ISRAEL HAS COMMITTED A WAR CRIME
Early this morning, EDT, while those of us in the Midwest were sheltering from the storms, seven members of chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen were murdered by an Israeli air strike. DESPITE HAVING COMMUNICATED APPROPRIATELY WITH ISRAELI AUTHORITIES, the caravan was leaving a warehouse where they had just delivered more than 100 tons of food via maritime routes. The workers killed include a Palestinian and citizens from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
The organization’s CEO, Erin Gore, put it this way: “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,”
Enough with US tolerance of Israel’s fucking war crimes. World Central Kitchen has found ways to peacefully deliver food all over the world, including war-torn Ukraine, without any issue. They are a highly effective and respected organization that takes to heart the need to address the tragedy of hunger and famine in hard-to-reach places around the world. And who the fuck ends up bombing them? Israel, whom the US refuses to recognize as a serial war criminal.
Israel issued a statement saying they would investigate the matter, but good money is on getting back a statement saying something to the effect that “This was a horrible tragedy as sometimes happens during war. Oops, we’re sorry, but we’re not going to stop.”
Please understand, I’m not antisemitic. I’m anti-Zionist. There’s a difference. I believe Jewish people, as well as everyone else, have the right to live wherever the fuck they want to live.
What is Zionism? According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.” In short, skipping over several thousand years of history, it is a group dedicated to the formation and protection of the Jewish homeland as defined before an ancient Babylonian captivity.
Why is Zionism wrong? Because nationalism is wrong. Let me be very clear, for those in the back:
Everyone has the right to live peacefully wherever the fuck they want to live regardless of pretend borders, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
If you disagree, please kindly step the fuck off the planet. Humanity would not exist today were it not for multiple, free-roaming migrations of our ancestors, all of them, looking for hospitable and reasonable places to live without fear of the danger posed by natural resources or greedy idiots. The freedom to exist and the freedom of movement is an inherent right that no country has grounds for limiting. Telling a people, “You cannot live here and we’ll kill you if you try,” is anti-human and in violation of international law. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST.
What no one has is a right to govern where that government is not wanted. “The consent of the governed” is an extremely powerful clause. No one is obligated to recognize the authority of a government that actively denies the individual right to exist.
Yet, here we are, not only telling Palestinians to get out of Gaza and then killing them when they try, but now we’re killing the people who are simply trying to make sure no one starves to death in the process. Please, someone, reset that courtroom in Nuremberg. We have some crimes that need to be addressed.
The support of these activities by the US government is critical as well. While Israel is doing its best to exterminate all of Gaza, US states such as Florida and Texas are putting limits on who can travel in/out of their states in search of medical care such as abortions. We’re just as bad, if not potentially worse, than Israel so no wonder we’re supportive of the crimes they’re committing.
Wait, don’t we inherently have the right to travel between states? Sort of, but not really. The right to travel is generally covered under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The specific portions reads: “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” Since 1823, that has generally been taken to include freedom of movement. However, since then, throughout the 19th century, the Court continued to let the states have the authority to decide who could move back and forth across state lines. So, if a state decides it doesn’t want people traveling to a “safe” state for medical care, precedent would indicate that they have the right to limit that travel and impose penalties.
In case you’ve not been keeping up, Texas is willing to impose the death penalty.
All of these actions are anti-freedom, anti-human, and grossly immoral by any standard. We’ve put up with far too many of these crimes and we’re past the time when people like you and me need to object and flood both the Internet and the halls of Congress with the noise of our opposition.
Consider this my first volley. ENFORCE A CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA NOW! Let’s make humanity more important than anyone’s nationalism.
Cancel The Outrage
People love to bitch. If there’s one thing the Internet has done, it’s brought out the false outrage factor in a lot of people over things that are often insignificant. We get upset over the tiniest little things that, in the grand scheme of things, make absolutely no difference… until they do. False outrage can result in the passage of ridiculous laws attempting to fix a problem that never actually existed. We’ve seen several states do just this in regard to a non-existent problem regarding immigrant violence. Now, Louisiana’s governor seems ready to do the same thing over a fucking basketball game.
Here’s what happened: Monday night, prior to the LSU/Iowa game in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, LSU coach Kate Mulkey guided her team back to the locker room following their warm-up period, per normal. While they were there, the national anthem was played in the arena. They weren’t there. They didn’t even hear it playing. This is normal.
However, the bitch force that already didn’t like LSU, primarily for extremely racist reasons, decided to get upset about the Louisiana team not being on the court and standing up. They complained. Loudly. So much so that Louisiana’s sorry excuse for a governor, Jeff Landry, decided that the state needs a law that would cause any athlete in the state to lose their scholarship if they missed the playing of the national anthem. Is it just me or is that extremely stupid? Talk about a knee-jerk reaction!
Coach Mulkey said later, “Honestly, I don’t even know when the anthem was played. We kind of have a routine [for leaving the court at a certain time].”
Cody Worsham, the school’s associate athletic director, added, “Our basketball programs have not been on the court for the anthem for the last several seasons. Usually, the anthem is played 12 minutes before the game when the team is in the locker room doing final preparations.”
Furthermore, in the other women’s game that night, neither UConn nor USC were on the floor for the national anthem. BEING PRESENT FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IS NOT A REQUIREMENT ANYWHERE! Teams warm up and then return to the locker room until it’s time to start the game. They need the time to concentrate and make sure they’re all on the same page.
CAN THE FUCKING OUTRAGE
This is not an issue of nationalistic pride. This is not a matter of protest, though they have every right to do so. This is a matter of doing what is best for the outcome of the game. It’s been going on for years and to get upset about it now is fucking delusional.
But while we’re on the topic, let’s remind ourselves why, if they wanted to, the players (or anyone else) might want to protest the US national anthem.
There are plenty of legitimate issues to be upset about around the world. Whether or not a basketball team is on the floor for the national anthem is not one of those issues.
Take your false outrage and shove it up your ass.
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