Texas "Progressives" — active on ICE and Hispanics, silent on Gaza

I pulled part of this week's Texas "Progressives" items from the normal weekly Roundup put together by Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff for just that reason.

We start with something I picked up, as, contra former member of the Texas Progressives Alliance Brains, I have long done my own additions (and subtractions) to Kuff's material.

Kuff will surely talk somewhere about Texas public school ICE protest walkouts, even as he remains radio silent on collegiate pro-Palestine protests. Ditto for Neil Aquino, the hypocrites.   

And now, to all of last week's roundup as organized by Kuff. 

The Current catches Greg Abbott trying to squirm out of his ICE fetishism.  

José R. Ralat gave his account of being accosted by ICE.

G. Elliott Morris shows why immigration as an issue has hit a tipping point in public opinion.

Isaiah Martin cheers on the athletes who have called out Alex Pretti's murder by ICE. 

Deceleration gives ten rules of resistance against ICE. Finally, as a public service, the two major immigrant-run organizations who are resisting ICE in Minnesota are Unidos MN and Monarca.

For more specific places to donate to, Stand With Minnesota is a clearinghouse for ways to help.

And now, to Gaza. And the United States ties with the Zionism that continues to kill Gazans. 

Even as Israel continues to break the cease-fire in Gaza, even as Israel and Trump's Peace Force or whatever he calls it plan biometric-controlled gated communities in Gaza that will surely come back to Merikkka, even as Jeffrey Epstein's connection to Mossad in particular and the Zionists running Israel in general becomes ever more clear, even as, as late as the end of last month, people continue to demand the release from ICE detention of Leqaa Kordia — held HERE IN TEXAS — Kuff, Neil Aquino etc remain silent. Maybe it's because the Biden Administration's complicity in genocide becomes ever more clear.

Texas Democrats — including elected ones! — are demanding Kordia's release. Where are Texas "progressives"? 

That's The Barbed Wire. Elsewhere, I have linked to the Texas Observer. Kuff uses both in the Roundup, which means he deliberately refuses to talk about her. That's anti-anti-Zionism, which is Zionism on the down low.

 

Leqaa Kordia remains a political prisoner here in Texas over Palestine, even as some progressives ignore her

Unfortunately, too many Texas "progressive" bloggers still won't write about anything related to Israel and Gaza, whether because of timidity, or outright Zionism, and therefore won't tell you a thing about Kordia, imprisoned at the Prarieland Detention Center in North Tex-ass since last March.

Here's her story:

The last remaining Columbia University protester left in confinement, Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia, has been in detention since her arrest in March 2025 after accidentally overstaying her student visa. 

“I came here as a tourist, and I changed my visa to student visa. And later, after about six years, I received kind of bad advice from a friend,” Kordia said. “Not intentionally, of course. But I dropped out of school thinking that I had lawful status in the United States.” 

Since her arrest, an immigration judge has twice ordered her release, deeming her eligible for bail. Despite this, repeated filings with the Board of Immigration Appeals have left Kordia in a state of continuous legal limbo. If deported, Kordia will be turned over to the Israeli government, which has killed almost 200 members of her family during the genocide in Gaza. 

Kordia’s experience in detention has reportedly been wrought with pain and hardship. According to her lawyer’s statements and court filings, Kordia has been sleeping on a thin mattress in a facility currently overcrowded while refusing to provide religious accommodations. The filings also say Kordia suffered a skin rash amid unsanitary conditions.

Besides Mondoweiss, Kordia and her plight have also been featured on Democracy Now and elsewhere. 

But, no, certain "pergressuves" don't write about her. They're well-enough informed otherwise, since at least one story was written about her before in Texas media, namely The Barbed Wire, back in October 2025, as I noted at the time in a Texas Progressives roundup.

I haven't named names, but people know who they are. 

I haven't named names in a piece submitted to a Roundup. But, next time, I can. One of you has an easy-to-use search box on your site, so that's how I know you've said nothing. 

That's despite this, also from the Mondoweiss link at top:

On December 5, a group of U.S. Senators, including Cory Booker, Nellie Pou, LaMonica McIver, Andy Kim, Chris Van Hollen, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, submitted a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

“As the record shows, [Kordia] has broken no laws and has been convicted of no crimes. Her only ‘offenses’ were an honest mistake that caused her to inadvertently lose her legal status and that she participated in a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration to mourn her loved ones and honor their lives,” the letter reads. 

“Rather than punishing speech protected by the First Amendment, this Administration should be defending it, particularly when the individual is acting peacefully, has no criminal history and poses no threat to national security or public safety. We urge you to follow the recommendations of both a Magistrate Judge and an Immigration Judge and immediately release Ms. Kordia.” 

As Kordia spent her birthday and the holidays in detention, her legal team was hoping for a decision on either her asylum or habeas case, which are both awaiting further action from the court, so that she could be freed in time for family celebrations. As no decision was made, her case currently remains at a standstill. 

“Leqaa has marked another holiday and now a birthday in ICE detention, her punishment for daring to speak up in support of Palestinian rights. Her continued detention in the face of two rulings from an immigration judge that she could be released could not be clearer evidence of retaliation. We continue to hope for a swift decision in her habeas. In the meantime, Leqaa and others suffer in an overcrowded facility, deprived of basic dignities,” said Amal Thabateh, another one of Kordia’s lawyers and staff attorney with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) Project at Columbia University. 

Kordia’s case has attracted the attention of activists, journalists, and human rights advocates, earning her story wide coverage following initial apprehension to reach out to the media.

Are you more Zionist than Cory Booker? Is your outrage against ICE limited to violations of Hispanic human rights and not inclusive of Palestinian human rights violations?

J'accuse, per Zola. 

(And, I'm sure Kuff didn't even read this, even though it was submitted for this week's Texas Progressives Roundup. Ditto Neil Aquino, who loves to talk about weekly protests at John Cornyn's office, but doesn't ask if any of the Democrat Congresscritters in greater Helltown, like Training Wheels Jasmine Crockett in the Metromess, are Zionist or Zionist-lite.) 

Gaza: Two years before the mast

The mast would be genocide and conquest, likely pre-planned, as per The Dissident, there's good reason to believe the government of Bibi Netanyahu knew at least some basics of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in advance. It clearly was prepared in advance to invoke the Hannibal Directive.

At the same time, there's been levels of incompetence in this war. The hasbara, on things like the mass rapes claims, has been so bad it's been unofficially withdrawn. 

Read The Dissident at Substack for details on much of this.

Two things are my focus.

One is a piece of goy-written hasbara by a Clinton Tankersley on Ed Buckner's Substack. (I have since blocked Tankersley and unsubscribed from Buckner, in part because this is not secular humanism, beyond the support for genocide, beyond the lies and other things. It's a narrow, non-humanist worldview. Tankersley may well be an atheist, but he's a politically at least fairly conservative one, and he's not a secular humanist, and this is why I call myself one.) 

