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THE ABSURD TIMES
Note: he will run as an independent to void the corruption of current parties. His MVP in Women's Volleyball is an achievement no other Republican Maga managed. The man on the right also has some distinctions.
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I have run out of words to match Demented Trump, but I came across this description of followers. We must realize that the Demented One merely helps express the American character. Note what a genuine wordsmith called the American character over 100 years ago. There has been no change, just an easier means of transmission. I have blocked out some paragraphs, just to make them easier to read, but not one word has been changed:
From H. L. Mencken:
PREJUDICES: THIRD SERIES
I. ON BEING AN AMERICAN
1
Apparently, there are those who begin to find it disagreeable—nay,
impossible. Their anguish fills the Liberal weeklies, and every ship
that puts out from New York carries a groaning cargo of them, bound
for Paris, London, Munich, Rome and way points—anywhere to escape the
great curses and atrocities that make life intolerable for them at
home.
Let me say at once that I find little to cavil at in their basic
complaints. In more than one direction, indeed, I probably go a great
deal further than even the Young Intellectuals. It is, for example,
one of my firmest and most sacred beliefs, reached after an inquiry
extending over a score of years and supported by incessant prayer
and meditation, that the government of the United States, in both
its legislative arm and its executive arm, is ignorant, incompetent,
corrupt, and disgusting—and from this judgment I except no more than
twenty living lawmakers and no more than twenty executioners of their
laws.
It is a belief no less piously cherished that the administration
of justice in the Republic is stupid, dishonest, and against all
reason and equity—and from this judgment I except no more than thirty
judges, including two upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the United
States. It is another that the foreign policy of the United States—its
habitual manner of dealing with other nations, whether friend or
foe—is hypocritical, disingenuous, knavish, and dishonorable—and from
this judgment I consent to no exceptions whatever, either recent or
long past. And it is my fourth (and, to avoid too depressing a bill,
final) conviction that the American people, taking one with another,
constitute the most timorous, sniveling, poltroonish [cowardly], ignominious mob
of serfs and goose-steppers ever gathered under one flag in Christendom
since the end of the Middle Ages, and that they grow more timorous,
more sniveling, more poltroonish, more ignominious every day.
So far I go with the fugitive Young Intellectuals—and into the
Bad Lands beyond. Such, in brief, are the cardinal articles of my
political faith, held passionately since my admission to citizenship
and now growing stronger and stronger as I gradually disintegrate
into my component carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, calcium,
sodium, nitrogen and iron. This is what I believe and preach, _in
nomine Domini_, Amen. Yet I remain on the dock, wrapped in the flag,
when the Young Intellectuals set sail. Yet here I stand, unshaken and
undespairing, a loyal and devoted Americano, even a chauvinist, paying
taxes without complaint, obeying all laws that are physiologically
obeyable, accepting all the searching duties and responsibilities
of citizenship unprotestingly investing the sparse usufructs of my
miserable toil in the obligations of the nation, avoiding all commerce
with men sworn to overthrow the government, contributing my mite toward
the glory of the national arts and sciences, enriching and embellishing
the native language, spurning all lures (and even all invitations) to
get out and stay out—here am I, a bachelor [Mencken does not make explicit that this is a cardinal aspect of his financially] easy means, forty-two
years old, unhampered by debts or issue, able to go wherever I please
and to stay as long as I please—here am I, contentedly and even smugly
basking beneath the Stars and Stripes, a better citizen, I daresay,
and certainly a less murmurous and exigent one, than thousands who
put the Hon. Warren Gamaliel Harding beside Friedrich Barbarossa and
Charlemagne, and hold the Supreme Court to be directly inspired by the
Holy Spirit, and belong ardently to every Rotary Club, Ku Klux Klan,
and Anti-Saloon League, and choke with emotion when the band plays "The
Star-Spangled Banner," and believe with the faith of little children
that one of Our Boys, taken at random, could dispose in a fair fight
of ten Englishmen, twenty Germans, thirty Frogs, forty Wops, fifty
Japs, or a hundred Bolsheviki.
