Agree we need to vigilant because the occupation goes on building up the opportunity for the settler colonial state's next slaughter which the global weapons congressional complex will be funding with our quiet complicity.
Caitlin, you just keep getting better and better... I mean I've followed you for quite a long time now and you've always had a special unique way with words. This made me cry, thank you it's a necessity right now.
Yes - all the so called international institutions - ICC, ICJ, UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, etc. They were all conceived on the basis of maintaining Western hegemony (and making sure their version of Capitalism prevails).
It's a good question to ask. Maybe the core question here is, are wars ever necessary? Should people have not tried to stop Hitler? Many voluntarily signed up because they felt they were doing their moral duty to stop an evil.
But I also think part of it is many people really don't fully realize what war is all about - especially when one is in their late teens, early 20s - many think they'll be that guy who will survive the war, with a few good stories and scars - it will only be "other" guy/gal who will die horrible deaths or be captured and summarily executed. But it won't be them.
Also another factor that feeds the military is poverty. It is true - many people just sign up for the military because it's a way out of a dead-end job living in the slums. And poverty has been increasing here in the US. The gap between the rich and poor now is greater than it was during the gilded robber baron age of the 1920s - some say even worse. The American middle class is being destroyed by the open class warfare of the top 1% Americans - who have corrupted the US government more than ever before.
I think it’s very telling of the IsraHelli mentality that all 18-year-olds are required to serve in the military. Little wonder the citizens are so imbued with hate; they are conditioned to be so.
They will. They probably do not sleep much. And they have a full time job rationalizing what they have already done. Why I tell kids DO NOT JOIN THE MILITARY. They're really recruiting hard where I live. Rural kids from blue collar homes are their favorite kind of meat.
young flesh rots just as quickly as old flesh does. Maybe quicker. The really tragic thing is the young are so eager to reach the abattoir. They can't wait. Their education focuses more on athletics than learning. Their parents often do not want them signing up. But they feel compelled to "be supportive" for some reason I do not understand. Instead of being parents and GUIDING them with their hard-won WISDOM, they are bimbo cheerleaders. When the kids come home they'll spend time trying to fit in again and when their PTSD becomes too much, they'll be out on the streets. We have one of the worst opioid problems in the country.
Goddamn I'm crying like a baby before I've even gotten out to feed the horses and hay the cows. What a terrible gratitude to be safe and warm and working the farm whilst so many suffer so greatly. Devastating truths. Forgive them Father? Hardly. They know EXACTLY what they do.
When the slaughter stops in Gaza, I will never be able to return to the human being I once was.
I will never again experience joy in painting or gardening. They will merely serve as distractions.
I will forever look at human beings as monsters.
Every thought and dream will involve dead and dying children and the image of Aaron Bushnell.
My mind will be filled with fantasies of committing homicide against those who perpetrated this.
Whenever I encounter a stranger, I will wonder if they supported the genocide.
I will forever despise the nation in which I reside.
I will never again expect anyone in power to do the right thing.
I look forward to dying to escape this insane world. My afterlife was shown me in a dream; a beautiful sunny meadow in which my only companions are animal friends.
Sorry for preaching at you, but I can’t help thinking that the very pain and anguish that leads you to your conclusion contains the deep seated recognition that the reason you care is because there is something worth saving in our seriously flawed species. I hope you can recover and reconnect to that truth.
We’ve had a very warm winter here as well; yesterday I wore shorts (!) when I worked outside.
Jenny, what part of France do you reside in?
We are supposed to have another hot, wet summer here. Luckily I’m pretty immune to heat—my ancestors are Mediterranean— and we are among the very few we know who don’t have central air.
So far we’ve only had 22 inches of snow this winter—-this Is MICHIGAN, for Christsake!
I don’t see how this can be attributed to anything but climate change…
I am going to confine my interaction with non-humans (hubby excepted) for a very long time, if not forever. I’ll spend my time with my beloved cats and among my myriad plants and trees. My horse recently passed away, so this summer I’ll be looking for another. The Goddess’s blessings be upon you.
How beautifully said ! Right now and here my only companions are animal friends.
But take me with you to that beautiful sunny meadow ..... though, I'm much, much older than you and I do not know where should I look for that sunny meadow .
Look for a beautiful bay Morgan mare waiting by a great river. Her name is Angelina. Tell her you are my friend. Wait for me, if you go before I do, and she’ll carry us across the river to “our”meadow.
I’m not selfish; I’m happy to share my meadow with like-minded humans 🙂
From one poet to another: Very nice poem, really liked it, your approach, your imagery, the whole thing, ALTHOUGH I think it's going to be even more traumatic after the slaughter stops. I hope the neighbors of Israel get smart and boost their Israel-economy-destroying efforts. Everything coming out of Israel portends the real slaughter after the slaughter stops. Unless we can stop them.
This is an important article which brings things together and explains why what is happening, is happening:
After promoting Russofobia and supporting Nazi-dominated oh soo democratic government of Ukraine and badmouthing Tucker Carlson for a glimpse into life in capitalist Russia ;-))
Glenn Greenwald has pretty much the same position although I could not find it.
Stewart isn't doing anything but making noise to pacify "Americans" much like all the lies that spew from the mouth of the White House press secretary.
About 10 years ago, I might have listened to Stewart's skit and thought it actually meant something. But its is nothing.
Stewart put a medal on a Ukrainian Nazi at Disney World.
Thanks for the Jimmy link. I stopped watching his show because of Kurt interrupting his monologue. It’d be one thing if he was funny, but he just pisses me off.
Yeah that became annoying to me as well. Kurt butts in whenever he wants and it's like I had to listen to him through half the show, when I really tuned in and wanted to hear what Jimmy had to say. Placone and Elwood I liked better as co-hosts, but they disappeared as soon as Jimmy went on a crusade for the right-wing entrenched Anti-vaxxers, with the usual arguments that Covid was a worldwide conspiracy and just another "flu". Which has become a wedge issue for the left and pushed by those who want to divide the Left on social media. He's still fixated on the issue as well - like dude, Covid was 4 years ago. Move on.
