The New York Slimes Tulsi hit job

What, Exactly, Is Tulsi Gabbard Up To?

As she injects chaos into the 2020 Democratic primary by accusing her own party of “rigging” the election, an array of alt-right internet stars, white nationalists and Russians have praised her.

Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, is impressed with her political talent. Richard B. Spencer, the white nationalist leader, says he could vote for her. Former Representative Ron Paul praises her “libertarian instincts,” while Franklin Graham, the influential evangelist, finds her “refreshing.”

Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, is impressed with her political talent. Richard B. Spencer, the white nationalist leader, says he could vote for her. Former Representative Ron Paul praises her “libertarian instincts,” while Franklin Graham, the influential evangelist, finds her “refreshing.”

And far-right conspiracy theorists like Mike Cernovich see a certain MAGA sais quoi.

“She’s got a good energy, a good vibe. You feel like this is just a serious person,” Mr. Cernovich said. “She seems very Trumpian.”

Among her fellow Democrats, Representative Tulsi Gabbard has struggled to make headway as a presidential candidate, barely cracking the 2 percent mark in the polls needed to qualify for Tuesday night’s debate. She is now injecting a bit of chaos into her own party’s primary race, threatening to boycott that debate to protest what she sees as a “rigging” of the 2020 election. That’s left some Democrats wondering what, exactly, she is up to in the race, while others worry about supportive signs from online bot activity and the Russian news media.

Perhaps strangest of all is the unusual array of Americans who cannot seem to get enough of her.

On podcasts and online videos, in interviews and Twitter feeds, alt-right internet stars, white nationalists, libertarian activists and some of the biggest boosters of Mr. Trump heap praise on Ms. Gabbard. They like the Hawaiian congresswoman’s isolationist foreign policy views. They like her support for drug decriminalization. They like what she sees as censorship by big technology platforms.

How long did this author wait to bring in David Duke's endorsement that Tulsi disavowed immediately? Not long... but I haven't seen any references to Assad yet.

Ms. Gabbard has disavowed some of her most hateful supporters, castigating the news media for giving “any oxygen at all” to the endorsement she won from the white nationalist leader David Duke. But her frequent appearances on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show have buoyed her support in right-wing circles.

Both Ms. Gabbard and her campaign refused requests for comment about her support in right-wing circles or threat to boycott the debate. Even some political strategists who have worked with her are at a loss to explain her approach to politics.

At least he doesn't say that Tulsi used Russian talking points to take Kambama down.

Yet there is only confusion for several Democratic officials, activists and party officials, who privately say they have been a little spooked by Ms. Gabbard. Rival campaigns worry about her unpredictable attacks if she participates in the debate, pointing to her sharp jabs against Senator Kamala Harris of California in an earlier matchup.

“She’s taken a series of policy steps which signal to the right that she has deep areas of alignment,” said Neera Tanden, a longtime policy adviser to Hillary Clinton who now leads the Center for American Progress, NOT a liberal think tank.

Oops. Here's the Russian propaganda being put into play.

The questions deepened on Thursday after Ms. Gabbard threatened to boycott Tuesday’s debate, arguing that the corporate news media and the Democratic National Committee are working together to rig the event. (The New York Times is a co-sponsor of the debate with CNN.)

But it’s also an argument that reminds some Democrats of the narrative pushed by Russian actors during the 2016 presidential contest, when an operation by internet trolls worked to manipulate American public opinion: that the electoral system is broken and cannot be trusted.

He goes on to talk about how Tulsi doesn't think that we should be the police of the world anymore. And how some veterans are supporting her because of that. So what does he take from that?

Still, Democrats are on high alert about foreign interference in the next election and the D.N.C. is well aware of the frequent mentions of Ms. Gabbard in the Russian state news media.

An independent analysis of the Russian news media found that RT, the Kremlin-backed news agency, mentioned Ms. Gabbard frequently for a candidate polling in single digits, according to data collected by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a group that seeks to track and expose efforts by authoritarian regimes to undermine democratic elections.

(Umm what the hell does this even mean?)

Disinformation experts have also pointed to instances of suspicious activity surrounding Ms. Gabbard’s campaign — in particular, a Twitter hashtag, #KamalaHarrisDestroyed, that trended among Ms. Gabbard’s supporters after the first Democratic debate, and appeared to be amplified by a coordinated network of bot-like accounts — but there is no evidence of coordination between these networks and the campaign itself.

