Saturday, August 10, 2024

A very bloody day

A massive death toll in Gaza today as the Israeli government bombs another school. 100 deaths is the number most outlets and reporters are going with currently (the number has climbed throughout the day) such as Neri Zilber (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) who quotes Dr Taisir al-Tanna stating, "There are lots of dangerous injuries. This has been a very bloody day." ALJAZEERA notes the death toll continues to climb. ALJAZEERA also notes that the school was hit with three bombs while AP explains, "Video from the scene showed walls blown out on the ground level of a large building. Concrete chunks and twisted metal lay atop the blood-soaked floor, along with clothing, toppled furniture and other debris. A blackened car with the windows blown out was covered in rubble." Josh Salisbury (LONDON EVENING STANDARD) adds, "Empty food tins lay in a puddle of blood, and burnt mattresses and a child's doll lay among the debris."

Yet another school bombed. Ramy Inocencio (CBS NEWS) notes that "at least four schools in Gaza City" were already bombed this week. While most outlets are going with five schools bombed in seven days, some aid agencies are saying it was seven schools bombed in the last seven days. Barbara Plett Usher and Thomas Mackintosh (BBC NEWS) add, "According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 school buildings in Gaza had been directly hit or damaged as of 6 July, with more than a dozen targeted since." Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy (AP) help with the count by noting that "at least 21 -schools have been attacked] since July 4 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children. " So we're looking at approximately 498 schools at least (adding BBC and AP's totals and remember there's an overlap of two days which is why I'm saying "approximately") 498 of 564 schools have been bombed during this never ending assault on Gaza. That's 88.297% of the schools in Gaza.

Irene Nasser, Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Lex Harvey and Allegra Goodwin (CNN) quote Francesca Albanese (UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories stating that the Israeli government actions were "genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time." Nagham Mohanna (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Sarah Esleem said she was looking for her father and brother, who had attended the fajr prayer in the mosque. She had been searching for them along with her mother and sisters, but without success.

“My father and brother are our pillars in life. We hope they are still alive and that we don’t lose them because our lives without them won’t be easy at all,” she told The National.

“I just want to understand why innocent civilians praying are being targeted in such a brutal way. Israel keeps claiming it has military targets, but that’s a lie, as everyone being killed is a civilian, mostly children and women,” she said.

Sofia Ferreira Santos (BBC NEWS) reports:

US Vice-President Kamala Harris has condemned the loss of civilian life in an Israeli air strike against a school building in Gaza on Saturday.

[. . .]

Ms Harris said "far too many" civilians had been killed "yet again"and reiterated calls for a hostage deal and a ceasefire, echoing comments made by the White House.

[. . .]

Speaking at a campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona, Ms Harris said Israel had a right to "go after Hamas" but also has "an important responsibility" to avoid civilian casualties.

The Democratic Party's presidential candidate also reiterated calls for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.

Nada AlTaher (THE NATIONAL) reports, "Egypt has accused Israel of deliberately hindering Gaza ceasefire talks after an air strike on a school that killed more than 100 people and injured dozens of others on Saturday morning." Arpan Rai, Alexander Butler and Salma Ouaguira (INDEPENDENT) add, "The Iranian foreign ministry has condemned the attack and accused Israel of carrying out 'genocide and crimes against humanity'." IRAQI NEWS AGENCY notes:

Iraq condemned the Zionist aggression on the Al-Taba’een school in Gaza on Saturday.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the ministry expressed its strong condemnation of the "barbaric Zionist attack" that targeted the school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City early this morning.

And ALJAZEERA notes:

Action for Humanity said Israel has attacked seven schools in Gaza in the past seven days and said the UK cannot continue to export arms to Israel “while there is a clear and evident risk they could be used to violate international law”.
Medical Aid for Palestinians said that further statements of concern or condemnation from the UK government will “not be enough” and that civilians in Gaza need “decisive and immediate action” to end their humanitarian catastrophe.
Islamic Relief said it was “horrified” and “appalled” at the “massacre of dozens of civilians at one of the school shelters where we have been distributing daily hot meals to displaced families”. It said that Israel’s policy of displacing civilians, denying them aid and then attacking the schools they shelter in is “completely inhumane”.

THE NATIONAL reports:

Algeria has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to take place on Tuesday after an Israeli strike on a Gaza school killed about 100 people at the weekend, according to state media.

The request was made "based on the recent dangerous developments in the occupied Palestinian territories," including the school strike, the Algerian Press Service said.

The strike on Gaza city's Al Tabaeen school early on Saturday morning killed about 100 people and wounded hundreds more, according to local authorities, prompting renewed outrage at continuing attacks against civilians in the enclave.

Algeria's request was submitted in consultation with Palestinian authorities and has support from other Security Council members, APS added.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 309 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, "Gaza death toll rises to 39,790 with 92,002 wounded." 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, "In 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."

