#Allied Media Conference

[upthewitchypunx]

This heartbreaking. I read Jen's zine Fucktooth back when I still lived in Utah in the 90s. I stayed with her in Ohio the time I rode my bike from Toledo to Bowling Green for the Allied Media Conference in the 00s. It's always so hard when people who bring so much to the world leave it too soon.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The assault on Al-Shifa, though, seems to be motivated by reasons Israel has not explicitly disclosed. It appears that Israel is leveraging this genocidal war, supported fully by the U.S. and Western allies, to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The current situation in Gaza City and northern Gaza marks the onset of a process of expulsion and uprooting, reminiscent of the 1948 Nakba. To fulfill this objective, Israel is targeting institutions critical to Palestinian life in Gaza City, with Al-Shifa hospital being a prime example. Al-Shifa, a sprawling complex, includes numerous hospitals, clinics, and centers offering essential services to Gazans, especially given the blockade and restricted access to medical treatment abroad. But Al-Shifa is more than a hospital. In times of crisis and conflict, its central location makes it a gathering place for ordinary Gazans and journalists, a venue for press conferences (during this war, Palestinian children held a press conference outside the hospital, pleading for an end to Israel’s bombardment), a site where families receive the remains of loved ones, and a sanctuary where the injured find care. During aggressions on Gaza, Al-Shifa becomes a crucial hub for Palestinians to connect and check on one another. In this war, the hospital, due to its size relative to other structures in Gaza City, has sheltered thousands of displaced Palestinians, either those whose homes were destroyed or who were expelled from their neighborhoods. By seizing and ravaging Al-Shifa, Israel signals the end of life in Gaza City as Palestinians have known it for decades. Removing the hospital from Gaza’s healthcare equation also obscures the extent of casualties and injuries among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain north of Wadi Ghazza.

[youkissedareaderinthedark]

Coraline

Synopsis: Y/n’s childhood and history with her parents has always stayed a secret, and she likes it that way. Until a journalist reveals the truth, and everything seems to come crashing down at once.

young female driver reader x 2023 F1 grid

A/N: a few things for this fic: reader will be 20 years old, had driven for alpha tauri since the beginning of 2022, the 2022 is the same as the 2023 grid, and please look at the trigger warning below.

Trigger Warning: This fic contains abusive parents, talks of eating disorders, neglecting a kid, verbally abusing a kid, signs of depression, and a lot of hurtful comments in general. This fic is not meant to idolize or romanticize having abusive parents or depression. If anyone finds anything particularly disturbing with this fic, do not hesitate to let me know and I will fix it.

tagged: @treehouse-mouse

2023 was supposed to be a good season for Alpha Tauri. The cars looked good, your driver pairing was solid, and the hopes were high for your junior Red Bull team. You could only laugh at the naivety of it now.

Most of the season was exceptional; you and Yuki Tsunoda brought in points almost every weekend, your team was seventh in the constructors championship, and overall, you were having a great time traveling around the world.

This was your second year in Formula 1, and now that you weren’t a rookie anymore, you could have more fun now that you knew what you were doing.

Some people just don’t like others being happy, though.

With less than 10 races left, you walked into the paddock for the Monza Grand Prix Thursday afternoon feeling optimistic. This was the second race after the summer break, and Alpha Tauri was expected to do well in Italy.

Your press officer, Ally, greeted you in your garage, and after saying hello to Yuki, you followed her out of the garage and into the media pen for a press conference.

You walk in to see Lewis, Carlos, Lando, and Fernando and talked quietly with them as the press in front of you get settled. “Everybody ready? All right, first question please” One of the directors asks, as a journalists speaks up.

“Lewis, you’ve witnessed the infamous ‘Monza Curse’ multiple times in your career, do you think the theory is true and will it strike again this year?”

“Um, no” Lewis chuckles. “I don’t believe in the curse, but it would be nice to see someone new finish first today, and if a curse is what it’s going to take, then yeah, why not”

The five of you laugh, not noticing the second journalist beginning to speak. “Y/n, what do you have to say about the recent article published regarding your past with your family?”

You instantly stop laughing, hoping you misheard the man.

“Sorry?”

There’s no way

“The article? That was recently published concerning your past with your parents, what do you have to say about it?” The journalist stared at you curiously while your mind blanked for an answer.

You had no idea what article he was talking about, but if it concerned your past with your ‘family’, you knew it wasn’t anything that should be published.

Suddenly there’s movement in the midst of the media pen, and your press officer emerges from the crowd. “Y/n, come with me” She pauses, seeing one of the directors nearing out of the corner of her eye.

“It’s urgent, I need her” You’d take any excuse to get away from the current situation, so after exchanging a look with Lewis, you follow the woman into the paddock towards your garage.

Once you were both in the safety of your drivers room, you turned on her. “What article is he talking about? What’s going on?” You said, voice heavy with concern.

Ally hesitated, looking uncomfortable, before answering. “This morning, an article published a story talking about you and your parents, and the-um, harsh history you have with them” She hands you her phone, said article already open.

“I think it’s better if you read it yourself” The bold letters blink up at you, clear and sullen.

“F1 DRIVERS UNCOVERED: THE REAL REASON WE DON’T SEE Y/N L/N’S PARENTS”

Your heart falls to your stomach and your hands start to shake as your eyes skim over the words of the most invading and overwhelming article you’ve ever read in your life. Whoever wrote this, wrote it in hopes of exposing every secret of your past, and further tangles the truth of an already over-complicated background.

The real reason your parents are never around you is a reason you hate talking about.

You first realized it when you were around ten years old, the way your parents never looked happy around each other, and always tense around other parents. The way they never said ‘I love you’ or kissed each other goodbye. It confused you, as these were the things you always saw your friend’s parents do, but you were too young to understand at the time, so you mainly ignored it.

It wasn’t until one night when you were eleven that you heard an argument erupting from your kitchen, one about money and divorces and you. The shouting continued for ages, until you heard one statement, loud and clear.

“Think about this, she’s getting good in those karting competitions of hers, and according to other parents she could go really far in this thing and get money from sponsorships and mentors. So let’s just give it a little time, make sure she gets better and gets paid, and the money will go to us and eventually she’ll leave to Formula- whatever and we won’t have to worry about her”

You put your pillow over your head, turned around, and went to sleep sobbing that night.

From then on, there was no ‘I love you’s’ or kisses goodbye even to you, and eventually, no happiness in your house. The ‘other parents’ were right, the older you got, the farther you looked to go in racing. Just before you turned 13, the three of you moved to a city in England so you could pursue karting further, and that’s when it all got worse.

You competed in countless competitions, and every race you won, the more criticism you got from your mom and dad. The second you stepped off the 1st place podium, your parents were waiting to comment on your driving and the techniques you should’ve used to win.

They never let you focus on anything but karting, letting you go nowhere but the track and to school, and made sure you were always looking for ways to get better. They ruthlessly compared you to kids in other series that were performing better than you, and countered every compliment someone gave you with a complaint.

All of this seemed like a dream compared to the treatment you got when you lost. Whether it be second, or tenth, every race you didn’t come first in was a loss, and your parents simply didn’t accept this.

When you lost, they’d make you practice on track for twice as long, no matter the weather, and berated you the second you started to complain. They limited your diet after your losses, claiming you needed to be lighter if you wanted the kart to go faster.

Your mother and father gave you this relentless attention with anything regarding racing, but the moment the topic drifted, you were neglected. There were no family dinners or movie nights, if you wanted something, you were going to have to buy it with your own money, and if you wanted to go somewhere, you needed to walk or find a ride because they refused to drive you anywhere if it wasn’t for a race.

There was no other family to go to even when things go impossibly rougher; you had no other relatives in the UK, and you couldn’t exactly ask your friends if you could live with them.

So you endured these conditions, all the way through the F4 British Championship, F3 and F2. You turned 18 while you were in Formula 2, and the second you did, you took the little money you had, and rented an apartment in South England, where you’ve been living ever since.

Your parents constantly contacted you in whatever ways they could, but you very quickly made sure they didn’t know where you lived and were never given paddock passes again. No one knows any of this anyway; when people ask where your parents are or when they’d get to meet them, you just shrug and say, “they couldn’t make it”

You haven’t seen your parents in person since you were 17, and you’ve done everything in your power to keep it like that.

Though with a few thousand words and 4 hours, one nosy journalist has managed to unravel all your work and growth and release it into the world.

You’re broken out of your stunned silence when Ally puts a hand on your shoulder. “I’ve set up a meeting with Alpha Tauri and Red Bull’s PR managers so we could figure out what we should do next to keep the press off your back, okay? The meeting’s in fifteen meetings, so I’ll leave you for a while”

Ally takes her phone back and exits the room to leave you standing still in the middle of it, astonished and speechless.

The meeting goes as well as you expected it to go. You shared as much as the truth as you saw fit, and came up with a statement to post with the rest of the PR managers. You were confirmed to go back to the media pen to finish interviews an hour later, and while no one asked you about the article, you could tell it was the unanswered question they all wanted to raise.

You are able to avoid most of the press of the remaining of the Italian weekend, and stuck to answering race-related questions only, your safest and only option, Ally told you later. You finished the Grand Prix P10, and flew home still sullen.

You spent the two weeks in between Monza and Japan in your apartment, regretfully thinking about all those years you had to spend under your parent’s treatment, and trying to forget them with simulator work.

