Imperialism
United States
Henry Kissinger
Fig. 1. “Henry Kissinger and Hillary Clinton receive the Germany Freedom Award in 2009.” Photograph by Gero Breloer for the Associated Press, 2009, via Mother Jones, fair use.
Thomas W. Lippman, “Henry Kissinger, who shaped world affairs under two presidents, dies at 100,” Washington Post, November 29, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/11/29/henry-kissinger-dead-obituary/
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.
It is “forbidden to respond to terror with terror,” [Pope] Francis said [to Israeli President Isaac Herzog], according to a senior Israeli official familiar with the call, which has not been previously reported. . . .
That private call would inform Israeli interpretations of Francis’s polemic statement, at his Nov. 22 general audience in St. Peter’s Square, that the conflict had “gone beyond war. This is terrorism.” Taken with the diplomatic exchange — deemed so “bad” by the Israelis that they did not make it public — the implication seemed clear: The pope was calling their campaign in Gaza an act of terrorism.[2]
The pope may even have used the word “genocide.”[3]
What’s more significant here is that the Israelis are getting the message that what they are doing in Gaza is completely unacceptable.[4] Being the self-righteous assholes they are, I doubt they’ll take the hint anytime soon, but we can hope the message sinks in eventually.
Yana T. R. Golding, “Tracking lost pro-Palestinian posts,” Columbia Journalism Review, November 27, 2023, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/excessive-moderation-meta-palestinian-7amleh-nashif.php
Summer Said and Dov Lieber, “Israel, Hamas Agree to Extend Truce by Two Days,” Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/talks-to-extend-israel-hamas-truce-go-down-to-the-wire-8f1cbba9
Ishaan Tharoor, “How Israel keeps hundreds of Palestinians in detention without charge,” Washington Post, November 27, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/27/israel-palestine-detention-adminstrative-prisoners-jail/
Washington Post to 5-Minute Fix list, “The 5-Minute Fix: What’s behind Biden’s steadfast support for Israel?” November 27, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-fix/
Henry Bodkin, “Inside the Israeli settlement being turned into a battleground by the hard-Right finance minister,” Telegraph, November 28, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/28/settlement-israels-finance-minister-has-made-a-battleground/
Julia Ioffe, “The Day After the War Ends,” Puck, November 28, 2023, https://puck.news/the-day-after-the-war-ends/
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer, “Democrats’ Israel dilemma,” Washington Post, November 29, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/29/democrats-israel-dilemma/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Why Christmas is canceled in Bethlehem,” Washington Post, November 29, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/29/palestinian-christians-christmas-ceasefire-cancel/
Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Mohammad Salem, and Humeyra Pamuk, “Hamas hands over two female hostages, others expected after truce extended,” Reuters, November 30, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/talks-intensify-extend-israel-hamas-truce-after-more-hostages-prisoners-freed-2023-11-30/
Anthony Faiola, Stefano Pitrelli, and Louisa Loveluck, “In undisclosed call, Pope Francis warned Israel against committing ‘terror,’” Washington Post, November 30, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/30/pope-francis-israel-war-terrorism/
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Finances
Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Jennifer Peltz, “Appeals court reinstates gag order that barred Trump from maligning court staff in NY fraud trial,” Associated Press, November 30, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-lawsuit-trial-gag-order-15304270ea3f61284a414f938155ae62
Pennsylvania
Traffic non-enforcement
Fig. 1. Obviously, nowhere near Pittsburgh: “A Pennsylvania state trooper checks motorists’ speed using a radar gun.” Unattributed photograph credited only to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.[5]
Ben Wasserstein, “You might not like it, but Pennsylvania might expand use of speed cameras,” WESA, November 30, 2023, https://www.wesa.fm/development-transportation/2023-11-30/pennsylvania-expand-use-speed-cameras
- [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]Anthony Faiola, Stefano Pitrelli, and Louisa Loveluck, “In undisclosed call, Pope Francis warned Israel against committing ‘terror,’” Washington Post, November 30, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/30/pope-francis-israel-war-terrorism/↩
- [3]Anthony Faiola, Stefano Pitrelli, and Louisa Loveluck, “In undisclosed call, Pope Francis warned Israel against committing ‘terror,’” Washington Post, November 30, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/30/pope-francis-israel-war-terrorism/↩
- [4]Anthony Faiola, Stefano Pitrelli, and Louisa Loveluck, “In undisclosed call, Pope Francis warned Israel against committing ‘terror,’” Washington Post, November 30, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/30/pope-francis-israel-war-terrorism/↩
- [5]Associated Press, “Senate OKs local police using radar for speed enforcement,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 23, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/senate-oks-local-police-using-radar-for-speed-enforcement/↩