Laura Rosenberger, a former policy aide to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and director of the Alliance, sees Ms. Gabbard as a potentially useful vector for Russian efforts to sow division within the Democratic Party.

“The Russian activity could be part of a longer-term effort to drive a wedge among Democrats,” she said. “This messaging has echoes of 2016.”

That kind of speculation inflames Ms. Gabbard’s supporters online, who are known for swarming Ms. Gabbard’s critics on Twitter, for attacking the news media and the Democratic establishment for perceived bias against her and for compiling YouTube clips of her “destroying” and “shutting down” her Democratic rivals.

Ms. Gabbard’s fans are especially sensitive to claims that she is supported by Russian bots and amplified by the Russian state-funded news media outlets — a conspiracy theory, they say, that is designed to delegitimize her campaign and her foreign policy views.

He throws this in but I don't understand how it connects.

“This whole thing the Democratic Party has done by putting forward this false idea that there was collusion between Russia and Trump has hurt our relations in a huge way with the Russians,” Mr. Graham said. “I can’t speak for Tulsi, but I think she feels kind of the same way on some of these things.”

Raise your hand if you identify as one of these.

“Clearly there’s something about her and her policies that attracts and appeals to these type of people who are white nationalists, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers,” Mr. Kahele said. “To her credit she has denounced David Duke, rejected these endorsements. But it does beg the question why.”

And here it is.

Most controversially, she has repeatedly defended the brutal Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, whom she met in January 2017.

Even though she has said repeatedly that he is a brutal man. Or something, but what she said is that she doesn't think he gassed his own people. Know who else said that? General Mattis.
"There is no evidence of Assad using chemical weapons on his people."

In the three years since, Ms. Gabbard has criticized Israel for its reaction to protests, met with Mr. Assad and made several statements defending his regime.

“To have a moral woman like Tulsi who is a military hero suddenly sit with a man who did that was inexplicable,” Rabbi Boteach said. “I don’t understand it until today. I can’t figure her out.”

Since Herheinous created Russia as the biggest boogie man in history anyone who doesn't toe the DNC party line is a Russian bot or troll. Or you know...Americans who ar effing tired of the status quo. It's acceptable now days to call anyone who you don't like their actions a Russian agent. Being in Vlad's pockets. This is especially galling when it's a member of congress. Moscow Mitch. Leningrad's Lindsay. Tyschowsky Tulsi.

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edg's picture

I hadn't really given much thought to Ms. Gabbard until recently, but reading your essay and others has me warming up to her candidacy. She must be doing something right to have such a vast array of centrist and corporatist Democrats and neoliberals arrayed against her.

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snoopydawg's picture

@edg

Laura Rosenberger, a former policy aide to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and director of the Alliance, sees Ms. Gabbard as a potentially useful vector for Russian efforts to sow division within the Democratic Party.

“The Russian activity could be part of a longer-term effort to drive a wedge among Democrats,” she said. “This messaging has echoes of 2016.”

That kind of speculation inflames Ms. Gabbard’s supporters online, who are known for swarming Ms. Gabbard’s critics on Twitter, for attacking the news media and the Democratic establishment for perceived bias against her and for compiling YouTube clips of her “destroying” and “shutting down” her Democratic rivals.

Never any mention of how republicans have gerrymandered the country so badly that no election should be considered fair. Or that democrat and republican operatives do everything they can to keep people from voting. Nope. The reason our elections are not fair anymore is because of Russia Russia Russia Russia!

Didn't Tulsi bring suit against Google for removing her stuff from the search results? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

But if you think this hit job is bad you haven't looked on the great orange Satan lately. The vitriol just oozes from the kids whenever Tulsi's name comes up. But of course they aren't sexist.

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@edg
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvapMC4PwhQ]

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Centaurea's picture

from the news media:

Perhaps strangest of all is the unusual array of Americans who cannot seem to get enough of her.

Someone said much the same thing about Bernie supporters a couple of weeks back. "It's hard to figure out why people still support Bernie." This was prior to his heart procedure.

If a journalist doesn't understand why people support a particular candidate, I wonder if there's anything they could do to find out? Hmmm. I wonder what it could be ...