You arrive in Suzuka, quiet and unsmiling, and try to ignore the shouting of the press that greets you on your way into the paddock. Ally guides you away as two new voices greet you.

“Hey Y/n, how are you?” Lewis asks, pulling you into a side hug and stepping into place beside you.

“Are you okay? You seem off” Charles says concerned, meeting you in a handshake.

“I’m fine, my flight just got in late last night so I’m tired, that’s all” You half smiled in response, hoping it was believable enough.

“Sure?” Lewis presses father. “Yeah, I’m okay” You nod.

“Okay, well, we’re still going into the city after media today?” Lewis asks. “Of course, I’ll meet you guys at my hotel after” You assure as you near the Alpha Tauri garage.

“See you then, and try to sleep a bit, yes?” Charles says before the two men walk off together.

Your friendship with the two drivers started because of the Spanish and British Grand Prix’s, the two races that gave you your two highest race finishes, and ended with two of your closest friends. Spain was a great race for both you and Lewis, yourself in P4, him in P2, and after non-stop talking in the paddock, you flew back to the UK together, effectively starting the friendship existing today.

You’d been friendly with Charles previously, but after his P9 finish in Silverstone and your P5 finish, he realized in a conversation before an interview that you were undeniably good at cheering people up, and you guys have been close since.

You’ve talked with them since Monza, of course, but not about the article. They want to talk to you about it, you can tell, but Charles and Lewis aren’t the type of people to just come right out and ask if you’re feeling okay about your history with your abusive parents being exposed to the world.

They also don’t want to pressure you into talking about something you clearly don’t want to talk about, so if all they can do is help distract you from the media, they’re going to.

Your night out with the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers does distract you; Lewis leads you and Charles to different shops and restaurants all over Suzuka, talking and laughing the entire time. You take a few photos along the way, and you go back to your hotel still smiling.

You kept your good mood until qualifying on Saturday, and are brought back into the reality of racing when you only manage P11. It’s technically not bad of a result for your car, but P9 or P8 would’ve been better right now, because all you can think about is what your parents would’ve said if you finished P11.

They’re paying you millions of dollars to race for them and the best you can do is eleventh?

You think you deserve to be here?

They are hundreds of other drivers that would do so much better than you

You are nothing compared to the other drivers

You’re lucky if you keep you seat next season, I know I wouldn’t let a P11 driver on my team

You go quiet at the thought, and get through post-race media stoic. You leave with your trainer as soon as you can, avoiding Lewis and Charles’s eyes on your way out. You have a week before you have to leave for Qatar, and spend a countless amount of hours on your simulator, hoping this time it’ll make a difference.

You flew into Lusail not knowing what to expect other than hot weather, and unfortunately you were right. You felt the heat as soon as you got in your car for FP1 on Friday and was already dreading the rest of the weekend.

You qualify P11 for both the race and the sprint, and end up in P12 for the two. You felt terrible after Sunday’s race, both physically and mentally, and you’re already berating yourself for your performance by the time you get weighed.

Charles and Lewis are in your post-race press conference group, and you can see them exchange a look after every cold and detached answer you give. You only stop to talk to your friends for a few minutes afterwards before you excuse yourself to go cool down, and leave minutes later with the defense of needing rest.

You fly back to the UK with Lewis, and you’re glad the two of you are asleep for most of the trip so Lewis won’t ask you to talk about why you’ve been so quiet.

The 10 days you have until you fly out to Austin are spent mostly on your phone, looking at all the comments people have been making about you since the article came out, saying how you probably deserved the treatment that you got, and how Alpha Tauri needs a more “stable” driver if they want to advance in the championship.

You don’t do much except exercise and train on the sim in those days, finding neither the desire or energy to do anything else.

Even though everyone is happy to be in Texas that week, you can’t find the energy to truly smile once that weekend. Charles and Lewis are practically stuck to your side, and even though you can tell they’re dying to ask you to talk about it, they only ask a few times if you wanted to tell them something, and when you denied, and simply offered companionship through silence.

It’s another sprint race, and you only pull off P12 and 13 for qualifying and the shootout, and drop a place by the end of both races.

You feel more frustrated with yourself than ever; you don’t understand why you can’t work with the car like you once used to, and you can’t even figure out how to again. You were doing so well until that fucking article came out, and all the sudden you don’t know how to drive.

The worst part about it is that every race, more and more people are realizing how you’ve been under-performing, and how people are starting to question your ability to drive for the junior Red Bull team.

You aren’t stupid, you know how things work at Red Bull, so you know that if you don’t pick your pace up soon, you could end up without a seat for the 2024 season.

This thought alone starts to destroy you, and soon you can’t even deny how burnt out you are. You pick up on the forced habit of not eating much, and making yourself to do nothing but train and look for ways to be better.

You spend the days before Mexico with data analysts and strategists, looking for any and every way to go faster. You dedicate too much time looking at successful F2 drivers, hearing Liam Lawson’s name come up too much for comfort, thinking about how Dennis Hauger had been looking fast in F2.

It’s a terribly unhealthy time killer, one that makes you look sick and go quiet. Charles and Lewis aren’t the only ones exchanging concerned looks now; multiple other drivers on the grid, friends with you or not, notice the change in your behavior and quickly grow worried when they hear Yuki’s description of you.

The drivers aren’t stupid either, they all know about the article that was published in September, and most of them would be lying if they said they hadn’t looked at it in curiosity. They’d also be lying if they saw their eyes didn’t widen in concern or eyebrows didn’t furrow with worry when they read how terrible your parents treated you.

The grid saw how the comments got nastier and nastier under your lessening social media posts every day, and even asked your PR officer multiple times to make sure she was managing your accounts and making sure you didn’t see what people had to say about your background or yourself.

They saw how you got quieter every race, how you stopped hanging out with Yuki and Charles and Lewis, no matter how many times they offered. They saw the rumors of you and your 2024 seat, how apparently Helmut Marko was paying close attention to you and the clauses in your contract.

They asked a lot, if you wanted to talk or if they could help in any way. It was always the same response; a weary smile, a small shake of the head, the words,“No, I’m fine, just tired” and an excuse that you were needed in your garage or media pen.

So they try to help in more discreet ways; when Yuki is asked about your position on Alpha Tauri or your future with Red Bull, he calmly assures that you are working hard with the team, and is doing everything possible to understand the car.

Charles, Lewis, and a few other drivers make a routine of coming to your driver’s room, most of the time just to sit with you as you look at data, or talk with you when you’re feeling up to it.

Mexico goes somehow worse than Texas, and you finish with your lowest result in F1 yet, P15. You try to be as approachable as possible in post-race media, but your sullen face gives you away.

You leave with Ally and your trainer to catch your flight to Brazil mere hours after you passed the checkered flag, and spend most of your time in Sau Paulo alone in your hotel room, replaying every hurtful comment either your mother and father or fans have said about you, and debating whether or not it was true.

You walk into the Brazilian paddock Thursday morning more grateful than you thought possible that this was the third-to-last race of your season.

And according to over twenty media sources, your third-to last race of F1.

After a public statement made by Marko talking about how Red Bull was “considering your future with their junior team” every journalist in the F1 community has decided that it means this was your last season in F1.

And honestly, you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. Whether you raced in 2024 or not, you just wanted to go home and avoid the press for three months.

It was another sprint weekend, and another terrible qualifying and shootout. You placed 15th in both sessions and kept your place in the sprint, and spent a quiet Saturday evening in your hotel.

You could feel almost every journalists eye’s turn to you as soon as you walked into the paddock on Sunday. You arrived early that afternoon to get some extra data-stuff done, only now realizing that it gave the growing group of reporters behind you more time to ask you questions.

“Y/n! Can you tell us about your future in F1?”

“Will you have a seat next year?

“Y/n, what does Helmut Marko think about your decrease in performance?”

“Does your past with your parents have anything to do with your recent race results?”

You try to keep your face emotionless as you make your way into the Alpha Tauri garage and to your drivers room. You prepare for the race with your personal trainer and look over the arranged strategies for Sau Paulo while you wait for the go-ahead to get in your car.

Due to all the crashed-out cars, you ended the race in P12 in front of Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo. Statistically speaking, it was one of your better 2023 races, but everyone knows if it wasn’t for all the DNF’s, you’d finish in the bottom five.

You know that everyone knows this because just before you walked into the media pen after your race debrief, you saw Christian Horner and Marko speaking to your team principle, and after Yuki’s P9 finish today, it didn’t take you even a second to understand who they were talking about with disappointed faces and multiple shakes of the head.

Sure, this could mean nothing. This could just be a conversation between the three people that control the top team and it’s junior team. But you also like to think you’re a bit smarter than that.

You walked deeper into the crowded area before the three could see you, and walked to the first open journalist you saw, in hopes of leaving early.

“Y/n, hi! Not too bad of a race for you today, I guess?” The man asked, pointing his microphone towards you

“Yeah, not too bad. The car felt pretty okay and there was a bit of pace, but not enough to overtake or anything, clearly” You reply.

“Can we expect more race pace from you in Las and Vegas and Abu Dhabi?”

“I mean, it’s a bit too early to tell, but we’ll hope and see what comes out out of the practices” The man nods before looking down at his notebook.

“And your seat for Alpha Tauri next year, we know you’re apart of the confirmed driver lineup for 2024 but Helmut Marko states that there are attainable clauses in your contract, what do you think about that?”

You’re caught off guard by the question, but right when you’re about to respond, the man continues.

