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THE ABSURD TIMES
It seems the religions get along together as long as the people can use their minds. At the bottom or end of this is a report on Zionism in action. The photo comes from people working together here to pick up after hate crimes. The article is a UN thing on Apartheid in Israel. [There is no need to point out, except for the sake of mockery, that Israel thinks it is a lie.]
Trump: Bugger the People
This may not be apparent to most U.S. Citizens, but the idiocy and inanity of the Trump administration is quite a relief to parts of the international community. While all the superficial funny stuff is going on, and our media is gobbling it up, other countries are happy to see it flailing away and looking like a clown with two left feet. So, let's look at the more amusing things first and then what Trump really means for the rest of the world.
Of course, hate crimes here have risen dramatically as Trump in office makes many think that such is fine these days. The morons who commit them, however, are not very well educated or knowledgeable, of course, as they voted for the clown. For example, we have several examples of Indian people (from India), Sikh sect being shot at and told to go back home to Iran. India and Iran are two different countries, naturally, but they have no idea of that. Mention Ghandi to them and they would look at you strangely. Mention a travel ban against Moslems, and they will still applaud, despite further rulings that they violate the first amendment (remember that?) In case you missed it, we deid publish the entire Constitution just recently. We may open things up for comment on the blog for awhile to see how things go.
Facebook, it seems, has yielded to Zionist pressure and banned most BDS conversations, but nude and objectified Marine women were to be found there until recently. The photos have now reappeared several places, but we have not looked for them.
Trump tends to TWC (Tweet While Constipated) often when publicity is a problem and manages to change the conversation. The latest spate was over Obama "tapping his phones" before the election. Soon afterwards, after a list of praise for Wikileaks ("I love Wikileaks'), a list of covert spying methods was released. "Weeping Angel" was my favorite, but they were many others, including something about a kangaroo. Lots of fun there. People pretended to be shocked and offended, but hasn't it been common knowledge that EVERYTHING is digitized, compressed, and stored somewhere by the NSA?
At any rate, these revelations were enough for his helpers to defend Trump. Kelley Anne Conway would say things like "they turn your microwave into a camera." Later, someone said that it was "said in jest," but we can tell when someone is jesting. Why we can even tell when Steven Wright was jesting. Conway simply cannot jest. She can use the term "alternative facts" completely seriously without any idea of how strange it sounds. Sean Spicer handled the nonsense a bit more safely, saying that "The tweets speak for themselves," and then ducking away from the cameras, surely a statement worthy of the Trump Administration. In case you wonder, all those tweets will become national property and placed eventually in the Trump Library one day.
Perhaps this belongs with the hate crimes, but what the hell – it all fits together anyway. Representative King (R – IA) stated that we can't have a civilization with other peoples babies. Confused? Well, you can't play tennis with them either. What's the point, moron? I keep reminding myself that he is a Republican and that explains most things.
Still, even Republicans are running away from the TWC, but many support their version of "healthcare". 1) Don't buy an Iphone, and 2) if you are 64 and make 34K/year, half goes for health insurance. Obama is increasingly being called the ACA which was its original name but called Obamacare by Republicans because, you know, black healthcare and all. Gotta keep our civilization with out babies.
Before we blame everything on the Republicans, consider how the Democrats kept Sanders from the nomination and remember he could have defeated both Trump and help other Dems take seats in Congress. However, he thought Medicare for all was the solution, and many voters agreed. That would put insurance companies out of profits and bring health care cost to what they are in other industrial nations (about half of what they are here). These companies donate hugely to campaigns.
And finally, Wikileaks never told us anything we didn't already know – it just provided documentation. It was popular here during Bush's war on Iraq; they same people are now attacking it as an instrument of Russia.
This is getting too crazy, so let's see how this affects the world. Since the military budget is being raised beyond what the military even wants, and already is larger than the next 8 countries' combined, we gotta cut other stuff, like the UN, EPA, and all that tree-hugging stuff. Perhaps those who voted for Trump will notice what he actually does to them.
Meanwhile, everyone seems to have forgotten Israel amidst all this nonsense and perhaps that is the reason. Here is an interview on Apartheid in Israel:
For the first time, a United Nations agency has directly accused Israel of imposing an "apartheid regime" on the Palestinian people. The report also urges governments to "support boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] activities and respond positively to calls for such initiatives." The findings come in a new report published by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which is comprised of 18 Arab states. For more, we speak with the co-author of the report, Richard Falk. He's professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and previously served as the U.N. special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: For the first time, a United Nations agency has directly accused Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on the Palestinian people. The report also urges governments to, quote, "support boycott, divestment and sanctions activities and respond positively to calls for such initiatives." The findings come in a new report published by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which is comprised of 18 Arab states. This is the head of the U.N. agency, Rima Khalaf.
RIMA KHALAF: [translated] The importance of this report is not only because it is the first of its kind, one that is published by one of the United Nations' bodies that clearly and frankly concludes that Israel is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people, but also it sheds light on the essence of the Palestinian cause and the conditions needed for accomplishing peace.
AMY GOODMAN: The report met with immediate condemnation from Israel and the United States. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York the report was published without any prior consultation with the U.N. Secretariat.