I don’t see why Jim needs anyone else on his show unless he’s interviewing someone. I did watch that piece and Kurt was just obnoxious. I extend the video, but then collapse it which gives me the option to advance it by 10 seconds which helps when Kurt talks. He’s such a distraction for me. Ugh.
He probably gets tired of doing all the heavy lifting. It's usually a good idea to have two people present - instead of just one. It provides more energy to a show - why interviews are so well established for a news show. People just get tired of one person talking all the time.
But you need to have a co-host that doesn't detract from the overall show itself and who isn't constantly trying to be on the mic more than the host himself. Which is annoying as all get out.
Jimmy is learning. He's like a little kid who just figured out Santa isn't real. I like him but he's learning. I think that other guy is there to keep things rolling. I don't pay attention to him because I don't have a clue what he is talking about. Or why. Anyone in mainstream media has to play the game or they're out. Do you remember when NPR's Bob Edwards said he thought Palestinians had equal rights to Israelis? Within one hour it was announced that Edwards had handed in notice. F a duck. I've been wondering since then where he was and then he died and there was absolutely no mention of his very sudden dismissal. It is a miracle any of them survives professionally and as miraculous that any of them leave because of personal integrity. That's the REAL news.
I thought it was funny/horrific when Rachel Maddow refused to even mention Israel when--I don't even remember which outrage was going on--everyone else in the left-leaning news was talking about it. But, damn, she's so "Jewish" she refused to cover it. I don't remember Judaism supporting women, let along lesbians. But she likes that job. It's a good gig. Horrible what capitalism requires of people. I'm serious. I haven't watched her since. Life is too short.
Of course Stewart is playing the game. I don't understand why all these people keep playing. Surely by now they have enough socked away for the rest of their lives and that of their children.
Netanyahu was a terrorist. Congress invites him to talk to them. He's been to the White House quite a few times. You think these people LIKE the jerk? Obama could barely stand to be in the same room. This is not news. This is how they play the game. Lots of people do things that are rather shocking. I'm sure Jimmy Dore has done stuff in his past that is questionable. I'm not picking on him. Most "successful" people do. I don't know much about him either. I think I first saw him when RFK Jr. was stupid enough to say out loud what his position on Israel was. What was THAT about??!!! That was the end of RFK Jr. for me. Shortest campaign ever.
What's fascinating is how much they are willing to do before they've had enough.
As for apophenia, not me. I just have the misfortune of knowing more about the M.E. than most Americans born and bred here. It totally sucks, trying to educate people who didn't even know the names of most of these countries until 9/11/2001. I used to have to tell Americans where I was born and raised by saying, "Um---it's near Israel." Then the light bulb would go on above the head of the person I was talking to. OMG. Geography? What the hell is that??!!
And how many times have I been told the U.S. has "the best educational system in the world." Ever been outside Peoria?
Wow! I really stepped in a hornets' nest! I quit watching TV back when they insisted we all get HDTVs since I don't like people I didn't invite into my house to listen in on the dogs' snores and farts, and me ranting to myself about stupid-ass Americans. So I have absolutely NO IDEA what you boys are so excited about and I don't really care. I thought his skit was belly-laugh FUNNY and I appreciated a laugh after the last--oh--75 years of--whatever you would characterize it as. I don't see a hopeful future. I don't see the mentally ill demented Israelis becoming good neighbors--well--EVER. A two-state solution won't work. And as lovely as Palestinians are, I can't see a ONE STATE solution working either. I know Palestinians are remarkably resilient and forgiving, but I just cannot imagine forgiving the Israelis, and I went to school with some of them. That society is just too far off the deep end and frankly I think they need a re-education camp. And, no, I'm not politically correct. So as far as I am concerned, the only solution is for the Ashkenazi and their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and adopted children, et al. to go back where they came from, which was NOT the Middle East. The Mizrahi have a LONG history of getting along with Arabs so they can stay, but they'd better behave. Some of them can be bullies. 40% of my graduating class were Mizrahi and the boys I could have done without. And we're entering our 70th year and I know for a fact they are still obnoxious, sexist, weak-ass bullies who can't stand up by themselves. But maybe that's just their gender.
If you want to keep going on about Jon Stewart, knock yourselves out. But I'm not interested so probably won't read it. Just saying.
I'm not criticizing you for watching or laughing at Stewart. Some of the funniest jokes are gallows humor.
Just reminding us all of who Stewart is, that he responds to the Oligarchy and does what he is told. One could hold that against him, but that wouldn't be fair. After all, what am I doing to stop the genocide.
Actually, you are sticking out your elbows and making room for others to say what they think but are too afraid to utter in public. That's what I'm doing. And it's probably the most effective thing we CAN do. I'm not getting a fake vaccine so I guess I'm not going anywhere. I have little money and no real power except for my brain, consciousness, ability to express myself in writing, and some unusual experiences growing up in the M.E. I long ago figured out I'm just another body in a march or demo but my main efficacy is as a writer. So here I am. Writing to anyone who will listen. And fighting against the Israel propaganda machine (which, admittedly, is not hard to do). We each do what we can. We're not good Germans, if that's the implication. Those people live in Israel.
Many years ago I used to live in a major city and was very active in the spoken word community. I learned that if you can open one more person's awareness to include that little bit of yours that they are ignorant of and resistant to, even if they do not go on to teach another person what you just exposed them to, their consciousness is forever changed. And your awareness will spread like wildfire in the community, even if not through actual spoken words. So everything you or I write changes world consciousness and therefore the end result. Same thing with Caitlin's writing. Do not feel helpless or hopeless or ineffectual. We are all part of the whole. I know it sounds hippy-dippy but it's profoundly true.