“Surely, Alpha Tauri isn’t really considering keeping you for next season, are they?”

You’re standing in front of the man speechless now, your brain barely comprehending what’s being spoken.

“Because I know the last thing a team wants is an incapable driver that is too emotionally effected by her “traumatic” childhood to race,” the volume of his voice starts to increase, and other drivers are starting to focus on your one-sided conversation.

“I mean, c’mon, no one even believes that even happened to you, and if it did, your parents were probably right for doing it-”

Your hands are shaking, eyes are wide with shock, body suddenly freezing, and you don’t even think you’re breathing. All you can do is listen as this man goes on and on about how you’re a shitty driver and deserved how your parents treated you.

You’re only broken out of your trance when an arm clad in red wraps around your shoulders and pulls you through the paddock. You’re not even aware of the yelling from a certain Mercedes drivers gets quieter and quieter as you’re brought into your driver’s room.

You’re being sat on a couch, and suddenly Charles Leclerc’s face is right in front of you, hands on your shoulders and eyes filled with concerned. “Y/n? Y/n, look at me, please, Y/n-” Your eyes dart to him and in an instant, everything from the past five minutes comes rushing through your head, and you can’t stop the tears that start to fall down your face.

“Oh, Y/n” The Ferrari driver moves to comfort you, but stops as you begin to cover your face and move away.

“No, Y/n, it’s okay, please, let me help you, Y/n” Charles wraps his arms around you in a hug as your body begins to shake with uncontrollable sobs.

“I can’t- I can’t do this anymore, Charles” You say in between breaths.

“I have to quit or something, I can’t keep doing this Charles, I can’t” You let your head fall on his shoulder, as the man tries to calm you down.

Charles’ heart is breaking as he comforts his friend; he remembers loving his first few years in Formula 1, how everything was so new and exciting to him, he could never not want to race, not then and not now. But to hear one of his closest friends breakdown because of how much she hates being there, makes the man’s heart shatter.

The door abruptly opens, and for a moment, all you can hear is the low angry cursing of Lewis Hamilton, until he sees you and Charles, and his face immediately softens.

“Love, I’m so sorry. That guy is a complete arsehole, don’t listen to him” The British man says as he takes a seat beside you and wraps an arm around your shoulders.

“I don’t know what to do anymore, I feel so stuck in this place where everyone is always talking about what happened and I don’t know how much longer I can go through it” You say, your voice breaking off with another sob.

Charles hushes you once more, exchanging a worried look with Lewis as you pull away from him again. “I’m sorry, I know I should be doing better and everything but I just can’t-” You say, voice shaky through the tears.

“Don’t for one second be sorry that you’re not competitive right now. Y/n, thousands of people are talking about the one thing that hurt you the most, and I understand why you feel this way, just please, love, for your own good, let us help you. I promise it will make you feel better” Lewis assures, grabbing your hand.

So for the first time, you do. For over an hour, you tell Charles and Lewis everything that happened when you were younger, and how the article has made you feel since then. They listen quietly, nodding once in a while to let you know they understand, and gave you a hug when you stopped talking.

“Do you feel better now?” Lewis asks.

“Yeah, not entirely, but better”

“Good, that’s all I wanted to hear,”

“Are you ready to go home now? There’s a plane waiting for us, if you want”

“Definitely. I need to go home” You say as Charles helps pack up all your things and Lewis makes sure there’s a car waiting for you two outside. As you’re all walking through the nearly-empty paddock, Charles turns to you.

“I have to go back to my garage, but please Y/n, if you ever need to talk, call me? I want to help you, I don’t want to see you like this again” The Monegasque brings you into a hug.

“I know, Charles, I will” You promise.

“Okay, I’ll see you before Vegas, yes? Feel better!” He calls as he moves backwards and further into the paddock.

“You promise?”

Lewis asks you hours later in the front of the airport in England, just about to get into separate cars.

“Yes, Lewis, I’ll call when I need” You say to the older man in a hug.

“Alright, text me when you’ve made it home and make sure you get some rest. Don’t be too hard on yourself either, you don’t give yourself enough credit for everything you do” You smile at him.

“Okay, I’ll see you before Vegas?”

“See you before Vegas!” He shouts from his already-closed car door.

When you do see the two next, they make sure you’ve made an appointment with a therapist and are setting up a meeting with your PR manager to put together a statement in regards to your well-being the past two months.

Charles and Lewis make sure the media inside the paddock is severely monitored and checked before being allowed near the drivers, and help you fall back into healthier habits.

These changes don’t happen overnight, and they don’t take affect overnight, but you do use the winter off season to make sure these changes are helpful and working.

The three month break is utilized to mentally and physically prepare yorself in time for your 2024 seat at Alpha Tauri that was re-confirmed after your P8 finishes in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.

The media still knows everything, and you haven’t completely forgotten your childhood, you never will, but dealing with it still gets easier.

[hero-israel]

Watching the Pro Palestine movement implode in on itself the past couple of days on Twitter/TikTok after they went full racist against Black Americans (calling them racial slurs, colonizers, genociders, etc.) is so fucking cathartic. People have tried to warn everyone for months that this movement was just as racist as it was antisemitic, with the Pro Pals using watermelon imagery, the way Arab Palestinians call Black Palestinians "slaves," the history of Arab colonization in Africa and the slave trade, etc. But now it's all out in the open, all because whites and Arabs thought they could treat Kamala Harris the same way they treated Joe Biden and had the audacity to tell Black people they should throw away their hard-earned vote "for Palestine."

And today the Pro Pals have also started targeting their previous white LGBT allies. This one is a massive case of "leopards eating my face," so I'm not crying for Queers for Palestine here (they deserve it), but the whole movement - at least here in America - is falling apart at the seams.

Doesn't appear to have trickled down to Tumblr yet, but there's been a massive vibe shift on other social media.

PLEASE tell me more!

I am not even the slightest bit surprised, and remarked on the exploitative and abusive behavior of Palestiners towards African-Americans years ago:

As a Jew, I’ve seen my share of strained, socially-expected marriages being held up as an intended example For The Good Of The Community (tm).  And I’m telling you right now – this particular arranged, loveless, abusive coupling really doesn’t look like it’s going to last.  There are fewer and fewer attempts to even try to hide the recriminations and spite.  And who’s going to suffer?  The kids.  

Anti-Israel revengists will drain #BlackLivesMatter dry, use it up and move on to their next opportunistic spotlight-scenario – probably the killer whales at SeaWorld or something.  Just like they did with one U.N. committee and conference after another, just like one film festival and book fair after another, just like Arafat himself did with first Gaza, then Jordan, then Lebanon, then Tunisia.  When someone only cares about themselves, you cannot “ally” with them – you just get used by them.  

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

For Lula, Milei Has Gone From Being a Nuisance to Being a Problem

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has aspirations for regional and global leadership. Standing in Lula’s way is the fact that he cannot even get a meeting with his counterpart from neighboring Argentina, President Javier Milei.

Seven months after Milei’s inauguration, the two leaders have met only once and even then briefly, on the sidelines of the G7 meeting last month in Italy. Otherwise, they have unartfully dodged each other as they have darted around the region and the world promoting their opposing ideological views.

Lula’s global agenda is expansive. He wants Brazil to have a permanent United Nations Security Council seat. He plans for the country to take a leading role in climate change negotiations as he hosts the U.N. COP30 Climate Change Conference in Brazil next year. He has tried to insert himself as a mediator in the Ukraine conflict. And when BRICS—the political grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—moved to expand last year, Lula made sure to bring along Argentina under then-President Alberto Fernandez as one of its new members.

Milei withdrew Argentina from the BRICS expansion process as soon as he took office in December. That’s consistent with his desire to move the country away from China and closer to the United States. Besides that, he has not clearly outlined an international agenda for his country. But Milei definitely has an international agenda for himself. He has portrayed himself as an ally of Israel and Ukraine, a contrast to Latin America’s left-wing leaders who have opposed the former’s war in Gaza and mainly attempted to remain neutral on the latter’s fight against Russian aggression.

Ideologically, Milei is attempting to turn himself into a global icon for free market libertarianism, speaking at conferences in South America, the U.S. and Europe, and meeting with venture capital investors and social media stars. He uses strong rhetoric in favor of capitalism and against any form of what he views as socialism or Marxism. His relatively extreme views, which only appeal to a small minority of Argentine voters who comprise his base, get him wild cheers overseas.

Continue reading.

[beardedmrbean]

Biden supporters are raising Trump's associations with Jeffrey Epstein — again.

Recently-released docs in the Epstein investigation make no mention of Trump.

Democrats have tried deflecting concerns about Biden's age by bringing up Trump's past.

Some Joe Biden supporters are employing a tried-and-true strategy to fend off rampant debate over the President's age and mental acuity: deflection.

On social media — and even in the halls of Congress — certain Biden supporters are using Donald Trump's associations with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as an argument to disqualify him.

Discourse about Trump and Epstein was reignited after documents from Epstein's first Florida investigation in 2006 were released last week.

But the 158-page document — a grand jury transcript showing prosecutors heard testimony that Epstein raped girls as young as 14, then still cut him a sweetheart plea deal — makes no mention of Trump himself.

Still, some seized the news cycle as a way to counteract doubts about Biden's own fitness to run for office in 2024.

