THE NATIONAL reports, "Billions of dollars in financial aid have been approved for Israel and Ukraine by the US House of Representatives, one of President Joe Biden's main priorities.
The votes represent about $25 billion for Israel and includes $4 billion for Israel’s missile defences. There is also $9 billion in humanitarian aid including Gaza." Megan Lebowitz (NBC NEWS) notes:
"Outraged," "point of no return" and "absolute disaster" are
how some Muslim American organizers have described their reactions to
an aid package for Israel that is making its way through Congress for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Many Muslim Americans were already furious with the Biden administration over its handling of the Israel-Hamas war, with activists organizing Democrats to vote “uncommitted" rather than support the president in some state primaries this year.
For
several activists and leaders of prominent Muslim American
organizations, Biden's support for $26 billion in aid for Israel
reaffirms their view about November's election: They cannot back Biden
for a second term.
Was the hope that the nine billion marked for aid to Gaza would mitigate the billions in weapons -- weapons being used on Gaza? If so, the administration is on some really hard drugs. Apparently, they aren't the only ones. Olivia Rosane (COMMON DREAMS) writes:
Nearly 40 House Democrats voted against a measure to send around $26 billion more to Israel as it continues its war on Gaza that human rights experts have deemed a genocide.
While the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act passed
the Republican-led House by a vote of 366-58, party insiders said it
was significant that such a large number of Democrats had opposed it,
with more centrist lawmakers joining progressives who have called for a
cease-fire since October.
"Despite the weapons aid package passing, this is the largest number of
Democratic lawmakers to vote against unrestricted weapons aid for
Israel in recent memory," senior Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid observed on social media.
There goes Olivia with her accentuate the positive.
This is so sad -- the vote, yes, but even more so COMMON DREAMS' coverage.
"Nearly 40"!!!!
How many Dems are in the House right now?
I don't have time to trudge through Olivia b.s. article. I made it to paragraph 14 before bailing.
213 is how many Democrats are in the House. Olivia can't tell you that. She's apparently not too good with numbers either.
37. That's the number not in the headline or the text (a Tweet from Yasmine Taeb is included in the article and it notes that 37 Democrats voted against it).
She inflates 37 to 'almost 40' because 37 is too hard to type?
Or because she's part of Operation Happy Talk. That would explain her failure to write the truth.
"176 House Democrats Vote To Keep Giving Weapons to Israel." That would be a truthful headline or even just a truthful opening sentence. Instead, let's round 37 up to 40 and pretend this is a success.
Anti-government protests continued in Israel on Saturday, where
thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv to rally against Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and demand a hostage deal with Hamas.
Separate demonstrations were held across the city, according to Israeli media.
The
largest protest, calling for elections, was held at the Kaplan
intersection, while relatives of Israeli hostages gathered outside the
Kirya defence headquarters to call for elections.
Family members
of captives held in Gaza continued protests outside the Tel Aviv museum,
demanding the government negotiate the release their relatives.
With around 40 local protests scheduled for this weekend the Palestine movement is not retreating from the streets.
Next Saturday’s national demonstration in London, and the workplace day of action on 1 May, are big tests for the movement.
Around 1,000 people were on a march in Bradford on Saturday and then joined others in the city Square.
Rob reports, “Most of the Palestine groups in West
Yorkshire were represented. People were worried about any further
escalation of the killings. They are suspicious that Joe Biden has done a
deal with Israel that if it doesn’t attack Iran again then it will have
a free hand to obliterate Rafah.”
As the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” entered its fourth day on Saturday, dozens of protesters prepared
for the University’s second admitted students weekend of the semester
by establishing a “People’s University Student Fair” and an “alternative
tour” committee.
The encampment remained on South Lawn two days after University President Minouche Shafik ordered a massive police sweep
of the demonstration during which the New York Police Department
arrested 108 individuals. All individuals had been released from custody
as of late Thursday evening.
Spirits remained high on South Lawn throughout the day as
protesters intermittently repeated chants like “Minouche Shafik, you’re a
clown, we demand that you step down,” and “Say it out, say it clear,
liberation is here” while waving small Palestinian flags. Students
lounged on the lawn on top of blue tarps, chatting among each other or
working on laptops. Toward the north end of the lawn, food and blankets
lay in protected piles.
Late Friday evening,
all entrances into Morningside campus on Broadway were closed. Public
Safety denied individuals carrying signs and blankets campus access.
At
12:36 a.m. on Saturday, Columbia University Apartheid Divest sent out a
news release recapping the encampment’s programming from the day prior.
CUAD highlighted the jummah prayer at 1:15 p.m.—where “supporters held
up keffiyehs, scarves, and coverings to safeguard those in prayer”—and a
Shabbat service at 7 p.m.
Here in New York, riot police moved in on a peaceful student protest
encampment, arresting at least 108 people at Columbia. Columbia
University President Minouche Shafik called the NYPD
to clear the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the campus’s South Lawn,
where Columbia and Barnard students had set up one day earlier to demand
university leadership divest from Israel. New York Police Chief John
Chell said Shafik identified the demonstration as a “clear and present
danger,” but that officers found the students to peaceful and
cooperative. Shafik warned all students participating in the encampment
would be suspended. At least three suspensions of Barnard students were
confirmed Thursday before the arrests, including Isra Hirsi, the
daughter of Congressmember Ilhan Omar.
Thursday’s showdown with the NYPD was the
largest arrest on the Columbia campus since 1968, when police arrested
over 700 students protesting the school’s ties to the Vietnam War and
its plans to expand in Harlem by building a gymnasium there.