I would love to be in Gaza right now but I can't get in. Neither can you. Actually, I would love to have visited Gaza before Israel demolished it. (I did visit the West Bank and loved it, but that was a long, long, LONG time ago--a decade after the Nakba.) But it'll rise again. The Persian name for the phoenix is Simorgh. It means "thirty birds". It's a metaphor for community which self-immolates and rises again from its ashes in rebirth every 500 years. (Aren't Iranians brilliant???!!!)
The Ashkenazi do not understand this. And never will.
A caveat. The banana seller in Tunisia did not start the "Arab Spring". The CIA did. Lots of good people joined in but the CIA's hidden Machiavellian motive was not so wonderful. They weakened Egypt which is what they intended to do. They hoped to take out many other countries as well, but in that they failed. Self-immolation has been used many times. And the CIA has used good people many more. Evil little bastards.
Everything everyone does changes history. Everything.
Why respond so vociferously to a post about Jon Stewart and ignore the much weightier links I posted before that?
As for Stewart, there's a place for those who follow orders and a place for those who do not. Stewart has more of an audience than I do for a reason. I don't give good blow. Maybe he does and maybe he doesn't. One thing I do know is that he made me laugh and he made some very succinct points. As a poet I know that if you can get an audience to FEEL, their brains open up a chink and they are momentarily open to difficult material. So my hat goes off to Jon Stewart. I'm grateful to him for what he DID do.
"Why respond so vociferously to a post about Jon Stewart and ignore the much weightier links I posted before that?"
What did you want me to say? I agree? It was good the first article named names. However he didn't say "Oligarchy", but maybe "Money Masters" is a more appropriate label. I just wish we could converge on who these "men behind the curtain" are. The MSM reports on "some" of them all the time (Musk); "some" of them some of the time (Soros); and some of them almost never (Koch)
Ralph didn't tell me anything I didn't already know so I'll leave it to others to comment.
I don't want people to be suckered by Jon Stewart. I no longer find him funny because I view him as the "court jester" making fun of important facts so that the situation is defused and we are pacified. Remember when Dave Chapelle used to be funny? (I don't but...)
This is not meant to suggest others should feel the same way. You found it funny, good. Feel free to laugh.
How can life be ‘normal’ when our babies are being murdered and starved to death. How can we look the other way when our mothers and sisters are ripped apart, brutalised and degraded. How do we carry on when our teachers, our doctors, our fathers and grandfathers are systematically being sniped, forcibly leaving our families unprotected and unable to be mended.
God bless you for keeping our focus on the most important and difficult thing today.
When the slaughter stops in Gaza, I will continue to weep for those babies, children and all the civilians who have been murdered in Gaza and hope there are still Palestinians left to remember and document what was done to them as well as tell future generations what was done to them. Beautiful poem, Caitlin. Free, Free Palestine!! 🇵🇸😢☮️❤️
I'll never forget this ongoing human atrocity Israel has committed - for the rest of my life. I will not forget the name of a US soldier Aaron Bushnell - who burned himself alive not because he was psychotic (he wasn't), but because he felt betrayed by the country he swore to protect.
So many go to war, thinking they’re helping their country and then they see this is not helping anyone. They see the war crimes committed by our government in the name of “freedom” & “democracy” and realize that’s not what they signed up for. No wonder so many vets have PTSD.😢☮️
Or are committing suicide. It's very sad to see - and is a clear symptom of the unaddressed sickness of our US society right now - where corruption and the love of money rules over human morality and decency.
Why Would Anyone Kill Themselves to Stop a War? On Aaron Bushnell and Others. Colonel Ann Wright
Six years ago in 2018, after returning from a Veterans For Peace trip to Vietnam, I wrote an article called “Why Would Anyone Kill One’s Self In an Attempt to Stop A War?”
Now, six years later, in the past three months, two people in the United States have taken or risked taking their own lives in an attempt to change U.S. policies on Palestine and call for a cease-fire and stop U.S. funding to the State of Israel that would be used to kill in the Israeli genocide of Gaza. An yet unidentified woman, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, set herself on fire in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 1, 2023. Three months later authorities have yet to release the name of the woman. Her condition was unknown as of mid-December.
This week, on Sunday, February 25, 2024, active duty U.S. Air Force member Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while he was stating “Free Palestine and stop the genocide.” Bushnell died from his injuries...
..While on a Veterans for Peace trip to Vietnam in 2014 and while on another VFP delegation in March 2018, our delegation saw the iconic photo of a well-known Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc who set himself on fire in June1963 on a busy street in Saigon to protest the Diem regime’s crackdown on Buddhists during the early days of the American war on Vietnam. That photo is seared into our collective memories...
..But, did you know that several Americans also set themselves on fire to attempt to end U.S. military actions during those turbulent war years in the 1960s?
I didn’t, until our VFP delegation saw the portraits displayed of five Americans who gave their lives to protest the American war on Vietnam, among other international persons who are revered in Vietnamese history, at the Vietnam-USA Friendship Society in Hanoi. Though these American peace persons have fallen into oblivion in their own nation, they are well-known martyrs in Vietnam, 50 years later...
..After seeing one particular portrait again—that of Norman Morrison—I decided to write about these Americans who were willing to end their own lives in an attempt to stop the American war on the Vietnamese people.
What distinguished these Americans to the Vietnamese was that, as American soldiers were killing Vietnamese, there were American citizens who ended their own lives in order to try to bring the terror of invasion and occupation for Vietnamese citizens to the American public through the horror of their own deaths.
..The first person in the United States to die of self-immolation in opposition to the war on Vietnam was 82-year-old Quaker Alice Herz who lived in Detroit, Michigan. She set herself on fire on a Detroit street on March 16, 1965. Before she died of her burns 10 days later, Alice said she set herself on fire to protest “the arms race and a president using his high office to wipe out small nations.”
Six months later on November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker from Baltimore, a father of three young children, died of self-immolation at the Pentagon. Morrison felt that traditional protests against the war had done little to end the war and decided that setting himself on fire at the Pentagon might mobilize enough people to force the United States government to abandon its involvement in Vietnam. Morrison’s choice to self-immolate was particularly symbolic in that it followed President Lyndon Johnson’s controversial decision to authorize the use of napalm in Vietnam, a burning gel that sticks to the skin and melts the flesh.