That is all we need to say about the MAGA morons. However, during jury selection, one was asked "what was your reaction when you say the defendant?
A.: He was not as orange as I expected.
Q.: Excused.]
Conspiracy was touted in the anti-Zionist butcher's demonstrations. Certainly, any demonstrations against Israeli war crimes must be insalubrious. Complaints of Jewish students in fear from antisemitism – then how do you explain all the Jewish Voice for Peace, the students unaffiliated but knowing what Nit Wit Yahoo is doing? But Biden said he saw babies being beheaded and Jewish women being raped. (Not bloody likely.)
Horrible the way anti-semitism blossoms every time Israel kills another unarmed and defenseless Palestinian. Is no place safe for the Swinging Semites at an Ivy League University who cheer on the slaughter? Every time they dig up mass graves after the Zionist occupation of a hospital, more antisemitism? Now three mass grave sites, reports from reliable observers of one where the Palestinians were buried alive. When will this anti-semitism stop?
Ah, but Maga Mike, Speaker of the House, goes to Columbia University and scolds the President. Really? What the hell is going on? Shouldn't he at least learn that the earth is more than 6 or 7 thousand years old before allowed at Columbia? Shouldn't he at least know that the First Amendment is there to protect free speech, not Religion? And where does he get off deciding that the University "reform" its faculty?
Remember the Pentagon Papers?
And another student movement: I was up in the administration building dealing with NSF and the Army Corps of Engineers over language to use in various new contracts. I gradually heard a chant and soon had to look down on the quadrangle as waves of students said in rhythm
FREE SOUTH AFRICA
DIVEST NOW!
FREE SOUTH AFRICA
DIVEST NOW!
FREE SOUTH AFRICA
DIVEST NOW!
And so on. I wondered: "Should I be down there joining the mob, or stay up here and defend research from large agencies or huge corporations (who were often easier to deal with than the Army). Well, Mandella won.
Check out Democracy Now, below. Juan was with the Young Lords at Columbia while I was in Chicago.
They killed Fred Hampton. From what I gather, Hunter Thompson was a few blocks south of me (I had no idea who he was) and I was busy with Abbie (all of them). Now Juan is in Chicago. I enjoyed toying with the Chicago P.D. (even worked there for a while). Lots of similarities and it shows that those who think can also act. Some have pointed out, however, that during the Presidential election years, suicide rates for "smart" people rise 40%. Well, it's time for a report:
Related
Bodies Recovered at Mass Graves in Nasser Hospital Bear Signs of Torture, Mutilation & Execution
At least 320 bodies have been discovered buried in a mass grave at the destroyed Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, just weeks after a similar mass grave containing up to 400 bodies was discovered amid the ruins of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Some of the bodies, which include children, medical staff and patients, appear to have been executed or buried alive. Meanwhile, Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza as its assault of the beleaguered enclave surpasses 200 days. "Every single body that is being unearthed, you find tens of people rushing for the sake of identifying whether those are their relatives," says Akram al-Satarri, a journalist based in Gaza. "Some of the people were tied. Some of the people had medical accessories on their hands, like the cannulas. And when they were unearthed from the ground, it was apparent that they were buried alive. Some people were tortured. Some of the bodies were extremely mutilated, which means that those bodies, some of their organs were taken by the Israeli occupation."
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: In Gaza, medics and Civil Defense workers are still recovering bodies from mass graves found at the Nasser Medical Complex for the sixth day in a row following Israel's siege on the hospital. Over 320 bodies have so far been discovered, including women, children, patients and medical staff, according to Al Jazeera. Another mass grave with up to 400 bodies was discovered weeks earlier at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Civil Defense officials have said bodies were found stacked together and showed indications of field executions or being buried alive. The United Nations and the European Union have called for an independent probe into the mass graves, and the White House on Wednesday also called for an investigation.