Following the arrests yesterday, students gathered on the campus
throughout the night as large protests continued and are ongoing.
Students got support from many Columbia faculty online and a visit in
person from Union Theological Seminary professor Cornel West, just
nearby, who is also a 2024 presidential candidate. Democracy Now! spoke to professor West after he climbed a fence to visit with the encamped protesters.
CORNELWEST:
Well, you know, in light of our stand in deep solidarity with our
precious Palestinian brothers and sisters who are undergoing vicious
genocide, wrestling with apartheid conditions for so long and still
being ethnically cleansed, we want the world to know that their
suffering does not have the last word. There is resilience, and there’s a
willingness to fight.
And Columbia president ought to be shame on herself that she cannot
zero in on an actual genocide taking place before our very eyes, and be
concerned about a potential and possible call for genocide of Jews.
Nobody here is calling for the genocide of Jews. Nobody is here calling
for annihilation. We’re calling for the end of an actual genocide and
the end of an actual annihilation.
How sad that Columbia University could teach so many courses on the
canonical texts of Western civilization and can’t listen to Diderot or
Karl Marx. They can’t listen to a Martin Luther King Jr. They can’t
listen to a Muriel Rukeyser. Most importantly, they can’t listen to the
cries of our precious Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
So, I’m in deep solidarity with these students. They represent the
best, not just of Columbia, not just of the American empire, but the
human spirit, fighting in the face of domination and occupation and
subjugation, and doing it with tremendous determination.
AMYGOODMAN: That’s presidential candidate and Union Theological Seminary professor Cornel West speaking to Democracy Now!
at Columbia University in the midst of the protest. Special thanks to
Hana Elias. President Shafik called in the New York police a day after
she testified in the U.S. Congress.
SAMAA notes, "On Thursday, more than a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters
were taken into custody on the Columbia University campus after the
university president gave the go-ahead for New York police to clear a
camp that students had established to protest Israel's policies in Gaza
according to Reuters.Nemat Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, who faced
criticism from Republicans the day before at a House of Representatives
committee hearing on antisemitism on campus, announced that she had
given the go-ahead for police to remove a group of about a dozen tents
that demonstrators had set up early on Wednesday." We included this in Friday's snapshot, but let's note in one more time, Jeffrey St. Clair (COUNTERPUNCH) notes:
Columbia students were right in 1968. History proved it. Columbia
students are right today. The university has no good answers to their
demands that the school stop investing in genocide. Calling in the NYPD
proves it.
+ Abbie Hoffman: “The only reason you should be in college is to
destroy it.” In Columbia’s case, the administration is doing the job for
the students.
+ Columbia Professor Rebecca Jordan-Young: “The faculty who are
supporting the students do not all agree on the issue of Israel and
Palestine, [but] we are astonished and disgusted with the way the
university has cracked down on the students.”
+ From Wednesday’s House interrogation of Columbia University’s President, Minouche Shafik…
+ God also wanted Abraham to slit his son Isaac’s throat, which is
pretty much what Shafik did when she called the NYPD goon squad on the
kids in her care. Giordano Bruno she’s not…In fact, Shafik is a former
Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and also enjoys a life peerage
in the House of Lords.
As the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia enters its
fifth day, students at over a dozen universities across the country—and
the globe—have begun protesting in solidarity with the encampment after
108 affiliates were arrested on campus by the New York Police Department
on Thursday.
Protests ranged from walkouts to
marches to encampments in solidarity with the Columbia efforts,
garnering anywhere from 50 to hundreds of protesters. At Yale University
and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, students started
encampments in solidarity with the Columbia “Gaza Solidarity
Encampment.”
In a Friday evening Instagram post,
the national chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine called on all
chapters to follow Columbia SJP’s lead and pressure their
administrations to divest from Israel.
“Our
universities have chosen profit and reputation over the lives of the
people of Palestine and the will of their students,” the national SJP
chapter wrote in the post. “President Minouche Shafik’s cowardly
testimony to Congress heralds an unfortunate shift: university
administrators have capitulated to the pressure of the Zionist lobby and
allied Right Wing, selling out the Student Movement for Palestinian
liberation to save face in the eye of the state.”
Gaza remains under assault. Day 197 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza
by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.
But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge
for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel,
the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover
for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily
basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to
school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom
believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The
slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US
Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted,
"More than
1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza --
have
been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million
women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million
people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "On Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 34,049
Palestinians have been killed and 76,901 injured in Israel's military
offensive since October 7. The ministry said that 37 people were killed and 68 injured in the 24 hours to noon on Saturday." Months
ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained
on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000
Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of
their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe
Lazzarini Tweeted:
April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "n addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as
killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000
Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has
estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into
Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
As for the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War."
The Israeli government continues to slaughter children. AP's Mohammad Jahjouh and Samy Magdy report, "An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah
killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities
said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the
besieged Palestinian territory." THE NATIONAL adds of the airstrike, "It happened hours after doctors delivered a baby following the death of its mother in a strike on Rafah." The House vote that Oliva praised above ensures that the Israeli government will continue to slaughter children. ALJAZEERA notes:
Netanyahu has welcomed the billions of dollars in US assistance,
writing on X it “demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and
defends Western civilization”.
But the Palestinian presidency condemned it as “an aggression against the Palestinian people” and a “dangerous escalation”.