Apparently, unbeknownst to Morrison, he chose to set himself on fire beneath the Pentagon window of then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
Thirty years later in his 1995 memoir, In Retrospect: The Tragedy in Lessons of Vietnam, McNamara remembered Morrison’s death:
"Antiwar protests had been sporadic and limited up to this time and had not compelled attention. Then came the afternoon of November 2, 1965. At twilight that day, a young Quaker named Norman R. Morrison, father of three and an officer of the Stony Run Friends Meeting in Baltimore, burned himself to death within 40 feet of my Pentagon window. Morrison’s death was a tragedy not only for his family but also for me in the country. It was an outcry against the killing that was destroying the lives of so many Vietnamese and American youth.
I reacted to the horror of his action by bottling up my emotions and avoided talking about them with anyone—even with my family. I knew (his wife) Marge and our three children shared many of Morrison’s feelings about the war. And I believed I understood and shared some of his thoughts. The episode created tension at home that only deepened as the criticism of the war continued to grow."
Before his memoir In Retrospect was published, in a 1992 article in Newsweek, McNamara had listed people or events that had had an impact on his questioning of the war. One of those events,McNamara identified as “the death of a young Quaker.”...
..Every Vietnamese school child learns a song and poem written by Vietnamese poet Tố Hữu called “Emily, My Child” dedicated to the young daughter that Morrison was holding only moments before he set himself on fire at the Pentagon. The poem reminds Emily that her father died because he felt he had to object in the most visible way to the deaths of Vietnamese children at the hands of the United States government...
..One week after Norman Morrison’s death, Roger LaPorte, 22, a Catholic Worker, became the third war protester to take his own life. He died of burns suffered through self-immolation on November 9, 1965 on the United Nations Plaza in New York City. He left a note that read, “I am against war, all wars. I did this as a religious act.”...
..In the case of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell, Aaron told the world his reason: "I do not want to be complacent in the genocide of Gaza! Free Palestine!." His sentiments are echoed by hundreds of millions around the world who recognize the horrific Israeli genocide of Gaza. For U.S. citizens, it is our duty to keep pressure on the Biden administration to stop funding Israel's genocide of Gaza and violence in the West Bank.
I am not a poet however, my protest of Genocide. I was scheduled to attend a celebration at our lab for an inventors celebration party. I declined with, I can not accept this award while our lab supports this Genocide. Organizer of the event " why do you say the lab is supporting Genocide" Me " The flag of israel flies out front" Silence. I wish it did something other than fall on uncaring ears. The flag is still flying with all the other promoters of Genocide. I will never forget. BDS is alive and well.
In America Biden is throwing a Governors Ball! My state’s Governor is selling his soul while Israel’s slaughter of children and other humans continues unchecked. 😡
You're more optimistic than I am. Your words are beautiful and thought provoking. I'd say...
When the slaughter stops in Gaza
I will keep my eyes open
And question what really stopped
And who's telling me that it has stopped
And what came to replace the bombs
Because the absence of missiles
Doesn't mean there's justice
And we've seen such illusion of peace
Over and over again across the globe
When the slaughter stops in Gaza
I will keep the fight going because
The slaughter of the flesh might stop
But the slaughter of justice will go on
When the slaughter stops in Gaza
I will remember the war crimes
I will remember who did it
I will continue to call for justice
They are the same people who are destroying America
They are the same people destroying the World
We know who they are
We need to name names
I will remember Aaron Bushnell
and cry
John, I wholeheartedly agree with your words.
Agree we need to vigilant because the occupation goes on building up the opportunity for the settler colonial state's next slaughter which the global weapons congressional complex will be funding with our quiet complicity.
Caitlin, you just keep getting better and better... I mean I've followed you for quite a long time now and you've always had a special unique way with words. This made me cry, thank you it's a necessity right now.
I will admit, I cried, there was no stopping it. Yes, a necessity.
I sincerely hope that every Israeli soldier involved with the war in Gaza suffers crippling PTSD for the rest of their miserable lives.
Hi Carla
I hope they face hanging in The Hague.
Along with Genocide Joe front and center.
Yes - all the so called international institutions - ICC, ICJ, UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO, etc. They were all conceived on the basis of maintaining Western hegemony (and making sure their version of Capitalism prevails).
Always wondered why people sign up to fight wars?
It's a good question to ask. Maybe the core question here is, are wars ever necessary? Should people have not tried to stop Hitler? Many voluntarily signed up because they felt they were doing their moral duty to stop an evil.
But I also think part of it is many people really don't fully realize what war is all about - especially when one is in their late teens, early 20s - many think they'll be that guy who will survive the war, with a few good stories and scars - it will only be "other" guy/gal who will die horrible deaths or be captured and summarily executed. But it won't be them.
Also another factor that feeds the military is poverty. It is true - many people just sign up for the military because it's a way out of a dead-end job living in the slums. And poverty has been increasing here in the US. The gap between the rich and poor now is greater than it was during the gilded robber baron age of the 1920s - some say even worse. The American middle class is being destroyed by the open class warfare of the top 1% Americans - who have corrupted the US government more than ever before.
Excellent reply. Thanks Jamenta.
I don't live in the US but I did for 23yrs.
It is obvious to me that a lot of young people joined the military in order to get an education. Yes poverty.
This needs to be looked into further.
What was promised to these poor people when they joined the military.
Were they able to get out after having an education or were they expected to fight in wars?
I think this needs deep investigative reporting.
Hi Jenny
I think it’s very telling of the IsraHelli mentality that all 18-year-olds are required to serve in the military. Little wonder the citizens are so imbued with hate; they are conditioned to be so.
Yes.
They will. They probably do not sleep much. And they have a full time job rationalizing what they have already done. Why I tell kids DO NOT JOIN THE MILITARY. They're really recruiting hard where I live. Rural kids from blue collar homes are their favorite kind of meat.
