military "cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza".

Without "systemic change" within the military, there will be "more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families", the statement adds.

The charity says the "root cause" of the "unjustified" attack is the severe lack of food in Gaza and calls on Israel to "dramatically increase" the volume of aid travelling by land.

The 'investigation' insisted the problem was a "misclassification" -- a bag was mistaken for a rifle.

So what? The Israel government wants the world to believe that nonsense? Will they be sending all IDF members for an eye check? Ensuring that all visual prescriptions are worn?

This is nonsense.

Before they attacked the three vehicles, they knew what the three vehicles were, they knew why they were there and they knew where they were headed. I don't believe the lie that a bag looked like a rifle to begin with but even if it had there is the reality that they knew this was the World Central Kitchen aid workers and they still launched their attack.

At COUNTERPUNCH, Jeffrey St. Clair notes:

In the anodyne language of military slaughter, it’s called a “triple tap”–three successive strikes to make sure you’ve eliminated your target–the target in this case being the occupants of three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen, who’d just unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food to a warehouse in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

The cars were white and clearly marked with the humanitarian group’s logo. The route was in a deconfliction zone that had been cleared by the IDF for travel. The vehicles’ trip and purpose to Deir al-Balah had been coordinated with and pre-approved by the IDF. None of this mattered to the IDF officials operating a Hermes 450 drone that stalked the cars from above as they left the food warehouse.

Or perhaps it did matter. Perhaps the intent of the strike was not just to kill the humanitarian aid workers, but to kill humanitarian aid to Gaza altogether.

How else to explain the logic of the IDF officers who ordered a drone strike on the first car after the convoy left the warehouse, then when survivors of the missile strike scrambled into the second car and called the IDF to describe being attacked, ordered a strike on the second car and then as the occupants of the last car rushed to rescue their injured colleagues, ordered a third missile strike, killing all seven aid workers.

If this was the goal of these murderous missile strikes, it seems to have succeeded. Within hours of the killings, World Central Kitchen executives announced it was suspending operations in Gaza and that the ship that sailing toward Gaza with aid shipments would return to Cyprus. WCF’s announcement was swiftly followed by ANERA, which runs the second largest humanitarian operation in Gaza after UNRWA, suspending its work in Gaza.

Rebecca Abou-Chedid, board member of the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), told CNN that her group had tried to coordinate with the IDF, yet had one of its aid workers, Mousa Shawwa, killed in an Israeli airstrike. “There’s something called ‘deconfliction’ in these war zones, where you let the military know where you’re going to be providing aid, where you’re staff is living, where they’re sheltering. And we did that. We confirmed the coordinates just a few days before the house that Mousa was living in was struck and that is why, with a heavy heart, we had to suspend operations…As you see, Mousa had been working for the day. He still had his Anera vest on and he came home and he was struck by a missile and many of his family were also injured. So we can’t keep people safe at home. We can’t keep people safe in the field delivering aid, like our colleagues were at World Central Kitchens, who also let the Israelis know exactly when their convoy would be traveling. We spent a lot of time talking about getting aid into Gaza, by air, by land, by sea. But less time, I think, talking about the fact that it’s human beings that reliably distribute that aid. And it’s a network that was built up by organizations like Anera over decades. We have over 20 staff in Gaza, but we have over 450 volunteers who make sure that that aid is distributed in a calm, safe, reliable manner. If that network falls apart, you can’t deliver aid by remote control. You can’t recreate that network. And that’s the red flag that we have been waving for weeks.”

The WCF convoy was attacked along a 1.2-mile stretch of the Al-Rashid Coastal Road, near the temporary pier, built from the rubble of bombed buildings, that has been used by WCF and other aid groups to unload humanitarian goods that reach Gaza by sea.

“Knowing how Israel operates, my assessment is that Israeli forces intentionally killed the WCK workers so that donors would pull out & civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly,” said Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the Occupied Territories. “Israel knows Western countries and most Arab countries won’t move a finger for the Palestinians.”

The IDF actually has a protocol for military strikes against humanitarian organizations. Let that sink in. The IDF has a protocol for strikes against humanitarian organizations. And the protocol is this, according to Haaretz, “the Army’s procedures state that those who must give the final approval for activities against sensitive targets, such as aid organizations, are senior officers at the ranks of division commander, commanding general, and even chief of staff.”

And this wasn’t the first time, WCF aid workers had been attacked by the IDF. Only two days earlier, an IDF sniper fired on a WCF car on its way to a food warehouse in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, shattering the car’s windshield. WCF filed a protest with the IDF.

Zachary Basu (AXIOS) recaps mounting US outrage:

Zoom in: Outrage over the Israeli strikes that killed members of José Andrés' world-renowned nonprofit bubbled over Tuesday, with Biden issuing a statement torching Israel for failing to protect civilians and aid workers.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Biden's closest ally in the Senate, said on CNN Thursday that the U.S. should condition its aid if Israel invades Rafah without a humanitarian plan: "I've never said that before. I've never been here before," Coons added.
Former Obama aides Jon Favreau and Ben Rhodes sharply criticized Biden after a Politico report described him as "privately enraged" by the WCK strikes: "These stories only make him look weak," Favreau argued.
Richard Haass, a pillar of the foreign policy establishment, called Thursday for the U.S. to consider "sanctions" on Israel: "I'm sorry it's come to this," the former diplomat said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Biden's favorite program.
Even first lady Jill Biden has urged her husband to "stop [the war], stop it now," Biden privately recounted at a meeting with Muslim community members on Tuesday.

The big picture: 55% of Americans said in a Gallup poll last month that they disapprove of Israel's actions in Gaza — crossing the majority threshold for the first time, even before the new wave of outrage over the WCK strikes.

Outrage is mounting all over the world. EURONEWS reports:

The death of a Polish humanitarian worker in Gaza has sparked a new diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel.

Polish President Andrzej Duda criticised a comment by the Israeli ambassador as "outrageous," while the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw said it was summoning him for a meeting.

A 35-year-old Polish man was killed along with six others while distributing food to Palestinians under siege, working with the organisation World Central Kitchen. Israel has labelled the incident a “mistake” due to a misidentification, despite pictures showing that its vehicles were clearly marked.

As the outlet goes on to note, the Israeli government's response came via their ambassador to Poland -- Yacoy Livne, who immediately rushed to blame . . . the Polish and their "extreme right and left." BBC NEWS points out, "Livne has been heavily criticised for his reaction to their deaths. "

"Kat's Korner: COWBOY CARTER slays them all"

"Krazy Katha" and "Declare Your Ignorance"