The money would “translate into thousands of Palestinian casualties
in the Gaza Strip” and the occupied West Bank, said Nabil Abu Rudeina,
spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned two separate incidents involving emergency medical crews operating in the West Bank on Saturday.
An
ambulance driver was killed by Israeli settlers as he tried to rush
injured Palestinians to safety, and another ambulance crew member was
detained and questioned by the Israel Defense Forces outside a West Bank
hospital, according to the ministry and Palestine Red Crescent Society.
"The
Ministry urgently calls on international health organizations, human
rights institutions, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to
urgently act to curb the escalating practices of the occupation and
settlers against treatment centers and medical crews, and to allow them
to perform their humanitarian duty," the ministry said.
WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas) released the following statement.
"We
cannot allow the U.S. to be dragged into war with Iran by Netanyahu’s
reckless escalations. Iran’s retaliatory attack — also deeply wrong —
was expected and defended against," Casar said. "We need de-escalation and a diplomatic solution for the safety of all people, including Americans."
###
Congressman
Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S.
House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays
County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of
Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the
Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on
Agriculture.
Washington,
D.C. – Congressman Robert Garcia wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Austin, seeking information regarding the Department of Defense’s
decision to oppose the bipartisan Arizona HB 2570, the Arizona Starter
Homes Act. The letter can be found here.
“As we strive to tackle
our nation's affordable housing crisis, it's crucial that we don’t allow
special interests to kill new housing and greater density. My request
for information from the Department of Defense seeks to understand how
the Department balances its need to safeguard the interests of our
military installations and the communities that surround them, while
complying with the Biden’s Administration goal for increasing affordable
housing and eliminating barriers to housing construction. We need to
ensure such decisions are informed, equitable, and above all, conducive
to the well-being of both our servicemembers and the American families
in need of affordable homes.” said Congressman Garcia.
In the
letter, Congressman Garcia highlights the importance of balancing the
need for affordable housing with the protection of military
installations and surrounding communities.
The Arizona housing
bill aimed to increase housing density in urban areas to address the
critical shortage of affordable housing. The Department of Defense cited
concerns about accident risk and noise impacts as reasons for opposing
the bill. However, Congressman Garcia has requested information from the
Department on their decision-making process, including criteria for
determining harmful encroachment and consultations with state and local
officials.
Congressman Garcia, the Ranking Democratic Member of
the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and
Foreign Affairs, is committed to ensuring the well-being of our service
members and supporting efforts to increase affordable housing. In May
2023, he introduced the People Over Parking Act which would eliminate
outdated parking minimum requirements for new affordable residential,
retail, industrial or commercial construction. Congressman Garcia also
believes that housing is a human right, and we must redouble efforts to
assist residents who are housing insecure. This is a long-term,
structural problem and it requires us to take bold steps to create the
new homes our community needs—especially along our transit corridors and
job centers.
Congresswoman Bush Statement on Escalation of Violence in Middle East
Washington D.C. (Apr. 14, 2024) — Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) released the following statement:
“I am deeply concerned by the Iranian military’s attack on
Israel, which comes in response to the Israeli military’s attack on the
Iranian Embassy in Syria. I condemn these attacks, which threaten
civilian lives and regional war. I also condemn the calls by Members of
Congress and others to initiate war with Iran; to do so without
Congressional authorization is blatantly unconstitutional. I’m
encouraged by reporting that President Biden advised Prime Minister
Netanyahu last night that the U.S. will oppose any Israeli
counter-attacks against Iran, and I urge the President to continue to
take immediate steps, including at the UN Security Council and G7, to
de-escalate and facilitate an immediate, lasting ceasefire in the
region.
“Since the horrific October 7 attack, I have repeatedly urged
an end to the violence through de-escalation, ceasefire, and diplomacy
and cautioned that war is never the answer. Instead, the U.S. government
has shamefully and unconditionally armed the Israeli government as it
has committed war crimes, killed over 33,000 Palestinians, inflicted
famine in Gaza, violated domestic and international laws, and increased
the chances of regional war. This failed approach must end.
“The people of our country do not want war. They want to live
in a world that is safe, peaceful, and just. That is why our pro-peace,
pro-humanity movement is stronger than ever, and it’s why, as recently
as last week, dozens of my colleagues and I called for our government to
stop arming Netanyahu’s maniacal, genocidal acts. We are pushing for
the safety of all people, from Palestinians and Israelis abroad to
Jewish, Arab, Muslim, and other communities who are being targeted here
at home, to the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained,
and ending the risk of a regional war that further entangles the United
States and jeopardizes the safety of our people. We cannot let the
warmongers win; our country and our world are calling for restraint,
de-escalation, a lasting ceasefire, and diplomacy. Our government must
listen. That is how we save lives.”
On April 1, 2024, the Israeli government bombed an Iranian embassy
complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people. In retaliation, the
Iranian military launched an attack on Israel using drones and missiles
on April 13. Since October 7, 2023, over 33,000 Palestinians and 1,100
Israelis have been killed, 76,000 Palestinians have been injured, dozens
of hostages have been killed, and over 100 Israelis and thousands of
Palestinians remain unlawfully detained.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06)
re-introduced a resolution recognizing April as Arab American Heritage
Month to honor the incredible contributions Arab Americans have made in
the United States.
“It is always an honor to introduce this resolution recognizing Arab American Heritage Month,” said Congresswoman Tlaib.
