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.
There are a lot of used car dealers, each with their own loan shark, around the South Hills area of Pittsburgh, especially along Pennsylvania Route 51. But you know, if you go to one, they’ll actually put up the money and you can get a car.
Kinda looks like Donald Trump went to a loan shark who can’t put up the money.[1] Tell me again what a smart businessman he is.
Shayna Jacobs, “Ex-Trump company executive Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months in jail,” Washington Post, April 10, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/10/trump-weisselberg-sentencing-new-york/
Ben Metzner, “Trump’s Bond Is So Weak, Letitia James May Still Seize His Assets,” New Republic, April 10, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180590/trump-bond-weak-letitia-james-seize-assets
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,[2] fair use.
These two statements are inconsistent:
-
“Hours after that call [between Joe Biden and Binyamin Netanyahu], the security cabinet approved a series of measures aimed at significantly boosting aid to Gaza and the past several days have seen the largest number of aid trucks enter the Strip since the war’s outbreak.”[3]
-
“Israel claims it has never placed any limits on the amount of aid it is allowing into Gaza.”[4]
Both of these statements are from the same story in the Times of Israel. If you are acknowledging that security cabinet action can increase the amount of aid flowing into Gaza from third countries, then it makes little sense to claim that they have never placed limits on that aid.[5]
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/
Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry
Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/
Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html
Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793
Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/
Kate Sullivan, “Trump says Israel needs to ‘finish what they started’ and said war with Hamas is ‘taking a long time,’” CNN, April 4, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/trump-israel-comments/index.html
Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/
Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4
Michael Tomasky, “Is Biden Really Going to Let Netanyahu Lose Him the Election?” New Republic, April 5, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180481/biden-israel-netanyahu-lose-election
Lazar Berman, “Israel’s begrudging approach to humanitarian aid could cost it the war in Gaza,” Times of Israel, April 6, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-begrudging-approach-to-humanitarian-aid-could-cost-it-the-war-in-gaza/
Karen DeYoung, “Six months into Gaza war, Biden confronts the limits of U.S. leverage,” Washington Post, April 6, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/06/gaza-israel-biden-war/
Emanuel Fabian, “IDF chief says withdrawal of troops from Gaza doesn’t mean war is close to end,” Times of Israel, April 7, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-says-withdrawal-of-troops-from-gaza-doesnt-mean-war-is-close-to-end/
M. J. Lee, “Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu,” CNN, April 7, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/politics/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-phone-call-details/index.html
David Horovitz, “Israel’s major ground war in Gaza is over; the state of war inflicted by Hamas is not,” Times of Israel, April 8, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-major-ground-war-in-gaza-is-over-the-state-of-war-inflicted-by-hamas-is-not/
Katie Polglase et al., “Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery,” CNN, April 9, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html
Times of Israel, “US Sen. Warren: World Court has ‘ample evidence’ to find Israel guilty of genocide,” April 9, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-sen-warren-world-court-has-ample-evidence-to-find-israel-guilty-of-genocide/
Guardian, “Netanyahu making a ‘mistake’ on Gaza, says Biden, as he urges Israel to push for ceasefire,” April 9, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-gaza-mistake-ceasefire-israel-war-palestine
Jacob Magid, “Biden urges Israel ‘to just call for’ 6-8 week ceasefire, slams PM’s handling of Gaza war,” Times of Israel, April 10, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-urges-israel-to-just-call-for-6-8-week-ceasefire-slams-pms-handling-of-gaza-war/↩