Some Recent Posts Elsewhere

Some of my favorite writing is in off-the-cuff comments to various news sites I visit. I never know if they will even make it into print, but when they do it can be gratifying and sometimes great fun. My most recent attempt made it into the New York Times, and had the most positive recommendations of any, 503 so far.

The View Within Israel Turns Bleak   

John Hamilton 

Madison, Wisconsin 

May 16

This of course won't last. I follow the simple Buddhist principle of impermanence. Anything that has a beginning has an end. For example, I had a beginning. I was born in 1945, three years before the granting of statehood to the settler state of Israel. Impermanence has been pretty obvious to me for many years, more so every day.

Our infinite-growth economic system also had a beginning. The established belief, especially among politicians and corporate executives and owners, is that it can indeed grow forever. To the rest of us it is becoming more obvious every day that it can't. When growth runs out, the system ends. With that end, among other things, will be the end of our sponsorship of Israel, and all the perfidy that it entails.

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Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin Calls On Samuel Alito To Recuse From Jan. 6 Cases

John Hamilton

I am old enough to remember when an upside down flag was used to protest the Vietnam War, nukes, civil rights abuses, corporate malfeasance and environmental crimes. Now it is seen as "patriotic" by a certain backward element in this country.

What I would like to see more of among our intelligentsia and punditocracy is a questioning of why it is so important to this backward element to overthrow democracy. It is really a hysteria, a feverish desire to be in power, and all the better if it is illegitimate. Various former members of the Trump cabinet, such as William Barr, say Trump is unfit to hold office, but endorse him over Biden.

These former Trump loyalists say things like Democrats in power would be a national disaster, the end of America, and such like. They never say just what would be so disastrous, but instead monger fear of said unsaid disaster. We have a Democrat in power now, and so far no disaster, except in Palestine, but Republicans don't care about that. Here's a song: Here's another. 

Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Roberts Barrett and Gorsuch should recuse themselves from ALL cases that come before the court. They are all tainted by dishonest and/or antidemocratic behavior before, during and after their nominations to the Supreme Court. Heh. They can stay on the Court, just can't hear any cases or make any decisions. Instead of black robes they can wear clown outfits. No noisemakers. Big shoes will be standard attire.

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Rep. Lauren Boebert Ridiculed For Attending Trump's Trial, But Not Her Son's

This won't last. The "Republican" party has been in a long downward slide, beginning with the ascendancy of Richard Nixon to the vice presidency in 1953. It went from a conservative approach to governance to a grandstanding, demagogic, scapegoating, corporate-serving, corrupt and antidemocratic gang of pretenders. It was a long downward slide, but it has likely reached its bottom.

It of course has reached its candidate bottom with Donald Trump, former and possible future president. Trump would seem to be finished, but Joe Biden is giving him a lifeline by running for reelection. Biden, a typical "centrist" president, fully backs the genocide in Gaza, pretending to criticize while offering more weapons and money.

I don't think either Trump or Biden will be their party's candidate by November 5 for health and legal reasons, but I may be inappropriately optimistic. Boebert will be gone too.

John Hamilton

Day five of the pro-Palestine encampment at Library Mall

To:editor@dailycardinal.com
Mon, May 6 at 12:47 PM

Hello

I quit Facebook and have been blocked from Twitter since 2019 for referring to Trump by his ancestral name Drumpf, so email is my remaining option. I was reading the article about antisemitic chalkings in today's edition, and found a common error that happens in much of the mass communications media - equating opposition to Israel and its actions to antisemitism. 

I suppose it can be called a trope, or a meme, but the accusation of antisemitism is wielded as a cudgel to denigrate critics of Israel, and is a handy accusation in general. The term Semite actually includes many peoples of the Mideast, and thanks to the history of meddling in the region by the U.S. government through invasions, assassinations, overthrows and gun-running over many decades, it is the USA that is the world's worst antisemite. It could be argued that our client Israel is the second worst, in one of history's greatest ironies.

I was surprised to see support for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, though they are certainly as legitimate as the state of Israel, a gifted entity that has expanded its gift over the decades through settlement, displacement and conquer. Hamas is, like it or not, the legal governing body of Gaza, designated a terrorist organization by the central designator of terrorism, the ruling regime of the United States of America. Whatever heinous behavior they commit pales in comparison with the occupier, the government of Israel.

I don't read the Daily Cardinal very often, though I should. Student journalists often do better work than their paid counterparts in commercial media. I listen to the Cardinal Call on WORT on Tuesdays, and enjoy it greatly. Best of luck in the future. These are interesting and dangerous times.

John Hamilton 

Madison

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Here's a song. This song is for Genocide Joe and his controller Benjamin Netanyahu.