“As a proud and unapologetic Arab American woman serving in Congress,
and the Congresswoman representing one of the largest Arab American
communities in our country, I know how important it is that our
community feels seen by our federal government. Arab Americans have made
invaluable contributions to our nation. I look forward to getting April
permanently designated as Arab American Heritage Month and ensuring
that the Middle Eastern and North African community finally receives the
recognition and resources they deserve.”
“Arab Americans are part of the fabric of our country and are
integral to our communities in Southeast Michigan and across America,” said Congresswoman Dingell.
“They have helped shape Michigan’s identity, sharing their culture and
traditions with us. They are doctors, teachers, business owners, service
members, and most importantly, neighbors and friends. Arab Americans
help make our state and country better every day. I’m proud to recognize
April as Arab American Heritage Month to honor the continued
accomplishments and impact of this community.”
Baldwin Leads Bill to Support Caregivers and Combat Workforce Shortages
Caregivers are widely
underpaid, often living in poverty, leading to chronic shortage in
nursing homes and assisted living facilities
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act,
a bill to alleviate the long-term care workforce shortages by
supporting the workers who perform this critical work. Millions of
families with aging loved ones and people with disabilities require
skilled care to live, but many caregivers today work long hours for low
pay, resulting in some workers being forced to leave their field for
higher paying jobs. This instability has resulted in widespread worker
shortages for those in need of essential care. The Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act
would ensure that caregiving can be a sustainable, lifelong career by
improving caregiver compensation, benefits, and support systems.
“Having served as my grandmother’s primary caregiver as she aged, I
know the hard work that goes into caregiving and the world of difference
high-quality care makes for our loved ones,” said Senator Baldwin.
“Right now, we're facing a desperate shortage in our long-term care
workforce and sadly, it’s no surprise: many caregivers are forced to be
on the clock for long hours, get low pay, and work in tough conditions.
We owe it to caregivers who devote their lives to helping others to
invest in the caregiving workforce, giving these compassionate workers
the respect they deserve, attracting fresh talent, and ensuring our
loved ones get high-quality care.”
Caregivers are widely underpaid, earning a median wage of $15.43 an hour and often living in poverty.
The result is caregivers are in short supply—a recent survey revealed
92% of nursing home respondents and nearly 70% of assisted living
facilities reported significant or severe workforce shortages. Another
recent survey of home and community-based services (HCBS) providers
showed all 50 states experiencing home care worker shortages, and 43
states reported that some HCBS providers have closed due to worker
shortages.
The Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act will address this crisis by stabilizing, growing, and supporting the direct care professional workforce. Specifically, the Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act will:
Increase the number of direct care professionals, including in rural communities;
Provide pathways to enter and be supported in the workforce for women, people of color, and people with disabilities;
Improve compensation for direct care professionals to reduce vacancies and turnover;
Ensure that direct care professionals are treated with respect,
provided with a safe working environment, protected from exploitation,
and provided fair compensation;
Improve access and quality of long-term care for families;
Document the need for long-term care, identify effective recruitment
and training strategies, and promote practices that help retain direct
care professionals.
Strengthen the direct care professional workforce in order to
support the 53,000,000 unpaid family caregivers who are providing
complex services to their loved ones in the home and across long-term
care settings.
Senator Baldwin leads the legislation with Senators Bob Casey (D-PA)
and Tim Kaine (D-VA), and this legislation is also co-sponsored by
Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Angus King (I-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY),
John Fetterman (D-PA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM),
Peter Welch (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI),
Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bernie
Sanders (I-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Laphonza
Butler (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Ed Markey (D-MA).
The Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act is supported by
Caring Across Generations, the Long Term Care Community Coalition
(LTCCC), PHI, the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals
(NADSP), the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), the National
Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), the
National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives
(NOSSCR), Cure SMA, the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses
Association (GAPNA), the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the
Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), the Academy of Doctors of
Audiology, the American Academy of Audiology, the American Physical
Therapy Association, the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New
York University, the National Association of State Ombudsman Programs,
the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Social
Workers (NASW), and the Coalition to End Social Isolation and
Loneliness.
Senator Murray Statement on Biden Admin’s Final Title IX Rule to Protect Students
Senator Murray: “This is a huge step forward for
students, survivors, and everyone who understands the paramount
importance of making sure schools are free from all forms of sex-based
discrimination and harassment.”
Murray led Congressional efforts to fight DeVos Title IX rule as then-HELP Chair and led comment letter to Secretary Cardona on draft Biden Admin Title IX Rule
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), issued the following
statement on the Biden Administration’s final Title IX rule, which overturns
the Trump Administration’s DeVos Title IX rule that weakened
protections for survivors of sexual assault. As HELP Chair, Murray
weighed in heavily to make her priorities known to the Biden
administration as they drafted a new Title IX rule—in 2022, Murray applauded the Biden Administration’s proposed rule and led a comment letter
to Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging the
Department to further strengthen protections for survivors of sexual
assault and trans students, and better protect students’ privacy when it
comes to their pregnancy status.
“This is a huge step forward for students, survivors, and everyone who understands the paramount importance of making sure schools
are free from all forms of sex-based discrimination and harassment.
After Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos took an axe to the Title IX rule and
went out of their way to gut enforcement of protections for survivors of
sexual assault, the Biden administration’s rule will restore and
strengthen essential protections for survivors and make sure schools
don’t get away with silencing students and sweeping sexual assault under
the rug. At a time when we’re seeing an alarming rise in violence
against transgender people, this rule explicitly clarifies that Title IX
protects LGBTQ+ students and employees from unfair treatment and
discrimination.