Why no one's writing about Trump and Epstein

During a press conference on Tuesday, Rep. Ted Lieu of California urged more media coverage of the "Epstein files," adding that a "highly disturbing" hashtag about Trump and Epstein was trending on X.

Trump had previously been photographed with Epstein, Lieu said, had flown with him on planes with young girls on board, and the two were listed on call logs together.

"It shows that Donald Trump is unfit for office," the congressman said, adding Trump was also convicted of sexual abuse in civil court.

Ben Meiselas, the cofounder of liberal news network Meidas Touch, also posted on X about "the release of new Epstein files with Trump's name on it." Other Biden boosters have suggested a coordinated media cover-up to boost Trump's chances or doom Biden's.

But Trump isn't named in the latest records, a fact reiterated on X by Julie Brown, the Miami Herald investigative journalist who helped break the Epstein story.

Media outlets haven't reported on Trump's connection to the new Epstein files because there isn't one.

What we know about Trump's relationship with Epstein

Trump has appeared in previous unsealed and uncovered documents connected to the Epstein case.

Trump was also connected to 14 different numbers in Epstein's little black book of contacts that surfaced before the financier's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019. Among the contacts were Trump's wife, Melania; ex-wife, Ivana; and daughter, Ivanka.

The contact book also included the names of high-profile celebrities like Courtney Love, Alec Baldwin, and Naomi Campbell, as well as politicians and dignitaries like John Kerry, Michael Bloomberg, Henry Kissinger, and Prince Andrew.

Unsealed flight logs in 2019 revealed Trump took a flight on Epstein's private jet in 2017; billionaire couple Glenn and Eva Dubin joined him on the flight from Palm Beach to Newark.

And in January, a Business Insider analysis of then-unsealed court records determined Trump appeared in the documents multiple times under the moniker "Doe 174."

However, the mentions in those documents weren't all damning for the former President, BI's Jacob Shamsian reported at the time.

In one instance, a woman denied in a deposition that she'd massaged Trump. In another, a woman claimed — then recanted — that her friend had had sex with him. And Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the key accusers of sexual abuse by Epstein and his associates, said in one document that she didn't think Trump was involved.

Trump had previously faced allegations by an anonymous woman that claimed he had violently raped her at an orgy when she was 13 years old. The woman — who went by the pseudonym "Katie Johnson" — even filed a lawsuit against Trump, twice.

The first was a civil rights suit in April 2016 that was thrown out on a technicality. Vox noted that the original suit listed the woman's apparent address as an abandoned home.

She filed a second lawsuit that removed some of the lurid details. Still, the case was connected to strange characters, including a Jerry Springer producer who tried to sell a video of the purported accuser to news outlets for $1 million and an anti-Trump activist who promoted the lawsuit — and had a history of spreading untrue gossip.

The woman abruptly dropped the lawsuit in November 2016, just days before the election that Donald Trump would win. Her lawyer didn't share a reason for why the lawsuit was dropped at the time.

Trump had publicly praised Epstein before his sexual abuse allegations came to light. He called Epstein a "terrific guy" in 2002, adding, "It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

But the Washington Post reported the two men had a falling out in 2004 after they both wanted to buy a prime Palm Beach property.

After Epstein's arrest, Trump told reporters, "I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you." Trump has also said he barred Epstein from Mar-A-Lago.

Four Pinocchios from WaPo for congressman Lieu's claims about Trump in the epstein files, that's gotta hurt both wapo and lieu

Guy must think everyone else is a idiot and will take him at his word instead of actually looking,

[armoricaroyalty]

Between 2016 and 2018, Andre spent more time abroad than he had in the preceding decade. Almost overnight, the infamous recluse had been transformed into a social butterfly and his diary was suddenly full of international engagements: regional conferences, global summits, casual two-day visits to allies and neighbors. He kept a low profile, traveling without fanfare and without media accompaniment. He flew privately and stayed alone in expensive hotels and ordered room service for two. The palace offered no official explanation for the sudden and remarkable shift in the King's priorities, and the veteran royal correspondents knew exactly how to read the silence: say nothing. At a loss, the columnists and commentators and uncredentialed royal "experts" used their platforms in newspapers and morning shows to steer the national conversation toward the upcoming wedding and the frothy controversy of Rosalind's Tatler interview. Vivi's pregnancy had been the last major scandal. They weren't quite ready for another.

Previous | Chapter Start | Beginning | Next

author's note. I hope everyone missed these two as much as @nexility-sims and I did. The Ionian Union is @funkyllama's setting, thank you for letting me use your story as a backdrop for an illicit extramarital hookup.

Transcript under the cut.

Bergstraße, the Ionian Union // February 2018

Andre and Leonor are in bed together, asleep. Her sleep is disturbed by dreams; an empty beach in Armorica, gulls reeling overhead. She awakes with a start. LEONOR | [ gasping ] ANDRE | Leo? What's wrong? LEONOR | ...I had a bad dream. ANDRE | A nightmare? What about? LEONOR | I dreamed I was alone. ANDRE | Leo...it's okay. I'm right here. LEONOR | I know. Just a bad dream. ANDRE | [ yawning ] I dreamed we bought a house in Nakawe. LEONOR | Nakawe? What about the farm in Tartosa? ANDRE | I'll go there first [ yawns ] Just until the press lose interest... LEONOR | But that could take years. ANDRE | ...well, I was hoping you'd come visit? LEONOR | Just to visit? Not to stay? ANDRE | I didn't know if you'd want to. LEONOR | [ laughs disbelievingly ] ANDRE | Don't laugh! I didn't want to presume, you have your work, your family... LEONOR | [ softly ] You could be part of it, someday. ANDRE | ...would they accept me? LEONOR | Of course they will. They might not approve, but- ANDRE | -they won't cast us out. Unlike... LEONOR | ... ANDRE | ... LEONOR | ...anyway, if you're moving to Uspana, you'll have to start dressing better. ANDRE | Really? What's wrong with my clothes? LEONOR | Tsk. You mix neutrals. Our press will eat you alive. ANDRE | Oh? Are you offering to dress me? LEONOR | [ laughs ] No, I'm telling you to hire a better stylist. ANDRE | Romy Anderson has served the House of St. Fleur loyally for over 30 years. LEONOR | His eyesight's clearly failing, perhaps it's time for him to retire- ANDRE | [ laughs ] You're so bad. LEONOR | Only honest. ANDRE | I love you. LEONOR | I love you, too.

[eretzyisrael]

 Opinion

By MICHAEL KAYE   Published: FEBRUARY 28, 2024 03:04 THE WRITER speaks at a marketing conference in New York City wearing a #EndJewHatred T-shirt.(photo credit: COURTESY MICHAEL KAYE)

It’s been almost five months since October 7, a day that completely changed the lives of more than 15 million Jews around the world. But the aftermath of the attack is still present, months later. In many ways, it feels as though this nightmare just happened, while at other moments, it’s hard to remember what life was like before that day of terror.

I am not fluent in Hebrew. I do not wear a kippah. I have almost 30 tattoos. I am not your stereotypical Jew, but I have become a proud Jewish activist. But October 7 changed me, as it did many others. Who I was before is someone I can never be again. I cannot be complicit or silent. I donate to the Anti-Defamation League; I speak at conferences wearing an #EndJewHatred T-shirt; I never leave home without Jewish-themed jewelry; and I use my social media platforms to discuss the rising antisemitism on college campuses across the United States and around the world.

As someone who was educated at a Jewish school and learned about the Holocaust, I am no stranger to antisemitism or the dangerous impact it can have. My earliest memories include being taught by my parents to be proud but quiet about my Judaism, having swastikas carved on my school playground, being immediately evacuated on September 11, and always leaving my Star of David at home when traveling. 

During my childhood and teenage years, I heard from and met many Holocaust survivors, including Elie Wiesel. I listened to their stories about how the world remained silent.

Today, it feels like the beginning of a second Holocaust. That is why I cannot remain silent.

A scary time to be Jewish

For this Jewish New Yorker, it’s a scary time to be Jewish. The American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America report found that 93% of American Jews surveyed think antisemitism is a problem in the United States and 86% believe antisemitism in the country has increased over the past five years. 

In November, I attended the March for Israel in Washington. Around me were Jewish people from Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Diego, and Queens. A man from Brooklyn put tefillin (phylacteries) on me; it was the first time I had worn tefillin in almost 20 years. I even got to meet Julia Haart and Miriam Haart from Netflix’s My Unorthodox Life, who grew up in a religious community not too far from me. While there, I realized this gathering had the most Jews I’ve been around since I was in Israel in 2006. It was the safest I had felt in years. But there were also allies, including Congressman Ritchie Torres and CNN contributor Van Jones. That day reminded me of why I am proud to be Jewish and why I cannot be silent about my Judaism any longer.

Since October 7, I have lost hundreds of followers on social media. I have received anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages, even threats. But I am not alone. The AJC found that six in 10 people have come across antisemitic content online, and 78% of American Jews feel less safe as Jews in the United States since that horrific day.

To many of us, the current climate feels different. We’re feeling angry, confused, and isolated. In my lifetime, I have watched the nation unite after domestic and foreign terrorist attacks, social justice actions, and wars. Rarely, outside of politics, have I seen us this divided: the Jewish community against everyone else. Overnight, people who had never spoken about any Middle Eastern wars became experts on the conflict. Disinformation spread like wildfire across social media, and much of it felt aimed at damaging or discrediting Jews and Zionists. Almost immediately after October 7, it was not only taboo to express sympathy for the Israelis who were captured or murdered; it was discouraged and forbidden, often met with attacks, both physical and verbal.