This comes as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, with at least 43 people killed over the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least five of them were killed in the southern city of Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily airstrikes as it prepares for an offensive in the city.
AMY GOODMAN: A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government told Reuters Israel is moving ahead with a ground operation in Rafah, but gave no timeline. An unnamed Israeli defense official said Israel had bought 40,000 tents, each able to hold between 10 and 12 people, to house Palestinians evacuated from Rafah ahead of its assault on the city. Israeli news outlets report Israel will forcibly evacuate civilians to the nearby city of Khan Younis, which has been virtually destroyed by Israeli forces. Over 1.3 million Palestinians are seeking shelter in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza.
We go now to Rafah, in Gaza, where we're joined by Akram al-Satarri, a journalist based in Gaza.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Akram. Just moments ago, Palestinian officials held a press conference in Rafah regarding the mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex. Can you tell us the latest? I know there's a delay in the broadcast.
AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Good morning, Amy, to you and all the viewers.
I have just come back from Khan Younis area. I was at Nasser Hospital. I spoke to the Civil Defense official who's now giving this press conference about the situation in Nasser Hospital and about the number of the people who were killed, the way they were killed, and an account of the potential suffering they had been seeing even before they did.
It looks like the mass graves, the three different mass graves, are containing around 700 bodies. Up to this particular moment, around 400 bodies were unearthed and discovered. Around 300 bodies or even more are still in the ground. The bulldozer — one bulldozer, because of the very limited resources, working — is working there for the sake of just digging out the bodies.
Family members are lined up there. Family members are trying and rushing with passion and with great deal of sorrow to identify the bodies of their dears. Some of them managed to identify the bodies. Then you hear the outcry. You hear the people screaming, crying and mourning the death of their dears. But at the very same time, they feel a little bit relief, because they finally found the body of their dears.
I spoke to a mother who's around 42, 43 years old. She was trying to identify her son. And then she found the body of her son. She was crying. The sister also, her daughter, was crying. And they were calling for the family to come and join them in the burial, because in our culture as Muslims and Arabs, we find a burial as the best fitting homage for the people who are dead.
People are continuously digging out the bodies. People are continuously — and this is very ironic — they're trying to save the dead. People, when they die, are supposed to be resting in peace. And I was saying that people in Gaza, when they die, they're neither resting nor in peace. The bodies, those bodies, were collected twice by the Israeli occupation forces. They were taken for some forensic investigation. They were returned to Nasser Hospital. They're stockpiled in this very big hall, three different halls. And then they were buried. And then, a second time, the Israeli occupation forces came back to Nasser Hospital. They invaded all different departments of the hospital. They targeted the specialized surgery department, the reception and emergency. And they once again unearthed those hundreds of bodies and took them once again. And then they returned them to this mass grave or mass graves. So, the suffering even for the dead people in Gaza is still continuous.
And the heartache for their families is nonstop. Every single body that is being unearthed, you find tens of people rushing for the sake of identifying whether those are their relatives or otherwise. You see also many families looking into these individual graves in the Nasser Hospital area. You see written on the tombstone that "This guy is a tall guy. He has long hair. He's wearing a gray shirt. And this is all we know." And then it's up to the family to try and to find and for people to recall what their dears were wearing the day they were parting from them, what were they wearing the day they were killed. So, a very emotionally draining process.
The numbers are quite shocking. But the account of the loss and the death that led to that eventual mass grave is extremely shocking, where some of the people — like you have just said, some of the people were tied. Some of the people had medical accessories on their hands, like the cannulas. And when they were unearthed from the ground, it was apparent that they were buried alive. Some people were tortured. Some of the bodies were extremely mutilated, which means that those bodies, some of their organs were taken by the Israeli occupation. Some lost their eyes. I could see some bodies with no eyes. I could see some bodies with no liver, with no kidney, some bodies that are — you see them, like the outer skin is just covering the skeleton, and that's it. So, the account of that experience is quite heart-wrenching.