“Critically, this rule explains students’
privacy protections under Title IX and their right not to be
discriminated against because of pregnancy or a related condition—which
is incredibly important at a moment where women in 21 states are living
under Republican abortion bans, and Republican lawmakers everywhere are
intent on criminalizing and targeting women for their decisions about
their reproductive health.
“This rule delivers tremendous progress, but I remain
steadfast in urging the Department of Education to continue its work to
clarify protections for trans student athletes—trans youth deserve to
play sports with their friends just like anyone else.
“The Biden administration’s new rule is a victory for women
and girls, the LGBTQ+ community, and students everywhere—college
campuses and schools will be more fair, safer, and more transparent
thanks to the leadership of the Biden administration.”
As HELP Chair, Murray led the fight against then-Secretary Betsy
DeVos’s efforts to undermine Title IX and weaken protections for
survivors of sexual harassment and assault. In 2017, when Secretary DeVos first indicated that she intended to change the Title IX guidance, Senator Murray led Democrats in pressing for the Department of Education to fulfill its obligation to keep students safe and urged Secretary DeVos to listen to survivors. When Secretary DeVos officially proposed her rule in November 2018, Senator Murray immediately called for her to rescind the proposal. In January 2019, Senator Murray urged the
Department to extend the comment period so students could make their
voices heard and led 35 Democratic senators in sending an official comment letter opposing the rule. Murray continued to speak out repeatedly against Secretary DeVos’ efforts to undermine Title IX protections and slammed the final Trump Administration rule issued by DeVos in May 2020. Murray applauded
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s announcement in April 2021 that
the Biden Administration Education Department would review the DeVos
rule.
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, said she has been suspended from New York's Columbia University and its associate institution, Barnard College, after participating in a pro-Palestine protest on Thursday.
Writing on X, Hirsi said she is "one of
three students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians
facing a genocide".
Hirsi said that despite being an organiser
with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, she had never been
reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings in her three years at
the college. The organisation advocates for the university to divest
from "companies complicit in genocide".
AMYGOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!,
democracynow.org. As Columbia University President Shafik testified
before Congress about accusations of antisemitism at the school, Democracy Now!
spoke to Columbia and Barnard College students yesterday who set up a
Gaza Solidarity Encampment early Wednesday morning with dozens of tents,
occupying the South Lawn of the campus outside the main library. As we
broadcast, students have been threatened with suspension and discipline
action but are still refusing to leave until their demands are met. They
spoke about what they’re calling for.
PROTESTERS: Down, down with occupation! Down, down with occupation! Up, up with liberation! Up, up with liberation!
MARYAMALWAN: My name is Maryam Alwan, and I’m with Columbia SJP,
Students for Justice in Palestine. And we are here today to demand that
Columbia divest immediately from all stakes in Israeli apartheid. Over
33,000 Palestinians have been killed. And as we speak, our president is
testifying in front of the House in a game of political theater that is
conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. We want to focus the
attention on what’s going on in Gaza and tell Columbia that we are not
going anywhere. No matter how much government suppression we face, we
will keep fighting until they divest.
They have been completely repressive. I mean, we’ve faced police
brutality. We have faced countless policy changes. I mean, my group,
along with Jewish Voice for Peace, was suspended in the fall semester
completely illegitimately. And I filed a lawsuit to counter that action.
And it seems like the repression is only getting worse and worse and
worse. But the more they repress us, the more we rise up. And that’s why
we’ve escalated — that’s also why we’ve escalated here today.
Not only are they not listening to us when we peacefully protest,
when we attempt to just pass referendums for student voices to even be
heard, they don’t even want to listen to the students. They don’t want
to know what the students think. And so, we’re here to tell them that we
will take up space and presence on this campus, and they’re not going
to be able to erase our support for Palestine.
PROTESTERS: What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If Gaza doesn’t get it, shut it down!
SOPH: My name is Soph. I
am with Jewish Voice for Peace at Columbia. And I am here today because I
will not stand by while thousands and thousands of people are dying
because of our tax dollars in this country, as Columbia’s money is going
towards a genocide. The money that should be funding our education is
going to the bombs that are dropping on Gaza right now. Columbia is a
majority share — has massive amounts of shares in various organizations,
like Lockheed Martin, that are supplying Israel with bombs right now,
and we will no longer be complicit.
In a campus like this that is filled with repression, that is — every
day we wake up, and the administration tries to silence us more and
more. We are here to say, “The more you try to silence us, the louder we
will be.” We will not be complicit. We will stand in solidarity,
because we know that we keep us safe.
We refuse to believe that Israel is in any part related to our
Judaism. In fact, our Jewish values inform why we’re here, why we’re
standing in here — Jewish values of tikkun olam, of love, of
appreciation, of respect, of mutual liberation. And so, as Jews, we are
here to say that we will always support the liberation of Palestine,
because that is what historically Jews have done. We have stood up for
other oppressed peoples, because we know that there can be no freedom
until we are all free.
SARAHBORUS:
My name is Sarah Borus. I’m a student at Barnard College. And I’m here
because I was raised as an anti-Zionist Jew. It is important for me to
stand with Palestine. I go to a university that is actively profiting
off of the genocide of Palestinians and then is hiding behind Jewish
students by saying that they want to crack down on us because of
antisemitism. But as an anti-Zionist Jew, I know that that is the
farthest thing from the truth. They are doing that because they know
that we are on the right side of history, that they are doing something
that is profoundly wrong. And it is our job during this genocide to come
out and resist.