Young & fresh for the meat grinder. Despicable!!😢🤮
young flesh rots just as quickly as old flesh does. Maybe quicker. The really tragic thing is the young are so eager to reach the abattoir. They can't wait. Their education focuses more on athletics than learning. Their parents often do not want them signing up. But they feel compelled to "be supportive" for some reason I do not understand. Instead of being parents and GUIDING them with their hard-won WISDOM, they are bimbo cheerleaders. When the kids come home they'll spend time trying to fit in again and when their PTSD becomes too much, they'll be out on the streets. We have one of the worst opioid problems in the country.
IF they come home. Then there is the guilt of the parents?
Goddamn I'm crying like a baby before I've even gotten out to feed the horses and hay the cows. What a terrible gratitude to be safe and warm and working the farm whilst so many suffer so greatly. Devastating truths. Forgive them Father? Hardly. They know EXACTLY what they do.
When the slaughter stops in Gaza, I will never be able to return to the human being I once was.
I will never again experience joy in painting or gardening. They will merely serve as distractions.
I will forever look at human beings as monsters.
Every thought and dream will involve dead and dying children and the image of Aaron Bushnell.
My mind will be filled with fantasies of committing homicide against those who perpetrated this.
Whenever I encounter a stranger, I will wonder if they supported the genocide.
I will forever despise the nation in which I reside.
I will never again expect anyone in power to do the right thing.
I look forward to dying to escape this insane world. My afterlife was shown me in a dream; a beautiful sunny meadow in which my only companions are animal friends.
I can’t wait.
Yes. I often wonder about people I see and what they think. Do they do anything?
Happy to be at home most of the time.
Sorry for preaching at you, but I can’t help thinking that the very pain and anguish that leads you to your conclusion contains the deep seated recognition that the reason you care is because there is something worth saving in our seriously flawed species. I hope you can recover and reconnect to that truth.
No apologies necessary Joy…ever.
Sadly I have no hope for humanity. I wish that Mother Nature would vomit us out like the poison to this planet that we are.
We all need time to heal if this is ever possible.
Our Winter here has been warm and am dreading Summer. We could not go out on our terrace for much of it.
Nature will do it's thing.
Hi Jenny
We’ve had a very warm winter here as well; yesterday I wore shorts (!) when I worked outside.
Jenny, what part of France do you reside in?
We are supposed to have another hot, wet summer here. Luckily I’m pretty immune to heat—my ancestors are Mediterranean— and we are among the very few we know who don’t have central air.
So far we’ve only had 22 inches of snow this winter—-this Is MICHIGAN, for Christsake!
I don’t see how this can be attributed to anything but climate change…
South right on the Rhone near the Camargue. You would love the White horses and cowboys.
Of course it's climate change and I view the people who say it's not as ............bobo's!
Wow. No snow! I can see some on the mountain not far from us but this is the first time!
Did you hear that France has now enshrined Abortion into the French constitution. Yay.
Omg Jenny! I have wanted to see those Camargue horses my entire life! How I envy you 😊
What a beautiful place you must live in…I guess in the south it would get pretty warm wouldn’t it.
And good for France BTW! Ignore the asshole Bot. He thinks he’s playing devil’s advocate, but he’s just a braindead piece of filth.
"Did you hear that France has now enshrined Abortion into the French constitution. Yay."
Perfect! I hope they abort themselves into non-existence.
Feeling the same, I'm forever changed by this and I hate humans more than ever before. Hugs, for what it's worth....
Thank you Kate; you’re a sweetheart.
I am going to confine my interaction with non-humans (hubby excepted) for a very long time, if not forever. I’ll spend my time with my beloved cats and among my myriad plants and trees. My horse recently passed away, so this summer I’ll be looking for another. The Goddess’s blessings be upon you.
The new horse will calm you Gypsy.............if I didn't have our cats and dogs and hubby....no way I would still be here.
Same here, Jenny!
I just hope I can find a horse that even comes close to my beloved Angelina. If not, I’ll pass.
You will. I have faith.
Hugs and xxxxx
How beautifully said ! Right now and here my only companions are animal friends.
But take me with you to that beautiful sunny meadow ..... though, I'm much, much older than you and I do not know where should I look for that sunny meadow .
Hi Blackbird
Look for a beautiful bay Morgan mare waiting by a great river. Her name is Angelina. Tell her you are my friend. Wait for me, if you go before I do, and she’ll carry us across the river to “our”meadow.
I’m not selfish; I’m happy to share my meadow with like-minded humans 🙂
From one poet to another: Very nice poem, really liked it, your approach, your imagery, the whole thing, ALTHOUGH I think it's going to be even more traumatic after the slaughter stops. I hope the neighbors of Israel get smart and boost their Israel-economy-destroying efforts. Everything coming out of Israel portends the real slaughter after the slaughter stops. Unless we can stop them.
This is an important article which brings things together and explains why what is happening, is happening:
https://michelchossudovsky.substack.com/p/who-owns-the-world-a-small-group?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1910355&post_id=142081712&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f8h4m&open=false&utm_medium=email
The, of course, from the wonderful Ralph:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/what-mass-media-needs-cover-israel-gaza-conflict-ralph-nader/5850769
Oh! I forgot the best link of all!!! This is a MUST SEE.
https://www.thewrap.com/jon-stewart-daily-show-israel-palestine-peace-comedy-central/
After promoting Russofobia and supporting Nazi-dominated oh soo democratic government of Ukraine and badmouthing Tucker Carlson for a glimpse into life in capitalist Russia ;-))
Exactly Che.
The audience laughter when he notes the atrocities is reprehensible.
Jimmy Dore on Jon Stewart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8dNhQQhnVk
Glenn Greenwald has pretty much the same position although I could not find it.
Stewart isn't doing anything but making noise to pacify "Americans" much like all the lies that spew from the mouth of the White House press secretary.
About 10 years ago, I might have listened to Stewart's skit and thought it actually meant something. But its is nothing.