Tankersley repeats the lies about the mass rapes, about anti-Israel media, and more. Here's the reality of how the US media has propagated these lies, from Mondoweiss.

It ignores (Tankersley is probably ignorant of, or else in denial of) Israel engaging in ethnic cleansing even before the Nakba, and other things.

Beyond that, it's simply laughable to read Tankersley blame postmodernism and other things. And, it's high-grade ignorance, probably self-willed, to claim Salvador Dali is a postmodernist. It's why he's not a secular humanist, and if Ed willingly ran this, he's not so secular humanist as he claims, in my book. As for those rantings, I've read Derrick Bell's "Silent Covenants," a seminal book in critical racial theory.

On the matter at hand? 

My comments.

I should not and will not support genocide. Or Zionism like this in general. Or lies. Like the "mass rapes." Even Israel itself has, backhandedly, admitted these are lies. And lies they are. Read The Dissident, here on Substack. I've written about this occasionally, but he covers it in detail. Or read Mondoweiss. Or The Electronic Intifada. Or the lies of alleged anti-Israel media, even as Ellison fils has announced the leader of modern cancel culture, Bari Weiss, will run CBS News. I'll stand by Mondoweiss. And may just unsub from here. No, I'll almost certainly unsub. Ed may have some other good things, but I can't support hasbara lies. But I will share back the suggested reading of Mondoweiss as a website and the likes of Shlomo Sand and Ilan Pappe as authors.

That's the big one. Pappe? "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine." Sand? "The Invention of the Jewish People." Zionists in Israel know both, though rejecting them. Zionists in the US generally don't even know who they are.

One respondent said they'd be looking to read Pappe for rebuttals. Well, THERE you go on reading with an open mind. He also claimed this wasn't a genocide or ethnic cleansing. Well, beyond Pappe, the UN, and the International Criminal Court, Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch says it is too, as does Phil Weiss of Mondoweiss. He probably claims they're self-hating Jews. And, yes, I've seen that phrase used since Oct. 7, 2023.

Ed himself had been losing me off and on, and the last piece of his own before giving Tankersley the reins pretty much completed the job outside of secular humanism broadly defined. 

The second piece, directly refuting one of Tankersley's lies? Not only has CBS/Paramount acquired Bari Weiss' Substack empire, "The Free Press," she will RUN CBS NEWS! Yeah, anti-Israel media my ass. Most the mainstream media has yet to report that the alleged mass rapes were lies. Update: Nepo Baby David Ellison also wants to buy the already wingnut New York Post. The Post's own piece about that also discusses the Free Press acquisition, noting he paid 10x over Free Press earnings. 10x over EARNINGS, not profit.

Is Hamas perfect? Absolutely not. Is it tied to Iranian influence? No shit.

Does that Iranian influence help it maintain the power it does? Absolutely. Should it let go of that, for that reason? Absolutely not.

Did Israel help, if not create, then install, Hamas in Gaza under the old "divida et impera" maxim? Absolutely.

Has the US been hypocritical on Hamas, as far as presidents of both parties, like Dear Leader? Yes. 

And, that's part of what irks me on this.

Hamas is the best option for Gazan Palestinians because Israel and the United States made it so, hoping it would be rejected. And, because it wasn't, and because Israeli apartheid made it an open-air prison, eventually something was going to "snap." 

And, Israel was ready and willing and waiting for that. 

On the Iran angle, this is not to justify Ayatollah Khamenei or the Revolutionary Guards, but why the hell would Iran trust the United States or Israel, let alone give up leverage in the Middle East, even as Turkish President Erdogan is a shit-faced liar playing one side, and half of the other, against the middle? 

Otherwise, per Open Democracy? If the Israeli man or woman in the street is worried about security, then boot Netanyahu out. 

And, otherwise? Stop lying about the mass rapes. Per the Dissident, linking to thorough refutation of that and a call for freelancers to boycott the New York Times opinion 

 

Viva Raunuq Alam! Fuck Brian Bolton, Phil Sorrells and a lesser fuck for Kuff

Thank doorknob a Tarrant County jury rejected a Zionist/religious right/general wingnut attempt to convict Raunaq Alam of a hate crime for graffiting a church with "Fuck Israel." (Said church was flying an Israeli flag as the main reason it was targeted during a random drive by Alam and two friends.) That said, fuck judge Brian Bolton for what at least verges on the spirit of false imprisonment. And fuck Charles Kuffner, nominal head cheese of what remains of the Texas Progressives Alliance, for not writing anything about Palestinian issues, not even here in Tex-ass. Kuff, you're a fellow traveler with the likes of Tarrant DA Phil Sorrells.

Lee Camp: is he now "controlled opposition" on Israel?

Yes, THAT Lee Camp, of Redacted Tonight, brave new world former RT commentariat, who writes a column about "Top 11 Signs Israel is Collapsing." No, really. It would be funnier if not so sad. 

My response? Semi-blistering, with the following being an extended version of a Substack note.

(I should note that I pretty much, though not totally, reject a literal idea of controlled opposition. For instance, nobody in the GOP is paying Democrats to act like Republicans-lite in many cases. It's all self-chosen.)

Can I have what Lee Camp is smoking?

No. 4 and 5 are laughs; Israel’s partnerships with the EU and the US are not at all “strained.” In the US, The Donald still cuts blank checks to Israel. In the EU, states that have said they will recognize Palestine, or in France's case, have done so, have made such recognitions conditional, and also still let their countries' weapons makers sell away to Israel. (Same is true of Canada.)

To quote Mondoweiss?

The sum total is that, despite the outcry over the attack on Nasser Hospital, the beginning of the massive invasion of Gaza City, and the United Nations finally declaring a full-blown famine in Gaza, the United States and Europe remain in performance mode, with little prospect of any real action being taken.

And to quote further?

Unfortunately, with feckless leaders in Europe and the autocratic, impatient, and ignorant Trump in the White House, Netanyahu has a lot of potential for manipulating diplomatic affairs around the Middle East.

And, it's not just Israel vs Gaza, it's Israel against Palestinians, period. In what is surely against international law, Trump has had Lil Marco Rubio revoke the visas of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinians in advance of the kickoff for a new session of the UN General Assembly. 

Mondoweiss ALSO reports that the Washington Post has a leaked document about Team Trump officially backing ethnic cleansing in Gaza, part of Trump's "Gaza Riviera" idea floated this spring.

A leaked 38-page document details the Trump administration’s “Gaza Riviera” plan to forcibly relocate 2 million Palestinians and place Gaza’s territory in U.S. trusteeship for over a decade. 