BUT THROUGH these painful months, there have also been glimmers of light.

During this period of mourning, I have watched people of all backgrounds come together – to educate, to grieve, to hope, and to pray. A Christian connection on social media thanked me for sharing educational resources. Jewish friends from elementary school and high school reached out. A Muslim friend held my hand as I cried, and another has been checking on me periodically for months. These are the moments I have chosen to cling to.

Our future is not where one side loses and another wins. It’s where we all unite.

The writer is an award-winning communications strategist, data storyteller, purpose-driven marketer, and educator based in New York City. He often speaks about antisemitism, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice issues.

[beatingtheouijaboardallegations]

wish there are less people invested in one single narrative of nonspeaking / nonverbal identity.

feels like there many different “traditions” or something of nonverbal nonspeaking activists and each small community all says same thing, same origin story same definitions same words same talk points. and I understand this because we are all autistic! we are all echolalic we all echo language and ideas from the community we surround selves with. but find it really hard when echo words becomes ddogma becomes thing you can’t say differently and just assume everyone thinks same thing or else not really in group.

(going to try to use “nonspeaking” for first community and “nonverbal” for second community because that’s what each one of these communities usually prefer. language hard so sorry if don’t do this consistent.)

like if I go to one of I-ASC (international association on spell to communicate) conference or one of their neuro lyrical events online. as a nonspeaker since birth who does have experience of “learned language without having speech”, of people assume don’t understand anything until finally found way to express self that world understands, and people still doubt am really the one saying this. in some ways relate to these people much much more than people on here who mostly became nonspeaking later in life and have very different upbringing not raised as a person with a DD not grow up without speech. places like the I-ASC and the Spellers community and impAACt and local meet up group for nonspeakers feel like family to me, feel like my people who move and talk and live like me.

but. there things in these community that are very black and white. that just can’t relate to. don’t relate to mantra of “speech is motor, language cognitive” for example. or “it’s not about don’t understand or about I don’t want to, it’s about can’t make body do it.”. because my motor issues interact with language processing interact with cognitive stuff not able to neat separate. yes AAC is freedom but I still have to make a lot of compromises to express self with words. have to leave out a lot or (more often) add a lot unnecessary stuff because there things that brain stuck that just can’t say in a way people will understand.

think this is true for lots more nonspeaking people than organizations like these (which were started + run by speaking people and communication & regulation partners and SLPs) say is true. a lot of nonspeaking people in these communities encouraged by speaking people in movement to focus emphasize on “we don’t have intellectual disability we can communicate with words just as good as you can, the motor problems is all that there we don’t have any language problems .” because this is what parents and speaking autistics and well meaning allies/communication partners think is important. they think the way to value us and to say we feel and think and know and should have rights (which we should!) is to distance distance distance far far away from any associate with intellectual disabilities with language disabilities with cognitive disabilities with process differently.

so as long as can be acceptable enough nonspeaker to them they support. which does not feel like support. nonspeaking doesn’t mean non thinking but intellectual disability and language deficit and cognitive disability doesn’t mean non thinking too. and a lot of people in these communities do have more complicated relationships with language but are told by speaking people in these communities to not talk about that only talk about motor stuff or connect everything back to motor stuff. which doesn’t feel like support. feels like flatten make easier make more convenient.

and then when I go on tumblr and see the nonverbal people speaking out here. i started out not on social media mostly in offline AAC and speller advocacy and someone told me there was good community of autistics with good range of support needs on tumblr so I joined. and do find bigger range of autistic and nonverbal nonspeaking experiences able to talk about here. able to talk about mental illness & psychosis & dissociation (which even nonspeaking advocacy communities assume nonspeaking people don’t have these problems or not capable). able to talk about “challenging” behaviors that so so stigmatized. able to talk about language and cognitive stuff. able to talk about gender and queerness without be policed (a lot of professionals and communication support people in nonspeaking advocacy are weird conservative and don’t think can know our genders / sexualities even though always talk about presume competence. it weird.) just saw beautiful post about nonverbal trans experience with gender that I loved. really like that people with intellectual disability getting heard, that we challenge expectation to have “proper” writen language. speech therapy and even learning how to use AAC, learning how to use letterboard etc was always about correct every mistake, about fade prompting, about use grammar properly so other people think competent. and have been able to let go of that on here because the language norms are so so different.

but at the same time I feel like there lot more stuff that not useful. lot of focus on right words to say, a lot of calling out other blogs, a lot of trolls, lot of drama that really doesn’t exist in real life nonspeaking community. like frustrated when go in nonverbal or nonspeaking tag and most posts not about nonverbal people human rights or experience, but about words. specific about people saying go nonverbal, someone trying to say it’s good or someone trying to say it’s bad. every other post about someone ask for right word to say instead of “go nonverbal”, or list of other words to say. or people asking whether or not they’re nonverbal or semiverbal or lose speech. and even within nonverbal community on here lot more talk about words than about justice. or even about lived experience of be nonverbal. people forget that real world outside tumblr tags exist sometimes. that there people living without communication, people being deny communication, people in institutions, people without resources. and that there are ways to change that and to self advocate besides changing what word you call yourself.

not saying words not important. yes it is annoying and bad when people talk abouit going nonverbal and forget that we exist. yes am grateful to people who decide to change what word they call themself to not erase us. but frustrated with how there not really conversation, one opinion just take as The Nonverbal Opinion, just like how it is in offline nonspeaking / speller community.

not seem like these communities are interacting, are compare notes on experience are combine to synthesize into something better. into what community could be. community that leaves no one behind. community that doesn’t claim to speak for everyone, doesn’t claim account for all experiences but still says all nonspeakers exist and all deserve rights. doesn’t tell anyone “don’t talk about your experience with X because it doesn’t fit what we want to tell the world that nonspeaking people are like.” where everything able to be talked about without it ever make less true that all of us need respect and rights more than any one word / idea.

curious if anyone have ideas for how to make this community.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Dropout Discord historical revisionism and denialism

A few days ago someone in the discord lamented over the fact that Hank Green endorsed a certain podcast.

Fig. 1. User dislikes that Hank Green will be getting a show on Dropout because they apparently endorse a podcast that "spreads lies against Palestinians". The podcast in particular is the Ezra Klein show, which I will admit I don't listen to. However, the two attached photos are quotes from a guest on the podcast and the "lies" that the show spreads.

Fig. 2. Klein's guest, Yossi Klein Halevi, states that Palestinian leaders, to his knowledge, have not accepted Jewish indigeneity nor has there been acceptance of a Jewish majority state.

Fig. 2. Halevi claims that the average Palestinian does not see Israel as a legitimate country and that the Holocaust is a lie, which is pushed by its media and leaders. Let's look at these claims. The first purports that no Palestinian leader has accepted Jewish indigeneity to the region. Doing a Google dive finds that no leader has accepted this, but nor have they outright denied it from what I can tell (if they have I will edit this with examples). Other leaders have said that the Jews Zionists are outright invaders in the area (looking at you Faisal), and the terrorist groups have said this type of rhetoric as well. Acceptance of a Jewish majority state has always been an issue in the MENA region. Other blogs have gone over this more in depth than I will here, but it has to do with a combination of historical antisemitism and reducing Jews to second class citizens. Jews are now "uppity" because they have their own country and rights that they didn't have in many of the other places they used to live (Westerners if you don't understand this and you're mad about this statement, you really need to look into the history of Jews as dhimmis and laws made against us). These next two claims I can see where people get upset and decry them as a lie. This gets a bit into semantics and how people think though. Halevi states that the average Palestinian thinks Israel is an illegitimate country based upon Zionist myth and the Holocaust lie/exaggeration. Many of the individuals in this particular server, and in other spaces, will likely go "But I know a Palestinian and they acknowledge the Holocaust was real! This is a lie." However, Halevi is not talking about the individual, they're talking about averages and generalizations and how the populace is influenced by their leaders and media. It is correct to state that Arafat never denied the Holocaust happened. However, members of the PLO during his tenure often did on their own. The current chairman of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, is a known Holocaust denialist/revisionist who wrote their PhD dissertation the Holocaust as a lie. He has repeatedly blamed the Jews for the Holocaust and played down the number of deaths. Abbas pushes the Zionist/Hitler conspiracy based upon the Haavara Agreement, makes false claims that less than 1 million Jews died, that the Allies made up the 6 million number, and that the gas chambers did not exist. There's a lot more nuance to things like the Haavara Agreement than I, an ecologist, can parse, so I leave that to my betters. However, just know that a small agreement like that does not support the claim that Zionists orchestrated the mass killing of Jews to steal land from Palestinians. That is outrageously antisemitic and relies upon a number of conspiracies. If we look at other leaders we will see denialism and revisionism as well. Hamas and its leadership has long denied that the Holocaust happened and they were upset when the UNRWA tried to include it in textbooks in Gaza back in 2009. Remember, Hamas is in charge of Gaza and their leaders are therefore Palestinian leaders for the area. Their denialism goes all the way back to the 00s where they issued the following statement in response to a conference on the Holocaust held in Stockhold at the time:

"This conference bears a clear Zionist goal, aimed at forging history by hiding the truth about the so-called Holocaust, which is an alleged and invented story with no basis. . . . The invention of these grand illusions of an alleged crime that never occurred, ignoring the millions of dead European victims of Nazism during the war, clearly reveals the racist Zionist face, which believes in the superiority of the Jewish race over the rest of the nations." -This quote is originally from their old website palestine.info.org This sentiment and denialism is not new. I have posted an excerpt of this particular article in the past.

