James M. Dorsey — slipping on Israel-Gaza

James Dorsey has to me been generally very good and very insightful on Middle Eastern affairs — before Oct. 7. This piece, though, shows that while he's not Genocide Joe, he's not all that in the last two months, with this, emphasis mine:

Hamas’ current notion of realpolitik falls far short of anything that would qualify it as an acceptable and credible party to the negotiation of a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I might accept "short," by itself, without the modifier "far." But, that is itself ... too far. He goes on to talk about the PLO/PA endorsing the two-state solution when liberal and leftist ex-Zionists like Peter Beinart know that Israel itself killed that long ago.

His interviewing a Brown University prof who rejects the idea that Israel is committing genocide, and two weeks-plus later, not interviewing anybody with an alternative point, is further "slippage." 

And, his "fog of war" piece of last Monday is the latest slippage. He says that after the fog lifts, among things need to be done is "determine whether Hamas has or should have a future."

He does redeem himself with:

Yet, the Israeli campaign demonstrates that brutality and disrespect for the life of the innocent other are not a Hamas preserve. 

In addition, Israel’s assertion that Hamas uses the Gazan population as human shields by utizing hospitals, schools, and mosques amounts to the pot calling the kettle black.

He does redeem himself further with notes that Israel refuses to allow Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem.

I've had Dorsey on my blogroll for, what, three years, now? Maybe more. But, he doesn't have to stay there.

#AbandonBiden and other new Israel-Gaza thoughts

#AbandonBiden is the hashtag a group of Muslim-Americans are trying to get trend, and not just trend on social media, but trend in the real world 11 months from now.

For the dickheads like Marc Elias or your average neighborhood #BlueAnon, an undervote in the presidential election is no more a "vote for Trump" than a vote for presumed Green Party nominee Jill Stein, independent leftist Cornel West or wingnut Robert F. Kennedy is a "vote for Trump."

That said, could these people undervoting (I hope they vote elsewhere rather than undervote) increase the likelihood of Trump winning? Yes.

And, the organizers fully know that, and fully accept that.

So, fuck off Marc Elias et al.

And take note that Amed Khan is the first larger-level Muslim-American donor to abandon Biden financially.

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Remember: If you hear an Israeli claim they're concerned about their government, they're probably lying. 94 percent say that either the IDF is using enough firepower against Gaza or not enough.

Other findings? Only 10 percent support pauses in fighting to negotiate for hostage releases. And, 27 percent said no negotiations period. (The rest want negotiations during fighting.)

And, it extends to Israel's relations with the Palestinian Authority. Only 25 percent want their government to talk to them.

Again, on Twitter and elsewhere, you hear about liberal Zionists. Exactly. They're still Zionist, and usually deep-fried, at end. Leftist Israelis, who by using that phrase themselves, indicate they're not Zionist? Much rarer birds.

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Yes, per Ryan Grim, it may be a trap, but I will never, never, vote for any Democrat who supports House Resolution 894, which officially claims that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Vote "present" if you feel you have to. But if you vote "yes," I can never support you. Contra the resolution's language, teh IHRA definition of antisemitism is NOT widely supported. Search Mondoweiss if you don't believe me. OR let me do it for you, where you'll find out that, shockingly, Tex-ass was the first US state to adopt the IHRA definition, and that #GenocideJoe thinks it's the gold standard. (It's not widely supported because it enables Zionism in multiple ways, and while not directly calling anti-Zionism antisemitism, certainly pushes people that way.) In addition, the resolution, while listing anti-Israel hate crimes, says nothing about anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian hate crimes. And, it repeats the usual Zionist bullshit about "from the river to the sea." Mondoweiss has more.

It has passed with 311 yeas. One Republican, Thomas Massie, which actually does not shock me, voted no. About half of Democrats did vote "present," while 13, including, to his credit, Jamaal Bowman, who will reportedly be primaried for not kowtowing to Israel enough, voted no.

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Leaders of both duopoly parties are talking about pressuring other Middle Eastern states to sign off on Israel's ethnic cleansing by talking about tying their foreign aid to how many Gazan refugees they accept. Naturally, the idea of accepting Gazan refugees in the US simply isn't on the table.

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Monday morning, via NPR, I heard on the BBC World Service about Israel's attempt to prevent Gazans from getting bomb blasted. It includes a smartphone alert system, even with a QR code! How high tech! Partial information on that from the AP. And, via Mondoweiss, here's an update on the 2,000-grid system.)

I was reminded of a couple of things.

One is Wallbuilder Joe's Title 42 lite smartphone-based application for asylum. First, how many Guatemalan migrants have smartphones? Second, how good of reception do they get in deserts near the Mexico-US border? The BBC presenter raised similar questions during an interview of a doctor at the Europe Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Two, sadly, is the old joke about what to do in case of a nuclear attack, with the list of instructions finishing with "and kiss your ass goodbye."

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Remember that even during the cease fire, Israel shelled southern Lebanon, southern Syria, and had troops active in Palestine/West Bank. 

And, Israel has a LONG HISTORY of targeted assassinations.

Texas Progressives talk about the border and more

State District Judge Daniella DeSita Lyttle tells DPS and jefe Steve McCraw to release Uvalde records. The state has 20 days to appeal, which it surely will. And, as the story notes, that could affect families trying to file federal civil rights cases, which have a two-year clock. Dunno if executive order can overrule that at the federal level?