The Washington Post reported on the prospectus for the plan, which calls for “temporary relocation” of Gaza’s population so that “AI-powered smart cities,” and a manufacturing hub named after Trump-donor Elon Musk could be erected. 

“Gaza can transform into a Mediterranean hub for manufacturing, trade, data, and tourism, benefiting from its strategic location, access to markets… resources, and a young workforce all supported by Israeli tech and [Gulf Cooperation Council] investments,” states the document.

But, Lee Camp would have you believe the US partnership with Israel is "strained." 

No. 2? The US will bail out Israel’s economy if it really goes that far in the dumpster. Otherwise, this sounds like a #BlueAnon Democrap saying Russia's economy will collapse at any moment.

No. 6? The UN case for genocide? Rather, the ICC’s head is facing hasbara-like charges and it’s otherwise largely being ignored by the US, the EU, and even the Gulf Arab states, at least for public consumption. Ditto on the ICC arrest warrants. Hasn’t Bibi been in Merikkka since then? Survey says yes and less than two months ago.

No. 10? BDS having a profound impact? Most Western multinationals facing boycotts in Muslim-majority nations know those nations’ elites still buy a Starbucks latte. Also note that, per Lee’s own story, we’re actually talking about franchises that aren’t owned by Star Bux or McDonald’s and in many cases franchise only in Israhell. That's Economics 101, and I was getting hits on that with 30 seconds of searching.

Small companies may be avoiding Israel, and certainly academics? Fortune 500 types? Not so much, and of course that doesn’t count the defense contractors eating this up.

Also, this column may be a recycled and updated version of an earlier one, or else he pulls some stuff out from behind the paywall after a month or two, which adds to the idea that he's become controlled opposition, relatively speaking. 

If THAT's the case, as the original is from nearly three months ago, he looks stupider yet. 

He's also a liar. 

The first two words of the header are "New Column." If all he did pull out an old column from behind a paywall and spiff it up around the edges, it's not new.

That's also self-plagiarism, and yes, that's a journalistic issue.

As a member of the media, I respect that issue. I may, at certain points on the calendar, write about a subject that is time-sensitive about which I have written before, even a theme related to that. But, I don't pull up an old saved column to that end on my computer and give it some tiny tweaks, not even if it was several years ago.

Per Stravinsky, on a long-ago column, I may "steal" some of the talking points, but it still gets a rewrite. 

Finally, it's intellectually lazy. In this case, the talking points weren't true in the original paywalled version and you did nothing to defend them in the un-paywalled one.

Top blogging of 2024

Just as in my monthly "best of" pieces, not all of these were written in 2024, but all were in the top 10 of 2024 readership.

Not blogged about, but seen by me at 98 percent totality? The April solar eclipse. And, since it's about sun, moon, calendar and related issues, we use it instead of a "2024" graphic.

With that, let's jump in.

As with the monthly, we start from the bottom and head upward.

At No. 10? No, Juan Soto is not a generational talent, I said last April at the start of the baseball season, and said he wasn't worth $500 million, let alone $600, and certainly not what the Mets wound up paying him, a bloated $765 million.

No. 9 is tied to No. 5 and No. 7. All came from December, and we'll start with No. 5.

That was Dustin Burrows' claim to have enough votes to become the new Tex-ass Speaker of the House, and how poorly that claim seemed to face reality.

No. 7 was my laughing thoughts on current (then) Speaker McDade Phelan bailing out on an effort for re-election.

No. 9 was whether or not the Texas Republican Party would officially censure anybody for voting for Burrows instead of David Cook, and whether or not the recently added bar of a two-year GOP primary ban would hold up in court.

At No. 8 was my callout of Genocide Joe Biden's lies about seeing pictures of dying babies in Gaza. My extension, it was a callout of Kamala is a Zionist Cop, too.

No. 6? Even though I'm not a duopoly voter, maybe there was a bit of wishful thinking that ran behind my 2024 election prediction blown claim.

No. 4? A blast from the past, from 2017 in particular, in part because I posted it a few times here and there on Elmo Musk's Shitter aka Twitter. Actual Flatticus aka Alan Smithee in real life Chris Chopin and my savage takedown of the legend of Flatty got hot again.

No. 3 was an Eastertime Texas Progressives Roundup whose header riffed on my post in the roundup about Gaza and my callout of Charles Kuffner, aka Off the Kuff, for not writing about this, not even the DPS' kettling of pro-Palestinian protestors here in Tex-ass in general and even in Houston in particular. See above, Kuff the duopolist, at No. 8.

No. 2? Because I pushed it all election season long, my detailed reporting on how Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was an investments hypocrite, above all related to Israel and Gaza.

No. 1? Perhaps foreshadowing Luigi Mangione — dental care as heath care and the insurance thereof.

Oct. 7, 2023, one year later

Since the lamestream media won't give you the facts? This roundup post is a callout post as well.

Let's start with NPR. No, Genocide Joe and Kamala is a Zionist Cop did NOT have tributes to all the victims. They had no tribute to Palestinian victims before or after Oct. 7. Neither did Dementia Don, of course.

The WSJ, before you hit the paywall, is honest enough to talk about divisions in Israel strong enough there were dueling ceremonies. US LSM won't discuss that, either.

At the Beeb, British mainstream media, they didn't talk about dueling memorials in Israel. They did cite the fatuousness of Genocide Joe and British Prime Minister Der Starmer:

Outside of Israel, President Biden joined other world leaders in condemning what he called the "unspeakable brutality" of the Hamas attacks a year ago.

He also expressed horror at the subsequent war, saying "far too many civilians had suffered, far too much".

Mourners also gathered at vigils around the world including in Australia, South Africa, Germany and the United States.

In the UK, Sir Keir Starmer told the House of Commons he supported Israel's right to defend itself. But Britain's prime minister insisted there was no military solution to the current crisis and appealed for all sides to "step back".

Without calling it fatuousness. Neither Genocide Joe nor Der Starmer will do anything beyond "appeals," the international political equivalent of #ThoughtsAndPrayers, the old Shitter hashtag, or #TotsAndPears as parodied by many of us secularists.

Indeed, as Axios notes (and this is not at all new) Biden and Harris have their thumbs on the scales. Dementia Don would do just the same.

The ZioNazi government of Bibi Netanyahu, meanwhile, is ignoring alleged divisions, and using the world shifting focus to Lebanon, to try to continue to grind Gaza to dust.

And, friends on Facebook who have voted outside the duopoly in the past still want me to vote for lesser evilism.

Meanwhile, Counterpunch talks about Oct. 7 leaning on lesser evilism Noam Chomsky with a chaser of sellout Ralph Nader. 

Oh, for you BlueAnon and MAGAts alike? Start by reading Ilan Pappe, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine," or another of his books. Then go to Shlomo Sand's "The Invention of the Jewish People." Before you even think about "going there," both are Jews inside Israel.