Fig. 4. Excerpt of Martha Gellhorn's article from 1961 The Arabs of Palestine - a camp leader states revisionism and conspiracy. Martha Gellhorn's 1961 article titled The Arabs of Palestine documents Holocaust denialism and revisionism throughout it. The excerpt posted above is from her time interviewing one of the camp leaders while being escorted by a Secret Service agent. It takes the Haavara Agreement into conspiracy territory and alleges that Jews (not event Zionists, just outright Jews) worked with Hitler to kill their own people. Hell, it actually doesn't go full Haavara conspiracy because the leader does not state this was done to force the Jews to emigrate to Palestine and "steal their land" as the article moves on after this section. I highly recommend reading Gellhorn's article as it highlights many of the sentiments that we see to this day, and it was written in 1961. Holocaust denialism and revisionism have been ever present. Some things have changed, such as other nations normalizing their relations with Israel and recognizing them, but others have not. And in the end, this is another example of young activists who think they're informed on a subject they recently became passionate about showing that they are in fact not as informed as they think.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Wajahat Ali:

Dear readers, I am not a doctor. I’m just a simple writer. I share this because I don’t know if there are indeed “racist bones” in the human body. I also don’t know what’s in “people’s hearts.” Thankfully, I’m married to a doctor who has assured me such a bone doesn’t exist. My brother-in-law, a cardiologist, has also assured me there’s no specific valve or aorta that is devoted to racism.

All we have to go by is people’s repeated actions and behavior that the world can observe with its own eyes and hear with its own ears. To quote the late Maya Angelou, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Well, Donald Trump has shown his racist ass his entire life. This is the feature, not the bug. I’ve been covering him for nearly a decade ever since he descended the fake golden escalators to announce his presidency. During that press conference, he referred to Mexicans as “rapists” and “criminals.” That was the amuse-bouche of an endless buffet of xenophobia, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, anti-Asian bigotry, anti-semitism, and misogyny that has defined his political career. I’m going to do a test, purely for myself, to see if I can list off at least 10 obscenely racist things Trump has said or done during the past 9 years off the top of my dome - no research and no googling. Here it goes:

Trump refused to condemn white supremacy at the 2020 Presidential debate and instead told the Proud Boys to “Stand back, and stand by!” (They did when they were involved in the failed Jan 6 violent insurrection.)

Trump praised the white supremacists in Charlottesville who chanted Nazi slogans as “very fine people,” to the point where they saw him as an ally.

Trump lamented that Black and brown people came to America from “shithole countries” instead of from Norway, which is a great country that has so many white people that it made my teeth whiter during my visit.

Trump promoted the racist and Islamophobic “Birther conspiracy” against Barack Obama that forced him to show his birth certificate

Trump continues to refer to undocumented immigrants as “invaders,” the same language used by domestic terrorists who have attacked Jews, Black people and Latinos.

Trump referred to COVID as the “China Virus” and “Kung Flu,” which coincided with the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans

Trump told The Squad to go back to their country, even though all those Congresswomen of color are American citizens.

Trump refers to Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire” even though she is infinitely more qualified than him, and furthermore he alleges she “turned Black” for sake of political opportunity. (Well, he turned Republican, but I digress.)

Trump uses “Palestinian” as a pejorative to mock Senator Schumer and President Biden. (He did it again last night at his rally.)

Trump quotes Hitler! He uses his language of “vermin” and “poisoning the blood” to attack immigrants, and he praised him according to his former DHS Secretary General Kelly.

***Bonus*** Trump took out ads asking for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, who have since been exonerated. He has refused to acknowledge their innocence.

Trust me, there’s more! I passed my own challenge of listing the first ten examples off the top of my head, which is in itself quite disturbing.

[...] He does not have “flare ups” or “trip ups” or “racially charged moments.” No. Trump is a racist. He has always been a racist. He acts and behaves like a racist. He can’t help but be a racist. He has not changed or evolved or mellowed or moderated or become more serene after his assassination attempt. If you doubt me, just look at his 35 minute interview with Black journalists at the annual NABJ conference. He is supported by racists who love him for his racism. He will triple-down on racism because he’s a 1 trick pony and because he is melting down at the thought of a Black Indian woman defeating him in 2024.

THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali is right on: It’s time for the mainstream media to consistently and explicitly use the word “racist” to describe Donald Trump’s racist behavior. “Racially charged” does NOT cut it.

[mariacallous]

Cornel West’s independent presidential campaign is broke. His former campaign manager says he knows nothing about ballot access. And he spent more on graphic design than petition-gathering in his most recent campaign finance report.

But tens of thousands of signatures have been gathered on behalf of the famed left-wing academic in key states thanks to self-organized grassroots volunteers — and some help from outside operatives tied to a Republican consulting firm.

Democrats fear West’s potential to siphon votes from President Joe Biden in places where he is on the ballot in a close election, and some Republicans are publicly discussing ways to boost West and other minor candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Green Party’s Jill Stein in the hopes of splitting the anti-Donald Trump coalition.

In North Carolina, for example, a prominent Republican activist was spotted in April outside a Trump rally gathering signatures for West, telling rallygoers it "helps take away votes from Joe Biden."

Meanwhile, a new party formed in the state to get West on the ballot announced Monday that its “all-volunteer effort" had submitted more than 30,000 signatures, despite having virtually no oversight and receiving not “a cent” from West’s campaign.

“Without this grassroots effort, there’s no way we could have done it,” Drew Lischke, a co-chair of the Justice for All Party of North Carolina, said at a news conference. “This was a very low, low, low budget operation.”

But internal emails obtained by NBC News, social media posts and other evidence suggest someone from the outside — though it’s unclear who or how much, if anything, they spent — was trying to help West get on the ballot in North Carolina, even if his grassroots allies were not fully aware of it.

Emails from elections officials, obtained through a request under North Carolina's Public Records Law, show the pro-West Justice for All Party authorized three people to pick up and drop off signatures for them statewide — and all three are current or past employees of a Colorado-based Republican political firm called Blitz Canvassing.

Blitz Canvassing has worked for numerous Republican House and Senate candidates and took in more than $14.6 million in payments working for Never Back Down, the main super PAC that supported former GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to campaign finance reports.

"In the same way that Republicans have quietly pushed ballot access for the Green Party across the country for years, there’s concrete evidence — not rumors, but evidence — in North Carolina and in other states of an organized Republican effort to get Cornel West on ballots, using Republican consultants and vendors that the West campaign is not paying for," said Pete Kavanaugh, who founded Clear Choice Action, a new Democratic super PAC working to combat third-party candidates.

West campaign spokesperson Edwin DeJesus said the campaign was “not aware of these particular individuals being involved with a Republican firm” and so it did “not have any specific comments since we are not familiar with them or their affiliations.”

“However, it’s important to note that our volunteer base encompasses a broad spectrum of political affiliations,” DeJesus added.

'We haven't paid them one cent'

On May 7, a top official at the North Carolina State Board of Elections emailed colleagues with some “important updates and reminders” about various upcoming deadlines and events, according to a redacted copy of the email, which was shared with NBC News after being obtained via a public records request by Clear Choice.

Included on the list was an update about the pro-West Justice For All Party's petition efforts. The email alerted other officials that the party’s "chairperson has authorized the following representatives to drop off and pick up petitions" throughout the state: Jacob Smith, David Mills and Charisma Harris.

Smith is listed as project manager on Blitz Canvassing's website, and the cellphone number listed in the email matches one given for Smith in a Michigan GOP fundraising email that pointed recipients to him if they had questions. Mills says on LinkedIn that he is employed full time as a project manager for Blitz. And Harris says on LinkedIn that she currently runs her own canvassing firm but served as regional political director for Blitz until January. Before that, she was a campaign manager for Blitz, where she started working in 2022.

Italo Medelius, a co-chair of the Justice for All Party and its official representative to election officials, acknowledged to NBC News that he authorized the three to work on behalf of the campaign, saying he did so because they were familiar with the intricacies of petitioning procedures.

But he had no idea they worked for Blitz and had never heard of the company, saying their names were included on a list of potential volunteers sent over by West’s campaign, with a notation that they had experience in petition gathering.

“I know Charisma, Jacob and David as volunteers,” Medelius said. “We haven’t paid them one cent.”

He said he had known Harris for years and worked with her on the 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, but said he only became aware of Smith and Mills after they appeared on the West campaign’s volunteer list.

“We did talk about, from the beginning of this operation, that there might be infiltrators trying to get into the campaign,” Medelius said. “If there are people that infiltrated or whatever, it could be true, I guess, but I never really had a hint from these folks.”

Smith, Mills and Harris did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Alyssa Zambrano, a manager at Blitz, told NBC News in a brief interview that she had “no idea” why the three were working on behalf of the Justice for All campaign and said her firm was not doing any work for West.

“We have nothing to do with that,” Zambrano said. “We’re not working for them.”

Follow-up emails and text messages asking for more clarification from Blitz went unanswered.

'Beyond fishy'

Before the consultants' roles were known, the geography of the Justice for All signatures raised alarm bells among local Democrats.