Stewart put a medal on a Ukrainian Nazi at Disney World.
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/08/31/jon-stewart-pentagon-ukrainian-nazi-disney/
You can find Stewart funny, you can watch him. Just know who he really is.
Of course then remember Snowden's article on Apophenia and watch out you don't get dragged into some rabbit hole that really doesn't serve you.
Thanks for the Jimmy link. I stopped watching his show because of Kurt interrupting his monologue. It’d be one thing if he was funny, but he just pisses me off.
Jim tries talking over him…but.
Yeah that became annoying to me as well. Kurt butts in whenever he wants and it's like I had to listen to him through half the show, when I really tuned in and wanted to hear what Jimmy had to say. Placone and Elwood I liked better as co-hosts, but they disappeared as soon as Jimmy went on a crusade for the right-wing entrenched Anti-vaxxers, with the usual arguments that Covid was a worldwide conspiracy and just another "flu". Which has become a wedge issue for the left and pushed by those who want to divide the Left on social media. He's still fixated on the issue as well - like dude, Covid was 4 years ago. Move on.
I don’t see why Jim needs anyone else on his show unless he’s interviewing someone. I did watch that piece and Kurt was just obnoxious. I extend the video, but then collapse it which gives me the option to advance it by 10 seconds which helps when Kurt talks. He’s such a distraction for me. Ugh.
I don’t know how many messages I’ve sent Jim..
He probably gets tired of doing all the heavy lifting. It's usually a good idea to have two people present - instead of just one. It provides more energy to a show - why interviews are so well established for a news show. People just get tired of one person talking all the time.
But you need to have a co-host that doesn't detract from the overall show itself and who isn't constantly trying to be on the mic more than the host himself. Which is annoying as all get out.
Jimmy is learning. He's like a little kid who just figured out Santa isn't real. I like him but he's learning. I think that other guy is there to keep things rolling. I don't pay attention to him because I don't have a clue what he is talking about. Or why. Anyone in mainstream media has to play the game or they're out. Do you remember when NPR's Bob Edwards said he thought Palestinians had equal rights to Israelis? Within one hour it was announced that Edwards had handed in notice. F a duck. I've been wondering since then where he was and then he died and there was absolutely no mention of his very sudden dismissal. It is a miracle any of them survives professionally and as miraculous that any of them leave because of personal integrity. That's the REAL news.
I thought it was funny/horrific when Rachel Maddow refused to even mention Israel when--I don't even remember which outrage was going on--everyone else in the left-leaning news was talking about it. But, damn, she's so "Jewish" she refused to cover it. I don't remember Judaism supporting women, let along lesbians. But she likes that job. It's a good gig. Horrible what capitalism requires of people. I'm serious. I haven't watched her since. Life is too short.
Of course Stewart is playing the game. I don't understand why all these people keep playing. Surely by now they have enough socked away for the rest of their lives and that of their children.
Netanyahu was a terrorist. Congress invites him to talk to them. He's been to the White House quite a few times. You think these people LIKE the jerk? Obama could barely stand to be in the same room. This is not news. This is how they play the game. Lots of people do things that are rather shocking. I'm sure Jimmy Dore has done stuff in his past that is questionable. I'm not picking on him. Most "successful" people do. I don't know much about him either. I think I first saw him when RFK Jr. was stupid enough to say out loud what his position on Israel was. What was THAT about??!!! That was the end of RFK Jr. for me. Shortest campaign ever.
What's fascinating is how much they are willing to do before they've had enough.
As for apophenia, not me. I just have the misfortune of knowing more about the M.E. than most Americans born and bred here. It totally sucks, trying to educate people who didn't even know the names of most of these countries until 9/11/2001. I used to have to tell Americans where I was born and raised by saying, "Um---it's near Israel." Then the light bulb would go on above the head of the person I was talking to. OMG. Geography? What the hell is that??!!
And how many times have I been told the U.S. has "the best educational system in the world." Ever been outside Peoria?
Wow! I really stepped in a hornets' nest! I quit watching TV back when they insisted we all get HDTVs since I don't like people I didn't invite into my house to listen in on the dogs' snores and farts, and me ranting to myself about stupid-ass Americans. So I have absolutely NO IDEA what you boys are so excited about and I don't really care. I thought his skit was belly-laugh FUNNY and I appreciated a laugh after the last--oh--75 years of--whatever you would characterize it as. I don't see a hopeful future. I don't see the mentally ill demented Israelis becoming good neighbors--well--EVER. A two-state solution won't work. And as lovely as Palestinians are, I can't see a ONE STATE solution working either. I know Palestinians are remarkably resilient and forgiving, but I just cannot imagine forgiving the Israelis, and I went to school with some of them. That society is just too far off the deep end and frankly I think they need a re-education camp. And, no, I'm not politically correct. So as far as I am concerned, the only solution is for the Ashkenazi and their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and adopted children, et al. to go back where they came from, which was NOT the Middle East. The Mizrahi have a LONG history of getting along with Arabs so they can stay, but they'd better behave. Some of them can be bullies. 40% of my graduating class were Mizrahi and the boys I could have done without. And we're entering our 70th year and I know for a fact they are still obnoxious, sexist, weak-ass bullies who can't stand up by themselves. But maybe that's just their gender.
If you want to keep going on about Jon Stewart, knock yourselves out. But I'm not interested so probably won't read it. Just saying.
I'm not criticizing you for watching or laughing at Stewart. Some of the funniest jokes are gallows humor.
Just reminding us all of who Stewart is, that he responds to the Oligarchy and does what he is told. One could hold that against him, but that wouldn't be fair. After all, what am I doing to stop the genocide.
As Bushnell said, "you're doing it now!"