Counterpunch? You've lost me with Chomsky AND with Nader

Counterpunch, on US elections issues, has been "losing" me for months now. Start with the lack of profiling of third-party candidates. Yeah, that's not their metier, but, at the same time, more than once in the past couple of months, they've run stuff that HAS at least verged halfway close to GOTV writing for the left hand of the duopoly.

And, now, today, on the one year anniversary of the start of the Third Gazan War or whatever name we should give the current round of mindless Israeli ethnic cleansing, after years of goading both Gazan and West Bank Palestinians?

Counterpunch Radio uses a Noam Chomsky "infographic" type quote as art for blurbing its podcast. Barf me.

First, long before he was brain-dead, Chomsky tried to "nudge" Green (and SPUSA) presidential nominee out of the race in 2020. He wasn't alone. Barbara Ehrenreich, Norman Solomon and others who know better were his fellow travelers.

That said, that's nothing new. That same year, Chomsky, who's long been a duopoly sheepdogger, was one of the signers of that odious Harper's letter. (So was Cornel West, which is why I didn't really believe his schtick a full year ago, even before he decided to try copulating with Nick Brana.)

And, while Margaret Kimberly went too far (shock me) in claiming Chomsky is fully opposed to BDS? He's nowhere near being in support of it; receipts are here. (Neither is Norman Finkelstein, who flat-out rejects it, as well as still cluelessly clinging to the two-state solution.)

Reminder: Last week, the UN General Assembly, in essence, officially called for UN member states to engage in BDS against Israel.

Beyond all of the above? Chomsky has been "filtered" through his second wife for years.

While I'm here? This, too. And, this goes straight to Jeff St. Clair, an unreconstructed Naderite, as well as Cockburn fils. Running Ralph Nader calling out Dems over Israel and Gaza. Nader officially endorsed Genocide Joe two weeks before Oct. 7 and has never unendorsed him or succesor Kamala is a Zionist Cop. On St. Clair, I had somewhat moderated my stance on his stance on Nader and the Green Party at one time, but I've hardened it again, and more so after Oct. 7. In my opinion, the Green Party internal reforms for 2004 weren't perfect, but they weren't horrible. AND, contra Nader and St. Clair, they weren't entirely officially targeted at him. Also IMO, he, like Cornel West, wanted the nomination on a platter. Yeah, there's a lot of AccommoGreens, but still?

Also, per my "endorsed" link? There's LOTS of stuff that St. Clair won't tell you. Like Nader being a shitter on Terri Schiavo. Like him being a crappy boss per both Kurt Eichenwald and Tim Shorrock, among others. Both have receipts. Nader has been anti-labor in other ways. Consumer advocates in general, like environmentalists, have a history there.

Anyway, this isn't Counterpunch Radio referencing Chomsky. This is Counterpunch continuing to platform him.

Update, Oct. 25: It gets worse. This Counterpunch piece all but goes in the BlueAnon tank, talking about Republican election suppression while ignoring Democratic third-party ballot access election suppression. I've long, long said that Counterpunch, even more than other theoretically leftist political commentary magazines, is sorely lacking in establishing some sort of overall editorial direction and oversight in areas like this. Of course, managing editor Josh Frank himself has had a piece or two this year that came close to semi-officially stanning for the lesser evilism half of the duopoly.

Israel and Genocide Joe updates

Genocide Joe has written Israel a new blank check, this one for attacking Hezbullah in Lebanon. And #BlueAnon will still continue to claim it owns my vote.

That said, the Joint Chiefs now say we probably can't help there militarily. Gen. Charles Q. Brown added that Iran would likely more directl8y support Hezbullah than it has indirectly supported Hamas and warned Israel away from going too far. Will this word make Bbie pout more or less than he has recently:

Prime Minister Netanyahu told Channel 14 on Sunday night that Israel is open to a diplomatic resolution to the Hezbollah threat, but he stressed, “It must be on our terms.”

That's Bibi: Hold my breath like a toddler if I don't get my way.

I already know not to trust Hillel beyond its hasbara frontin face. Here's more: It's funding of the org that's the chief agency for spying on pro-Palestinian college students.

Genocide Joe and the Democratic National Committee have made it official on a "virtual" roll-call nomination, in an attempt to avoid Chicago 2024 becoming Chicago 1968. (It also avoids Genocide Joe screwing up an acceptance speech before a live audience.)

Did Bibi not take an Israeli history class in high school?

I mean, his blanket refusal to negotiate period with Hamas is, beyond being genocidal and warmongering.

It's also plain stupid.

And full of crap.

Per the rhetorical question in the header, James Dorsey gets at the details.

He mentions, as have other news and opinion outlets, Netanyahu's statement that no, Israel won't "occupy" Gaza in nine months or so (his projected date for the end of the war), won't get involved in guerilla warfare, etc.

He then mention's Bib's oft-stated plan to have some Palestinian administer Gaza after those nine months or whatever.

Really? 

What fucking planet do you live on?

Even more likely than the likelihood of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy being assassinated if he actually tried to implement the Minsk Accords (in 2019, let alone today), any Palestinian who volunteered to run Israel's toxic inferno in Gaza would be a walking dead man.

And, per the high school history class part of the rhetorical question?

It was long after he graduated high school, of course, but ...

ISRAEL FUCKING HELPED CREATE HAMAS.

I mean, as The Times of Israel reported just after Oct. 7, 2023, Bibi was involved personally with puffing up Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority. This idea has that stupidity written all over it.

But, that's not new. At the Intercept, Mehdi Hasan has the full backstory in a 2018 story:

“When I look back at the chain of events, I think we made a mistake,” David Hacham, a former Arab affairs expert in the Israeli military who was based in Gaza in the 1980s, later remarked. “But at the time, nobody thought about the possible results.”

"They never do, do they?" Hasan himself said right after that as the last sentence of the story. 

I think there's one other issue. I don't know what the Israeli Hebrew phrase is for "Irish Alzheimer's," but Bibi makes #GenocideJoe look like a piker on that.

Jamie Metzl: Disingenuous on Gaza, at a minimum

"Disingenuous" is one of those words that has a clear denotative as well as connotative meaning, and in fact, in common use, the denotative often takes the lead, with insinuations of something like earned opprobrium behind it.

So, I use it reluctantly of Metzl, the Clinton Administration National Security Council staffer who was one of the early, leading, non-conspiratorial voices on COVID discussing the possibility of a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, while admitting he didn't know for sure and remained open-minded toward a purely zoonotic origin.

I was nosing around his site last week, seeing if he had updated his main post on COVID, re the Fauci investigation by the House subcommittee last week Monday, when I noticed a piece that he had entitled called "Response to Gaza Open Letter."