There were Jews protesting against this genocide who were harassed
and then attacked with a chemical weapon. That is not being addressed.
This is — quite frankly, we’re seeing McCarthyism once again. And our
administrators need to be aware of the experience of anti-Zionist Jews,
the way that antisemitism is being weaponized in order to crack down on
this movement.
AMYGOODMAN: Voices from the South Lawn of Columbia University, where students have set up a Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Special thanks to Democracy Now!’s Hana Elias and Tey-Marie Astudillo and Eric Halvarson for that report.
Columbia students were right in 1968. History proved it. Columbia
students are right today. The university has no good answers to their
demands that the school stop investing in genocide. Calling in the NYPD
proves it.
+ Abbie Hoffman: “The only reason you should be in college is to
destroy it.” In Columbia’s case, the administration is doing the job for
the students.
+ Columbia Professor Rebecca Jordan-Young: “The faculty who are
supporting the students do not all agree on the issue of Israel and
Palestine, [but] we are astonished and disgusted with the way the
university has cracked down on the students.”
+ From Wednesday’s House interrogation of Columbia University’s President, Minouche Shafik…
+ God also wanted Abraham to slit his son Isaac’s throat, which is
pretty much what Shafik did when she called the NYPD goon squad on the
kids in her care. Giordano Bruno she’s not…In fact, Shafik is a former
Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and also enjoys a life peerage
in the House of Lords.
Antony Blinken has been asked why he's refusing to comment on the
apparent Israeli attack on Iran in the early hours of this morning.
He
responds: "I am going to be incredibly boring and not make your day by
saying again I am not going to speak on what's been reported."
He
also reiterates the line he's been saying throughout the conference:
"The United States has not been involved in any offensive operations."
I am not Secretary of State Antony Blinken. But I'm also not going to spend time this morning on Israeli's attack on Iran. Sunday, as we noted Sunday, you couldn't find news of Gaza -- protests over it, deaths caused by the Israeli government, not even a death toll -- because the media was foaming over the thought of a bigger war. We're there again today and it's not just western media, it's the Arab media as well.
We cover Gaza, we cover Iraq, we cover feminism, we have a scope here. The world doesn't need more wars -- or actually any wars.
World leaders reacted to Friday’s strike with calls to avoid further escalation. Egypt expressed
its “deep concern about the continuing escalation between Israel and
Iran,” calling for “the highest levels” of restraint and warning against
expanding “conflict and instability in the region.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said,
“It is absolutely necessary that the region stays stable and that all
sides refrain from further action.” China’s Foreign Ministry also said
it opposed any actions that escalated tensions, Reuters reported.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry in a statement
also called for restraint from “all parties,” but it pointed the finger
at Israel. “It is becoming increasingly evident that the tensions that
were initially caused by Israel’s illegal attack on the Iranian Embassy
in Damascus risk turning into a permanent conflict,” the ministry said.
As the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote Thursday on
Palestine's bid to become a full U.N. member, the Biden
administration—which claims to support Palestinian statehood—is lobbying
UNSC nations in an effort to wrangle enough "no" votes so that the
United States can avoid resorting to a veto.
Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.
While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations
for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view
that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the
Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement
between Israel and its neighbors."
"We therefore urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of 'Palestine'
as a U.N. member state, should such a resolution be presented to the
Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks," the
document advises.
The U.S. argument essentially is that the U.N. should not create an
independent Palestinian state by fiat—even though that's precisely how
the world body voted in 1947 to establish the modern state of Israel.
The renewed push for Palestine's U.N. membership comes as Israel wages a genocidal war on the Gaza
Strip. The Palestinian Authority, which hasn't controlled Gaza for
nearly two decades, rejected the Biden administration's requests to hold
off on seeking full membership.
"We wanted the U.S. to provide a substantive alternative to U.N. recognition. They didn't," one unnamed Palestinian official toldAxios
on Wednesday. "We believe full membership in the U.N. for Palestine is
way overdue. We have waited more than 12 years since our initial
request."
As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian
Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian
Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take
up consideration of its membership application. According to the first
State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April
suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia,
Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to
the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while
the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
Along with the United States, China,
France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the
UNSC, so they also have veto power.
Read Brett in full.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 196 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza
by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.
But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge
for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel,
the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover
for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily
basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to
school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom
believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The
slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US
Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted,
"More than
1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza --
have
been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million
women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million
people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." Yesterday, THE NATIONAL noted "The death toll in Gaza rose to 33,970 on Thursday after Israel killed
71 Palestinians in the previous 24 hours, the health ministry
announced. More than 100 others were wounded, taking the total number of
injured to 76,770 since the war began on October 7." Again, no one has a death toll today, they're all frothing in delight over the prospect of war on Iran. Months
ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained
on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000
Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of
their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe
Lazzarini Tweeted:
April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "n addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as
killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000
Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has
estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into
Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
As for the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War."
Since everyone else appears to be is in war mode -- with no concern for the victims of war -- let's go to a different topic.
I thought Medhi Hasan was trying to do something different. Thought he was building something different, a media that was going to be real. Now it appears he's just built another media that attacks women and hides behind a forty-something female with Mommy issues to attack women. Before we get to that special prize let's review some headlines to provide the context that Mehdi apparently doesn't believe in despite giving one interview after another in recent weeks talking about the importance context.
Let's start. October 7th, Hamas carried out an attack in Israel.