The pro-West party received large batches of signatures from Republican-leaning counties like Brunswick and New Hanover, while there were proportionally fewer than expected from more Democratic-leaning counties and ones with large university campuses, where West’s progressive and pro-Palestine messaging would be likely to resonate.

“It’s beyond fishy,” said Doug Heyl, a North Carolina-based Democratic strategist. “It seems very likely that a lot of these are Republican signatures that want Cornel West on the ballot to help Trump.”

Separately, a high-profile Republican activist who focuses on early voting was spotted gathering signatures for West outside a planned rally for former Trump in April in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“This helps take away votes from Joe Biden,” Scott Presler told a rallygoer, according to a video posted by a Washington Post reporter. “We’re helping the Trump team who’s trying to get him on there,” added a woman by his side. The rally was later canceled due to bad weather.

Documents obtained by NBC news suggest this was not just a stunt or idle talk.

Hundreds of pages of petition signatures submitted by the Justice for All Party, also obtained through a public records request, show dozens of registered Republicans signed petitions to get the pro-West party on the ballot on the same day as the Trump rally and in the same county.

On the social media platform X, where Presler has 1.5 million followers, he put out a call ahead North Carolina’s ballot deadline saying, “We are working on getting Dr. Cornel West on the ballot in North Carolina. If anyone is interested in helping, let me know.”

A week later, he posted again to say he had already “sent 40+ folks to our North Carolina organizer, but are still looking for more.”

Asked about Presler on CNN in April, West said he had never heard of the right-wing influencer and did not want his help.

“No, no, I don’t think so, if it’s just manipulative,” West said. “If people are just going to use this candidate for X and Y, no, not at all.”

West campaign struggles

These efforts are happening on the sidelines of a campaign that has struggled in its own efforts.

Getting on the ballot is the biggest challenge for any independent or third-party candidate — and also a place where outside forces have a history of meddling — but West’s campaign has stumbled trying to meet that challenge.

West’s most recent campaign finance report showed he entered May with just $18,000 in cash and more than that — $28,000 — in debt. Campaign finance expert Rob Pyers noted the report showed West’s campaign spent more on graphic design in April than it spent on petitioning services for ballot access.

By comparison, Kennedy spent more than $2 million on a single company specializing in ballot access for his own independent campaign, according to his own FEC report covering the same time period.

“There’s a Kennedy presence in North Carolina. There’s no West presence here,” said Heyl.

In late April and early May, West’s campaign listed 70 volunteer events across the country, but none were in North Carolina.

Before running as an independent, West was on track to claim the nomination of the Green Party, which has existing infrastructure and ballot lines he could have used. But West abruptly left the party last fall, stunning Green Party officials like Jill Stein, who was managing his campaign and is now expected to once again be the Greens' nominee in his absence.

“You can’t do ballot access on your first time out,” Stein told left-wing podcast host Briahna Joy Gray in a recent interview. “He’s talking about running as a write-in candidate in Texas, but he doesn’t know that Texas won’t count write-in votes! And that’s true in many states.”

West and Stein have been feuding after he accused her of being "addicted" to running for president and said he had lost "all respect" for her.

Stein said West has refused to discuss the issue with her and explain why he left the Green Party, adding that he's a "political novice" and that it was "hard to give him advice" about the mechanics of ballot access and running a campaign.

“There is absolutely no pathway forward for Dr. West," Stein said.

Nevertheless, some people are working to clear a path for him.

[strljaem]

“LOVE POTION.”

adapted by “the boy is mine” ariana grande’s music video.

💿 : the boy is mine, ariana grande.

The night hung heavy with anticipation as I stood in my dimly lit apartment, the air thick with my thoughts. I slid my long, slender hands over the kitchen cabinet, fingers trailing delicately over the cool, smooth surface until they reached the small glass bottle of pink sparkling love potion. My blonde hair was neatly pinned in a flower bun, and I adjusted my cat-shaped black-framed glasses, straightening my white blouse and smoothing down my black skirt. A smile curled on my lips as I envisioned tonight's plan: sneaking into Na Jaemin's apartment and using the potion to win his heart.

The small TV on the kitchen cabinet beside the sink hummed softly, the news reporter's voice a distant murmur. Suddenly, the words "newly elected mayor Na Jaemin is set to address the media any moment for a press conference" cut through the fog of my thoughts. I gasped, turning quickly to the TV and raising the volume. My eyes sparkled as the screen switched to his handsome face, framed perfectly by his blue dashing suit. His voice, deep and commanding, filled the room, making everything else blur. I was entranced, staring at him, my mind drifting into fantasies.

"...we have gathered the city’s overflow of stray cats. And we will release them, hungry into the streets, to combat this problem at its source."

His words snapped me back to reality. The plan to combat the rat infestation with stray cats seemed almost poetic in its simplicity and brilliance. "Thank you," Jaemin concluded, his face serene yet powerful.

"That's brilliant, so hot," I whispered, a smile spreading across my face. My moment of admiration was abruptly shattered by a sharp cracking sound. I whirled around to see the love potion bottle shattered on the floor, pink liquid glistening in the dim light. A cat, wide-eyed and guilty, darted out the open window. I squeaked, rushing to the floor to salvage my precious potion.

Carefully, I opened a drawer, retrieving a syringe. Kneeling, I began gathering the liquid and dust, painstakingly sucking it back into the syringe and transferring it into the bottle. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than enough. I couldn't let my carefully crafted potion go to waste.

With the bottle secure, I giggled, a thrill of excitement coursing through me. Hurrying to my closet, I rifled through the fabrics until I found the perfect black material, sleek and form-fitting. I was going to make a Catwoman suit. The idea was exhilarating. I ran to the living room, sat on the couch, and began sewing with feverish determination. Hours passed, the rhythmic hum of my sewing machine blending with the sultry tones of Ariana Grande's "The Boy is Mine" on the turntable.

Finally, the suit was complete. I stood before the mirror, admiring the way the fabric clung to my curves, accentuating my form. I looked dangerous and irresistible. I applied smokey black eye makeup, enhancing the mystery of my eyes, and tied my hair back into a sleek ponytail before donning the mask. A cat tail, the perfect final touch, swayed behind me as I moved.

My heart pounded with anticipation as I climbed out the window, the cool night air brushing against my skin. I moved across the rooftops with feline grace, the city sprawled out beneath me, every shadow and corner familiar. I knew exactly where Jaemin lived.

The journey was swift, my adrenaline propelling me forward. I arrived at his building, scaling the side with ease. His apartment was on the top floor, the large windows offering a glimpse of his world. I slipped inside silently, the darkness my ally.

I finally landed outside his window pane, crouched low, my senses alert. The kitchen was empty, the quiet hum of the refrigerator the only sound. I sighed in relief, my breath catching as I saw him emerge from the bathroom. Na Jaemin looked so hot, his black jet hair drenched as if he had just taken a shower. He was wearing a white t-shirt, unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, revealing his toned arms. My mouth hung open at the sight, desire pooling in my veins.

Carefully, I opened the window, watching as he went back into the bathroom. This was my chance. I slipped inside, landing softly on the floor, and crawled towards the bathroom. The door was half-open, and through the crack, I saw him staring at the mirror, steam swirling around him. Oh god, he looked so hot, his plump lips, wet hair, and damp skin just for me.

As I pushed the door slightly, it creaked, and he turned around, eyes wide with surprise. I quickly hid myself, heart pounding. He stepped out of the bathroom, a glass of wine in his hand, and his eyes landed on me. I was sitting on his bed, legs crossed in a seductive pose, smiling at him.

“Hey,” I purred, my voice dripping with allure.

He was startled, fear flashing across his face. He dropped the glass of wine onto the floor. Thankfully, it didn’t cracked but it made a loud thunk noise. He tried to run, but I stood up on the bed, taking my bullwhip and throwing it around his feet. With a quick flick, he was pulled towards me, falling to the ground. I slowly reeled him in, my eyes never leaving his confused yet captivated gaze. At the same time, I was wondering why he didn’t even bother to tell me and let him go? Instead, he just played with my actions. He amazed me, that’s actually so hot of him.

As we made eye contact, the tension in the room became electric. I lowered myself to his level, crawling over him. Our faces were inches apart, breath mingling. He smelled just like wine, mixed perfectly with the scent of his masculine perfume, air thick with unspoken desire. I smiled, taking out the love potion. My hand reached out, cupping his cheek as I brought the bottle closer to his lips.

But before I could pour it into his mouth, his hand shot up, grabbing mine and the bottle. Our eyes locked, and the room seemed to shrink around us, the world narrowing to just the two of us. My eyebrows furrowed, confused by his sudden resistance. He looked deep into my soul, his gaze intense and unyielding.

With a slow, deliberate motion, he took off my eye mask, revealing my whole face. A smirk played on his lips as he leaned in closer. My heart raced, thinking he was going to kiss me. I closed my eyes, anticipation swirling inside me. But instead, I heard the shattering of glass as he threw the love potion against the wall.

I gasped. “What are-“

Then, his lips were on mine, claiming me with a fierce, possessive kiss. The world melted away, leaving just the two of us, tangled in a web of desire and danger. The kiss was a promise, a challenge, and an acceptance all at once. I melted into him, my hands clutching his shoulders, the heat between us scorching.

He placed me carefully on the wooden floor. When we finally pulled apart, his eyes were blazing with a mix of emotions. Both of us were out of breath by the passionate kiss. “What do you want from me?” he asked, his voice husky.