Here's the background:

On March 17, 2024, I received an email regarding the Gaza conflict from six of my former colleagues from when I served in the White House and State Department during the Clinton administration. The people who sent the letter are among the people I respect most in the world, and so their invitation to sign on to the open letter to President Biden they had drafted was something I took with the utmost seriousness. Upon reading the letter, however, I realized I could not sign and responded with a letter outlining my reasoning.

What follows is an originally private response to them that he made public after their letter was published.

OK, we'll look at the why.

First:

While the letter focuses on the actions of Israel, it is largely silent on the responsibilities of Hamas in deliberately fomenting this crisis.

Well, maybe it primarily is about Israel, the original letter, but not totally.

Then there's this:

Hamas leaders extolled the October 7 terrorists to commit the worst possible abuses and desecrate the dead bodies to highlight Israeli outrage and undermine Israel’s deterrence.

We know that many of those claims (maybe not all, but yes, many) by Israel are nothing more than hasbara. And Metzl either does know that or should know that himself. 

Metzl then mentions the infamous tunnels, which, IIRC, were already being discussed mid-March.

Then there's the nutgraf on how Metzl said the letter should have started:

“As former U.S. foreign policy and national security officials who served several presidential administrations, we write to express our deep concerns about the situation in Gaza. We call on Hamas to release all the hostages immediately and to surrender unconditionally and for Israel to wage its justified war to defeat Hamas with the greatest care possible. We also write to encourage your administration to continue and substantially strengthen efforts to protect civilians and promote a just and durable peace.

Zionism 101.

"Surrender, Hamas and throw yourself on the tender mercies of Bibi."

What fucking planet do you live on?

The planet where the IDF gets a pass:

Third, it would be hard for any of us to declare with certainty, as the letter does, that “military tactics employed in that response have been indiscriminate, created a humanitarian catastrophe, jeopardized the potential for further progress toward regional stability, and undermined U.S. credibility and influence in the region and around the world.”

That was bad enough as of March 18. It's godawful as of now. (Speaking of which, the letter to him looks ahead to Rafah, which Metzl ignores.)

He then goes on to reject a negotiated ceasefire because:

Doing so would hand Hamas an historic victory and, in my view, give Hamas a controlling veto on any future political arrangement. If the second, Israel has already offered a negotiated temporary cease fire in exchange for the release of some hostages.

Oh, so, despite hating Bibi, he's a full-on Zionist by that point, re the first sentence. Re the second, no, news sites generally called that a "pause." It should also be noted that his blog, and his website as a whole, do not have a search function. I'll assume, based on everything up to this point, that he simply doesn't discuss the background to Oct. 7, 2023, and surely doesn't even use the word "Nakba."

Now, to show how disingenuous Metzl is, to the point of duplicitousness? Here's Reuters' piece on the letter to him.

In its letter, the group said that an Israeli military operation against Hamas was "necessary and justified."

But Israel's operations "have been marked by repeated violations" of international law banning indiscriminate killing and the use of weapons that do not permit discrimination between combatants and civilians, the group said.

You lying sack of shit. That's hardly "largely silent," contra the first pull quote from your letter.

And, that letter explicitly mentions international law. Yours does NOT.

And, on background? The Nakba, or Israeli actions that precipitated it, actually started in 1947, before any Arab League member attacked Israel.

The background in general? Mondoweiss has it for you, Metzl.

Congrats, Metzl. You totally earned the "disingenuous," both connotatively and denotatively.

Top blogging of April

These are the most-read posts of the month of April. As is normal, if any of them are not from April, which I know is the case for the past month, they'll be so indicated.

No. 10 was about the basic income plan and legal showdown in Houston.

No. 9? Counterpunch dropped an antisemitic dime, and remains unapologetic. (And it shall remain pinned as my featured post.)

No. 8? Texas think tank 2036 tries to ignore climate change by silence.

No. 7? South Dallas suburb Wilmer may indeed have problems, but the Dallas Observer story about that has its own framing problems, which I corrected.

No. 6? As I noted about it last month when shopping there for the first time in several years, with Texas grocery H-E-B and its cult, reality trumps nostalgia.

No. 5 was one of the Texas Progressives weekly roundups, this one primarily about Gaza and related issues.

No. 4 was about the issue of dental care as health care, an issue that is a problem in other developed nations, too, and not just the United States.

No. 3, to riff on No. 5, was totally about Gaza and was about Biden's lies of seeing pictures of dying Gazan children.

At No. 2, a 2017 blast from the past continues to trend, in my very thorough takedown piece of Actual Flatticus, aka Alan Smithee, aka IRL Chris Chopin.

No. 1? No, without yet posting a single 8-WAR year, Juan Soto is NOT a $500 million generational talent. Remember, that's Scott Boras talking, followed by his fanbois.

By his silence, Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff is a Zionist

Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff as in the organizer of the Texas Progressives: Zionist by silence over saying nothing about the DPS crushing of pro-Palestinian protestors at UT. Nor, at that link, about Strangeabbott's applauding the DPS. Nor has he said anything about UT faculty planning to give president Jay Hartzell a vote of no confidence over HIS applauding the DPS. (Nor did the Trib mention, as did Truthout, that this is really a faculty call for a teaching strike.) Nor has he said anything about UT administration spouting hasbara bullshit. Or, it's spouting more hasbara bullshit, namely, the conflation of antizionism and antisemitism. And, the protest was peaceful, period and end of story.

Moved from this week's Texas Progressives roundup? As written: The Austin Chronicle reports on UT faculty's reaction to the protest debacle, with Kuff not talking about WHICH protest.

Nor has Kuff said anything about Zionists "phoning in" a discrimination complaint to prevent students from voting on divestment measures. (Sadly, neither has the Trib.)

Kuff is a straight-up #BlueAnon who wouldn't dare to call out President #GenocideJoe Biden, ConservaDem Senate candidate Colin Allred or anything like that.

And, Rice and UT-Austin are both in Tex-ass, and Rice is even in Kuff's backyard in Houston, so no excuses on the claim this is something "national."

That's as Stace calls out elected officials in the Helltown area for their silence. Stace, do Kuff next. (I mentioned this Wednesday evening, commenting on a Kuff piece where he wrote about SCOTUS refusing to do an emergency review of Texas' online porn-age verification law.)

This is all as a new leak of a State Department memo indicates four bureaus within it say Israel's in noncompliance, or appears to be, on human rights violations. SoS Tony Blinken, per the piece, is supposed to report to Congress by May 8 whether or not Israel is in violation.

Kuff has had more than a full week since I wrote this to write about something other than early voting updates for non-partisan local elections in Houston.