The families that have been suffering for the sake of just identifying their dears are also broken. They have been crying. But at least they say, "We feel comfortable because we found our dear." So, it gives you an insight, a glimpse, into the suffering people of Gaza have been living. It gives you a glimpse into the bereavement the women, men, children and girls in Gaza have been experiencing for the last six months also.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Akram al-Satarri, just for our audience to know, you know, whenever we speak to you, we have — there's this constant noise around you, and those are drones, of course, flying overhead, as they have been for months now. But if you could respond? You know, the European Union, the United Nations and now also the United States have called for an independent investigation into these mass graves. So, your response to that? And we're speaking to you in Rafah. If you could also describe what conditions there are on the ground?
AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Well, as to the independent scrutiny or investigation committee that needs to be developed, I've been working in journalism for around 16 years now. I have been hearing about the independent committees, commissions, inquiries, fact-finding committees and international reports and tribunals about the situation in Gaza, looking into the particular details of the incidents that were taking place, investigating the death of several people in mass killing incidents, including the war in 2008, the war in 2014 and the war in 2021. I have been hearing a book about Gaza and the war in Gaza from 2014, and I was reading the exact words that I'm going to say now: "Palestinians struggle to dig out the bodies." So, this is something that happened in 2014. This is something that happened in 2008. This is something that happened in '21, '22 and is still happening throughout 2023 and 2024.
The international community has failed to preserve and — to preserve and observe the dictates of the international humanitarian law. The humanity at large is facing a challenge. All the political systems worldwide are asked now and expected to do something tangible for the sake of just saving the Gaza Strip. Rhetoric is no longer needed. Rhetoric is no longer satisfactory. We need them to do something tangible to stop the things that are happening in Gaza.
Some of the things that Gazans are suggesting, the no-fly zone to protect the civilians in Gaza. Some of the things that Gazans are suggesting, that Israel should be held accountable for what they call crimes that were committed against the humanity, against people, against civilians. The international humanitarian law is rich with terms and vocab that are related to the, what they call the civil objects, civil objects that are protected, journalists that are protected, medical teams that are supposed to be protected, medical facilities that are supposed also to be protected. But when you review the shocking numbers about the way that the journalists are being killed, for instance, the medical teams are being killed, for instance, you conclude that the international community is failing so far to do something tangible, rather than the statements, the condemnations, the calls for independent inquiries or commissions to look into the investigation. We need something tangible. And that something tangible has not been achieved so far. And Gazans have been dying constantly because of that.
Something should be done. Something swift should be done. Otherwise, the death would continue. Now in Gaza today, 79 people were killed. And an average number of around 65 to 79 is killed every day. And if nothing is done, this means the international community accepts the killing of Gazans and accepts the justification of Israel to continue that killing. [coughs] Sorry.
And when it comes to the situation in Rafah, in Rafah, around 1.4 to 1.2 million, because of the influx of people from Rafah in the last few days. People are so scared because of the looming ground operation. They understand that the Israeli occupation is going to target them, and they understand that death would be chasing them. So some of them moved from Rafah. Around 150,000 Gazans have already left Rafah and moved to the area in al-Mawasi, a buffer zone between Rafah and Khan Younis, in the hope that they would survive. The ones who are in Rafah and the ones who are in Khan Younis and the ones in Gaza, at the entirety of Gaza, are all IDPs, around 2.1 million IDPs, because of the destruction of the infrastructure, the destruction of the homes, the destruction of the streets, and because of the continuous bombardment that has been taking their life. And those people are living in areas that have no infrastructure. No infrastructure means that they don't have water supplies that are regular. They don't have sewage systems. They don't have food. They don't have even drinkable water with which they can cook the food. They don't have houses. They're living in tents. And today is a very hot day. Today and yesterday were very hot days in this specific season. And now people in the tents are struggling. They are sweating all day. The children that have respiratory — even the adults that have some respiratory disorders are suffering more than any other people, and this suffering is continuous.
