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"The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information."

-- Noam Chomsky

News and Opinion

As Israel Gets More Murderous, We’ll Be Hearing Even More About “Antisemitism”

The Israeli military says it’s preparing a ground offensive in Lebanon as it continues to hammer its neighbor to the north with bombs. Which of course means we’ll be hearing a lot of anxious hand-wringing from the western political-media class about “antisemitism” in the coming weeks.

We know we’ll be hearing a lot more about antisemitism because that’s what always happens whenever Israel does something profoundly evil. People start objecting to its atrocities and demanding that their government stop facilitating them, and the imperial spinmeisters start framing these objections as a frightening rise in anti-Jewish bigotry in order to delegitimize and silence them.

The very first time you get accused of hating Jews for voicing legitimate criticisms of Israel’s actions, you immediately understand that the whole narrative about an epidemic of “antisemitism” in our society is a complete lie.

You’re like “It’s bad to murder children by the thousands” and someone tells you “Ah so you hate Jewish people then,” and you say “No I definitely do not,” and they say “Yes, yes you most definitely have very strong negative opinions about the members of a small Abrahamic religion.”

And you obviously know they’re making a false claim, because you’re you; you are the world’s foremost authority on what you feel and what opinions you have. You know with absolute 100 percent certainty that you have never at any time harbored any negative feelings toward this religious group you see around in your society whose members look and act pretty much the same as all the other pale-skinned people you run into.

You know Jewish people. You grew up routinely interacting with them, without their Jewishness ever entering into your head as a matter of significance. It’s not something you ever thought much about or cared about in your day to day living. And then here’s this person trying to tell you that you actually have a seething, obsessive hatred against Jews because you denounced the extensively documented abuses of a small middle eastern state which are being actively supported by your own government.

And so then you immediately go, Oh, so THIS is what people are talking about when they say there’s an “antisemitism crisis”? This is the “antisemitism” they’re talking about? People like me, who have never at any time had the slightest twinge of ill will toward the Jewish people ever appear inside them? We’re the “antisemites” that the entire western political-media class has been shrieking about all year in the midst of an active genocide? Well, that’s pretty ridiculous!

And from then on you know it’s a lie. Not only do you know it’s a lie, you know the people hurling the accusation know it’s a lie too, because you know from your own experience that it’s a smear tactic which is being cynically used as a bludgeon to protect the information interests of a warmongering apartheid state.

But you keep seeing it used, day after day after day after day by liars and manipulators, most of whom are not Jewish. Most of the people employing this cynical, manipulative smear tactic are gentile supporters of the US-centralized empire and the status quo world order it enforces. They support not only Israel but all the other warmongering projects of the empire against all its other targets throughout the world, in places like China, Russia, and South America.

So while you’re being dishonestly smeared with accusations of anti-semitism it still doesn’t make you feel any ill will toward Jewish people, because you can see that all this violence, dishonesty and manipulation isn’t being caused by Jews and isn’t ultimately about Judaism. This is about a giant globe-spanning power structure loosely centralized around Washington, whose managers around the world belong to every sort of faith and ethnicity.

When you define antisemitism as “any and all criticism of the state of Israel,” and then the state of Israel massacres thousands of children, you will naturally see a rise in “antisemitism” as you have defined it.

And make no mistake, that’s exactly what’s been happening. The Anti-Defamation League has admitted that last year it began including pro-Palestinian activism in its records of “antisemitic incidents”, and acknowledged that the majority of the supposed antisemitism in its recorded incidents could be “directly related to the Israel-Hamas war.”

So when you hear about “soaring antisemitism” and a crisis of anti-Jewish bigotry in our society, that’s what people are talking about. They’re talking about entirely valid and responsible public outcry against the actions of an apartheid state that is materially supported by the most powerful empire that has ever existed.

Obviously real antisemitism exists and is bad, but its scale, influence and threat in today’s world has been inflated by orders of magnitude by this freakish perception management operation, to the point that it is now treated as a more urgent and important concern than actual war and genocide.

The thing about smear campaigns is that once they are seen and understood, they always make the smearer look worse than the one being smeared. Keep calling this bullshit out for what it is, and help everyone understand that this is a slimy, disgusting manipulation that’s being used to defend some of the most evil things happening in our world today.

Report from Beirut: Israel Is "Targeting Everyone" in Bombing Campaign, Killing 700+ in Just Days

Netanyahu says Israel ‘will not stop’ attacks on Hezbollah despite ceasefire calls

Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel “will not stop” its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon despite calls from the US, France and other allies for an immediate three-week ceasefire aimed at containing the spread of a conflict that is beginning to engulf Lebanon.

The calls for an immediate ceasefire were backed on Thursday night by Lebanon’s minister for foreign affairs, Abdallah Bouhabib, who told the UN general assembly his country was enduring a crisis that “threatens its very existence”.