And, with the House passing the fraudulently named "Antisemitism Awareness Act," HR 6090, Kuff also faces a point-blank political issue, namely in ConservaDem butt-sniffer and Senate nominee Colin Allred, as well as the increasingly fraudulent Sheila Jackson Lee, from right down there in Houston, both voting for the bill.

(That said, Kuff never updates the peripherals of his blog. He's got sites on his blogroll that have been dead since COVID hit, or earlier. He doesn't have me on there, even though I've been part of the Texas Progressives Alliance for a decade or more. That's said as lead-up to the fact that I don't think he ever even looks at comments.)

Update, May 8: The University of Houston is also cracking down on pro-Palestinian protestors. Right in Kuff's backyard. Crickets from him. He has had his friend of some sort Ginger, from Dallas, post about crackdowns there in what seems to be a weekly post from her. But, he himself has yet to write one post about any of the protests.

Update, May 19: Kuff still can't talk about the thuggish repression here in Tex-ass of pro-Palestinian protestors at Texas public universities, but CAN talk about Ernie Johnson helping a bar mitzvah.

Biden lies about seeing pix of dying kids in Gaza

Nothing else to say about what is the nutgraf takeaway from the story about he and Kamala is a Cop meeting with six Muslim-American representatives at the White House.

Another doctor who attended was taken aback when she showed Biden prints of photos of malnourished children and women in Gaza — to which Biden responded that he had seen those images before. The problem, the doctor said, was that she had printed the photos from her own iPhone.

"This speaks volumes to the dismissive nature of the administration when it comes to strong-willed action towards a permanent cease-fire or, at a bare minimum, a red line on the invasion of Rafah," Dr. Nahreen H. Ahmed told NBC News.

Wow. Just wow.

Another doctor walked out.

Dr. Thaer Ahmad, who specializes in emergency medicine, recalled getting emotional when talking about the many Palestinians he cared for, describing the scale of death in the six months since the war began.

“The decision to leave was a personal one,” he told NBC News in a phone interview, explaining he wanted to show the White House that “it was important to recognize the pain and the mourning that my community was in.”

Ahmad stressed that he wanted “to let the administration feel the way that we felt this past six months and kind of get up and walk away from them.”

What needs to happen. More about Ahmad's thought processes, voiced out loud, here:

"It was tough, you know — I wanted to communicate that message, but at the same time, I also wanted it to be clear that up until now — what the White House has done is not sufficient enough," Ahmad said.

That piece has more comment from Dr. Ahmed as well about her phone pix:

"Maybe he didn't mean it that way, but you're the president of the United States, you cannot sit there and be this dismissive of individual pictures of people suffering that are being put in front of you and then tell us all, 'Well, I've seen these before,'" she told NPR.

And about what she perceived his attitude in general as being:

Ahmed said she felt the meeting was "a way to manage the community, to say that we are trying our best, that we hear you," and did not feel like the president was empathetic to their concerns.

Genocide Joe doesn't want to get it.

Further proof?

This was supposed to be an iftar meal for Ramadan with a much larger group of Muslim leaders. No, really. Biden thought they'd all accept his invites.

Many of the invitees, distressed over President Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, said they would not attend an iftar meal with the president on Tuesday evening while so many Palestinians were under siege.

And, so, we wound up with the small meet-and-greet instead. (That NYT piece also covers it.)

Biden's response to calls for an immediate ceasefire? 

"But the hostages." 

Let's talk about that.

Israel's ongoing arrests of West Bank Palestinians, followed by indefinite detention without charges or other legal due process, IS itself hostage taking.

And Biden says nothing

Meanwhile, Karine Jean-Pierre comes off more and more as being almost as much a flunky-toady press secretary as any of Trump's.

Sidebar: For Jews who conflate anti-Zionism and antisemitism? CAIR says that anti-Muslim incidents last year were the highest in the 30 years it has kept track.

Israeli genocide hits its Watergate point: What does the president know and when did he know it?

What else can you call it, per my currently pinned Tweet about this Washington Post story from last Monday? The nutgraf is right at the top:

On Oct. 27, three weeks into Israel’s punishing counterattack in Gaza, top Biden officials privately told a small group assembled at the White House what they would not say in public: Israel was regularly bombing buildings without solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets.

Followed by this:

The previously unreported meeting shows that discrepancies were emerging far earlier than publicly known between the Biden team’s internal doubts about Israel’s conduct and its ironclad external support.

So, I think we're at the point of that Watergate question:

"What did the president know and when did he know it?"

That not enough for you? There's this from Twitter last Friday:

Per Ken, it's clear that Biden's "pier to Gaza" is
A. Like Sarah Palin's bridge to nowhere
B. Purely symbolic
C. Purely shambolic https://t.co/3UevEYH7jy

— TheRealSocraticGadfly 🥝☢️🌻🌲 (@real_gadfly) March 23, 2024

Per others who responded to the Ken Klippenstein Tweet  that I quote-tweeted, I have zero doubt that people fairly high up in the Biden White House knew from the start, from the moment Biden mentioned building this pier, that actually offloading stuff would need a lot more work than that. We're going to have a Pier Massacre about a month after the Flour Massacre with this level of brilliance.

That not enough? Let's wonder how much Genocide Joe already knows — and already knew before the issue became public — about Israel's reported cold-blooded executions at al Shifa hospital. Or torture inside Israeli prisons?

==

It trickles down to executive department spox, like Ms. Singh for the DoD. Biden himself is complicit in these lies.

State of the Union thoughts: Genocide Joe, Ill Eagles, vaxxes

First, the steak: 

Wallbuilder Joe claims he regrets calling an Ill Eagle an illegal. No he doesn't, but at least some #BlueAnon will drink that Kool-Aid. Good fucking doorknob, folks; his speech was fed into a teleprompter, and didn't involve slapdash writing before that. Something like a SOTU has a whole team of speechwriters workshopping multiple drafts, and getting feedback from the president after each draft. 

Biden totally meant to say that. Its use was not quite a "dogwhistle," but it was in the same neighborhood as a political figure of speech. His only regret is how much pushback he's getting; I'm sure he expects his faux regret to tamp that down. 

Also going up later this week at the Texas Progressives Roundup? Stace gave a few thoughts on Biden's "illegal" flub. Stace appears to take at face value Wallbuilder Joe's "regret." I was going to comment there, but passed. Especially with Brains out of the TPA, I know I'm the only non-duopoly leftist there.

But that's not the worst, as far as follow-up to the speech.

From that same interview with Jonathan Capehart linked above:

Asked on Saturday about whether he has a “red line” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid Israel’s actions in the Israel-Hamas war, Biden suggested that some steps Netanyahu could take would be going too far. 

“What is your red line with Prime Minister Netanyahu? Do you have a red line? For instance, would invasion of Rafah, which you have urged him not to do, would that be a red line?” Capehart asked. 

“It is a red line," Biden said, adding, “but I’m never gonna leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical.”