And this situation, when it comes to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, is unbearable, unimaginable and unacceptable. When I tell you the situation is unimaginable, because, for me, some parts of Gaza and some part of those camps that I have seen, the suffering of the people is unimaginable. You will see them living just by the minimum, and even there is no minimum. And they have no other choice to continue living and waiting and hoping some solution would be developed or concluded sometime soon. This is the truth about the situation, something I have never seen in my life, let alone someone who's living thousands of miles away from Gaza.
People are buried in the streets. People are buried on the pavement. People are buried everywhere, in their homes. And some of the bodies, around 10,000 bodies, are in Gaza, are still under the rubble, and they have not been retrieved so far. You walk down the streets, and you smell death everywhere. You go to the hospital, that is supposed to be the temple of protection and humanity, you find the hospital totally devastated by death. You find the patients, who were supposed to be receiving the medical treatments, buried within the hospital. And you smell their decomposed bodies after the bodies were desecrated and unearthed. And wherever you turn your face, you see the children, you see the adults, you see the women and the men, the girls and the boys, suffering from that unjust situation that is still continuous. And no one single international power could stop that or bring an end to that ongoing suffering and misery.
AMY GOODMAN: Akram al-Satarri, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Be safe. Akram is a Gaza-based journalist, speaking to us from Rafah.
Student protests calling for university divestment from Israel and the U.S. arms industry have rocked campuses from coast to coast. The nonviolent protests, which have been characterized as "antisemitic" for their criticism of Israel, have been met with an intensifying police crackdown as university administrators threaten academic discipline and arrests. On Wednesday, local and state troopers violently arrested dozens at the University of Texas at Austin. Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Columbia University in New York City, the site of a high-profile student encampment and one of the first to be met with police action, where he called on university president Minouche Shafik to resign. We hear from two Jewish students involved in protests at their schools. Joshua Sklar, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin and an organizer with Jewish Voice of Peace Austin, says concern over campus antisemitism is insincere, and that, in fact, "The people who are being targeted are Muslim students, Arab students, and especially Palestinian students." Sklar and Sarah King, a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest who was arrested at the campus's Gaza Solidarity Encampment, also point out that a large percentage of protesters are Jewish anti-Zionists concerned about their safety from state repression. "The threat is really coming from Columbia University, which has set the police on hundreds of its students who are entrusted to its care," says King.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I'm Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Protests against Israel's assault on Gaza have rocked campuses from coast to coast over the past week amid an intensifying police crackdown. At the University of Texas in Austin, school officials called in local and state police, including some on horseback, who violently broke up a student encampment on campus. At least 50 people were arrested, including at least one journalist. Some faculty at UT Austin are going on strike today to protest the police crackdown.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University continues a week after over a hundred students were arrested in a failed attempt by the university administration to clear the demonstration. University President Minouche Shafik had said on Tuesday — had set on Tuesday a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment, but the school extended negotiations for another 48 hours. On a visit to campus Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Shafik to resign.
SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: I am here today joining my colleagues in calling on President Shafik to resign if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos. As speaker of the House, I am committing today that the Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are expected to run for their lives and stay home from their classes, hiding in fear.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we're joined in New York by Sarah King, member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest. She is Jewish, one of the students arrested at the encampment last week who's now suspended. We're also joined by Joshua Sklar, a graduate student at University of Texas Austin, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Austin, who was at Wednesday's protest.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Josh, there were more than 50 arrests at UT Austin. If you can respond to the House speaker, who's saying that these encampments around the country are antisemitic and pro-Hamas?
JOSHUA SKLAR: It's absolutely ridiculous. I was there with a contingent of Jewish students, and we were received very warmly. There were even Jewish Zionists there, and they were not harassed at all. In fact, I would say that they probably felt safer than the majority of protesters.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Sarah King, if you could describe what's happening now at Columbia University and your own position? You were suspended?