Anas Al Sharif is the only remaining Al Jazeera Journalist in the North of Gaza that Israel hasn’t assassinated (yet). pic.twitter.com/0Hi8dhD5lg
— Rizzo (@rizhauddin) August 11, 2024

And Anas Al Sharif is under threat:

In the light of the statement made by the Israeli military spokesperson, Al Jazeera Media Network views this as a blatant act of intimidation and incitement against our colleague Anas Al Sharif, said Al Jazeera in a statement yesterday.

Such remarks are not only an attack on Anas’s character and integrity but also a clear attempt to stifle the truth and silence those who are courageously reporting from Gaza.

“Al Jazeera remains committed to supporting its journalists as they continue to uphold the principles of free and fair reporting, despite the dangers they face. Al Jazeera will not be intimidated, and will continue shining a light on the realities of the conflict, ensuring that the world hears the voices of those who are suffering.”

The statement added: “Anas Al Sharif, like many of his brave colleagues, is committed to uncovering and sharing the realities of the situation on the ground, no matter how difficult or dangerous it may be.

The Israeli government has killed at least 160 journalists in Gaza since October 7th.

Turning to Iraq, IRAQI NEWS AGENCY types:

Deputy Special Representative of The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Claudio Cordone, commended the role of the Iraqi government in addressing violence against women and supporting women's rights.

During the Conference on Combating Violence Against Women, which was followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Cordone stated: "I commend the Iraqi government's commitment to combating violence against women and supporting the rights of Iraqi women in general. I also welcome the role of the Prime Minister in urging government bodies to expedite the implementation of decisions related to women

What a load of garbage. As RUDAW notes today:

The Iraqi government’s council for women’s affairs will hold a meeting to discuss concerns that a highly-controversial proposed amendment to the Personal Status Law could walk back human rights in the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani announced on Saturday.

“The Higher Council for Women will soon hold a specialized workshop to discuss all the observations raised regarding the Personal Status Law,” Sudani said during an event for the Islamic day for the elimination of violence against women.

Rights activists have strongly protested the bill to amend the 1959 Personal Status Law, which would effectively legalize child marriage and give religious authorities regulatory power over inheritance and marriage.

The Iraqi parliament conducted the first reading for the bill on Sunday, but has yet to vote on the amendment. If it is passed, Iraqis would be allowed to choose either Shiite or Sunni rules at the time of marriage to govern all personal status-related matters in their family.

The proposed bill specifies following the provisions of the Jaafari school of jurisprudence for the Shiite sect, which permits marriage for girls as young as nine and boys at fifteen.

THE GUARDIAN's Zainab Al Mashat and Omar Al Jaffal noted Friday:

The Shia religious groups that dominate the political system in Iraq have been pushing to erode women’s rights in the country for more than a decade.

Unlike neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Iraq does not have a system of male guardianship requiring women to have the permission of a husband, father or male guardian to make crucial life choices such as marriage.

However, a new proposal, which passed its first reading in the Iraqi parliament this week, would give religious authorities the power to decide on family affairs, including marriage, divorce and the care of children

“This is a catastrophe for women,” said Raya Faiq, who is the coordinator for a coalition of groups which are opposing the law change. The group includes some Iraqi MPs.

“My husband and my family oppose child marriage. But imagine if my daughter gets married and my daughter’s husband wants to marry off my granddaughter as a child. The new law would allow him to do so. I would not be allowed to object. This law legalises child rape.”

During protests organised by the coalition this week in the capital, Baghdad, and in several other cities in Iraq, supporters of the new law confronted opponents and accused them of “moral decadence” and “following western agendas”.

Although Iraq has outlawed marriage under the age of 18 since the 1950s, one survey by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, found that 28% of girls in Iraq had married before they reached the age of 18.

This is what the US invasion of Iraq created. No democracy was built. No weapons of mass destruction were in Iraq. But the US government did manage to install a bunch of cowards who fled Iraq and to promote religious extremists. And now we're really seeing the damage from US "assistance" to Iraq.

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Congressman Robert Garcia Fights to Expand Access to Preventative Care for STIs

August 8, 2024

•

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representatives Robert Garcia and Barbara Lee led sixteen colleagues in calling on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to require insurers to cover doxy PEP for free for patients. Use of the common antibiotic doxycycline (doxy PEP) within three days of having sex can vastly reduce likelihood of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea infections. The letter can be found here.

“Surging STIs are disproportionately impacting LGBTQ+ individuals. We must ensure that these folks have access to doxy PEP, a critical medication that can save lives and prevent these kinds of infections. By making doxy PEP coverage free by insurers, we can prevent infections and stop the spread of disease for those most vulnerable,” said Congressman Robert Garcia.

“As transmission rates for sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis continue to increase, it's more important now than ever that preventative medicines are covered by insurance," said Congresswoman Lee. “Widespread use and education about doxy PEP could prevent thousands of bacterial STI cases every year. However, in order to get this treatment to those who need it most, it's imperative that doxy PEP is covered by insurance plans with no cost to patients. I am proud to stand with my colleagues to urge USTPF to consider making this crucial recommendation.”