Oh, right. Investigate. They could get up from behind their computer, go out into America, and talk to people. They could let go of their preconceptions and open their minds to take in what is happening in the US. Then apply critical thinking abilities and actual journalistic skills to what they see and hear.

As we know, most of these folks at the NY Times and MSNBC aren't practicing journalism. Yes, many (not all) of them have degrees from Ivy League schools. But when you look at what they actually do, it's not journalism. It's propaganda. They are propagandists.

By the way, that bit about Russian collusion was thrown in there as a dogwhistle.

To a certain portion of the American public - the portion who watch MSNBC and read NY Times and automatically believe what they read and have allowed their minds to be captured - Russian "collusion" is an absolute fact in which they are emotionally invested. To them, anyone who questions their preferred scenario is highly suspect.

For a propagandist, waving the "collusion" flag is an easy way to get their audience worked up against someone.

Edited to add: the fact that this dogwhistle is there reveals who the writer is aiming his/her words toward and what he/she is trying to accomplish. It's a big "tell" that the piece of writing is propaganda.

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~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

snoopydawg's picture

@Centaurea

and see why people like what he said. And then talk to people after.

the fact that this dogwhistle is there reveals who the writer is aiming his/her words toward and what he/she is trying to accomplish. It's a big "tell" that the piece of writing is propaganda.

Just one of the many jobs against anyone who doesn't want to continue screwing us. As the FBI dude said, his job is to make sure no leftist gets elected. But this one was so bad I wouldn't even line my cat's litter box with it.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Centaurea thus far aimed at smearing Tulsi Gabbard. A thinking person might ask why they are going after her so hard when she is not polling that high. Well, the answer is that they are scared to death of Tulsi's anti regime change message. If this catches on with the general public, the jig is up for the MIC, the bankers, and the elites.

As long s the US is engaged in military adventures all over the world, Congress will continue to avoid doing anything about universal health care, free public education, climate change, and the myriad of other pressing problems facing us and the world today. The war machine is an excuse to do nothing while military contractors reap huge dollars from the killing of innocent people around the world. It is so freaking immoral and Tulsi is the only one who has made it the center point of her campaign.

Based upon my own experience, I found that most people are sick of war but feel helpless to stop the killing machine. What Tulsi has been doing is connecting the fiscal costs of these wars to why we do not have things in this country that the majority of the rest of the world has.

We desperately need a real anti-war movement in this country. And the media is trying its best to keep that from happening by smearing the most out front messenger against all these wars, Tulsi Gabbard.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98
of a military person at a sports event, and thought to myself, there is now an entire generation of Americans who have no experience of a state of non-war -- whose first cultural exposure to the Forever War would have been as tots watching their first baseball or hockey game, and who now just take it for granted that wars are things that have no beginning and no end, they're just the natural state of any successful nation.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

mentions her at all shows their desperation, IMHO. If she's such a nothing candidate, only whatever single digit support, blah, blah, blah, then what are they so worried about that they feel the need to write up that article and put it on what is the front page on my phone (daily propaganda check purposes for me)? Talk about giving her publicity, although they of course slam her as right wing just because she does in fact say things that both "sides" of their manufactured divide agree with. Can't have the plebes start thinking about how that divide fucks both sides now, can we? As for her slam of Kambama, while I did not watch her do it I do really enjoy the fact that she did. To see anyone take one of these arrogant shits down always makes me smile.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

snoopydawg's picture

@lizzyh7

boycotting the debate. Was that her plan all along? And calling out how the DNC is interfering with the primary? lol

How anyone can dismiss the rigging of the primary is just not looking at what's in front of them. Not just the debates schedules or the limit of them, but the news that showed how Hillary bought the DNC and was in charge of everything it did and had veto power. Or that she laundered money through it and pocketed $84 million for her personal organization. Nope. Not rigged.

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@snoopydawg Sigh. One sent some meme today about Trump, his ignorance, cotton candy hair, blah, blah. I didn't even bother to respond. But maybe I go find one that's anti Shillary just to be a bit of a bitch. Both know damned well better than to believe the partisan hype but they cannot help themselves with Trump. I remind both constantly about Mike Pence, both are what I would call ardent feminists and do love them some MeToo.

How Mike Pence is an improvement is beyond me, just really is. How anyone can not simply look with what I call their American Gut and see what these people are about just blows me away still. But they only want to bitch about those emails being released, never mind what was in them. And apparently in their minds all will be much, much better with the Orange Man gone, whatever. Stunning, the brainwashing, how pernicious it is.