STÉPHANE DUJARRIC: If we just saw the report today, which, as you say, was published by ESCWA, it was done so without any prior consultations with the Secretariat. And the report, as it stands, does not reflect the views of the secretary-general.
AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about the report, we go, not to The Hague, but to Edinburgh, Scotland, to talk to Richard Falk, co-author of the report that's titled "Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid." He has written a number of books, including Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University. He previously served as the U.N. special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights.
Professor Falk, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the main findings of your report and how unusual this report is within the United Nations?
RICHARD FALK: Yes. As the head of the commission indicated, this is the first time that a comprehensive and systematic inquiry has been carried out into the allegation that Israel is responsible for maintaining an apartheid regime in relation to the Palestinian people. One of the distinctive features of the report is to treat the Palestinians as a whole, and that's quite innovative as far as the discussions of the applicability of apartheid to the Palestinian circumstances is concerned. And that means distinguishing between Palestinians that live under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza or as permanent residents in Jerusalem or as a Palestinian minority in the state of Israel, and, finally, as refugees or involuntary exiles.
What the report argues is that Israel has pursued a policy of fragmenting the Palestinian people in order to maintain the domination of a Jewish state over these different categories of Palestinians, and has done so in a way that is systematically discriminatory and is responsible for deep suffering over a very long period of time, with no end in sight. Unlike other forms of international criminality, this is an ongoing crime, according to the analysis in the report, and there is no end in sight, nor no political process that can adequately challenge this set of policies and structures that have been applied to the Palestinian people.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Professor Falk, I'd like you to say something about the agency that commissioned and published the report, the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The membership of this agency, there are 18 Arab members, a number of whom don't recognize Israel. So, do you think that that might raise questions about the legitimacy of the report?
RICHARD FALK: Well, all the—these Arab members of ESCWA did was to ask that such a report be prepared. And Virginia Tilley, professor at the University of Southern Illinois, and myself were asked to prepare this report on a contract basis. It doesn't represent a U.N. finding as such. It is a report commissioned by the U.N. that has been received, with approval, but there's been no formal endorsement of it. It's possible that it will be endorsed, or efforts will be made to obtain an endorsement at the General Assembly or in other parts of the U.N. system. But as of now, it's a scholarly report undertaken by independent scholars. And there is a kind of disclaimer that the U.N.—this U.N. commission made, that the report doesn't necessarily represent even ESCWA's views. It is the views of the two of us who prepared the report.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon issued a statement saying, quote, "The attempt to smear and falsely label the only true democracy in the Middle East by creating a false analogy is despicable and constitutes a blatant lie." The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, said the U.S. is "outraged by the report." In a written statement, she said, quote, "That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising. That it was drafted by Richard Falk, a man who has repeatedly made biased and deeply offensive comments about Israel and espoused ridiculous conspiracy theories, including about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is equally unsurprising." Can you respond to this? She said that the U.N. should withdraw the report altogether.
RICHARD FALK: Well, this is, of course, nothing new in terms of the way in which Israel and the United States respond to any kind of criticism, no matter how well grounded in fact and careful, reasoned analysis. I would ask that people look at the report, look at the evidence, and then come to a conclusion. Whatever else it is, it isn't an effort to smear Israel or to in any way give aid and comfort to anti-Semitism. In fact, the report makes a clear statement that it—that the authors are unconditionally opposed to anti-Semitism as a form of racism. And it tries to draw a distinction between criticizing Israel as a state, or Zionism as a movement, from any kind of hostility to the Jewish people. But, unfortunately, American diplomacy, including under the Obama—during the Obama period of leadership, and Israel don't want to deal with the substantive issues that are raised.
AMY GOODMAN: So talk about those substantive issues that you raised in this report, Professor Falk.
RICHARD FALK: Well, the essence of the substantive issues are policies and practices that impose a discriminatory—a discriminatory pattern of behavior that has greatly—greatly contributed to Palestinians suffering over the years on a daily basis. It is a situation that appalls most of the governments in the world, and is not something that is in any way dealt with in this report in an emotional way. It looks at the policies and practices. It looks at the structures by which Israel has justified the way in which it addresses the Palestinian presence in these four domains, and generally tries to make an objective appraisal of how these policies and practices stand up against the international definition of apartheid that is in the 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and—
AMY GOODMAN: And what did you conclude?
RICHARD FALK: We concluded that there is a integrated regime of apartheid that is victimizing the Palestinian people in a collective manner, and that it should be acted upon by the United Nations and by other institutional mechanisms to bring this crime to an end. That's the essential—
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Professor Falk, very quickly, before we conclude, can you say, what do you expect to happen? What's the effect of this report, given that the U.N. has already distanced itself from it?
AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.
RICHARD FALK: Well, the Secretariat has distanced itself. Other organs of the U.N. haven't responded so far as I know. Our hope is that this report will lead to a careful inquiry by appropriate organs of the U.N., and that if our analysis is persuasive, that it will have some political consequences.
AMY GOODMAN: Richard Falk, we want to thank you for being with us, joining us from Edinburgh, Scotland, co-author of the report, "Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid." Thanks for joining us.
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