"The introduction of this new prevention option, Doxy-PEP, has the potential to significantly reduce STI rates and provide much-needed access and peace of mind to vulnerable populations who have been disproportionately affected. By ensuring Doxy-PEP is available with grade A rating by the USPSTF, we're taking a critical step toward promoting health equity and advancing our mission of using informed, evidence-based interventions to support those most in need," said David Stacy, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Human Rights Campaign

“Doxy PEP is the most significant medical advancement in STI prevention in decades. Reducing barriers to helping people access doxy PEP and providing healthcare providers with the guidance and encouragement they need to implement doxy PEP in accordance with the new CDC guidelines will be crucial in helping us use doxy PEP to address our out-of-control STI epidemic. I applaud Representative Garcia and Representative Lee for leading the way toward making this innovation more accessible,” said David C. Harvey, Executive Director of the National Coalition of STD Directors

Last month, the CDC issued guidelines encouraging healthcare providers to counsel gay and bisexual men and transgender women patients at a higher risk of bacterial STIs about the benefits and costs of doxy PEP. In order to get this treatment to those who most need it though, it's imperative that doxy PEP is covered by insurance plans with no cost to patients – the same way that PrEP and other preventive treatments are.

The letter calls on the Preventive Services Task Force to make an official recommendation and “A” rating for doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP) as a preventive treatment for bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Under the Affordable Care Act, this would require insurance companies to cover the treatment with no cost sharing.

Congressman Garcia is committed to fighting for the health of our nation. In July, he introduced the SEWER Act, which funds the Center for Disease Control’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. He also introduced the FLASH Act to cut through red tape to quickly buy critical medical materials during emergencies in future public health crises. As Mayor of Long Beach, Congressman Garcia was on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, working with the city’s independent health department to protect lives. Currently, he sits on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic where he has defended public health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci and worked to find sustainable solutions to protect our communities from future pandemics.

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Senator Murray Tours Timber Thinning Sites Near Darrington, Discusses Ecologically Sustainable Timber Practices

August 7, 2024

Senator Murray Tours Timber Thinning Sites Near Darrington, Discusses Ecologically Sustainable Timber Practices

***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***

Darrington, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, met with Darrington Mayor Dan Rankin and members of the Darrington Collaborative to tour several timber sales and timber thinning sites. The Darrington Collaborative is a partnership between diverse interests such as major conservation organizations, local STEM education programs, the local timber industry, and the community of Darrington, with the goal of increasing ecologically sustainable timber harvests in the Darrington region, creating jobs, and improving and restoring the health of forests and watersheds.

The Darrington Collaborative was established in 2015 and is the result of leaders from different sectors of timber, conservation and government coming together to work towards common goals for the health of the forest and community. Senator Murray helped convene this collaborative process in the aftermath of the Oso landslide.

“It was great to meet with a few members of the Darrington Collaborative in the beautiful Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to hear about the work they do to create a more resilient forest,” said Senator Murray. “The Collaborative has been instrumental in preserving our forests while protecting jobs and even establishing local STEM education programs. As Senate Appropriations Chair, I’ll continue to fight for the strongest possible investments to protect our forests and our public lands.”

Senator Murray has been a longtime champion of protecting Washington’s public lands and natural resources. As Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Murray secured crucial investments in the U.S. Forest Service, wildfire mitigation and prevention efforts, and more in last year’s spending package. It included over $4 billion for wildfire preparedness and suppression, over $6 billion for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as millions in Congressionally Directed Spending for Washington state conservation projects.

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Friday, August 09, 2024

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Carole King invites you to join the movement

The original Cat Lady is all in for Kamala.

I’m personally writing this to invite you to join the movement to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as President of the United States and defeat the orange guy decisively!

Telemachus (the cat) would join meow-t on the campaign trail if he were still with us.

I know, bad puns are so 1950s -- and we’re not going back!

So much is at stake and Kamala is inspiring a movement of people who value dignity, decency, and freedom.

Every contribution makes us stronger, please make yours today.

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Thank you for participating in whatever ways you can. If you can’t afford to donate, volunteer.

My best wishes to you and your family,

Carole

Carole King is a singer-songwriter, author, and activist. Her distinctions include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center honor. Now she’s using her platform to help Democrats win up and down the ballot in all 50 states. And she actually did write this email.

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Iraq snapshot

Friday, August 9, 2024. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks with the UAW about our power when we pull together, Robert Kennedy Junior offers up a Cruise to Hell contest, and much more.