Bouhabib welcomed the US/French initiative, saying “Diplomacy is not always easy, but diplomacy is the only way to save innocent lives … Lebanon views the US-French initiative as an opportunity to generate momentum, to take steps towards ending this crisis.” Bouhabib said peace was incumbent on Israel’s government, and that there can be no lasting peace without a “two-state solution”.

Israeli airstrikes continued in Lebanon on Thursday, killing 92 people including the head of Hezbollah’s drone force, Mohammad Surur, and at least 150 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

The Israeli prime minister told reporters that his government’s policy was clear as he landed in New York, where he is due to address the UN general assembly on Friday. “We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we reach all our goals – chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes,” Netanyahu said.

A Lebanon ceasefire is impossible

25 Arrested Blocking Netanyahu's Motorcade to UN General Assembly

More than two dozen Palestinian and Jewish activists and allies were arrested in New York City Thursday after blocking the planned route of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's motorcade ahead of the right-wing leader's United Nations General Assembly speech.

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which co-organized the protest, said that 25 people including the actor Rowan Blanchard were arrested by New York police outside United Nations headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

"As Jewish New Yorkers we vehemently condemn Prime Minister Netanyahu's assault on Lebanon and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza," explained JVP's Jay Saper. "We will continue to raise our voices in dissent until the United States government stops arming Israel and Palestinians are able to live with the full freedom and dignity they deserve."

NYPD officers are arresting New Yorkers who are shutting down the Israeli delegations’s motorcade route the day they are slated to speak at the United Nations. New Yorkers are loud and clear: war criminals are not welcome in NYC. pic.twitter.com/cNHzqwN45T

— Jewish Voice for Peace NYC (@jvpliveNY) September 26, 2024

The protest and Netanyahu's New York visit came as Israeli forces continued the relentless assault on Gaza for which Israel is being tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice. According to Palestinian and international officials, more than 147,000 Gazans have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 7, when Hamas led the deadliest attack on Israel since the country's founding in 1948. ...

Several world leaders condemned Israel's aggression during their U.N. speeches this week.

"Gaza is one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history, and it is now dangerously spilling over into Lebanon," leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Tuesday.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa—which is leading the ICJ genocide lawsuit against Israel—said that "we will not sit silent and watch as apartheid is perpetrated against others." ...

"The only lasting solution is the establishment of a Palestinian state, a state that will exist side by side with Israel, with East Jerusalem as its capital," Ramaphosa added.

"I also raise my voice demanding the end of this genocide!"

Honduran President Xiomara Castro has called for an end to the genocide in Gaza, an end to the attacks on Lebanon, and an end to the blockade against Cuba and sanctions against Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Global… pic.twitter.com/JkbVIoJzVF

— Peoples Dispatch (@peoplesdispatch) September 25, 2024

Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro asserted that "when Gaza dies, all of humanity will die."

"Those of us who have the power to sustain life speak without being paid attention to," he added. "That is why they do not listen to us when we vote to stop the genocide in Gaza. The presidents who can destroy humanity do not listen to us."

MAX Blumenthal : US Official MOCKS Lebanese Murders.

Israeli government rejects calls for ceasefire in war on Lebanon

Israeli government officials delivered a uniform, savage rebuttal Thursday to the ceasefire proposal for the war with Lebanon proposed by 12 of Tel Aviv’s close allies, including the United States, UK and the European Union. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced bluntly: “The news about a ceasefire—not true. This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond. The news about the supposed directive to moderate the fighting in the north is also the opposite of the truth. ...

No effort was made to suggest that Israel would consider future proposals. The line from the prime minister on down was that the war would continue as long as they wished. Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened, as he has over Gaza, to lead his Jewish Power party out of coalition with Netanyahu and collapse the government if a ceasefire were agreed. He said, according to Haaretz, “Every day that this ceasefire is in effect and Israel does not fight in the north—Otzma Yehudit [Jewish Power] is not committed to the coalition.”

His close political ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented, “The campaign in the north should end in one scenario—crushing Hezbollah… Surrender of Hezbollah or war, that’s the only way”. The sentiment of these two most openly fascist members of the Israeli cabinet is shared by them all. Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared, “There will be no ceasefire in the north. We will continue to fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah with all our might until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed that the Israeli military would “continue throwing Hezbollah off balance and deepening their loss,” including by “eliminating Hezbollah terrorists, dismantling Hezbollah's offensive infrastructure and destroying rockets and missiles”. Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi was even more bloodthirsty: “We need to continue attacking Hezbollah, we have been waiting for this opportunity for years.” ...