Not content to deal with what took place, liars had to invent claims of beheaded babies. Claims of gang-rapes soon followed.
No women did.
And as I've said repeatedly here and at THIRD, it doesn't play. If you bought a ticket to a film and some bad guy got a woman alone and raped her? You would buy it. If the bad guy raped her in front of her family, you'd even buy that. But the rapist has invaded and is taking time out from the assault -- and risking it being stopped as a result -- so that he and his accomplices can indulge in gang-rape?
It doesn't play. You hit the targets, you get out.
Could it have happened? Many believe it or not moments do happen.
But this didn't happen.
I'm a survivor. I do not buy that another woman -- let alone many women -- would be raped on October 7th and be so fragile that they couldn't come forward. It's April 19th.
So what did Mehdi do? He published the gadfly Fatima Bhutto. And her awful column "Gaza Has Exposed The Shameful Hypocrisy Of Western Feminism."
From the title, some may think it belongs to other recent literary fictions such as:
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, November 23rd, Amelie Botbol, "Global women’s rights groups silent as Israeli women testify about rapes by Hamas"
NBC NEWS, November 25th, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, "How feminists have failed Israeli victims of sexual violence: The skepticism that met Israeli women’s claims perpetuates traditions of dehumanizing Jews."
SLATE, November 30th, Dahlia Lithwick, Mimi Rocah, Tamara Sepper, Jennifer Taub, Joyce White Vance, and Julie Zebrak, "The World’s Feminists Need to Show Up for Israeli Victims: Solidarity for victims of sexual assault should trump other politics."
THE FORWARD, December 13th, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, "Jew-hating is not a new feminist phenomenon: I refuse to let Hamas’ brutal assault on Israeli women and girls be forgotten in the fog of war"
THE NATION, December 15th, Katha Pollitt "Why Have Feminists Been So Slow to Condemn the Hamas Rapes?"
THE JERUSALEM POST, January 19th, Carly Pildis, "Why are feminists silent on Hamas's use of rape as a weapon of war?"
WINNEPEG FREE PRESS, January 26th, Jen Zoratti, "The battlefield between feminism and rapes of war"
We could include about forty more articles but hopefully you get the point. The articles in bold are trashing western feminists for not rushing to endorse and support these mythical rape victims.
We're such mean western feminists, we don't care about these fictional women. That's what we've endured for months and along with columns there have been speeches and remarks and we've been attacked over and over and over.
I can't support women who are fiction. Created solely as propaganda to promote war? Can't support them. Didn't buy the lie about Iraq tossing babies out of incubators in the 90s either. Or the WMD lie leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
And I don't buy that women were gang-raped on October 7th and all these months later can't come forward. Again, I'm a survivor. That doesn't mean everyone raped has the same experience I do. I doubt, for example, they repeatedly stabbed their rapist once he fell asleep. I doubt that they were in the single-digit years as I was. But there I was a small child, just raped, and I had the sense to wait for him to fall asleep and then to ensure that he couldn't come back after me and then to figure out where he had taken me and how the hell I got to safety.
So spare me the lie that grown ass women are raped six months ago and are still too traumatized to come forward.
Fatima Bhutto does a list twist though. She wants to blame western feminists -- remember, we've already been attacked for months for not taking up the cause of these mystical and mythical women -- Fatima wants to blame us for -- well her entire pathetic life, actually, let's be honest. Her Daddy love for a father who was a failure, her hatred for her aunt that she claims killed her father, her mother who just wasn't there for her and the entire world which really didn't ever want her bad fiction and still doesn't want any novels from her as evidenced by poor sales. Oh, if only she could 'date' George Clooney again, life might be good for her.
We, western feminists, just aren't doing enough for Fatima or, for that matter, anything.
This week, I mentioned Matilda Joslyn Gage in a snapshot
and noted that, if you didn't know the name, your media was failing
you. I then noted how so few women are guests -- even on left and
'left' public affairs programs and YOUTUBE programs, et al. I stand by
that and I feel the need to repeat it now due to Medhi Hashan's new
outlet publishing Fatima Bhutto's "Gaza Has Exposed the Shameful Hypocrisy of Western Feminism."
No, dear, what it's exposed is your shameful ignorance.
I'm
a feminist -- a western one. I've called out the attack on Gaza since
it started. We have largely skipped Iraq coverage to cover this and to
cover it daily. Susan Sarandon spoke out and got dropped by her talent
agency. She's a feminist as well. Melissa Barrera will not be
silenced. She's a feminist as well.
Your media is failing you.
I'm also getting damn tired of feminism being stolen from us.
Gloria Steinem?
People still don't get it.
I
was Gloria's friend and her friend for years. I believed her lie about
the CIA. It wasn't until the '00s that I found out differently. And
Ava and I wrote about it repeatedly at THIRD. Excuse me but people just
say "Oh, she was CIA!" That's Max Blumenthal and all the other lazy
asses. Uh-uh. She was CIA who ratted out leftists from other
countries. That's why she went overseas. She was to document
dissidents and turn that over to the CIA which then used it to 'barter'
with other governments. She is responsible for deaths so stop saying,
"Oh, she was CIA!" and thinking you've said something. You've said
nothing unless your noting that she harmed European activists -- some of
whom ended up tortured and some of whom were killed. Gloria hates it
when Ava and I write about this. And some friends say to me, "Can't you
just leave it alone?" No. I cannot. First off, I'm guilty and feel
guilty because I believed her lies. She looked me in the face and told
me she was not a part of the CIA. She'd just, in college, done some
work on an international festival. She lied. And what's appalling is
how long the lie held. Thanks to YOUTUBE, we can now all see her
bragging about being in the CIA because, before she was a feminist, she
gave on camera interviews bragging on it. But I believed her and I defended
her.