In the US, the presidential election will be held November 5, 2024. Early voting will start sooner but the 'last day' of voting will be November 5, 2024. The Democratic Party's presidential nominee is Kamala Harris. Yesterday, she and her running mate Tim Walz spoke to the United Auto Workers (UAW) in Wayne, Michigan Local 900 chapter. Local 900 members are credited with being part of the driving force last year that brought about the negotiations with the Big Three automakers last year. Addressing the gathered, Kamala noted, "When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We stand for the people. We stand for the dignity of work. We stand for justice. We stand for equality. And we will fight for all of it." Excerpt:

Presidential nominee Kamala Harris: But the same people raised us. Good people. Hard working people. People who had pride in knowing we were a community of people who looked out for each other. You know, raised by a community of folks who understood that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it's based on who you lift up. And you know there's a perversion that's happened in our country in the last several years where there's a suggestion that somehow strength is about making people feel small, making people feel alone but isn't that the very opposite of what we know -- unions know to be strength? It's about the collective. It's about understanding no one should ever be made to fight alone -- that we are all in this together. You know why I fought in my career for unions and labor because I understand the concept -- the noble concept -- behind collective bargaining and here it is, here it is: Fairness. Fairness. It's about saying, "Hey, in a negotiation, don't we all believe the outcome should be fair?" I mean who could disagree with that? The outcome should be fair. It should be fair, right? But when you're talking about the individual and a big company and you're requiring that one individual to negotiate against a big company, how's that outcome going to be fair? So collective bargaining is about saying, "Let the collective come together around a common experience which at its core is about dignity and the dignity of labor and then let the people come together to negotiate so you make the balance and then the outcome will be fair." And isn't that what we're talking about in this election.

Crowds are turning out for the Harris-Walz ticket. And they're doing a great job on social media. Where they need to step up their game? Democrats need to shore up elderly voters. They are often the most at risk when it comes to misinformation. That's not because they're lazy. It's because they're trying to educate themselves. That's why they watch the news and, sadly, that does include watching FOX "NEWS" for some elderly Democrats. I'm speaking to youth groups, labor, women's groups as usual but I have added the elderly and that's based on some polling I've seen and concerns that some friends in DNC leadership have noted. So, just added the elderly segment this week, here's what I'm hearing that needs to be stepped up: The campaign website.

You need speeches up there, you need issues and positions up there. The website deserves a D grade currently. I'm not here to sugar coat or tell people good job when there's no good job being done. This might fly with younger people but it's not working for the elderly population.

There's another problem and maybe I should have started with that. ACT BLUE should not be able to pull focus from Kamala's designated campaign site unless they clearly and easily link to her website. "I felt trapped," one 74 year old woman stated. She searched for Kamala Harris' website and saw ACT BLUE official Kamala Harris website. She clicked. And she couldn't go anywhere. Well maybe she could, maybe if she chose a donation amount and then gave her credit card information, maybe then she could go somewhere beyong that huge STOP SIGN that ACT BLUE's website is.

At least on Kamala's official site, they can click a clearly noted "Close" and get off the begging for money page to look for actual content.

But when they look for it, it's not there.

These are people who vote and these are people who grew up as voters being able to dash to the local campaign headquarters where there would be tons of printed pages with positions on this and on that, with biographical information, you name it. This is hurting another group, by the way. But we'll come back to that.

There's no content there. Elderly people especially want content. If they're visiting a website for a presidential candidate, they should find a plethora of information -- more information than they could ever want.

The other group. As I was dictating the above, I flashed on 1992 and how Bill Clinton -- if people were being honest -- got about ten more votes because of campaign literature. It was a Sunday and it started with a mother of one of my kids' classmates calling about an assignment. Could I help? Some of the kids had put off their assignment on the presidential election. It was Sunday, the campaign office was closed, the internet wasn't what it is today. I said sure, let's meet at our local campaign headquarters and I'd unlock it and we'd get some papers for the woman's child that he could use to write a report. She said that was great and thanked me and asked if it was okay for any other parent to come along? Sure, anyone she knew whose kid needed material for a paper could meet us up there. It ended up being ten parents and they honestly weren't planning on voting. It's California, we go blue. They were busy raising kids and busy living life. But the fact that they were able to go in, on a Sunday, to a closed campaign office to get material so their kids could turn in an assignment the next day made a difference.

So I'm thinking of those 1992 parents. And school's about to start up. And they're going to be parents whose kid put off an assignment and they're going to be trying to help their children at the last minute and the official Kamala Harris for President website is useless at this point. They're not going to find anything that will talk about climate change or reproductive rights.

The only reason the website appears to exist right now is for donations. And that's the complaint I've heard all week from the elderly.

As things shifted in the last decades, Ava and I noted that a politician's campaign website was their campaign office and it needed to be run as such. (We also used to look at all the presidential campaign websites and write about how good or bad a job they were doing.) Team Kamala needs to up their game and do so immediately. Elderly voters are being let down. And as school starts to start up, if the website isn't beefed up, you're going to find parents feeling let down because they should be able to visit the official website and find information their kids can use for papers or presentations at school.

Let's move on. Robert Kennedy Junior. It's been such a busy week that we've only had time to post the videos about his creepy staging of a crime in Central Park with the corpse of a young bear cub. We don't have time for it now.

We're noting his contest. Donate ten dollars to Junior and you can enter to be part of the "celebrity cruise"!!!! Celebrity?

On August 28, 2024, you and a guest could embark on a sunset cruise with Bobby, Cheryl Hines, star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hollywood superhero fan favorite actor, Zachary Levi, influential Substack writer, Jessica Reed Kraus, Drea de Matteo, the critically acclaimed and award-winning actress from The Sopranos, and legendary basketball star Metta World Peace.