End rant.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

snoopydawg's picture

@lizzyh7

People really seem to have lost touch with reality since Trump became president. My uncle is like your friends when it comes to the things Trump is doing. I just stay quiet about my thoughts during our visits. But I remember feeling a lot like them when Bush was president. Now I'm just not that vested in this because he's not the only one who did what he's doing. He isn't really doing much of anything that previous presidents have done, but he just refuses to wear the imperial mask that others did. Is he actually the one who comes up with his drastically horrible policies or is he just the vehicle to finally get them passed? The fact that democrats aren't constantly calling him out on what he is doing tells me that they are just fine with it. Both party's donors want what he is doing or I think he'd be long gone. My thoughts on this impeachment farce is that he is investigating the origins of Russia Gate and he won't send the military into Iran.

How Mike Pence is an improvement is beyond me, just really is.

Ditto. On the emails that were released do you mean Hillary's? And that no one talks about what they showed? If so. Ditto again. But that was why they blamed them on Russia. To keep people from focusing on their content. That it worked so well is just mind blowing.

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Granma's picture

@snoopydawg to have read those emails supposedly released by Russia. Aren't there any curious people left, or people with just a bit of curiosity. If so-called journalists haven't read them, they do not possess necessary basic instincts of journalists.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Granma

I think many people here know basically what they showed. But others? You're right. They didn't even bother to read them to see why they were released. If they had they would have seen what we did. But then there's that catch. Assange had been vilified in the media for years so it was easy to discount anything he said right? And tying him to Russia was a brilliant stroke. Two birds with one stone... that is why so many so called progressives don't care that he was renditioned out of the embassy either. A rapist with ties to Putin? No sympathy.

Wasn't there a journalist who said it was illegal for people to read them? CNN or MSDNC?

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@snoopydawg the one who sent that meme today said "you mean the mastermind?" For tanking Her of course... She did get a full lecture, I really do tend to shoot off my mouth but I just can't help myself - it is the WILLFUL blindness that just pisses me off and gets me going. And I do find that if I repeat it enough some sinks in, not enough really, but some. I myself do get it's hard to let go of those old biases, I was always a rabid "blame the Republicans" until I read enough, a lot of it here, to know better, but even I still have those old knee jerk moments.

Whenever I read any headline or even sentence in any article that says "Trump's" whatever horrible thing it is, I immediately just shake my head and usually talk back to the author, no, it's not only Trump, and really, if people would admit it to themselves, they already know it isn't only Trump. But America got a good look at itself in all the unvarnished ugliness with Trump and it doesn't really like the image. At least parts of it don't. He's only ripped the mask off, after all. He is uncouth and vulgar, and the Empire really needs a smooth talker. Pence will do nicely for them.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

snoopydawg's picture

@lizzyh7

to Assange and the Russian farce. Hopefully you will get through that thick noggin if you keep at it.

I myself do get it's hard to let go of those old biases, I was always a rabid "blame the Republicans" until I read enough, a lot of it here, to know better, but even I still have those old knee jerk moments.

Yep. It was hard to see through the kabuki of congress and see that it's both parties that do the same thing. It took me about two weeks after Obama became president to see that he wasn't going to do anything he said he would. But it still took until Bernie got screwed for me to come fully awake. I'm woke.. another thing I see on ToP is how it was Bush and Cheney that took the country to war and now Trump is continuing it, but there is never any mention of Obama's invasion and destruction of Libya and Syria or that none of the Ukraine crap would be happening if he hadn't done his coup on it. Saint Obama is back! lol..

This article is hilarious! There were numerous articles a few years ago where people in Ukraine admitted that they helped Hillary with the election and to get dirt on Manafort. But the more Trump digs for the origins the more articles come out saying that there is no there there! This one hit all the high points. And now we're seeing articles saying that Russia is connected to Rudy's two Ukrainian friends. It seems like every time Russia Gate starts dying down we get a new story with new evidence that shows Russia being bad. Read it and laugh.

Keep trying on waking up your friends.

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snoopydawg's picture

@lizzyh7

Nils Melzer wrote about what Assange has been put through during the last decade and started out saying that he had believed all of the things written about him. If you haven't seen it I'll try to find it so you can give it to your friend. If this doesn't wake her up then I think she's a lost cause.