Tex-ass lost twice in court on its attempt to usurp the feds on border control. First, federal district judge Alia Moses said that Team Biden could cut the razor wire Strangeabbott and the DPS put up, although chiding Biden's DHS for its backdoor Title 42 and not letting Ill Eagles seeking asylum hit the international bridges. Then, the Fifth Circuit upheld district judge David A. Ezra and said the floating buoys on the Rio Grande must be removed.

Related? DosCentavos tell us about a Human Rights Watch report on deadly migrant chases in South Texas. The report includes recommendations for Greg Abbott, the Texas Lege, President Biden, and others. 

Related? ProPublica / Texas Trib / Frontline have a huge document dump about the Uvalde mass shooting at Robb Elementary. Will that finally prod the DPS to release more without the need of lawsuit?

Fresh off those losses, Kenny Boy Paxton has filed a suit that describes him to a T. He's suing Pfizer for not ending the coronavirus pandemic quickly enough, but citing general antivaxxer and coronavirus conspiracy theorist pseudoscience in the suit. What this surely is, is an audition to be Trump's AG should he be re-elected. (If Trump IS? Blame Genocide Joe, not people like me.)

The Texas GOP executive committee is still OK with Nick Fuentes, but many of them don't want the general public to know that. Goeb says he thinks the vote will be reconsidered in February. Translation: Just as he plans on primarying some senators, he plans to do similar on this. A Goeb-Rinaldi showdown could be fun.

SocraticGadfly talks about the latest apparent politicization of the IRS.

Off the Kuff examines the latest lawsuit lunacy from the Texas election deniers.

Space City Weather gives an outlook on what to expect this winter, temperature-wise.  

 Gabriela Sanders argues against vouchers.  

The Bloggess discusses the importance of community in dealing with mental illness.  

The Eyewall looks back on the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.

Climate Defense is getting in the collective grille of national Democrats.

Once again, that Texas Miracle ... isn't

Via Local Profile, an online mag for Collin County, we learn that Texas is the third-worst state for people in financial distress.

The only two worse? Louisiana and Mississippi. So, in the non-toilet-bowl world, when you're behind even West Virginia and New Mexico, you're the worst.

Here's two specifics. The first is credit scores:

According to WalletHub, one reason for such a high ranking for the 8th largest economy in the world is the low credit card scores of its residents. As previously reported by Local Profile, the average American is just below the bottom of the ‘good’ credit range, which is 700 and the beginning of the ‘excellent’ credit range is 750. But in Texas, that number drops to 674, which isn’t bad, but it’s bad enough for grating the state the 6th worst credit score in the U.S.

The second is personal bankruptcies:

However, another finding of the report might be more worrisome. In the past year, Texas saw a whopping 21% increase in non-business bankruptcy filings, ranking number 1 in that category.

That's not even ahead of Louisiana and Mississippi.

The state's also 10th-worst in mortgage delinquincies.

Wonder how much of this is Californicators finding out the truth about Texas property taxes while burning through the AC in this year's Texas summer?

And, from the Trib and related? Homeowners insurance rates jumped 22 percent this year. Climate change issues the primary cause. Got it, Californicators who might be trying to flee that issue in California? The story adds that Texas premiums are among the highest in the nation but may actually be underpriced. Next step? Will some insurers stop writing policies in Texas, as is the case in California?

Schadenfreude is a biatch!

Best Fans in Baseball again not, on Reddit

A day or two ago, I posted about the possibility of the Cardinals trading Nolan Arenado. And most commenters went batshit crazy.

First, as to "he'll never be traded except for another future Hall of Famer"? 

Ted Simmons was traded for non-Hall of Famers, and given he only had 5 WAR after leaving the Cardinals, although I didn't like it at the time, it WAS a good trade in hindsight. In fact, that was AFTER Whitey had acquired Rollie Fingers, so he shipped TWO HOFers at the same time. The trade looked great in 1981, iffy in 1982, but better after.

In real hindsight, the trade was MUCH better a year later, and after hindsight on this second trade, when, after then 1981 season, Sixto Lezcano, also acquired from the Brew Crew, was sent to the Padres with Garry Templeton for ..

A guy ...

Named ....

Osborne Earl Smith.

As I said at r/Cardinals, if Mo thinks that Arenado's 2023 defensive dropoff is more than a one-time deal, now is the time to strike while others are enamored.

Beyond that, no, I wasn't suggesting that Arenado be traded for a box of rocks or sack of hammers.

As for people claiming this is a non-story? Well, yes, I started the header with the word "could"? That should imply an invitation for discussion, not for doubling down on closed-mindedness.

I did, in fact, halfway through, say this:

Anyway, I have no idea if Mo is shopping him under the radar. He does have a full no-trade, but as I've noted here and r/mlb before, such things can always be waived for the right considerations. And, he WAS rumored to possibly be headed to the Dodgers last year midseason.

Seems pretty obvious that I'm not saying they will, or that I support (or disagree with) the idea. And yes, that may have been just rumor. BUT? That fielding decline was already well manifest, but, he might have been a hotter commodity in midseason with the Cards already out of the hunt and the Dodgers looking for another World Series.

Back to the situation at hand.

Arenado, or someone else, could be used to acquire a real closer, along with position players for depth. Bernie Miklasz notes last year's bullpen was a dumpster fire and it hasn't been fixed.

Meanwhile, back at r/Cardinals, you have this chud, who committed either ChatGPT or plagiarism, getting laughed at on the AI sound but still getting nearly 100 upvotes.

And THEN, a day later, when I posted about a Bernie Miklasz piece about the Cards needing more bullpen help, the moderator chuds pulled it down a couple of hours later.