Cheryl's not a celebrity and she may be the most well known of that list of losers. Zac? The second Shazam movie flopped, his HAROLD movie that opened last weekend is a flop. Who does that leave? The ONLYFA NS 'actress'? What you really see, if you pay attention, is the COVID crazies. I really don't understand those crazies. One of them, for example, could use COVID to come out -- to finally come out. He could say, "I can't get an erection so I've decided I'll sleep with men." COVID is the key that will finally let you come out of the closet. Your management team wouldn't let you in the '00s. Now it can be your time at last. You can use COVID to come out as the bottom you've been your whole life and you can pin it on COVID by using that false rumor that the shot makes some men unable to get erections.

If you want to take a trip with losers, Junior's serving it up. Some might see winning that contest as a victory, I'd see it as being consigned to hell.

Transition! Let's note this from yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

Israel is facing growing condemnation over the torture and rape of Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s Channel 12 News aired shocking footage of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner. The video shows a group of blindfolded prisoners lying on the ground inside a prison at Sde Teiman army base, which critics have compared to Guantánamo. Israeli guards are then seen taking one man into a corner, where the soldiers encircled him and reportedly sexually assaulted him. Israel’s investigation of this incident is what led a group of far-right Israeli protesters and lawmakers to break into two military bases last week in an effort to prevent the soldiers from being questioned.

Meanwhile, a group of U.N. experts has warned Israel’s escalating use of torture of jailed Palestinians is a crime against humanity. The experts wrote, “Torture practices are irredeemably unlawful and constitute international crimes, yet form part of the modus operandi of Israel’s notorious detention and torture system,” unquote.

Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has published a major new report documenting how the Israeli prison system has become what B’Tselem calls a “network of torture camps.”

I want to turn to an interview conducted by B’Tselem of Ashraf al-Muhtaseb, a father of five from Hebron and a wedding band manager. While detained on the morning of November 18th last year, Ashraf had prison guards storm his cell he shared with other men, claiming they were looking for a radio.

ASHRAF AL-MUHTASEB: [translated] One morning at 6:00, they raided our cell, about 15 guards with a monstrous dog. Sometimes they made him attack sensitive body parts. They attacked us all, kicking us and hitting us with sticks. I was leaning against the wall behind others in the cell. They started kicking me in the neck and ear. Unfortunately, I got a very hard blow to my ear. I’ve completely lost my hearing on that side. I got four fractures in my back ribs, three in my chest, and fractures in my hands and other body parts.

AMY GOODMAN: In another interview conducted by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, 50-year-old Firas Hassan, an official in the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Youth and Sports, describes not only being beaten by prison guards while in detention, but hearing that their brutal attack is being live-streamed for Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security of Israel, to watch.

FIRAS HASSAN: [translated] On November 9th, 2023, two prison forces, the District Unit and the Initial Response Force, came into cell 14 we were in, on wing 28. We were 10 Palestinians in the cell. The forces came in masked and beat us for 50 minutes. They laughed while they hit us and live-streamed it all. I understand Hebrew, and I heard one say, “We’re live-streaming for Ben-Gvir, directly to Ben-Gvir.” They beat us in various ways, with their hands and feet, and then brought in police dogs, after they tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us.

AMY GOODMAN: B’Tselem also spoke to Sari Huriyyah. He’s a 53-year-old real estate lawyer and an Israeli citizen. He was arrested and detained over a Facebook post November 4th last year. In this clip, Sari describes 'Abd a-Rahman Mar'i, a 23-year-old man in the isolation cell next to him, screaming in pain and later being brought out in a body bag.

SARI HURIYYAH: [translated] He screamed in pain constantly, begging for the doctor. The guard would come now and then and swear at him and tell him to shut up. In the morning, the guards came to count us. One said, “Get up, you animal. Get up, you dog.” They checked him, and the whole place went silent. Finally, the doctor said, “There’s nothing to be done.” One of the guards said to them, “My condolences.” And they all started laughing. They put him in a black body bag and carried him out like trash.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined right now by Sarit Michaeli, international advocacy lead for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. The group’s new report is titled “Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.”

Sarit, thanks so much for being with us. Just as we listen to these horrifying accounts, please lay out your findings.

SARIT MICHAELI: I think on a very fundamental level, Amy, our findings look at the systemic, ongoing and state-sanctioned, government-sanctioned use of torture and abuse in the Israeli prison system vis-à-vis Palestinians, Palestinians who Israel considers to be — views as security prisoners.

Now, this is something that we have discussed in the past. I mean, torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees in detention and interrogations have occurred. They have been documented. But the level, the degree, the scope, the scale of this phenomenon since October 7th are simply unrelated to anything we’ve seen in the past.

And when we look at the way these people are treated — you showed some of the testimonies. Some of the — many more testimonies are actually available on our website, and we are sharing them online. You see that, clearly, this isn’t the actions of any sort of rogue element of the Israeli prison system. It’s a government-sanctioned and also government-supported, government-mandated policy. And that’s the central conclusion that we have from all of the information that we’ve collected in recent months.

