No Innocent Civilians

A few things are clear from the attack on Israel and its ongoing revenge against the population of Gaza. One is that humans will do anything. No murder, cruelty, destruction, rape, torture, beheading or genocide are beyond the capability and willingness of any of us. The easiest way to do these things is to define someone else as a lesser being, someone not worthy of existence.

Another thing that is clear is that the truth of any world conflict depends on whose "side" one takes. The established order of the United States of America, for instance, sides with Israel, for reasons historical and political. Several countries, including the U.S., denied entry to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during World War II. After the war the State of Israel was declared, and became a migratory destination for Jewish people the world over. It was, and still is, a diaspora in reverse. Like the settlement of what is now known as "The Americas," this reverse diaspora was made possible by pushing out and killing the people who already lived there.

It seems clear also that we have failed as a species. We have advanced so far that we now can destroy all life on this planet with our technology, and are moving rapidly in that direction. Israel has superior weaponry in the Mideast, easily capable of killing all the Palestinians. They also have the richest banker in the world - us. We foot the bill for whatever mayhem it heaps upon its Arabic displacees 

Now the president of Israel has declared that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza. This is a pretext for killing them all. With our backing. Hitler was truthful about his attempt at genocide. We will find some lie or other when the genocide is complete. Israel already has a handy lie. They are God's chosen people. Everyone else is unchosen, available for elimination, should they qualify as no innocent civilians. We can back God's chosen people with our American exceptionalism. No innocent civilians are no match for these exalted über people.

It will all be for nothing. Climate change is bringing human civilization as we know it to an end, so what is going on in the Southern Levant is but a mild warmup for what awaits us. As biologist Paul Ehrlich so aptly put it earlier this year, "We're through. This civilization has about 20 years left, and then it is over." There will be far fewer, if any, humans left. Maybe the few left will be innocent civilians.
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Here's a song. A theme song for what remains of Homo sapiens after the climate self-corrects.

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Update, October 16: I sent a message to Joe Biden Saturday on the White House website. It is posted below, with one edit of a typo. I said 2013 instead of 2012. The links are added for readers' edification.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

I voted for you for vice president in 2008 and 2012, and for president in 2020. I likely will be voting for Cornel West in 2024. 

The reason I am choosing someone else is because of the carte blanche you are giving the government of Israel to destroy and kill in Gaza. The attack by the group Hamas was heinous, but to approve and encourage a blanket campaign of revenge shows you to be no more than a politician - weighing only the actions and perspective of one "side," the side we favor for reasons of domestic politics. 

I watched a recent interview with Franklin Foer, who wrote a book about you, "The Last Politician." He uses that term in praise, but there is a downside. If one is only a politician, then there is no anchoring in morality and ethics. I remember the Clarence Thomas nomination hearings. You were a 100% politician then too, foisting this corrupt human being on the American public for the past 32 years. 

 

This will not end well. Israel is making itself into a pariah state, and this country is as well. You are still preferable to Trump, but not enough for me to vote for you again.

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Joe Biden was interviewed on 60 Minutes Sunday. 100% politician.

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60 Minutes also has an update about "Republican" presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. Here's his theme song.

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Here's a short history of the Israel-Palestine conflict from ABC Australia.

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More insight from Slate. Another insight from Slate.

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Earlier this month I had a comment posted to an article about Steve Bannon in the New York Times. You might have to subscribe to read it, but you can read it for free below:

A number of things are converging. The end of Trump is rapidly approaching as his legal troubles are driving him batty. He is not mentally well, and it can be argued that he probably has been so for almost all his life. He likely suffered numerous severe beatings from one or both of his parents in his early years. They eventually had enough of him, and shipped him off to military school.

The "Republican" party has been a big nothing for decades, with a succession of grifters holding various offices through various forms of election chicanery. This includes Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and finally Trump. In 2020 the country had had enough of Trump, so his only option was to seize control of the government by force. Thankfully, his followers were as incompetent as he was and is, and the coup attempt failed.

Some, like Bannon, believe that their arrogance will be enough to keep the coup going, and eventually to sweep them into power. It is psychotic and doomed to failure. We should be thankful. If these people were sane, competent and had any kind of plausible vision of what this country and world need they might have succeeded. Instead, all they have are maniacal schemes and dreams of tyranny. Now we are at the end stage. As these criminals get more desperate they will be more dangerous. They will still fail. We need to maintain vigilance. 

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R.I.P. Dick Butkus. I saw him play once. Illinois v. Minnesota in Minneapolis, 1964. We had end zone seats, where you could really see Butkus at work. For half the game, at least. He played center on offense and middle linebacker on defense. On offense he opened holes three players wide - just unbelievable. I haven't seen anything like that before or since. Here are some highlights.

His time with the Bears was pretty unbelievable too, just fearsome. The level of intensity something I also hadn't seen before or since. Off the field you would never know he was so fierce, gentle as a kitten. The Bears, er, the Halas-McKaskey family, should have treated him better. George Halas hated his players. He made Gale Sayers run every play until he got hurt. If the McKaskey family would sell the team it might get better.

I no longer watch football or take any interest in it. I can still honor the past.