The belligerence of the Israeli government comes in the face of an extremely muted response from its target in Lebanon, Hezbollah. The organisation released a video Wednesday stating, “We can escalate, but we are choosing to de-escalate at the moment.” Israeli negotiators strung along the idea of de-escalation in pantomime ceasefire talks over the last few days. Jacob Magid, US bureau chief for the Times of Israel, wrote after speaking with a senior Western diplomat, “Netanyahu’s conduct is extension of how he handled the Gaza hostage talks where he has privately agreed to show flexibility only to make public statement immediately afterward… thwarting progress.”

US Gives Israel $8.7 Billion in Military Aid for Operations in Gaza and Lebanon

On Thursday, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it secured $8.7 billion in military aid from the US to support its “ongoing military efforts,” meaning the genocidal slaughter in Gaza and Israel’s dramatic escalation in Lebanon.

The ministry said in a statement that its director-general, Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, concluded negotiations in Washington to secure the military aid. It said the package includes $3.5 billion for “essential wartime procurement” that has already been sent to Israel and a $5.2 billion grant for air defenses.

The ministry said the $5.2 billion for air defenses “will significantly strengthen critical systems such as Iron Dome and David’s Sling while supporting the continued development of an advanced high-powered laser defense system currently in its later stages of development.”

How Gaza exposed the US empire ‘like never before’ | Matt Kennard

Biden Announces Nearly $8 Billion in Military Aid for Ukraine

President Biden on Thursday announced a massive military aid package for Ukraine worth $7.9 billion ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. ...

He is authorizing the use of $5.5 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the US to send weapons straight from military stockpiles. If the PDA funds hadn’t been used, they would have expired on September 30, the end of the 2024 fiscal year. ...

Biden also announced $2.4 billion in military aid using the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the Pentagon to purchase weapons for Ukraine. The Pentagon said in a press release that the USAI package will include air defenses, air-to-ground munitions, drones, counter-drone systems, and other equipment.

A day earlier, the Pentagon announced a separate PDA package worth $375 million, making the total military aid pledged to Ukraine this week at $8.275 billion.

Zelensky gets US endorsement. Ugledar encircled

Harris decries Trump’s ‘proposals of surrender’ as Zelenskyy visits White House

Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, has indirectly denounced the Trump campaign’s policy on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine as “proposals of surrender” as the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington to present his own “victory plan”.

Addressing Zelenskyy at the White House, Harris said that “some in my country” would pressure Ukraine to accept a peace deal in which it surrendered its sovereign territory and neutrality in order to make peace with Vladimir Putin.

“These proposals are the same as those of Putin, and let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace,” she said. “Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.”

While she did not mention Donald Trump or JD Vance by name, those terms for peace closely resemble ones laid out by the Republican vice-presidential nominee in an interview earlier this month.

Zelenskyy had publicly denounced Vance as “too radical” after those remarks, sparking a conflict with Trump allies that has culminated with accusations of election interference and Republican calls for Ukraine to fire its ambassador to Washington.

Oklahoma man executed by lethal injection despite conflicting evidence

Oklahoma executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday morning, despite conflicting evidence regarding his guilt. Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, was executed by lethal injection for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City. Littlejohn was the third inmate put to death by the state this year. He was 20 years old at the time the crime was committed.

During the robbery, the store owner, Kenneth Meers, 31, was shot in the face while trying to defend himself. Although Littlejohn admitted to his involvement in the robbery, he has maintained that his accomplice, Glenn Bethany, was the one who pulled the trigger. Bethany was sentenced to life without parole, while Littlejohn was sentenced to death.

“I committed a robbery that had devastating consequences,” Littlejohn said during the hearing. “But, I repeat, I did not kill Mr Meers.” Littlejohn’s case has raised questions over conflicting evidence, with some witnesses pointing at Bethany as the shooter. His legal team argued against his execution, citing “inconsistent prosecutions” in his case. His lawyers also mentioned Littlejohn’s troubled childhood and underdeveloped brain at the time of the crime.

Several jurors have admitted they mistakenly voted for the death penalty because they misunderstood the implications of a life without parole sentence. During a hearing last month, Oklahoma’s pardon and parole board voted 3-2 to recommend the state’s governor, Kevin Stitt, spare Littlejohn’s life.

Eric Adams charged with taking bribes and foreign campaign contributions

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has been charged with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources after an indictment was filed against the leader of one of the world’s biggest cities.

In a five-count criminal indictment, US prosecutors allege that before and during his terms as mayor, Adams “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him”.

The criminal counts against Adams include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals, wire fraud, and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. Adams’s arraignment was scheduled for noon on Friday before magistrate judge Katharine Parker.

The complaint focuses on trips Adams and his partner took to Turkey, India and Ghana on Turkish airlines, sometimes staying in luxury hotels, that as an elected official he should have disclosed to the government, and campaign contributions made by Turkish officials through a system of “straw” donors.

