Illiberalism
Gilead
Migration
Fig. 1. Photograph credited to “ProtoplasmaKid,”, November 9, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Matthew Smith, “A century ago, anti-immigrant backlash almost closed America’s doors,” Conversation, May 21, 2024, https://theconversation.com/a-century-ago-anti-immigrant-backlash-almost-closed-americas-doors-228589
White Christian nationalism
Fig. 2. If one weighs by geography rather than population, Pennsylvania is very much a white Christian nationalist kind of place. Photograph by author, January 5, 2023.
On Wednesday, the New York Times was forced to put another incendiary, far-right flag photo from another Alito household on its home page. This was an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flown at his vacation home in New Jersey that that the Times described as being a sign of “a religious strand of the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign” and showed it appearing in photos from January 6, 2021. The first was the upside-down American flag flown at his home in Virginia in the aftermath of January 6, 2021, that had also been, the Times reported, used as a “Stop the Steal” symbol.
I say the Times was forced to do this because we should not be here, and it is a problem that we are.[1]
Chris Geidner, “Sam Alito is a problem,” Law Dork, May 23, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/sam-alito-is-a-problem
Heather Cox Richardson, “May 22, 2024,” Letters from an American, May 23, 2024, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-22-2024-ac2
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[2] fair use.
We are at a pivotal moment for the rules-based international order that the United States tried to build for 70 years. The question much of the world is asking is do the laws and processes the United States built apply to everyone equally, or are the United States and its friends exempt?[3]
Judging from the U.S. reaction, threatening sanctions against the International Criminal Court,[4] we would seem to have an answer to that question. And we know why: “If they do this to Israel, we’re next,” said Lindsey Graham,[5] alluding to the many war crimes, that of course the U.S. does not acknowledge are war crimes, committed by the U.S. in its endless imperialist wars.
Jessica Corbett, “’Most Thorough Legal Analysis’ Yet Concludes Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza,” Common Dreams, May 15, 2024, https://www.commondreams.org/news/genocide-gaza
Emanuel Fabian, Sam Sokol, and Lazar Berman, “ Gallant to PM: Reject Israeli military, civil rule of Gaza after Hamas; I won’t allow it,” Times of Israel, May 15, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/gallant-to-pm-reject-israeli-military-civil-rule-of-gaza-after-hamas-i-wont-allow-it/
Ezra Hess, “What Israel’s Political Landscape Says About the Course of the War in Gaza,” Council on Foreign Relations, May 15, 2024, https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/what-israels-political-landscape-says-about-course-war-gaza
Sanjana Karanth, “Jewish American Biden Appointee Is Latest To Resign In Protest Of Gaza Policy,” HuffPost, May 15, 2024, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jewish-american-biden-appointee-resigns-protest-gaza_n_6644fb92e4b0411bd6ffae0f
Jeremy Sharon, “ICJ’s urgent hearings over IDF’s Rafah operation spell more trouble for Israel,” Times of Israel, May 15, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/icjs-urgent-hearings-over-idfs-rafah-operation-spell-more-trouble-for-israel/
Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti, “The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel,” New York Times, May 16, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/magazine/israel-west-bank-settler-violence-impunity.html
Karen DeYoung and Shane Harris, “U.S. officials see strategic failure in Israel’s Rafah invasion,” Washington Post, May 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/16/biden-rafah-intelligence-netanyahu-strategy/
Ron Kampeas, “Lily Greenberg Call, Jewish staffer who quit Biden administration over Israel policy: ‘There are so many of us who feel this way’,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 16, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/05/16/israel/lily-greenberg-call-jewish-staffer-who-quit-biden-administration-over-israel-policy-there-are-so-many-of-us-who-feel-this-way
Ann Wright, “Why Did the US Spend $320 Million on a Rube Goldberg Pier For Gaza?” Common Dreams, May 16, 2024, https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-military-pier-gaza
Loveday Morris et al., “What Israel’s strategic corridor in Gaza reveals about its postwar plans,” Washington Post, May 17, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/17/gaza-israel-netzarim-corridor-war-hamas/
Prem Thakker, “The State Department Says Israel Isn’t Blocking Aid. Videos Show the Opposite,” Intercept, May 18, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/05/18/israel-blocking-aid-gaza/
Mohamad Bazzi, “Biden wants progressives to believe he’s reining in Israel. He isn’t,” Guardian, May 20, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/biden-weapons-israel-gaza-war
Ron Kampeas, “ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 20, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/05/20/israel/international-criminal-court-prosecutor-seeks-arrest-warrants-for-benjamin-netanyahu-and-hamas-leaders
Ivana Kottasová and Madalena Araujo, “ICC seeks arrest warrants against Sinwar and Netanyahu for war crimes over October 7 attack and Gaza war,” Cable News Network, May 20, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/middleeast/icc-israel-hamas-arrest-warrant-war-crimes-intl/index.html
Louisa Loveluck, “ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Hamas’s Sinwar,” Washington Post, May 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/20/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel ‘is stuck inside Gaza’ as Palestinian suffering deepens,” Washington Post, May 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/20/israel-gaza-suffering-netanyahu-palestinian/
Alexander Ward, Erin Banco, and Lara Seligman, “Biden admin openly hammering Israel’s military strategy in Gaza,” Politico, May 21, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/21/biden-admin-hammering-israel-military-strategy-gaza-00159262
Washington Post, “Six experts weigh in on the ICC’s warrants on Israeli and Hamas leaders,” May 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/21/icc-arrest-warrant-israel-hamas-debate/
Lazar Berman, “Norway, Ireland, Spain move to recognize Palestinian state, drawing Israeli fury,” Times of Israel, May 22, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/norway-ireland-spain-move-to-recognize-palestinian-state-drawing-israeli-fury/
William Booth, “Norway, Ireland and Spain recognize Palestinian state; Israel condemns move,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/22/norway-ireland-palestine-state-recognition/
Ishaan Tharoor, “The ICC’s battle with Israel is a test of the international order,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/22/icc-international-order-criminal-court-israel-war-crimes/
(dis)United Kingdom
Prime minister
Fig. 4. President Reagan on the South Lawn during the arrival ceremony of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom. U.S. Government photograph, November 16, 1988, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Matt Honeycombe-Foster, “UK’s Rishi Sunak calls snap July election,” Politico, May 22, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/uks-rishi-sunak-calls-snap-july-election/
- [1]Chris Geidner, “Sam Alito is a problem,” Law Dork, May 23, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/sam-alito-is-a-problem↩
- [2]Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [3]Dylan Williams, quoted in Ishaan Tharoor, “The ICC’s battle with Israel is a test of the international order,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/22/icc-international-order-criminal-court-israel-war-crimes/↩
- [4]Ishaan Tharoor, “The ICC’s battle with Israel is a test of the international order,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/22/icc-international-order-criminal-court-israel-war-crimes/↩
- [5]Ishaan Tharoor, “The ICC’s battle with Israel is a test of the international order,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/22/icc-international-order-criminal-court-israel-war-crimes/↩