Monday, July 15th, 2024

Time	Event
2:49a	Gaza death toll Researchers project a Palestinian death toll in Gaza of over 180,000, including the effects of hunger and sickness. Around 6400 are listed as "missing", but most of them could in fact be dead. (Comment on this)
2:49a	Extreme capitalism as Social Darwinism Right-wingers condemn every government policy that helps the non-rich live better than hand-to-mouth. Socialism is essential for many of the government's important missions. We don't have enough socialism yet in the US, but I would oppose a complete move to socialism. We need individualism and private activities too. According to Robert Reich, here is how Harry Truman defended Socialism: Socialism is the epithet they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power … Social Security … bank deposit insurance … free and independent labor organizations … anything that helps all the people. When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan "Down With Socialism" … what he really means is, "Down with Progress." (Comment on this)
2:49a	Activist suppression judicial persecution The trial of Just Stop Oil activists was meant to keep the jurors in the dark about what was at stake. The defendants repeatedly violated the judge's orders to speak the forbidden information. The jurors paid no attention; they voted to convict. I am very disappointed with them. They had the opportunity to help save civilization and chose instead to facilitate its destruction. But the defendants' effort was not wasted. The UN rapporteur for environmental defenders was there, and his report on the trial was quite stern. Side point: I agree that people do not deserve to be punished for making a Zoom call. However, using Zoom implies being under the power of that company, and that is itself a punishment. They should have used Mumble or GNU Jami instead. (Comment on this)
2:49a	Travel-oppression injustices When Sharon Johnston, permanently paralyzed, decided to travel to Switzerland to end an unbearable life, an anthropologist and a political activist accompanies her. The British thugs arrested them both when they returned to Britain. It is noteworthy that Ms Johnston was not terminally ill. She might have been condemned to decades of helplessness, if not for the possibility of seeking aid in suicide. I can imagine myself in that same position and wishing for it to end. Some states of the US threaten to arrest people who help someone expectant to travel to where abortion is legal. These two laws are very similar, and the same arguments prove the injustice of both. (Comment on this)
2:49a	Soldier's perspectives from inside Gaza Photos from al-Jazeera, confirmed by Israeli soldiers' testimony, show that it is not unusual for them to shoot unarmed Palestinians for no military reason. The article linked to above contains links to YouTube. For your freedom and privacy, modify them to point to invidio.us to watch them. Further, the Israeli army has very lax rules of engagement. Soldiers are welcome to shoot — whether at a tree or at a human being — whenever they feel like it. HAMAS fighters do not wear uniforms. So it is indeed not possible to be entirely certain that an adult Palestinian man walking 100 meters away is not a fighter. But usually it is possible to be see that that man is not a threat to anyone at present. The small chance that he is a HAMAS fighter does not justify killing someone who is probably a civilian. Let alone someone who is surely a civilian; but some soldiers kill even in those circumstances. The lawful, and moral, thing to do is to fire a warning shot to tell him to go away. But the Israeli army does not order soldiers to do that. Although I am not expert enough to state this as a certainty, from what I know I think that these policies of the Israeli army amount to war crimes for which the highest officers and officials are responsible. Soldiers are also sometimes ordered to burn down or destroy any and all Palestinian houses they have been using temporarily, citing various irrational justifications. For instance, they must make sure not to leave any ammunition or food that Palestinians (presumed to be "terrorists") might use. Destroying food so to make sure that starving Palestinians do not eat it??? Denying food to the civilians to ensure there is none for the fighters??? That is systemic inhumanity. (Comment on this)
2:50a	UN: US on recent war crimes in ISR, UKR *Russia Attacks Hospitals in Ukraine. Israel Does the Same in Gaza. The U.S. Response Couldn’t Be More Different.* (Comment on this)
2:50a	Land-grab sanctions, ISR Biden has imposed US banking sanctions on some Israeli colonies in Palestine and leaders of them, specifically for their attacks on Palestinians. That is a good step in the right direction, but taking a step every month or two is very slow progress. The first one was a warning shot, which was a good step. But now it is past time for heavy fire of sanctions. (Comment on this)

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