Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Hesitation and Desperation

• Students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland defied the university’s orders to dismantle a pro-Palestine encampment. Police are at the encampment, but thus far done nothing, and groups like Jewish Voice for Peace are bringing the students food and water.

• CWRU authorities have not commented on why they have allowed the encampment to continue. I speculate the Cleveland Police and Mayor, mindful of large communities both Arab and Jewish, and of homeless people none too happy with money being sent to fund a genocide instead of to house them, fear far worse than the Black Lives Matter protests if this goes up.

• Turkiye has halted all trade with Israel. I seldom say this: Good job, Erdogan!

• Two IDF soldiers were killed by friendly fire when an Israeli tank fired into the building they were in because the tank crew saw something move and anything unidentified that moves is Hamas, therefore no IDF soldiers could possibly have been killed.

• Colombia cut off diplomatic relations with Israel today. It seems Colombians think genocide is a bad thing! Who knew?

• UNESCO awarded its World Press Freedom Prize to all Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Unfortunate that for many the award is posthumous.

• Hundreds of Chicago high school students staged pro-Palestine sit-ins, alarming The Times of Israel for their flagrant anti-Semitism by posting signs like these,

• In response to Israeli demands that something must be done to prevent Zionists from feeling nervous or even(gasp!) guilty by seeing such outrages to their delicate sensibilities, the US House of Representatives passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, a bill to outlaw all anti-Semitic speech as defined by Zionists. Glenn Greenwald takes it apart in this video.

• I am not too worried by this. It basically gives a foreign government the right to override the First Amendment, and is unconstitutional on its face. Even if it gets through the Senate and Genocide Joe signs it, it won’t last a day in Federal Court.

• What’s more, those congresscritters who voted for it know that, but they want to be able to tell AIPAC that they tried and but the courts and but the Constitution and but the Other Party and it’s not our fault and please don’t cut off the bribes or smear us! The grift must flow.

• Genocide Joe condemned the protests, but said he would not send the National Guard into universities to crush them. Well, he is older than I, and if I remember this, he certainly does. I’m sure he was cheering on the National Guard at the time, too. (Kent State, Ohio, May 4, 1970)

• “We cannot ignore the threat of a new world war and the preparations for a nuclear war. This madness here in Europe must be stopped.”—Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, in response to a proposal from EU Secretary-General and certified Vampire of the Empire Jens Stoltenberg to raise 100 BILLION euros to keep the Ukrainian grifting operation War going.

• And to think German-speakers used to look down their noses at Magyars as uncivilized. Silly Germans. (re-enactor in Magyar get-up)

• From the Things That Make Me Go Hmmm News, the EU has signed an agreement with Rwanda to enable the latter to sell the former blood minerals being stolen by Rwandan-backed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• Isn’t it interesting that the British PM who must be OK because he isn’t a white guy wants to deport North African and Middle Eastern migrants to Rwanda? “Stop the boats” indeed, Rishi. After your parents immigrated to the UK in one.

• Several weeks ago, Russian troops entered the American military base in Niger where American troops still are after that country’s government told them to go elsewhere. No Russians or Americans have been injured in this latest conjugation. Looks like they’re watching M*A*S*H reruns to me. (photo courtesy CNN)

• The Chinese have just proven they can waste money on military boondoggles just as well as Americans by launching a shiny, brand-new aircraft carrier that is every bit as vulnerable to far less expensive missiles as American carriers are.

• Arizona has repealed its 1864 law banning abortion. See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?

• Finally, Gisela the cat jumped into a box in Utah, which was sent to Amazon in Riverside, California with steel-toed boots being returned by her owner. She was discovered by an Amazon employee, and is back home and looking good.

Thank you for reading, good night, and good luck.

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