I hesitated. His eyes were looking worriedly into mine, searching for response. “You.” I breathed out, “Only you.” While tucking one of his hair behind his ears. He chuckled softly, the sound vibrating through me. He took my hands and kissed it. He leaned in and whispered on my ear, “Then, you’ll have to earn it.” he spoke in a low tone.

And so, the night unfolded, a dangerous dance of passion, power, and unspoken promises.

[girlactionfigure]

Post-Shabbat update:

👉 One of the most senior terrorist commanders in Jenin was eliminated in an overnight Israeli air strike on the northern Samaria city. The IDF rarely uses Air Force strikes against targets in the so-called "West Bank."

👉 At least 21 Hamas and allied terrorists were eliminated since this morning in expanded IDF operations in northern and southern Gaza.

👉 Iron Dome intercepted 5 Gaza rockets fired at the coastal city of Ashkelon.

---

One-by-one: The IDF targeted another senior Hezbollah official on the Lebanon-Syria border. His fate is still unknown.

Under siege: Hezbollah launched a number of attack on the Israeli border region, though the intensity was less than in previous days.

No horizon:American mediators informed Lebanon that they would not return in the short-term as there was little point in negotiating with Hezbollah at this time.

---

Trouble in paradise: War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz will give an urgent press conference this evening. He's expected to set firm red lines to his continued participation in Netanyahu's government.

End the war? Opposition leader Yair Lapid is urging Gantz to quit Bibi's government immediately. And that would mean the government falls, and the war ends in line with the current American policy of seeking a long-term truce and hostage-prisoner exchange.

Huge victory: On Arab social media, there's rampant talk of the imminent fall of Netanyahu's gov't and an end to the war, resulting in a "huge victory" for the Palestinians.

‼️ Were the war to end today under present circumstances, that would indeed be perceived, and perhaps even constitute a victory for Palestinian terrorism.

💥 And that would in turn make all but inevitable the next terrorist invasion of Israel.

War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz has given Netanyahu three weeks (until June 😍 to present a workable plan and that will meet the following goals:

1️⃣ Return all the hostages.

2️⃣ Topple Hamas and ensure Israeli security control in Gaza.

3️⃣ Along with maintaining Israeli security control, establish an American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration that will manage civilian affairs in Gaza and lay the foundation for a future government that is not Hamas or Abbas.

4️⃣ Return the residents of the north to their homes by September 1 and rehabilitate the Western Negev.

5️⃣ Promote normalization with Saudi Arabia as part of a comprehensive move that will create an alliance with the free world and the Arab world against Iran.

6️⃣ Advance legislation that would compel all Israelis to serve the state and contribute to the national effort - ie. military conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Netanyahu responds harshly to Gantz for causing a political rift in the middle of a war, and asks three pointed questions:

1️⃣ Is he ready to complete the operation in Rafah to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions, and if so, how is it possible that he is threatening to dismantle the emergency unity government in the middle of the operation?

2️⃣ Is he opposed to Palestinian Authority rule in Gaza, even without Mahmoud Abbas?

3️⃣ Is he ready to accept a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza as part of the normalization process with Saudi Arabia?

---

Netanyahu goes on to stress that his own position on all three critical issues is already clear:

👉 He is determined at all costs to destroy Hamas; 

👉 He opposes the entry of the Palestinian Authority into Gaza; and

👉 He rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state that will inevitably become a terrorist haven (even for the sake of normalization with Saudi Arabia).

[capybaracorn]

Why has Belgium vowed to back the ICJ’s verdict on Gaza ‘genocide’?

Unlike other European nations, Belgium has said it would support the international court’s decisions on South Africa’s case against Israel.

As the world anticipates a preliminary verdict from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, leaders in the European Union remain divided on how to interpret the decision.

Shortly after the two-day hearing at the world’s top court in the Hague earlier this month, where South Africa told the ICJ that Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip violated the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic – staunch allies of Israel – rejected these claims. Hungary condemned the case, while Berlin declared that it would intervene on Israel’s behalf at the ICJ.

Last week, France, which is home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish minorities and has been in the headlines for banning pro-Palestine protests since October 7, chimed in, saying Paris also does not support the ICJ case against Israel.

“To accuse the Jewish state of genocide is to cross a moral threshold,” said French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne.

Other EU nations have remained silent on the court case.

Slovenia is an exception, having announced its support for another ICJ case against Israel regarding Palestinian rights.

And, among the bloc’s more outspoken critics of Israel’s military conduct in Palestine, Ireland has adopted a cautious stance. In Spain, the minority left-wing Sumar party in the coalition government backed South Africa’s case.

Last week, in Belgium, socialist politician Caroline Gennez, minister of development cooperation and urban policy, said the country would support to the ICJ’s decision.

“If the International Court of Justice calls on Israel to cease its military campaign in Gaza, our country will fully support it,” she said in a social media post.

At a news conference in Brussels on Friday, Ludivine Dedonder, defence minister, reiterated: “Today, the Belgian government is speaking out in favour of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid, and support for the ICJ.”

What’s behind Belgium’s position?

The prevailing European view since October 7 has been that Israel has a right to self-defence against the Palestinian group Hamas, as long as it stays within the boundaries of international law.

But as the latest escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict rages on, some Belgian leaders have been more openly critical of Israel’s actions as the Palestinian death toll mounts.

After Hamas attacked southern Israel in early October, killing 1,139 people, Israeli forces have bombarded Gaza, the densely populated Strip Hamas governs with a pre-war population of 2.2 million people. During air attacks and as part of its ground invasion, the Israeli army has killed more than 25,000 people, among them many women and children, and stands accused of widespread atrocities.

In November, the Belgian government, a coalition of seven political parties, said 5 million euros ($5.4m) from the federal government will be used to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate possible war crimes in Israel and Gaza.

Brigitte Herremans, a postdoctoral researcher at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Gent in Belgium, told Al Jazeera the tiny European country traditionally adopts strong positions on international law with regard to the Middle East conflict.

“Observers would say that it also has to do with Belgium’s own history of being occupied historically by foreign powers,” she added.

During both world wars, Belgium was under German occupation.

Herremans said that Belgium’s stance today is similar to its previous positions on other foreign policy issues, such as the Iraq war.

“In general, we always saw Belgium somehow stick to a position that the acquisition of territory by force wasn’t accepted,” she said.

But Marc Botenga, of Belgium’s leftist Workers’ Party and an EU lawmaker, said the government’s support to the ICJ is still limited.

“If you look closely at their statement there is no active attitude to actually support the South African case against Israel. The government just says they will support whatever decision the ICJ takes, which is logical since all member states of the United Nations are supposed to support the institution’s court,” Bottenga told Al Jazeera. “However we have to commend the Belgian public for this stance which other EU nations have not really taken.”

Large protests in different Belgian cities have played a role in pressuring the government to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said.

Meanwhile, Belgium has declared its participation in the EU Red Sea Mission against Yemen’s Houthis, the Iran-linked group which says its recent attacks on ships linked to Israel or its allies are aimed at pressuring officials to stop the onslaught of Gaza.

“That’s not the kind of stance we want,” Bottega said of Belgium’s participation.

Herremans said that since Belgium currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union – a decision-making body in which ministers coordinate policies and adopt laws – his country is responsible for developing consensus.

“Belgium has to take into account the position of staunch pro-Israeli countries, so [it] might have to be more cautious and less vocal on international law. But it will not take a fundamentally different position from what it always has,” she said.

Belgium’s position on Israel-Palestine

Historically, Belgium has shown solidarity towards Palestine while also supporting Israel.

At the UN in 2012, it voted in favour of giving Palestine “non-member” observer status. Last year, it supported a UN resolution ordering the ICJ to investigate the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

But discussing the Israeli-Palestinian issue in the Parliament can be difficult, because of diverse views between political parties in the Flanders in the north, Wallonia in the south, and the Brussels region.

Some Belgian sources told Al Jazeera that of the seven coalition partners, the progressives – Greens and Social Democrats – believe concrete measures have to be taken to ensure international law is applied in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank with regard to the ICJ case.

In recent months, the Flemish Liberal Party of Prime Minister De Croo and Flemish Christian-Democrats have also toughened their stance on the situation in Palestine.

In November, the premier described Israel’s campaign in Gaza as “disproportionate” as he condemned the army’s bombing of Gaza refugee camps.

But the French-speaking Liberal Party, to which the foreign affairs minister belongs, has traditionally been pro-Israel.

Elections

Looking ahead, Belgium heads to the polls in June, which could end up shifting the country’s stance if a new government comes into power.

Fourat Ben Chikha, vice president of the senate, the federal parliament’s upper house, told Al Jazeera that even if the current coalition changes, as an international community, de-escalation and respect for human rights and international law should be every Belgian government’s priority.

Willem Staes, senior Middle East adviser at 11.11.11, a Belgian international solidarity organisation which lobbies Belgian and European governments to uphold human rights, said that regardless of the Belgian government’s composition, foreign policy has traditionally focused on fighting against impunity and promoting accountability.

“The current government is consequently applying this logic and leading the way at EU level. So providing support to the ICJ and the ICC, or calling for a permanent ceasefire, is not about being ‘pro-Palestinian’ or ‘anti-Israel’,” Staes told Al Jazeera.

“It’s about common sense and choosing the only logical side, which is the side of international law. The fact that this is considered ‘radical’ by some tells you everything you need to know about the state of European politics.”