Adams “did not disclose the travel benefits he had obtained in annual financial disclosures he was required to file as a New York City employee”, the government alleges. “Sometimes, Adams agreed to pay a nominal fee to create the appearance of having paid for travel that was in fact heavily discounted.” Prosecutors allege that Adams “created and instructed others to create fake paper trails, falsely suggesting that he had paid, or planned to pay, for travel benefits that were free”.

DNC "Absolutely Disgusted" Former Dem Operative; Now She's Leaving The Dem Party

Much more at the link...

Revealed: how the fossil fuel industry helps spread anti-protest laws across the US

Fossil fuel lobbyists coordinated with lawmakers behind the scenes and across state lines to push and shape laws that are escalating a crackdown on peaceful protests against oil and gas expansion, a new Guardian investigation reveals. Records obtained by the Guardian show that lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies were key architects of anti-protest laws that increase penalties and could lead to non-violent environmental and climate activists being imprisoned up to 10 years.

Emails between fossil fuel lobbyists and lawmakers in Utah, West Virginia, Idaho and Ohio suggest a nationwide strategy to deter people frustrated by government failure to tackle the climate crisis from peacefully disrupting the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure by enacting tough laws with lengthy jail sentences. “Draft bill attached,” wrote a lobbyist representing two influential fossil fuel trade groups to the lead counsel for the West Virginia state energy committee in January 2020. The law, which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence, was later used to charge at least eight peaceful climate protesters including six senior citizens.

Amid ongoing record oil and gas expansion in the US, activists say they have turned to protests and non-violent civil disobedience such as blocking roads and chaining themselves to trees, machinery and equipment as a way to slow down construction, raise public awareness, and press for more urgent climate action by governments and corporations. Civil disobedience is a form of political protest that involves breaking the law in a planned, symbolic way – which activists and rights experts say is part of the bedrock of a democratic society and in the tradition of civil rights movements.

The months-long investigation by the Guardian found that companies and lawmakers sought to increase the threat of criminal action against activists to protect oil and gas expansion – even as deadly and destructive extreme weather events hit communities nationwide. Last year was the hottest on record, and wildfires, baking temperatures, deadly floods and rising sea levels struck communities across North America – and the rest of the world. Under the Biden administration, the US has handed out more than 1,450 new oil and gas licences, accounting for half of the total globally, and 20% more licences than those issued by Donald Trump, who has promised to “drill, baby, drill” should he return to the White House.

The findings from dozens of freedom of information requests suggest that the right to peaceful protest is under attack in the US – much like in other major democracies including the UK, Germany, Canada and Australia.

Hurricane Helene intensifies to category 4 storm as it approaches Florida

Hurricane Helene strengthened to a catastrophic category 4 storm as it barreled toward Florida’s Gulf coast, making it one of the most powerful storms to hit the US this year.

The storm is expected to make landfall on Thursday night. Forecasters warn the enormous storm could create a “nightmare” scenario, with a potentially life-threatening storm surge that could reach 15-20ft (4.6-6.1 meters) in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Panhandle region.

Much of Hurricane Helene’s gathering strength comes from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which have reached unprecedented high temperatures in recent years. In general, the ocean waters around Florida have also seen rising temperatures, making the state more susceptible to catastrophic storms.

By Thursday afternoon, the storm had already strengthened into a category 3 hurricane in the Gulf waters and was expected to become more powerful before it made landfall. It was about 200 miles south-west of Tampa at midday and slightly gained speed, moving at 16mph.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Thanks to Biden, Lebanon Is Burning

Exploding Pagers Add to Israel’s War Crimes

The Grayzone meets Iranian Pres. Pezeshkian at UN General Assembly

When odious foreign policy elites rally around Harris

X Suspends Journalist Ken Klippenstein Over Publication of JD Vance Dossier

Capitalism Is Driven By Mental Illness

How social media is putting our rarest wildlife at risk

Comedy wildlife photography awards 2024 – in pictures

Israel’s Aggression On Palestine and Zionism’s Relationship to Judaism, w/ Zachary Foster

How CNN, ADL & Others Amplified Smear Against Rep. Rashida Tlaib for Criticizing Campus Prosecutions

Ken Klippenstein BANNED On X After Publishing JD Vance Dossier: INTERVIEW

Rep Massie Calls Out “DESPICABLE” Corruption From Dems & Republicans!

Prof. John Mearsheimer : Is Lebanon a Threat to Israel?

A Little Night Music

Dale Hawkins - Wild Cat Tamer

Dale Hawkins - Teenage Dolly

Dale Hawkins - La-Do-Dada

Dale Hawkins - Number Nine Train

Dale Hawkins - Little Pig

Dale Hawkins - Tornado

Dale Hawkins w/Roy Buchanan - Cross-ties

Dale Hawkins - Lovin' Bug

Dale Hawkins - My Babe

Dale Hawkins/James Burton - Who Do You Love