Here is the article This is a damning report on what the world has done to Julian and I'm surprised how many news sites published it. The NYS. Guardian. BBC and even CNN.

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@snoopydawg @snoopydawg I found it on Medium: https://medium.com/@njmelzer/demasking-the-torture-of-julian-assange-b25...

P.S. It should be required reading for every member of Congress.

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snoopydawg's picture

@tle

This is the one that people should read to get his full statement and the tracks he took to come to his decision. He at first had bought into all the propaganda he had heard about Assange, but then did his own research. Gee what a concept?

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Centaurea's picture

@snoopydawg

It was Chris Cuomo who told his viewers on CNN that it is illegal for ordinary American citizens to read Wikileaks documents. He went on to say that he and CNN would read it, and that we could rely on them to tell us what we need to know.

It was a complete lie, from beginning to end. Any halfway competent journalist is familiar with the NY Times "Pentagon Papers" Supreme Court decision.

Either Chris Cuomo is incompetent, or he's corrupt. Or both. In either case, I don't trust him at all.

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~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

snoopydawg's picture

@Centaurea

for filling in the details. Yeah we can just let the media tell us what we need to know. After its been filtered through the CIA and CFR right?

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This is kind of a side rant but damn I am tired of hearing about how mean Tulsi dared “go after” Kamala. I though the whole point of these things was for the candidates to distinguish themselves from each other and, well, debate things. It seems the media thinks this is just pull the string and hear them reel off sound bites. Same with Castro and Biden. FFS shouldn’t we want to see how these people deal with criticism, especially before they face off against Trump who will not hold back?

And you know what we don’t hear about? How Kamala made a very calculated go at Biden during the first debate. Especially ironic considering her whole thing came off like a prepared statement, like she was intentionally having a go at the front runner. The others feel to me like it was more in the moment and honest.

Ugh. Ready for this to be over.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

snoopydawg's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

You are right that the debates are so people can find out about their candidates. I think many people were glad to hear about the things that Kambama did during her tenure as Attorney general of California since she and others have tried to cover it up. There are plenty of videos of her doing what Tulsi said she did. But now we're being told that she spreaded Russian talking points. Russia Russia R! Gawd I'm sick of everything wrong in this country being blamed on them. The things people say about Russia would never be tolerated if they were said about Israel. Brennan said that Russians have a tendency to deceive.... just imagine that being "Israelis have a tendency to deceive."

Ha.. Kambama had t shirts ready to be sold with her as a little girl on them minutes after she said that about ByeDone. Yeah she faked going after him. I think Warbama also knew about that question she was asked about religious people saying that marriage is between a man and a woman. It felt rehearsed not spontaneous didn't it? Phony Liz.

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ppnortney's picture

@snoopydawg Would make a promising new game to play on social media, especially Twitter. Call it the Blame Name Game - repeat back the neocon or talking head anti-Russia smear but replace Russia with Israel.

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The smaller the mind the greater the conceit. --Aesop

@snoopydawg I'm sure you've seen this, but how can anyone believe this woman is anything but more of the same (with better branding)?

[video:https://youtu.be/lqDl6vRX4-E]

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snoopydawg's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

that is unbelievable isn't it? How anyone can trust anything she says just baffles me. She never answers the dam question. Look at the tweet I posted in my essay where she doesn't answer a direct question asked her twice.

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gulfgal98's picture

Glenn Greenwald posted an epic series of tweets about the NY Times smear job of Tulsi Gabbard. Below is a link to his series tweets. You will have to unroll them.

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1183018481354248192

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98 Thanks for linking those tweets.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

@gulfgal98

It's the second tweet I want people to look at, but agree that they should look at the whole thread.

McCarthyism: it's the explicit formula:

to insinuate she's a Russian agent, a white nationalist, and/or a traitor is sick & malignant, but that's DNC politics.

I feel the same way when people say that the GOP is in Russia's pockets or Moscow Mitch. That people think that the CIA, FBI, Congress or other agencies that work in the dark would allow anyone in our government to be captured by a foreign government at the level people think they are is .... I can't think of the words. But again.... if anyone said that about the Israeli government heads would role.
Sorry it's morning. I'm not get my point out. But I am appalled that this is allowed to be printed in one of the biggest newspapers in this country!!

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