Dude, it's not a red line precisely because you just told Bibi that crossing it doesn't matter.

The lies become more tissue-thin by the day. And, once again, they're most tissue-thin on Gaza. I know BlueAnon wants to believe these lies because they're scared and desperate.

After the SOTU, per NY Mag, Biden claimed he had a plan to decouple himself from Bibi. Let's put that in the context of the Capehart interview. He may indeed play to decouple from Bibi, but that problem isn't "Bibi." It's the majority of Israel. It's the totality of Bibi's government, and, any more, a large chunk of Labor and its allies as well. This is like claiming to decouple from Trump while doing business as usual with the rest of the Republican party. Or take the sanctions on settlers mentioned later in the story. This would be like imposing sanctions on a small group of Russians but not the Russian government. And, if the Biden White House is actively pushing Benny Gantz as an alternative to Bibi, it's pretty morally vacuous. As for the idea that Biden really will recognize Palestine? If Bibi, OR Gantz, calls his bluff, we'll see just how true that is. Once again, see "BlueAnon and lies."

Beyond that? Yeah, Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled Biden, despite Mini-Me Speaker Mike Johnson's imploration not to do that. But, was there anything related to Gaza? Did Rashida Tlaib do an #AbandonBiden and not show up at the SOTU? No. Tlaib walked out on Trump in 2020, but not now. And, folks, that tells you what will likely happen with the movement in October and November. They'll scuttle back to Genocide Joe. Most will try to avoid active sheepdogging for him, as polls show that folks like Democratic senator and governor candidates are running ahead of Biden himself in many states.

Next, the side dishes.

Dan Rather and some assistant try to spin the SOTU. Yeah, it was great, if you're in the left hand of the duopoly, a Cold Warrior 2.0 or a Nat-Sec Nutsack. Not so great if you're someone who questions American exceptionalism. Not good at all if you're a Palestinian who wishes Genocide Joe's love for freedom and promoting it extended to them.

Rather wasn't alone. The usual suspects, like Joyce Alene, who was even worse on that point by directly saluting Biden for being Genocide Joe comes first. Second is Chuckling Charlie Pierce, who deals with the Genocide in Gaza and the SOTU slant by ... simply ignoring it. (Rather did that, too.)

From the GOP-tilted side, tho not actually talking primarily about the SOTU, at the New York Slimes, Ross Douthat ponders the issue of how Biden's unpopularity is mystifying. And, he has not a word about Gaza, either, or how Biden's popularity has fallen more since he became, or made himself into, Genocide Joe. (On Twitter Saturday, I told him to do the 2+2 math.)

Kuff posts a piece from a Kos staffer (not just a momma's basement contributor) claiming there is no constitutional requirement for a State of the Union response.

I had to do two comments, because I misread, and because I'm naturally suspicious of the duopoly-based Kos, and I thought the guy was first talking about SOTU itself.

Yes, there's no constitutional requirement for a response. But, SOTU itself has become ever more politicized, especially since the start of live broadcasting it on teevee. Let future presidents go back to the Jefferson-Taft idea of submitting a written report, and then call out anybody in media who gives a live video response time. Besides that, no REAL opposition — Greens, Libertarians, PSL, etc. — ever is given a live response time at all, so fuck off Kos.

And, everything from the start down of this post is why America's talking heads are idiots and why I'm glad I did my duopoly exit on presidential voting at the start of this century.

And now the digestif:

Although he overblows his personal involvement, and "Operation Warp Speed" was a dumb name but unsurprising from the man who created "Space Force" as another part of militarized America, nonetheless, former president Donald Trump did have some hand in getting COVID vaccines to the general public so quickly. And, the mRNA vaxxes are indeed being used for other things. And, he's boasting about all that again after being told by his advisors to drop it because the MAGAts are highly anti-vax. As far as one respondent claiming Trump was lied to? No, you, and most the others, are probably lying in the first place, and personally know not a soul who was adversely affected by the vaccine, and almost certainly don't know a single person who was severely affected. This won't help Biden but will help Bob Jr.

Finally, the after-dinner entertainment:

Katie Britt, class clown and liar. Make that self-admitted liar.

Mexican elections, Iranian rise and more from Counterpunch

First, though their election is some time away, it looks like "AMLO," Andrea Merida Lopez Obrador, will be succeeded by someone in the same political vein, former Mexico City governor Claudia Sheinbaum. Read the whole piece for the big picture on the elections, including the issue of dealing with the narcotraficantes in several Mexican states.

Next, as it did nearly 20 years ago thanks to Shrub Bush's stupidity, could Iran be "winning" the Middle East? Juan Cole ponders. He notes Iran's outreach to both Saudi Arabia and Turkey in the wake of Israel's genocide, and their positive responses.

Meanwhile, Nicky Reid, in what's controversial even for CP, asks if Israel still even has a right to exist.

Moving beyond the Middle East, Gregory Elich notes how, 25 years ago, Madeleine Albright sabotaged peace talks vis-a-vis the Kosovans in Yugoslavia, eventually leading to war — one that the U.S. wanted. It's a semi-bright line from there to Ukraine, of course.

And, in the always interesting Roaming Charges, Jeff St. Clair notes that "uncommitted" got even stronger Democratic primary support in Hawaii than in Minnesota. And, that Biden hates Cubans like he hates Palestinians, and more.

And, as I told St. Clair on Twitter, per one of his links? Morphine Mitch McConnell's sister-in-law, Angela Chao, was found drowned in a pond near Austin, in Blanco County, IN A TESLA? Did Elmo Musk whack her? INVESTIGATE ELMO!

==

And a sidebar from ProPublica. A Washington state human rights group got a peek at ICE deportation flights.

Texas Progressives talk Christofascists, climate change

Just in time for primary season, in the Monthly, Russell Gold profiles Christofascist Tim Dunn. One thing new to me? He's on the board of directors of the company that runs the Ballotpedia website. I'll no longer be using it. (PR Watch documents how many of the funders of the Lucy Burns Institute have Koch ties or are otherwise general wingnuts.)

SocraticGadfly from his recent vacation, talks climate change and the future of the Salton Sea even as global warming gets more and more locked in.

SB4 appears to be in trouble in federal court. The Trib's story is OK; KUT's is better in some ways; the radio discussion was much better, as they noted on Texas Standard that Judge Ezra said that if Texas were able to deport, all 50 states could start their immigration enforcement, which would cause "chaos" and be a "confederation." Gus Bova has that quote at the Observer. His story also notes that under SB4, Texas would send arrested migrants over the border to Mexico, even though an increasing number of Ill Eagles coming THROUGH Mexico are NOT FROM Mexico, or even from the countries of Central America to its south. For good measure, all the stories have Judge Ezra mocking Texas' claim of an "invasion." My legiscritter, David Spiller, the guy who sponsored this and a lawyer, still claims it's constitutional.