I can't be silent
now that I know I was wrong. It's not something I need to bring up every
day, no, but when it's appropriate it needs to be brought up and that's
why Ava and I have written about it repeatedly. And done more than
that, we've also lobbied -- since we discovered Gloria was lying --
corporate media to stop providing cover for her and you can now go to
any mainstream media outlet and find that, yes, she was CIA. (And
that's why it's nothing for Max Blumenthal to tweet that obvious
reality.)
Feminism in the
west has always railed against media figureheads -- including Gloria and
I agreed with that long before I discovered she was lying.
Bhutto
knows nothing about Western feminism other than what the corporate
media has told her. First thing any feminist learns is: Don't count on
the media to reflect us honestly.
I love how we're ignored by the media over and over.
But Gaza's under assault and suddenly we're the cause and we're the reason and everybody attack us.
Western feminists have been speaking out against that slaughter in Gaza for months now. Maybe Fatima doesn't know it because she doesn't understand the real world.
Reading her bad column, I had to drop back two paragraphs to see who Carrie Bradshaw was. I couldn't find her in the previous paragraphs and then I realized, "Oh, she means Sarah Jessica Parker's character in SEX AND THE CITY." And that may be SEX IN THE CITY. If I write of it, I have to look it up because it was not my show and Carrie was not my touchstone.
Fatima fumes over the 90s TV character. Way to utilize your space to deal with reality, Fatima.
And we get BARBIE trashed because Fatima hates women. Mommy issues. BARBIE is a movie mainly aimed at young children -- girls and boys who love Barbie. If the scorn and hate that so many of you have aimed at the movie was ever aimed at a GI Joe movie, we might actually be able to end wars. But you only trash a film, rip it apart, if it's aimed primarily at females. Then it can be mocked and held accountability for every crime in the world. But target children with a movie where everyone's shooting each other and it just passed by without comment -- even as school shooting continue to multiply in the US.
Stop it.
We're
not all powerful. If feminists were all powerful, why would we have to
constantly point out how we're not given equal seating at the table?
The
mainstream media has spent the last six months ripping apart everyone
who calls for a cease-fire or just ignoring them outright. How nice of Mehdi's new outlet to render those of us in the west who are feminists and are calling for a ceasefire invisible.
At the same
time, the biggest nobodies in the world have been treated as voices to
listen to. Julianna Margulies? No one likes her. She can't get work
because of her image that she made on the set of THE GOOD WIFE. She was
a freak show and a nightmare to work with which is why so many people
left that show. After that? She went slumming to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
because that's all she could get. Do you not realize how awful that
is? She starred in a network TV show but is such a nightmare to work
with that no one -- no one -- wanted to work with her and she had to go
to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
Now she's on APPLE!
Uh, now she's like the eleventh billed in an APPLE show, let's not pretend she's a star because she isn't.
And where are we getting this idea that she's a feminist? What has she ever done?
Don't
give me when the cameras are around and recording her 'good' moments.
What did she do for women? In season one of THE GOOD WIFE, women
directed five episodes. In season two, they directed six episodes.
That was embarrassing low. In season three, she becomes a producer.
And the number of women directing episodes increases, right? Women
direct at least 11 of the episodes now each season because Julianna is a
woman, right?
Wrong.
The number directed stays the same or dropped. (It dropped to only four out of 22 episodes directed by a woman in the final season.) She's not a feminist.
Mayim Bialik? She was producer of her show CALL ME KAT. Third season had 22 episodes. How many women got hired to direct? Two. Well one woman, she got to direct two episodes.
That's not a feminist producing a TV show. A feminist would be creating equal opportunities.
Stop calling these people feminists when they aren't.
Hillary
Clinton is not a feminist. She's a Me-ist. It only matters if effects
her. If she's not impacted, she's not there. Which is why she could
and did betray Iraqi women when she was Secretary of State -- as we
documented here repeatedly including when her last remaining real friend
called her out for it. Julianna's a Me-ist.
Stop mistaking these women who give lip service to feminism to advance themselves as feminists. Just stop it.
There
are many different strands of feminism in the west. And I don't think
the term's elastic nor should it be treated as such. "Oh, it's good
because the more women that use it, the better."
No.
Because misusing it means we get blamed as in the Bhutto column.
If
you're not willing to help other women -- I mean real women, not
mythical women who supposedly were raped over six months ago but can't
come forward and have no evidence or proof -- I guess they're all taking
the rest cure, maybe dealing with some YELLOW WALLPAPER (don't get it,
then your media has failed you).
The
same media that trashes those of us demanding a ceasefire is not your
go-to -- or shouldn't be -- for the pulse of the feminist movement.
The
only people who think Julianna is a feminist are the same idiots who
didn't realize two decades ago that you weren't seeing her real hair,
that it was a wig. You have to be that stupid to think she's a
feminist.
Stop calling
those women feminists. They're false representations and you're
ignoring the voices and actions of so many women in the west who
actually are feminists.
I don't want to hear any whining about how this or that is distorted when you've got Mehdi's outlet distorting feminism.
When
you start calling those genocide apologists "feminists," you silence
those of us who are feminists -- just like the corporate media silences
all of us calling for a ceasefire.