Actually, you are sticking out your elbows and making room for others to say what they think but are too afraid to utter in public. That's what I'm doing. And it's probably the most effective thing we CAN do. I'm not getting a fake vaccine so I guess I'm not going anywhere. I have little money and no real power except for my brain, consciousness, ability to express myself in writing, and some unusual experiences growing up in the M.E. I long ago figured out I'm just another body in a march or demo but my main efficacy is as a writer. So here I am. Writing to anyone who will listen. And fighting against the Israel propaganda machine (which, admittedly, is not hard to do). We each do what we can. We're not good Germans, if that's the implication. Those people live in Israel.
Many years ago I used to live in a major city and was very active in the spoken word community. I learned that if you can open one more person's awareness to include that little bit of yours that they are ignorant of and resistant to, even if they do not go on to teach another person what you just exposed them to, their consciousness is forever changed. And your awareness will spread like wildfire in the community, even if not through actual spoken words. So everything you or I write changes world consciousness and therefore the end result. Same thing with Caitlin's writing. Do not feel helpless or hopeless or ineffectual. We are all part of the whole. I know it sounds hippy-dippy but it's profoundly true.
I would love to be in Gaza right now but I can't get in. Neither can you. Actually, I would love to have visited Gaza before Israel demolished it. (I did visit the West Bank and loved it, but that was a long, long, LONG time ago--a decade after the Nakba.) But it'll rise again. The Persian name for the phoenix is Simorgh. It means "thirty birds". It's a metaphor for community which self-immolates and rises again from its ashes in rebirth every 500 years. (Aren't Iranians brilliant???!!!)
The Ashkenazi do not understand this. And never will.
A caveat. The banana seller in Tunisia did not start the "Arab Spring". The CIA did. Lots of good people joined in but the CIA's hidden Machiavellian motive was not so wonderful. They weakened Egypt which is what they intended to do. They hoped to take out many other countries as well, but in that they failed. Self-immolation has been used many times. And the CIA has used good people many more. Evil little bastards.
Everything everyone does changes history. Everything.
Why respond so vociferously to a post about Jon Stewart and ignore the much weightier links I posted before that?
As for Stewart, there's a place for those who follow orders and a place for those who do not. Stewart has more of an audience than I do for a reason. I don't give good blow. Maybe he does and maybe he doesn't. One thing I do know is that he made me laugh and he made some very succinct points. As a poet I know that if you can get an audience to FEEL, their brains open up a chink and they are momentarily open to difficult material. So my hat goes off to Jon Stewart. I'm grateful to him for what he DID do.
"Why respond so vociferously to a post about Jon Stewart and ignore the much weightier links I posted before that?"
What did you want me to say? I agree? It was good the first article named names. However he didn't say "Oligarchy", but maybe "Money Masters" is a more appropriate label. I just wish we could converge on who these "men behind the curtain" are. The MSM reports on "some" of them all the time (Musk); "some" of them some of the time (Soros); and some of them almost never (Koch)
Ralph didn't tell me anything I didn't already know so I'll leave it to others to comment.
I don't want people to be suckered by Jon Stewart. I no longer find him funny because I view him as the "court jester" making fun of important facts so that the situation is defused and we are pacified. Remember when Dave Chapelle used to be funny? (I don't but...)
This is not meant to suggest others should feel the same way. You found it funny, good. Feel free to laugh.
The slaughter will march on: (Report by Johns Hopkins)
"Over the next six months we project that, in the absence of epidemics, 6,550 excess deaths would occur
under the ceasefire scenario, climbing to 58,260 under the status quo scenario and 74,290 under the
escalation scenario. Over the same period and with the occurrence of epidemics, our projections rise to
11,580, 66,720, and 85,750, respectively. All projections feature 95% uncertainty intervals as shown in the
Summary Table below."
https://gaza-projections.org/gaza_projections_report.pdf
I want to like your comment but it sent chills down my spine....it's a struggle to feel any hope after these 5 months...
When the slaughter stops in Gaza. I will be forever changed.
Bless you for keeping us focused on the tragedy.
How can life be ‘normal’ when our babies are being murdered and starved to death. How can we look the other way when our mothers and sisters are ripped apart, brutalised and degraded. How do we carry on when our teachers, our doctors, our fathers and grandfathers are systematically being sniped, forcibly leaving our families unprotected and unable to be mended.
God bless you for keeping our focus on the most important and difficult thing today.
When the slaughter stops in Gaza, I will continue to weep for those babies, children and all the civilians who have been murdered in Gaza and hope there are still Palestinians left to remember and document what was done to them as well as tell future generations what was done to them. Beautiful poem, Caitlin. Free, Free Palestine!! 🇵🇸😢☮️❤️
I'll never forget this ongoing human atrocity Israel has committed - for the rest of my life. I will not forget the name of a US soldier Aaron Bushnell - who burned himself alive not because he was psychotic (he wasn't), but because he felt betrayed by the country he swore to protect.
Psychotic? He had orders to be ready to go to Israel at any time. Max Blumenthal found the order online.
Should have been clearer with my grammar. I just edited/added (he wasn't) to make the second sentence more clear.
So many go to war, thinking they’re helping their country and then they see this is not helping anyone. They see the war crimes committed by our government in the name of “freedom” & “democracy” and realize that’s not what they signed up for. No wonder so many vets have PTSD.😢☮️
Or are committing suicide. It's very sad to see - and is a clear symptom of the unaddressed sickness of our US society right now - where corruption and the love of money rules over human morality and decency.
Why Would Anyone Kill Themselves to Stop a War? On Aaron Bushnell and Others. Colonel Ann Wright
Six years ago in 2018, after returning from a Veterans For Peace trip to Vietnam, I wrote an article called “Why Would Anyone Kill One’s Self In an Attempt to Stop A War?”
Now, six years later, in the past three months, two people in the United States have taken or risked taking their own lives in an attempt to change U.S. policies on Palestine and call for a cease-fire and stop U.S. funding to the State of Israel that would be used to kill in the Israeli genocide of Gaza. An yet unidentified woman, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, set herself on fire in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 1, 2023. Three months later authorities have yet to release the name of the woman. Her condition was unknown as of mid-December.
This week, on Sunday, February 25, 2024, active duty U.S. Air Force member Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while he was stating “Free Palestine and stop the genocide.” Bushnell died from his injuries...
