Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 1. 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,[1] fair use.
The explosion at the hospital in Gaza is making diplomacy more difficult: Arabs—even Turkey—and Palestinians blame Israel, while Israel and the U.S. blame Islamic Jihad.[2] Be afraid. Be very afraid. Right now, this is on a trajectory that can only get worse.
The one bright spot is that it is more clear than ever, that is, to everyone except Zionists, that something must be done about the Palestinian plight. That ultimately requires Israel to do the one thing it refuses to do: treat Palestinians like human beings and make restitution for the innumerable crimes it has committed against them. But because it won’t do that, the stalemate will only get bloodier and, though it’s apparent that neither Iran nor Hezbollah are anxious to join the conflict,[3] it’s getting harder to see how they can stay out of it.
Bethan McKernan, “US deploys second aircraft carrier as Israeli ground invasion of Gaza nears,” Guardian, October 15, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/15/gaza-ground-invasion-israel-us-second-carrier-group-hamas
Jamie Dettmer, “Lebanese hold their breath as fears grow Hezbollah will pull them into war,” Politico, October 16, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/lebanese-hold-their-breath-as-fears-grow-hezbollah-will-pull-them-into-war/
Khaleda Rahman, “Israel Committing ‘Textbook Case of Genocide,’ Holocaust Historian Says,” Newsweek, October 17, 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/holocaust-historian-israel-committing-genocide-raz-segal-1835346
Heba Saleh, Henry Foy, and Guy Chazan, “Fear of Gaza exodus looms over Egypt,” Financial Times, October 17, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/feab5a29-a10a-4d6c-9035-ece2546c12a3
Liz Sly, “Mideast teeters on the brink of wider war as Iran weighs its options,” Washington Post, October 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/17/israel-iran-hezbollah-wider-war/
John Reed et al., “Israel agrees to allow basic aid into stricken Gaza Strip after Joe Biden visit,” Financial Times, October 18, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/3168166a-4d0b-429f-88b4-be8d6dd36db9
Vivian Salama et al., “U.S. Intelligence Shows Gaza Militants Behind Hospital Blast,” Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-tries-to-back-up-claims-it-didnt-attack-gaza-hospital-a8cc3405
Adam Taylor, “Everything we know about the Gaza hospital strike,” Washington Post, October 18, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/18/gaza-hospital-strike-al-ahli/
Illiberalism
Gilead
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023
Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Aaron Blake, “The effort to install Jim Jordan is getting ugly. But will it work?” Washington Post, October 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/16/jim-jordan-speaker-hardball-tactics/
Gabriella Ferrigine, “‘Approximately’ 20 Republicans plot to block Jim Jordan amid the ‘dumbest’ pressure campaign,” Salon, October 16, 2023, https://www.salon.com/2023/10/16/approximately-20-plot-to-block-jim-jordan-amid-the-dumbest-pressure-campaign/
Lauren Fedor, “Donald Trump ally Jim Jordan loses vote for US House Speaker,” Financial Times, October 17, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/0c94c4e7-21b2-419e-8f87-97026914b4b1
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “House Chamber Gasps as GOP Rep. Makes Very Unexpected Dip Into Jordan’s Résumé,” New Republic, October 17, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/post/176300/house-chamber-gasps-elise-stefanik-jim-jordan-wrestling-past
Lauren Fedor, “Jim Jordan loses second vote for US House Speaker,” Financiall Times, October 18, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/03cd7560-f918-449a-beb8-209c24b2a71c
Ben Jacobs, “Jim Jordan Didn’t Just Lose. The Hard Right Did Too,” New York, October 18, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/jim-jordan-didnt-just-lose-the-hard-right-did-too.html
Lauren Fedor and Alex Rogers, “Jim Jordan pauses US House Speaker bid and backs interim candidate,” Financial Times, October 19, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/6b3cf1ee-25b1-499b-86f0-cc9a33304258
Victor Reklaitis, “House speaker election: Jordan says he’s aiming for third vote, as measure backing McHenry stalls,” MarketWatch, October 19, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jordan-wont-seek-third-vote-today-for-house-speaker-and-will-back-mchenry-reports-c10bf055
Donald Trump
Fig. 1. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, via Mediaite,[4] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.[5]
Mariah Timms and Cameron McWhirter, “Sidney Powell Accepts Plea Deal in Trump’s Georgia Case,” October 19, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/sidney-powell-pleads-guilty-georgia-trial-85e6543f
Housekeeping
I’m back on my old cell phone. The new one seems to have suffered infant mortality and won’t do mobile data.
I was able to run it for a while on WiFi from my old cell phone’s hotspot, but I started seeing global positioning system (GPS) glitches that I’ve seen before when mobile data is a problem.
I went through troubleshooting with the carrier without success. I’m waiting to learn next steps.
- [1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [2]Vivian Salama et al., “U.S. Intelligence Shows Gaza Militants Behind Hospital Blast,” Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-tries-to-back-up-claims-it-didnt-attack-gaza-hospital-a8cc3405; Adam Taylor, “Everything we know about the Gaza hospital strike,” Washington Post, October 18, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/18/gaza-hospital-strike-al-ahli/↩
- [3]Liz Sly, “Mideast teeters on the brink of wider war as Iran weighs its options,” Washington Post, October 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/17/israel-iran-hezbollah-wider-war/↩
- [4]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
- [5]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment↩