SARAH KING: Yes, I was one of the over 100 students who was arrested as part of a peaceful protest in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, and I'm one of the student who's been suspended, as well, so I'm currently not allowed to be on campus. And I have to say it's — the camp itself is very beautiful. It's been a real place of interfaith celebration and solidarity, in support of the people of Gaza, who are now at over 200 days of genocide. But, you know, the threat is really coming from Columbia University, which has sent the police on hundreds of its students who are entrusted to its care.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk, Sarah, about what's happened, how you got suspended and your treatment? I've been talking to a number of Columbia and Barnard students who said that some of them were given 15 minutes to get out of their dorm, and your meal card canceled, as you're banned from campus, as well.
SARAH KING: Yeah, that's exactly right. I'm one of the lucky ones, because I live off campus. But many students live in Columbia housing, and so they were evicted from their homes or locked out from their homes, probably illegally in many cases. We're looking into it. And they lost access to their normal food. I had an undergraduate who is low-income and was staying with me, because she was evicted with no notice and lost access to her meal plan.
And it's really very concerning the way Columbia uses the threat of — initially it was just — "just," quote-unquote — the threat of housing, the threat of loss of food to try to — you know, as a cudgel to get students into the correct political line that is best for its pocketbook, its investment portfolio. And now they're threatening to set the National Guard on us, risking another Jackson State, another Kent State, where students have been killed because the National Guard were set on students. And they're willing to risk the threat of violence at their hands because we're not, you know, consistent with what's best for their board of trustees or for their portfolios.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sarah, what about your response to Mike Johnson being invited to speak at Columbia University on campus yesterday?
SARAH KING: Yeah. I mean, first, I think it's shameful that he was allowed there. Like, I myself am not allowed on campus. I'm, you know, one of many talented and promising students with bright futures who have been banned from campus, but Mike Johnson, who is an open racist and white supremacist, along with people like Gavin McInnes, the head of the Proud Boys, they were welcomed on campus yesterday.
And to me, that really tells the story of what's at stake here, which is that, you know, the students fighting for Palestinian liberation are part of an interracial coalition — so many Jewish students, Muslim students, Black, Brown, Arab students — working together for the cause of freedom, on one side, and then, on the other side, you have political opportunists, like the House speaker, who, you know, will take any excuse they can get to come after that kind of interfaith, multigenerational coalition fighting for freedom. And right now it happens to be under the guise of something like antisemitism. But, you know, there's no substance to it at all. And I think anybody who came to campus and saw, the worst prosecution that the Jewish students on campus are facing is from Columbia University. We were disproportionately banned by Columbia because so many of us are part of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment trying to prevent a genocide in our name.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Joshua Sklar, wrote a piece in The Austin Chronicle. "We need a ceasefire now," it was called, the subtitle, "Anti-Palestinian violence is not 'on the other side of the globe.' It's here in Austin, too." If you can talk about that and how protesters were treated yesterday? You had riot police on horseback?
JOSHUA SKLAR: Yeah. I think that there's been this narrative that there's been rampant antisemitism. And this simply is not the case. The people who are being targeted are Muslim students, Arab students, and especially Palestinian students. Police came in on horseback, and they attacked protesters. I heard from other students that during an earlier part of the protest, they were clearly targeting Brown people and women. I wasn't there personally, but this is what I heard.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask Sarah King a final question. We have 10 seconds. And that is, 48-hour extension goes 'til tonight. What are the plans? Ten seconds, Sarah.
SARAH KING: You know, I think most of the people at the encampment have already agreed to risk arrest, and they won't move unless moved by force or until Columbia concedes to our demands, which are for divestment, amnesty and financial transparency.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you both for being with us, Sarah King, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and Joshua Sklar at UT Austin. I'm Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
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