AMY GOODMAN: If you can talk about Firas, who was describing not only being beaten by the Israeli soldiers, but also the fact that this beating was being live-streamed for the national security minister of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to watch?

SARIT MICHAELI: So, I just want to clarify: We know that the police say — or, sorry, the prison guards were discussing this. Certainly, we have not — you know, we clarified in our communications that we don’t know whether this was indeed, like, literally live-streamed for Itamar Ben-Gvir or whether it was more about the spirit of Itamar Ben-Gvir, because a lot of the things we see on the ground today in the Israeli prison system are directly related to the influence, to the spirit of Minister Ben-Gvir.

I think it’s certainly not the case that Minister Ben-Gvir is the only person responsible. Absolutely, the prime minister, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who gave him all of his authority, is absolutely responsible and culpable for this reality. But the Israeli government and Ben-Gvir have shown again and again, since October 7th but also before October 7th, that they are hell-bent, that their intention is to cause this deterioration to increase the pressure on Palestinian prisoners.

And this was — this has been done, and we saw these kinds of developments even prior to October 7th. From the beginning of the tenure of Minister Ben-Gvir as minister of national security, he has been imposing his racist, his Kahanist agenda, both on the Israeli police, with great success, unfortunately, and also on the Israeli Prison Service. October 7th, the horror, the crimes committed against Israelis on October 7th, served as a golden opportunity for Ben-Gvir to continue to cynically manipulate the Israeli trauma, the Israeli fear and anger, in order to push forward this agenda that he has been promoting even beforehand.

So, I think one of the clear things that we’ve seen on the ground and in the system since October 7th was that much of this Israeli policy, at least the parts about starving prisoners, about cramping them all together in large numbers in cells, canceling any possibility for them to have any sort of sustenance, to buy additional food, for example, all of these policies have been declared. They’ve been stated by the Israeli government. They haven’t hid this. Ben-Gvir himself has been on the media promoting these policies and showing — you know, having these, like, show visits to visit prisoners that he claims are Nukhba — right? — are Palestinian, are Hamas fighters from Gaza.

But what we have seen again and again, based on the testimonies that we’ve taken, is that the Israeli policy wasn’t just applied Palestinian Hamas suspects. We would argue, by the way, that this is absolutely, categorically prohibited regardless of the crimes people have been — have committed. Torture and this type of treatment is absolutely prohibited. But Israel is claiming, and in some cases showing — right? — performing, in a way. And this is — I think the incident that was described in this testimony seems very much an example of this, not just the kind of actual violence and ill-treatment and humiliation, but making it very, very public. And this is something that is simply chilling and is part of the really deep moral abyss that this report exposes, I think, within our society today.

AMY GOODMAN: The Israeli Supreme Court considered a petition yesterday to close a desert military prison where soldiers have been accused of abusing Palestinians, most recently this shocking video that aired on Israeli News 12, the Channel 12, showing Israeli soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner. Talk about that video and what the Supreme Court is calling for or if they’ve had a ruling yet.

SARIT MICHAELI: Well, I think there’s a few things to unpack in this situation. I mean, again, regardless of the specifics of this individual case — B’Tselem hasn’t documented it; we’re not familiar enough with the details — I think this is a moment within Israeli society where the old way of doing things, which involved very often these sham investigations — right? — pretending that we’re holding soldiers accountable for violations of Palestinian rights and investigating suspected wrongdoing, this is rejected, is being rejected by a growing — maybe majority, certainly very large number of Israelis, who are simply not interested in any kind of accountability, because they do not believe that the Palestinians deserve any rights. And this is an interesting and quite disturbing and very, very depressing situation to experience, because the power and the violence released by the recent, for example, charging of far-right activists into the Sde Teiman military base and into the Beit Lid military base isn’t just going to harm, you know, the specific investigative bodies that we are very critical of. This is an action that is very concerted and coordinated by the Israeli far right in order to scare off any type of law enforcement in Israeli society.

And this is why I think it’s so deeply connected to what we’ve seen yesterday in the High Court. There is a High Court petition against Sde Teiman. It’s being — it was presented by the Israeli — by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. And the state has, as is its custom, denied that there is any wrongdoing in Sde Teiman. But there’s also another kind of parallel development, which is that a far-right mob has actually verbally charged the High Court justices yesterday in the Israeli High Court and also tried to assault the lawyers acting on behalf of ACRI. And I think this is an excellent example of what has been happening to the gatekeepers in Israel. This is an example of why these gatekeepers, who were meant to protect against the type of abuses that we describe in this report, they have been so scared off, they’ve been so weakened and paralyzed after many, many years of these types of far-right and even quite centrist assaults, that the type of reality that we exposed in the report is allowed to go pretty much on as Minister Ben-Gvir pleases, with very little resistance from the High Court, the other courts, from the attorney general. Now, certainly, we have had, and we’re still extremely critical of these institutions, of the Israeli court system, of the Israeli attorney general, but we do expect them to stand up to this type of abuse, to this type of official torture. And I think one of the reasons why Ben-Gvir has been so successful in imposing his own agenda, his racist, Kahanist agenda, is this weakness, the cowering of the gatekeepers that have been weakened for so many years.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about the protests that took place in the last days trying to prevent the Israeli soldiers or police from being questioned about the sexual assault or the rape of a Palestinian prisoner?