Final note on this issue: Ezra said he will NOT stay his ruling, whenever it comes, but almost certainly before the March 5 date of effectiveness (shockingly, Texas primary day). He noted that whatever his ruling is, it will be appealed post-haste to the Fifth Circuit anyway.

Something I never thought I'd see: TEA finally letting go of Marlin, or at least starting the process. Should inspire Houstonians, and cut off the idea that the TEA takeover there is part of some plot to privatize public education. (That said, some Marlin parents want the TEA to stay in charge.)

More and more Houston Dems hate Harris DA Kim Ogg. Can it be enough for Sean Teare to knock her off?

Off the Kuff interviewed a couple of candidates who deserve support in their primaries to take on terrible Republicans, Nasir Malik in SD07 and Marquette Greene-Scott in CD22.

Stace tells us about his COVID-19 experience. He offers tips and advice for those who are about to experience it.

There's a colorful history behind the Texas telecom company accused of making robocalls telling Dems not to vote in the New Hampshire primary.

As I said on Twitter, James M. Dorsey, on my blogroll for years, is often an insightful independent voice on Middle East geopolitics. At the same time, he has, since Oct. 7, 2023, pulled his punches more than once on Gaza-related issues. Recently, he talked about Biden's push to link a Palestine (Gaza IS part of the state of Palestine)-Israel ceasefire to broader issues, without considering the possibility that this is really a Biden stall-out, which I think it is.

Related: #AbadonBiden considers Michigan Dem primary protest vote? And/so?

Long COVID can apparently cause brain injury. Skeptical Raptor has the details.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said Judge Natalia Cornelio is on target helping organize a block walk despite having no primary or November opponent. May other Democratic office holders follow her example as we face an authoritarian threat.  

Therese Odell would like for Tucker Carlson to stay right there in Russia.  

Allyn West shows why one of Houston's iconic thoroughfares really needs some upgrades. 

 Jeff Balke argues that "public safety" needs to extend to cyclists and pedestrians.  

Your Local Epidemiologist addresses the leaked new COVID guidance proposal from the CDC. 

The TSTA Blog reminds us of the perpetual dishonesty of voucher proponents. 

 Reform Austin reminds us who the real threats to children are.

A deeper dive on Dobbs, Putin, Zionist Nazis of the IDF and Gaza

Behind the scenes of the Supreme Court's ruling on Dobbs and the Roe reversal. One big issue is that the leaked draft, per the story, probably hardened all of the apparently locked-in conservatives, notably Kavanaugh, from joining Roberts on a controlling centrist opinion that would have granted Mississippi's original basic request of rolling Roe back to 15 weeks. I figured this at the time, but this is why I assume it was some conservative who leaked it, and precisely for that reason. As for the investigation of clerks by court marshals? Assuming it was a conservative clerk or two involved, winners write the rules, including whitewashing. The story doesn't discuss how detailed a report of the investigation Roberts gave to fellow justices.

As for whose clerk?

Arguably, a Roberts clerk could have said "what the fuck, I'll leak it" in order to box his boss in. Highly unlikely. Pissing the Umpire off could have backfired on future career prospects. A Kavanaugh clerk trying to force his boss's unsteady hand is much more likely. Whether that's more likely than a Thomas, Alito or Gorsuch clerk being the leaker, but for the reasons above, I don't know.

==

The Times Magazine reports on the shattering of trust between many more leftist Israelis and Palestinians after Oct. 7. Unfortunately, sadly, disgustingly, whatever, the story hits a chughole early on when it appears to accept all hasbara-type claims about the Tribe of Nova music festival at face value. And, while discussing rape, it only discusses allegations of rape by Hamas, not rape by members of the IDF, nor does it discuss if the Palestinian portion even raised this issue, lest it shatter what fragile alliance remained.

That said, as shown here in the States (where tensions are admittedly lesser) such fractures don't have to happen, per this Medium.

Reminder, via here and here, that Zionist Nazis in the IDF will kill Palestinian Christians just like Palestinian Muslims, and will attack churches just like mosques. But, the #ReligiousRight in the GOP and the candidates it herds, as well as "good Catholics" Joe Biden and RFK Jr., and good New Ager Marianne Williamson, whose "love faucet" doesn't flow to Gaza, won't tell you this. And, Israel's already out with the most blatant hasbara yet, on this. Jerusalem's deputy mayor says there are no Christians and no churches in Gaza. Worse yet, with an Arabic name, Fleur Nassan-Nahoum is presumably a Palestinian Christian willing to play Stephin Fetchit to Zionists just to attack Muslims.

Also, as seen in a Beeb interview and elsewhere, too many media professionals globally still work on the presumption that "Palestinian" without modifer = "Palestinian Muslim."

==

Great story, with the New York Times actually detailing a fair amount of the truth on how Russian President Vladimir Putin punked the Western sanctions world in general and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld in particular. Punked them he has, and contra Sonnenfeld's sneers (which ooze through the Internet's electrons), many of the new Russian owners, for the short term at least, are apparently running their new companies OK or even better than OK.

That said, the Times kneecaps itself by repeating the likely canard, which I first saw on Financial Times a week or two earlier, that the Russian economy would overheat some time next year. These are the same folks who claimed a year ago, just before Putin started doing these Russian-style Special Acquisition Vehicles of Muscovite capitalism (I see what I did there), that the Russian economy would be brought to its knees by American-led sanctions. James K. Galbraith ripped that claim to shreds with actual empirical evidence eight months ago; he or somebody similar may do the same with this.

==

Democrats hate on Tommy Tuberville for hurting the military. (In reality, continued and presumably rising problems with obesity in particular and fitness in general among the section of today's high school graduates that don't perceive better job opportunities elsewhere hurts the military far more.) If only someone would tell him, as I did on Twitter with that link, that abortion is legal in Israel.

Speaking of the health spectrum of today? Americans are shrinking as well as getting heavier. Blame Millennials and/or the corporate food they eat and/or are offered, or that they're not offered via cuts in food stamps and other aid directly to the poor, as both problems started about 1980.  On height? By countries of the world, Merikkkan men are barely top 50, and women aren't even that. 

As for Tuberville? This isn't a direct quote, but per an old MASH episode, you know what happens if he hurts the military enough? "Peace."

==

Cornel West thinks President Biden may pull an LBJ 1968. I doubt it. If nothing else, his "Irish Alzheimer's" will keep him from doing that. (And, contra others, I think Biden has more of it than many other people think.)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly offing more opponents. Mark Ames doesn't want to believe it, but Mark, somethings these things are real and you, like Counterpunch at times, need to drop a reflexiveness in your anti-American foreign policy establishement stance.