..While on a Veterans for Peace trip to Vietnam in 2014 and while on another VFP delegation in March 2018, our delegation saw the iconic photo of a well-known Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc who set himself on fire in June1963 on a busy street in Saigon to protest the Diem regime’s crackdown on Buddhists during the early days of the American war on Vietnam. That photo is seared into our collective memories...
..But, did you know that several Americans also set themselves on fire to attempt to end U.S. military actions during those turbulent war years in the 1960s?
I didn’t, until our VFP delegation saw the portraits displayed of five Americans who gave their lives to protest the American war on Vietnam, among other international persons who are revered in Vietnamese history, at the Vietnam-USA Friendship Society in Hanoi. Though these American peace persons have fallen into oblivion in their own nation, they are well-known martyrs in Vietnam, 50 years later...
..After seeing one particular portrait again—that of Norman Morrison—I decided to write about these Americans who were willing to end their own lives in an attempt to stop the American war on the Vietnamese people.
What distinguished these Americans to the Vietnamese was that, as American soldiers were killing Vietnamese, there were American citizens who ended their own lives in order to try to bring the terror of invasion and occupation for Vietnamese citizens to the American public through the horror of their own deaths.
..The first person in the United States to die of self-immolation in opposition to the war on Vietnam was 82-year-old Quaker Alice Herz who lived in Detroit, Michigan. She set herself on fire on a Detroit street on March 16, 1965. Before she died of her burns 10 days later, Alice said she set herself on fire to protest “the arms race and a president using his high office to wipe out small nations.”
Six months later on November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker from Baltimore, a father of three young children, died of self-immolation at the Pentagon. Morrison felt that traditional protests against the war had done little to end the war and decided that setting himself on fire at the Pentagon might mobilize enough people to force the United States government to abandon its involvement in Vietnam. Morrison’s choice to self-immolate was particularly symbolic in that it followed President Lyndon Johnson’s controversial decision to authorize the use of napalm in Vietnam, a burning gel that sticks to the skin and melts the flesh.
Apparently, unbeknownst to Morrison, he chose to set himself on fire beneath the Pentagon window of then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
Thirty years later in his 1995 memoir, In Retrospect: The Tragedy in Lessons of Vietnam, McNamara remembered Morrison’s death:
"Antiwar protests had been sporadic and limited up to this time and had not compelled attention. Then came the afternoon of November 2, 1965. At twilight that day, a young Quaker named Norman R. Morrison, father of three and an officer of the Stony Run Friends Meeting in Baltimore, burned himself to death within 40 feet of my Pentagon window. Morrison’s death was a tragedy not only for his family but also for me in the country. It was an outcry against the killing that was destroying the lives of so many Vietnamese and American youth.
I reacted to the horror of his action by bottling up my emotions and avoided talking about them with anyone—even with my family. I knew (his wife) Marge and our three children shared many of Morrison’s feelings about the war. And I believed I understood and shared some of his thoughts. The episode created tension at home that only deepened as the criticism of the war continued to grow."
Before his memoir In Retrospect was published, in a 1992 article in Newsweek, McNamara had listed people or events that had had an impact on his questioning of the war. One of those events,McNamara identified as “the death of a young Quaker.”...
..Every Vietnamese school child learns a song and poem written by Vietnamese poet Tố Hữu called “Emily, My Child” dedicated to the young daughter that Morrison was holding only moments before he set himself on fire at the Pentagon. The poem reminds Emily that her father died because he felt he had to object in the most visible way to the deaths of Vietnamese children at the hands of the United States government...
..One week after Norman Morrison’s death, Roger LaPorte, 22, a Catholic Worker, became the third war protester to take his own life. He died of burns suffered through self-immolation on November 9, 1965 on the United Nations Plaza in New York City. He left a note that read, “I am against war, all wars. I did this as a religious act.”...
..In the case of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell, Aaron told the world his reason: "I do not want to be complacent in the genocide of Gaza! Free Palestine!." His sentiments are echoed by hundreds of millions around the world who recognize the horrific Israeli genocide of Gaza. For U.S. citizens, it is our duty to keep pressure on the Biden administration to stop funding Israel's genocide of Gaza and violence in the West Bank.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/kill-selves-to-stop-war
To John Day MD, I am grateful for your post for enlightening us about all the good caring people who made the ultimate sacrifice - so others can live.
Thank You, Indu. That essay is from Colonel Ann Wright, who has lived a very honorable life since she resisted/protested the Global War on Terror.
I am not a poet however, my protest of Genocide. I was scheduled to attend a celebration at our lab for an inventors celebration party. I declined with, I can not accept this award while our lab supports this Genocide. Organizer of the event " why do you say the lab is supporting Genocide" Me " The flag of israel flies out front" Silence. I wish it did something other than fall on uncaring ears. The flag is still flying with all the other promoters of Genocide. I will never forget. BDS is alive and well.
Good for you Landru.
Thanks for sharing this. It's really good to know.
In America Biden is throwing a Governors Ball! My state’s Governor is selling his soul while Israel’s slaughter of children and other humans continues unchecked. 😡
This is all the poems I have been trying to write.
Thank you
WHY is it: The Washington Post WAPO
Wrote a very good editorial today about Aaron Bushnell. The history of his life and what a very kind human being he was.
I read it then had something else to do but went back to make a comment!!!!!!!!!!!
NO comments allowed.
IF this is the way that Mainstream Media (MM) is going to behave then YOU know they are complicit in Government complicity.
Upcoming TRIAL for Telling Truth About COVID “Vaccine” Damage.
https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/dr-charles-hoffe-faces-upcoming-trial?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=581065&post_id=142092996&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=r20n7&open=false&utm_medium=email
Pls., read and share wide this very needed essay. Thanks.
They are related. Read the first link I posted.
If humanity is prepared to accept the slaughter of Gaza, it deserves to be wiped out by Covid and associated vaccines.
Well said, David!