SARIT MICHAELI: Yeah. I mean, I think I should also maybe open this with one point of light in the current reality, which is that since the publication of B’Tselem’s report, and also since the publication and the exposure of the story about these really horrific suspicions in Sde Teiman, there’s been a very strong voice coming from Israelis who categorically oppose this — not necessarily Israelis who are absolutely with B’Tselem on everything, mainstream Israelis who know, who understand that if you are a country that claims you’re a democracy — of course, we would take great issue with this — then you cannot simply abuse people because you suspect them or because you’ve accused them and even because you’ve convicted them of perpetrating the most horrific crimes. This is simply unacceptable. And people are saying this very openly in our society today. These might not be the majority of Israelis, but it’s very heartening to hear these voices again and again, as I said, also in response to B’Tselem’s report.

But the story itself, the reason it got such prominence is because it really is — it’s something that one did not expect to see up until, really, the recent period. And I’m saying that even though, you know, as I said, B’Tselem’s report also revealed additional cases of suspected sexual and gender-based abuse. The story of the suspicions of sexual abuse by soldiers in Sde Teiman has generated a mass public outcry, but it’s also generated a mass response by proponents of the far right, of the Kahanist movement in Israel, who simply do not want any kind of action by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians to be subject of any sort of accountability process. I mean, that’s the whole point. From their perspective, they would like to have a completely open field in terms of what they can do to Palestinians. And this is both for soldiers and settlers. And anyone who tries to impose any, even the most rudimentary, the most basic, level of accountability is attacked as an enemy of the state, as a traitor.

And this brings us into quite an absurd situation, where bodies that we, as I said, are extremely critical of — for example, the State Attorney’s Office and also the Military Advocate General’s Office — are now coming under fire, not for what we would argue is the correct reason, the fact that they have enabled Israel to allow the army and soldiers on the ground to use totally disproportionate force against Palestinians. They’ve enabled almost everything that Israel has been doing in Gaza in recent months — the mass killings, the starvation, the horrific things we have done in Gaza. This is not what the far right is criticizing these institutions for. The criticism is coming when — in the very, very rare cases where there is an occasional investigation when the Israeli investigative bodies simply don’t have any other choice, I’m assuming. I’m only speculating, right? But the fact that there is CCTV footage of this alleged assault and the fact that the story has become so prominent and the possibility of an internal whistleblower inside who reported this have left the authorities really with no option other than to conduct this investigation. Certainly, many other cases and the broad policy is not investigated, but they are still attacked by the right for this tiny foray into accountability.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to yesterday’s briefing at the U.S. State Department, where Matthew Miller is questioned about this issue. This is the reporter Rabia Iclal Turan.

RABIA ICLAL TURAN: Going back to Israel, Israeli media today released a video showing Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman detention camp. The footage was very disturbing. I know you have commented on the reports about this detention center before, but we have now — we now have a new evidence, which is video. Have you seen that video? And do you have anything to say on that and also the reports of, you know, rape —

MATTHEW MILLER: Yeah.

RABIA ICLAL TURAN: — in Israeli prisons?

MATTHEW MILLER: So, we have seen the video. And reports of sexual abuse of detainees are horrific. They ought to be investigated fully by the government of Israel, by the IDF. Prisoners need to be treated — prisoners’ human rights need to be respected in all cases. And when there are alleged violations, the government of Israel needs to take steps to investigate those who are alleged to have committed abuses and, if appropriate, hold them accountable.

RABIA ICLAL TURAN: And, actually, this is not the first rape incident we have been hearing about Israeli prisons. And Israeli human rights group B’Tselem on Monday released a report saying that Sde Teiman is only tip of the iceberg and that, you know, Israeli detention centers turned into a network of torture camps for Palestinian — Palestinians. Its report cited testimonies from 55 Palestinian detainees. So, I know the Israelis are investigating this, but would you support an independent investigation into those allegations?

MATTHEW MILLER: So, I would have to look at what the specific independent investigation people are calling for and pass judgment on the merits. But, look, there ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee, period.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s the State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. Sarit Michaeli, if you could talk about the significance of what he is saying, and what you’re demanding at this point as the international advocacy lead for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem?

SARIT MICHAELI: Yes, Amy. Well, I think the most important thing to clarify in terms of our response to this is that Israel is not going to hold an investigation into the conduct and into the policies in its detention centers, for the pure reason, for the obvious reasons that these are policies. They’re not the actions of rogue elements, as I said. They’re not the actions of individuals who are going against the grain. They are dictated by the management of the Israeli prison system and by the government. They are supported by these bodies. And therefore, the only options for investigations are individual cases that are either so egregious that it would be impossible for the authorities to ignore them because of international pressure or in cases where there is some sort of documentation. And that is generally, I think — when you look at the Israeli investigations, that is generally the way the Israeli authorities work. The small, isolated, token investigations cover up for broader policies.

And in this specific case, I think, from our perspective, we have, A, not appealed — we have not requested Israeli investigations; B, we do not expect any Israeli investigations to fundamentally alter the situation. What we do expect is the international community to take action. And in the report, we’ve appealed to all nations and also to all relevant international institutions to look into the situation, to make it — to make it stop. Specifically, we’ve also appealed to the International Criminal Court, because these offenses that we list in our report are war crimes. They also, we would argue, reach the magnitude of crimes against humanity. And this is the responsibility of the international community, including the United States government, to address. It’s not just an intra-Israeli issue. Certainly, the Israeli government in its current standing — I mean, it’s pretty blatantly obvious that if the Israeli government is not able to hold an investigation into such serious allegations of horrific abuse without a mob of right-wing fanatics rushing, storming into two military bases, then it’s blatant that Israel isn’t going to be able — willing or able to address this broader policy of torture, you know, by order, essentially, against Palestinians since October 7th.

AMY GOODMAN: Sarit Michaeli, I want to thank you for being with us from Tel Aviv, international advocacy lead for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. We’ll link to your new report —

SARIT MICHAELI: Thank you very much.

AMY GOODMAN: — “Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.”

Where's the video? Use the link. We posted it yesterday afternoon. A few hours later, YOUTUBE had done their censorship nonsense. I'm not posting a video in a snapshot that is a blank square before the snapshot goes up.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 308 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, "Gaza death toll rises to 39,699 with 91,722 wounded." 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:

Now to another topic. From yesterday's snapshot:

Team Kamala Harris is gearing up with multiple in-person events this week and, today alone, six zoom phone banks and training alone. Unlike Kamala Harris, the GOP has an elderly man in charge as their candidate and terms like "memes" and "viral" sailed right over Donald Trump's head and he instead insisted they send his ridiculous pick for a running mate -- JD "Skidmarks" Vance -- as a stalker, following Kamala and her running mate Tim Walz around. Skidmarks must be Donald Trump's idea of a groupie.

And you have to feel sorry for Skidmarks. Especially if you have eye sight and vision, you have to feel sorry for him as they use him, the fat man who wore Spanx during the GOP convention and wears eyeliner daily, to attack Tim Walz's service. "When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him, a fact that he's been criticized for aggressively by a lot of people that he served with." Two people have criticized him for leaving the National Guard at the end of the four years. Idiots -- Ann covered one idiot last night and she's right -- especially abut the man needing a breast reduction. Tim served 24 years. Following 9/11, he re-enlisted for four more years. After that? He retired. That's not "dropping out." He didn't go AWOL. He served 24 years.

"As a Marine who served his country in uniform," JD Vance boasted of himself yesterday. Huh?

You may have played dress up -- did the Marines let you wear eyeliner in Iraq? -- but stop with the service nonsense. You 'served' in Iraq as a journalist. Stop pretending otherwise. As Elaine rightly noted last week:

Let me get this right, Skidmarks Vance who tries to play combat veteran to the public, was actually in Iraq for six months as "a military journalist." From WIKIPEDIA:

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003,^[19] Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Iraq as a combat correspondent for six months in late 2005.^[20] He was part of the Public Affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing^[21]^[22] and said that his service "taught me how to live like an adult" and that he was "lucky to escape any real fighting".^[23] His decorations included the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.^[20]

He's not a combat veteran. He's a joke. He 'served' in Iraq . . . as a journalist. What? The USO was full?

What a joke. Everything about the Trump-Vance ticket is a fraud.

Well I'm blown away because in response to the above a Vance supporter e-mailed to insist his outrage. I'm amazed. Who knew Vance had a supporter. But the man didn't make a convincing case for an informed supporter, "J.D. Vance saw combat in Iraq and defused bombs. He was not a journalist in Iraq and he would never be part of a profession like that!"

I think you're confusing THE HURT LOCKER with your lover. Skidmarks Vance did not defuse bombs. He typed. If you doubt it, Meg Kinnard (AP) notes, "Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school, serving four years as a combat correspondent, a type of military journalist, and deploying to Iraq in that capacity in 2005."

For more on military service, you can refer to this video.

As Ann noted last night:

That's former US House Rep. Adam Kinzinger calling out the lies and the liars trying to attack Tim Walz's 24 years in the National Guard.

"I am furious about this attack," Adam explains in the video above. And we all should be furious but listen and grasp what a liar the Tommys attacking Tim are. And, here's Adam's service record:

Kinzinger resigned from the McLean County Board in 2003 to join the United States Air Force. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in November 2003 and later awarded his pilot wings. Kinzinger was initially a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot and flew missions in South America, Guam, Iraq and Afghanistan. He later switched to flying the RC-26 surveillance aircraft and was stationed in Iraq twice.^[11]

Kinzinger has served in the Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, and Wisconsin Air National Guard and was progressively promoted to his current rank of lieutenant colonel.^[12] As part of his continued service with the Air National Guard, Kinzinger was deployed to the Mexico–United States border in February 2019 as part of efforts to maintain border security.^[13]

The following sites updated: