#a cleanse is in order for 2024

[heartofbusan]

TLDR: re-entry into the bangtan gravitational field at your own pace in 2025. Guilt free!

2024 was such a re-set year for me when it comes to engaging with bangtan. Can I be fully honest and say that their enlistment has been relaxing for me? Sure, we had a shit tonne of content to wade through, but without the members themselves being present for any of it, it meant a less direct engagement with the work during their 2024 releases. For me, that meant fewer feelings of guilt towards 'being present' with them. Does that make sense? It's like I got room to engage at my own pace and on my own terms. Or I might just be getting older, lol. Not discounting that possibility.

The music we got still had great impact on me. It felt sensual to engage with it as if it was a new discovery and less of an obligation. Time constraints sometimes meant it took me weeks to watch an mv, or listen to an album without distractions. Quite a different way of being army than I was before.

I became an army during the pandemic, right at the very start of our first lockdown. I allowed myself to delve into something that had only existed in my periphery. With their amazing music, which was second only to their interactions and personalities, came a whole boatload of content to wade through. All the while, Dynamite was being launched as my first official comeback. Growing up with that juggernaut meant feeling deeply invested and also responsible for their success. The results were very much a shared success. The perfect fertilizer for the parasocial relationship I'm currently involved in with seven Korean men I've never even met.

It took me away from my own life. Kept me in that state of detached social contact that was created thanks to the pandemic. Yet, I felt sated, my joy became engaging with these men, their art. What need did my surroundings fulfill that couldn't be met by army as friends and by bts as my sole purveyor of art?

Fleeing the horrors of Twitter and learning to navigate this platform also meant a deeper focus into one aspect of army that I never felt fully comfortable doing there. Jikook.

What can I say? They have my full attention. I lost some, what at the time I thought were some very good friends in this process. I barely gained any new ones. Yet, in this year, I did discover the power of a restful thought written into sharp observation. And nothing compelled me to write as much as jikook does.

But, all good things must evolve in order to be sustainable in the long run. I don't want that period to sour, to become just a hyper fixation. BTS' enlistment period meant I could take a step back and re-evaluate what it all meant to me and how I could keep it for the long run. As we roll into the sanctified year of 2025, the year that means the end of bangtan's mandatory enlistment period, we'll being sucked back into that vortex. I want to do it on my own terms.

My personal goals for 2025.

More: engaging with new content in my own time. Less: obsessive streaming and the feelings of guilt others put upon behavior that might be detrimental to your peace. Sorry, but this behavior is not sustainable in my life as it once was.

Less: buying dopamine. More: buying with intention, whether it be music or merchandise. Those tickets will not come free of charge, i hope you have been saving up ☺️

Less: engaging with content as it drops. Yes, even lives! Argh. As much as it pains me to feel like I'm ignoring someone. More: Being present in my real life.

No one gets to dictate who is army and who isn't. These are arbitrary rules set upon by some who are willing and able to direct a lot of time and money to a singular goal. I know as I write this that I'm making excuses for myself. Yet, I need it to be true. I want to carve a place for bangtan into my life, not the other way around. Let's not let a corporation dictate our genuine feelings for the sake of capitalism.

Most of all, I hope health and general well-being are what carry us all into 2025. Nothing is certain, but love is a very powerful feeling. One which can move mountains. Sometimes to great personal cost. Yet, it is worth it in the long run. Wouldn't you agree?

I hope you have a very calm and enjoyable end of year. Be safe and tell your loved ones how they make you feel. It's important to hold on to the things you have control over and to let go, nay, expell the things that are beyond your reach.

[writingforstraykids]

Behind the Mask

Pairing: Han Jisung x gn!reader (short mention of Chan)

Word count: 1066

Summary: You’re a makeup artist for stray kids - used to putting on faces, used to covering up the exhaustion under glitter and gloss. But when you find Han Jisung crying alone in the break room, you realize he’s been wearing a mask heavier than foundation.

Warnings/Tags: hurt comfort, angst, fluff, idol x makeup artist

do not repost, translate, or plagiarize my works in any way here or on other platforms. ©️writingforstraykids 2024 -

You’ve been told Jisung is a handful.

The staff talk about him like he’s a whirlwind - chaotic, loud, full of energy, barely stays in one spot for more than ten seconds. You assumed they were exaggerating. Until the first time you tried to apply his foundation and he started rapping the order menu of his favorite chicken place while bouncing his legs like a caffeinated jackrabbit.

Still, it was hard not to smile around him.

He made long shoot days easier, kept the room buzzing when everyone else was barely holding on. You’d even gotten used to the challenge of chasing his face with a beauty blender while he talked with his hands. What you hadn’t expected was the silence.

You were walking back from lunch break, your touch-up kit tucked under your arm, when you passed by the break room door left slightly ajar. It was supposed to be empty - set change, everyone on break, no camera crew. But you paused at the faint sound behind it.

Not laughter. Not talking. A muffled sob.

Your fingers hovered at the door. You know better than to intrude. But something about the sound - raw and strangled, like someone trying too hard to be quiet - makes your chest twist. You peek in.

Jisung is sitting on the couch, hoodie pulled over his head, face buried in his hands.

You hesitate. Then softly, “...Jisung?” His head snaps up, eyes wide.

He blinks at you like he doesn’t recognize your voice for a second. “Sorry—” you start to back out. “I didn’t mean to—”

“No - wait.” His voice cracks, barely more than a whisper. He wipes at his face quickly, smearing faint traces of eyeliner and concealer. “It’s… I’m fine. Just - don’t tell anyone, okay?”

You step inside, slow and careful, and close the door behind you. “Your secret’s safe.”

He tries to smile, but it breaks halfway through. “I’m supposed to be the fun one,” he says, a bitter edge curling the words. “Can’t even cry without ruining someone’s day.”

“You’re not ruining anything.” You sit across from him, not too close, giving him space. There’s silence. He sniffs and wipes his nose with the sleeve of his hoodie.

You reach into your kit and silently hand him a tissue. He gives a weak chuckle and takes it.

“I was fine this morning. I swear.”

“You don’t have to explain,” you say, gentle. But he does. You can see it—whatever’s cracking inside him, it needs to come out.

“I just… I didn’t sleep. My vocals were off in rehearsal. Channie hyung said I looked tired and he meant well but—” He bites his lip. “I think I’m just tired of pretending all the time.” He exhales shakily, shoulders slumping.

You nod slowly. “That’s a lot to carry.”

“I used to love this, you know?” he says quietly. “The music, the stage, the fans. I still do. But some days, it feels like I’m performing even when I’m off-stage. Like people only want the fun version of me.”

You reach into your kit again and pull out a compact mirror and a cleansing wipe. “Let me help,” you say, moving gently to sit beside him.

He doesn’t flinch when you lift the wipe to his cheek. Just watches you with those red-rimmed eyes, a little stunned by the calm. “You always know how to fix my face,” he murmurs.

“I’d rather help you feel okay inside it,” you say softly.

That makes him pause. He looks at you - really looks, like he’s seeing past the uniform, past the role. “That’s not in your job description.”

You smile. “Neither is keeping secrets.”

For a long moment, neither of you speaks. You wipe away the last of the smudged eyeliner, then gently pat his skin dry. He closes his eyes under your touch, like he finally feels safe enough to breathe.

“Do you ever just… want to disappear for a while?” he asks suddenly. “Not forever. Just long enough to remember who you were before everything got so loud.”

You nod, quiet. “More often than I admit.”

He cracks a small smile. “We should run away.”

“Yeah?” you tease. “Where to?”

“Somewhere with no cameras. No rehearsals. Just—quiet. And maybe ramen.”

You laugh, surprised. “A peaceful life fueled by instant noodles?”

“Living the dream,” he says, and for the first time, it sounds real. There’s another pause. He leans back, his shoulder brushing yours. Not an accident. He doesn’t pull away. “Thanks for not pretending I’m okay,” he says softly.

“Thanks for trusting me.” You glance at the clock. An hour until showtime. “Wait here,” you say, standing.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“Getting us that dream-life ramen.”

His brows lift. “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious. Instant noodles for the soul.” You return a few minutes later, two steaming cups in hand. One spicy for him. One mild for you. You sit beside him again, the room quiet but warm this time.

“God, I might love you,” he mutters.

You freeze—then laugh when you see the playful smirk on his lips. “It’s the ramen, isn’t it?”

“Obviously.”

You eat together in silence, closer now. He finishes first, sighing as he leans back.

Then the door creaks open.

Chan steps inside, glancing at Jisung worriedly. “There you are.”

Jisung straightens. “Channie hyung - sorry.”

Chan’s gaze flicks from the ramen to the red around his eyes. He reads the room instantly. “You okay?”

Jisung nods. “Getting there.”

Chan looks at you. “Thanks for staying with him.”

“Anytime.”

He nods once and disappears.

“Do you think I’ll be able to go out there?” Jisung asks softly.

“I think you already did the hardest part,” you reply. “You let someone in.” He takes your hand and holds it, just for a second. “I’ll be watching from backstage,” you say. “No masks.”

You fix his makeup one last time. Add a little shimmer, comb through his hair. He watches you in the mirror - not as an idol, not as a performer, but as someone quietly anchoring him.

“After tonight,” he says, “can we talk again? Somewhere quiet.”

You smile. “I’d like that.”

-

Backstage is a storm. But Jisung lingers, brushing your hand once before heading to his mark. “Wish me luck,” he says.

“You don’t need it. You’ve got heart.”

He looks back at you as the music starts. The lights rise. And this time, when he smiles - it’s not for the fans. It’s for you.

MASTERLISTS | PROMPT LIST | GUIDELINES

Taglist (Please let me know if you want to be added to or removed from the taglist):

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[cheriladycl01]

Kinktober 20/10/2024 Carlos Sainz - Toys

Plot: Carlos finds your side draw of toys when your out with the girls and he can’t wait to try them out with you.

Warnings: Kinktober, SMUT, use of dildo, use of vibrator, use of toys, sex with toys, 18+ Minors DNI

Carlos and you had a very active sex life but it was pretty mundane. You guys stuck to the basics, going in the order of making out, to him fingering you, to you giving him a hand job or blow job and then sex, of course in missionary because that’s all you’d ever tried.

And you knew it wasn’t an issue with Carlos because he always satisfied you in every aspect of your relationship.

However there were times when you didn’t go to a race with him and you’d have your little selfcare days. You’d go to the local spa, you’d have a massive shower where you’d shave and do all of your facial cleansing and body scrubbing to the point you felt like a squeaky clean scrubbing brush.

And then came the other aspect of your self care. And that all resided in your locked side draw in the bedside cabinet. You and Carlos had one each, even though this was your apartment, he stayed here so often between races that it just made sense he had his own space for stuff.

But all the time you were in the relationship the draw remained locked and you never showed Carlos what you did when it was just you.

You had loads of toys, ranging from purple dildos to bunny shaped vibrators, to vibrators you could store in your panties and control through a mobile app, you had as much as you could physically force into that draw.

Your use them whenever Carlos wasn’t around, it was like your smutty little secret that you were okay with just keeping to yourself as you found it kind of embarrassing, this side of you and you never wanted Carlos to think he was doing enough because he was.

But then in a rush, you’d left the draw unlocked after you’d spent a morning with your rose toy that acted like a tongue and felt like it was eating you out. It was something that was able to work motorised and faster than a natural tongue.

And Carlos had got home before you. You’d asked him to hang up a picture for you as he was sort of the handy man in the house now that he was there more often than not. He went looking for a screwdriver and some nails to see if he could get it up. And of course he went looking in your bedside cabinet when he couldn’t find it in the kitchen or the utility room.

When he opened the draw he couldn’t say he wasn’t shocked. It was so out of the ordinary for you, but then again he couldn’t really tell.

He placed them all on the bed in an order of what shocked him the most to what looked relatively normal for you.

When you got home, you chucked your bag on the entrance way floor kicking of your heels and stepping into the open plan apartment.

“Carlos?” You shout into the house expecting him to be here. You walk a little further in until you hear a shuffling noise upstairs.

“Baby is that you?” You ask, pulling your hair down and placing the clip on the counter.

“I’m in the upstairs bedroom” Carlos Spanish accent sounds throughout the house and you rush upstairs excited to see him after so long.

As you enter the bedroom, you halt the minute you see him sat on the bed dildo in hand. Your eyes go from the draw to the collection now on the bed and up to Carlos who has a straight look on his face.

“I-“ you start but don’t even know what to say here.

“Can explain? Mmmm I’m sure you can, you dirty dirty girl. Why didn’t you show me any of this” he asks looking at you intrigued.

“Well, it was just sort of for me” you explain getting a little nervous seeing all of your stuff out on the bed.

“Think we can maybe use it together?” He asks, and in his mind he was hoping and begging you’d say yes. He wanted to see you unravel so badly, and he wanted to see how you reacted to all these different toys.

“I” you start but he comes up to you, pulling you closer to him, kissing your lips and holding you by the hips.

“Please baby, needa see you” he says in that accent that you knew you couldn’t say no too. All you do is nod and he’s picking you up, and placing you gently on the bed.

“What do i use first?” He grins looking at the array of toys in the bed. He picks up a dildo and your praying he doesn’t use that first.

He then moves to a standard bullet vibrator. He holds it out inspecting it before helping you sit back, placing the edge of it to the jeans you were wearing causing a little whimper at the slight pressure.

“Why has my naughty naughty cabron got all of these little toys and not sharing them with me huh?” He says and you lurch forward as he pushes it more against your clothed core.

He starts to pull your jeans down your legs until they are fully off, your panties showing a wet spot of your arousal. He stuff the vibrator into your panties holding it against your clit, not pulling away even when your hands grab at his wrists.

He loved playing with the different speeds and vibrations on it, testing them to see which one got the best reaction form you. It was like his very own treat, being able to find out these new things about you and what you enjoyed.

He shifts through the objects until he finds your silicone dildo, a nice flexible purple one that you used often and was a size that you really enjoyed. It was actually very similar to what you knew Carlos size was.

“Mmmmm I think I’ll get you one of these but moulded to my dick so you can have me wherever and whenever I’m not here to give my girl what she needs. Because this is what all of this is about right? It’s for when I’m not here?” He grins looking at the more stuff on the bed and all you can do is nod as he ups the setting once again on the vibrator it being close to the highest straight setting.

“Fuck Carlos” you moan clenching your legs together as those vibrations hit. He keeps is there making you moan out in a pornographic sort of way. He takes this moment to slide the dildo in. Thrusting it in and out how he would if it was him and his hips driving in and out of you.

“Oh, fuck fuck baby” you cry out looking over him holding one of his hands the one that’s still and holding the vibrator on your clit.

I’m seconds you’re squirting which is something you haven’t done before. By yourself or with Carlos present but who knew when you combine your two sexual worlds you’d have one for he most transcendent nights ever.

“Oh fuck, did you just squirt mi amor?” He asks with a happy grin, excited with this new found outcome of pleasure he can entice from you.

“Carlos” you moan. He chucks the used dildo to the side and pulls his own sweatpants down, his hard cock slapping up against his stomach before he takes your own panties off chucking them on the floor with the rest of the clothes.

He positions himself above you before pushing himself in and leaning into you when he feels your wet walls clamp down around him.

“Oh fuck you’re so beautiful. Oh my god” he moans out as he can feel the vibrator that’s moving against your clit still as he pumps in and out of you. The sensation of the vibrations was like nothing he’d ever felt before and he was like a wild man. His hips snapping in and out of you.

His free hand was holding him up but he wanted nothing more than too grab your tits and play with them because he loved nothing more than you’re tits they were actually probably his favourite thing about you.

“Oh that’s it baby, hold this for me” he says grabbing your hand and making you hold the vibrator in between the two of you. His hands make a grab for your tits and he squeezes a groan coming from him as he feels you clench around him.

“Baby” you moan out before you release that tension for the second time that night.

He cums in you feeling the tightness of you build in him and the vibrator pressed onto a high yet setting.

“Fuck baby, we’re using them all the time” he groans flopping next to you on the bed careful to miss all the toys.

“Sorry I kept it from you. I don’t like to hide things from you but … I was embarrassed” you say blushing.

“Never be embarrassed of that”

Taglist:

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[ellipsus-writes]

Ellipsus Digest: April 2

Each week (or so), we'll highlight the relevant (and sometimes rage-inducing) news adjacent to writing and freedom of expression. This week:

Meta trained on pirated books—and writers are not having it

ICYMI: Meta has forever earned a spot as the archetype for Shadowy Corporate Baddie in speculative fiction by training its LLMs on pirated books from LibGen. You're pissed, we're pissed—here's what you can do:

The Author’s Guild of America—longtime champions of authors’ rights and probably very tired of cleaning up this kind of mess (see its high-profile ongoing lawsuits, and January’s campaign to credit human authors over “AI-authored” work)—has released a new summary of what’s going on. They’ve also provided a plug-and-play template for contacting AI companies directly, because right now, “sincerely, a furious novelist” just doesn’t feel like enough.

No strangers to spilling the tea, the UK’s Society of Authors is also stepping up with its roundup of actions to raise awareness and fight back against the unlicensed scraping of creative work. (If you’re across the pond, we also recommend checking out the Creative Rights in AI Coalition campaign—it’s doing solid work to stop the extraction economy from feeding on artists’ work.)

Museums and libraries: fodder for the new culture war

Not to be outdone by Florida school boards and That Aunt's Facebook feed, MAGA’s nascent cultural revolution has turned its attention to museums and libraries. A new executive order (in that big boi font) is targeting funding for any program daring to tell a “divisive narrative” or acknowledge “improper ideology” (translation: anything involving actual history).

The first target is D.C.’s own Smithsonian. The newly restructured federal board has set its sights on “cleansing” the Institution’s 21 museums of “divisive, race-centered ideology.” (couch-enthusiast J.D. Vance snagged himself a board seat.) (Oh, and they’ve appointed a Trump-aligned lawyer to vet museum content.) The second seems to be the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a 70-person department (now placed on administrative leave) in charge of institutional funding. As we wrote last week, this isn’t isolated—far-right influence overmuseums and libraries means this kind of ideological takeover will seep into every corner of the country’s cultural life.

Meanwhile, the GOP is (once again) trying to defund PBS for its “Communist agenda.” It’s part of a larger crusade that’s banned picture books with LGBTQ+ characters, erased anti-racist history, and treated educators like enemies—all in the name of “protecting the children,” of course.

NaNoWriMo is no more; long live NaNo

When we initially signed on as sponsors in 2024, we really, really hoped NaNoWriMo could pull it together—but its support for generative AI and dismissiveness toward its own audience prompted us to withdraw our sponsorship, and many Wrimos to leave an institution that helped cultivate creativity and community for a near-quarter century. Now it seems NaNo has shuttered permanently, leaving the community confused, if not betrayed. But when an organization treats its community poorly and fumbles its ethics, people notice. (You can watch the official explainer here.)

Still, writers are resilient, and the rise of many independent writing groups and community-led challenges proves that creatives will always find spaces to connect and write—and the desire to write 50k words in the month of November isn’t going anywhere. Just maybe... somewhere better.

The continued attack on campus speech

The Trump administration continues its campaign against universities for perceived anti-conservative bias, gutting federal research budgets, and pressuring schools to abandon any trace of DEI (or, as we wrote on the blog, extremely common and important words). In short: If a school won’t conform to MAGA ideology, it doesn’t deserve federal money—or academic freedom.

Higher education is being pressured to excise entire frameworks and language in an effort to avoid becoming the next target of partisan outrage. Across the U.S., universities are bracing for politically motivated budget cuts, especially in departments tied to research, diversity, or anything remotely inclusive. Conservative watchdogs have made it their mission to root out “woke depravity”—one school confirmed it received emails offering payment in exchange for students to act as informants, or ghostwrite articles to “expose the liberal bias that occurs on college campuses across the nation.”

In a country where op-eds in student newspapers are grounds for deportation, what part of “free speech” is actually free?

We now live in knockoff Miyazaki hellscape

If you’ve been online lately (sorry), you’ve probably seen a flood of vaguely whimsical, oddly sterile, faux-hand-drawn illustrations popping up everywhere. That’s because OpenAI just launched a new image generator—and CEO Sam Altman couldn’t wait to brag that it was so popular their servers started “melting.” (Apparently, melting the climate is fine too, despite Miyazaki’s lifelong environmental themes.) (Nausicaa is our favorite at Ellipsus.)

This might be OpenAI’s attempt to “honor” Hayao Miyazaki, who once declared that AI-generated animation was “an insult to life itself.” Meanwhile, the meme lifecycle went into warp speed, since AI doesn't require actual human creativity—speed-running from personal exploration, to corporate slop, to 9/11 memes, to a supremely cruel take from The White House.

“People are going to create some really amazing stuff and some stuff that may offend people,” Altman said in a post on X. “What we'd like to aim for is that the tool doesn't create offensive stuff unless you want it to, in which case within reason it does.”

Still, the people must meme. And while cottagecore fox girls are fine, we suggest skipping straight to the truly cursed (and far more creative) J.D. Vance memes instead.

Let us know if you find something other writers should know about, (or join our Discord and share it there!)

- The Ellipsus Team xo

[personapeters]

PROACTIVE

a rafe cameron x the purge au by personapeters

INTRODUCTION: PROACTIVE

denying the inevitable — a bandage on a bullet wound. the inflicted try to convince themselves that the small, sticky square pad of gauze is enough to keep in the blood that seeps through their flesh, but they know it's not — it can't be. eventually, with one too many beats of a slowly draining heart, the dressing can no longer withstand the pressure, and it, too, will succumb.

there was no longer any denying what the world had come to; reality was no longer a place where one could escape the nightmares that plagued their minds whilst they slept. no longer would they wake from a nightmare and let out a breath of relief at the realization that none of it was real. instead, reality was the very thing they'd close their weary eyes and pray that god, if he was even listening, would save them from.

the year was 2021 — the economy had collapsed, the unemployment and crime rate was at an all-time high, the housing crisis was worsening and the unrest in society was steadily rising. following these detriments, a political organization by the name of the new founding fathers of america, or the nffa, was formed and subsequently voted into office.

two years later, the nffa devised a plan to help stabilize society in america. in 2024, it was implemented. the 28th amendment to the u.s. constitution was ratified, establishing a 12-hour long event known as 'the purge'.

the purge: a newfound, government enforced 'sanctioned lawlessness' where all crime, including murder, is legal for twelve continuous hours in an attempt to cleanse america of it's impurities — to rebirth the nation anew by allowing citizens to release their pent up violence and fulfill their desires in any way they choose in order to create a more peaceful, orderly, functional society for the next 364 days.

now, in the year 2025, the first ever nationwide purge was commencing all across the united states — nowhere is exempt, nothing is off limits and no-one is safe. with tears in the sand, blood in the water, and the desire to purge too strong of a temptation, a small island off the coast of north carolina would no longer be ‘paradise on earth’.

table of contents prologue ← introduction → chapter one

 personapeters 2025 — all rights reserved • masterlist

[mariacallous]

Rhetoric has a history. The words democracy and tyranny were debated in ancient Greece; the phrase separation of powers became important in the 17th and 18th centuries. The word vermin, as a political term, dates from the 1930s and ’40s, when both fascists and communists liked to describe their political enemies as vermin, parasites, and blood infections, as well as insects, weeds, dirt, and animals. The term has been revived and reanimated, in an American presidential campaign, with Donald Trump’s description of his opponents as “radical-left thugs” who “live like vermin.”

This language isn’t merely ugly or repellant: These words belong to a particular tradition. Adolf Hitler used these kinds of terms often. In 1938, he praised his compatriots who had helped “cleanse Germany of all those parasites who drank at the well of the despair of the Fatherland and the People.” In occupied Warsaw, a 1941 poster displayed a drawing of a louse with a caricature of a Jewish face. The slogan: “Jews are lice: they cause typhus.” Germans, by contrast, were clean, pure, healthy, and vermin-free. Hitler once described the Nazi flag as “the victorious sign of freedom and the purity of our blood.”

Stalin used the same kind of language at about the same time. He called his opponents the “enemies of the people,” implying that they were not citizens and that they enjoyed no rights. He portrayed them as vermin, pollution, filth that had to be “subjected to ongoing purification,” and he inspired his fellow communists to employ similar rhetoric. In my files, I have the notes from a 1955 meeting of the leaders of the Stasi, the East German secret police, during which one of them called for a struggle against “vermin activities” (there is, inevitably, a German word for this: Schädlingstätigkeiten), by which he meant the purge and arrest of the regime’s critics. In this same era, the Stasi forcibly moved suspicious people away from the border with West Germany, a project nicknamed “Operation Vermin.”

This kind of language was not limited to Europe. Mao Zedong also described his political opponents as “poisonous weeds.” Pol Pot spoke of “cleansing” hundreds of thousands of his compatriots so that Cambodia would be “purified.”

In each of these very different societies, the purpose of this kind of rhetoric was the same. If you connect your opponents with disease, illness, and poisoned blood, if you dehumanize them as insects or animals, if you speak of squashing them or cleansing them as if they were pests or bacteria, then you can much more easily arrest them, deprive them of rights, exclude them, or even kill them. If they are parasites, they aren’t human. If they are vermin, they don’t get to enjoy freedom of speech, or freedoms of any kind. And if you squash them, you won’t be held accountable.

Until recently, this kind of language was not a normal part of American presidential politics. Even George Wallace’s notorious, racist, neo-Confederate 1963 speech, his inaugural speech as Alabama governor and the prelude to his first presidential campaign, avoided such language. Wallace called for “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” But he did not speak of his political opponents as “vermin” or talk about them poisoning the nation’s blood. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps following the outbreak of World War II, spoke of “alien enemies” but not parasites.

In the 2024 campaign, that line has been crossed. Trump blurs the distinction between illegal immigrants and legal immigrants—the latter including his wife, his late ex-wife, the in-laws of his running mate, and many others. He has said of immigrants, “They’re poisoning the blood of our country” and “They’re destroying the blood of our country.” He has claimed that many have “bad genes.” He has also been more explicit: “They’re not humans; they’re animals”; they are “cold-blooded killers.” He refers more broadly to his opponents—American citizens, some of whom are elected officials—as “the enemy from within … sick people, radical-left lunatics.” Not only do they have no rights; they should be “handled by,” he has said, “if necessary, National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”

In using this language, Trump knows exactly what he is doing. He understands which era and what kind of politics this language evokes. “I haven’t read Mein Kampf,” he declared, unprovoked, during one rally—an admission that he knows what Hitler’s manifesto contains, whether or not he has actually read it. “If you don’t use certain rhetoric,” he told an interviewer, “if you don’t use certain words, and maybe they’re not very nice words, nothing will happen.”

His talk of mass deportation is equally calculating. When he suggests that he would target both legal and illegal immigrants, or use the military arbitrarily against U.S. citizens, he does so knowing that past dictatorships have used public displays of violence to build popular support. By calling for mass violence, he hints at his admiration for these dictatorships but also demonstrates disdain for the rule of law and prepares his followers to accept the idea that his regime could, like its predecessors, break the law with impunity.

These are not jokes, and Trump is not laughing. Nor are the people around him. Delegates at the Republican National Convention held up prefabricated signs: Mass Deportation Now. Just this week, when Trump was swaying to music at a surreal rally, he did so in front of a huge slogan: Trump Was Right About Everything. This is language borrowed directly from Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist. Soon after the rally, the scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted a photograph of a building in Mussolini’s Italy displaying his slogan: Mussolini Is Always Right.

These phrases have not been put on posters and banners at random in the final weeks of an American election season. With less than three weeks left to go, most candidates would be fighting for the middle ground, for the swing voters. Trump is doing the exact opposite. Why? There can be only one answer: because he and his campaign team believe that by using the tactics of the 1930s, they can win. The deliberate dehumanization of whole groups of people; the references to police, to violence, to the “bloodbath” that Trump has said will unfold if he doesn’t win; the cultivation of hatred not only against immigrants but also against political opponents—none of this has been used successfully in modern American politics.

But neither has this rhetoric been tried in modern American politics. Several generations of American politicians have assumed that American voters, most of whom learned to pledge allegiance to the flag in school, grew up with the rule of law, and have never experienced occupation or invasion, would be resistant to this kind of language and imagery. Trump is gambling—knowingly and cynically—that we are not.

[argyrocratie]

January 16, 2025

(...)

"Still, we shouldn’t give Trump too much credit. Little fundamentally changed when it came to the leverage he was willing to use to influence Israel’s conduct. As far as we know, Trump never threatened to condition military aid to Israel. Nor did he indicate that he would reconsider his predecessor’s practice of ignoring international law in order to shield Israel from accountability on the world stage. 

Some will argue that Trump’s threats and the collapse of several resistance fronts across the region forced Hamas to make concessions in the negotiation process. But it wasn’t Hamas that needed convincing — they had already agreed to earlier ceasefire proposals that were largely indiscernible from the current deal, going back to May 2024. In the end, it was Israel that needed the push, and Witkoff likely signalled to Netanyahu that despite not sharing Biden’s blind fealty to Israel, Trump would actually do more to reward cooperation.

The fact that Netanyahu has so far decided to refrain from scuttling this ceasefire agreement shows that he is confident he can gain something significant in return. The Israeli media is already reporting that Trump’s ceasefire “gift bag” to Netanyahu could include a long list of treats, from lifting sanctions on Israeli NSO Group’s spyware Pegasus and on violent Israeli settlers, to giving Washington’s blessing to major West Bank land theft or outright annexation, and permitting or even facilitating a direct attack on Iran.

But it’s not just about what Israel is getting in return for a ceasefire. It’s also about what it has already received.

In the eight months since Israel first rejected an almost identical deal, to which Hamas had agreed in principle, its army has slaughtered tens of thousands of Palestinians and decimated large swaths of the Gaza Strip. This was the price of Israel achieving its true objectives: not eliminating Hamas or securing the release of hostages — many of whom were killed while Israel stalled on a ceasefire — but the destruction and “thinning out” of Gaza and the reshaping of the Middle East.  

The facts on the ground in Gaza today paint a picture that we cannot yet fully comprehend. Israeli forces have demolished entire neighborhoods in order to widen the buffer zone that encircles the Strip, expand the Netzarim Corridor that bisects the territory, and ultimately carve up the enclave for a future of perpetual control. In doing so, they have seized over 30 percent of Gaza’s pre-genocide territory, while rendering much of the rest of it uninhabitable. 

Meanwhile, Israel has largely completed the so-called “General’s Plan” — the ethnic cleansing of the entirety of northern Gaza above Gaza City. Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya, and Jabalia, cities that were once collectively home to over 300,000 people, have been reduced to rubble, as part of a campaign to depopulate the area and entrench Israeli control while laying the groundwork for building Jewish settlements.

Elsewhere, Israel closed its front with Hezbollah, and the fall of Assad allowed it to seize more land in the Golan Heights and the eastern slopes of Mount Hermon/Jabal A-Shaykh. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, state-backed settler attacks on Palestinians have increased in frequency and brutality, while the Palestinian Authority serves as a full partner in the Israeli army’s intensifying crackdown on resistance in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem. 

(...)

Even if the ceasefire agreement does not survive past the initial 42-day period, it will no doubt save countless lives and give Palestinians a chance to breathe, eat, grieve, and receive medical treatment. Yet while the phased approach to the agreement is supposed to make reneging difficult for Israel, that depends on enforcement. Right now, the only thing standing in the way of the resumption of the annihilation once the ceasefire starts to take hold is an international community that has abandoned Palestinians for more than a year. 

Key members of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition have already warned that they will not accept anything less than a continuation of Israel’s assault on Gaza after the first phase of the agreement is completed, even at the expense of the remaining hostages. And after taking credit for achieving the ceasefire in the first place, there is no indication that Trump will hold Israel accountable or pressure Netanyahu to follow through with the second and third phases of the agreement.”

...

[vitaminseetarot]

Back-to-Back PAC Part 1: What is Ending For You? 🌹🔥🌃

Hey, y'all, I'm back for another pick a card reading in time for the end of 2024. I thought I'd make it a little more interesting by having two back-to-back readings, so stay tuned for tomorrow as part 2 rolls out!

Pick any one of the three images above for your reading:

Pile 1 - Sapphire Rose Pile 2 - Carnelian Flame Pile 3 - Amethyst Sky

Pile 1: Sapphire Rose

10 of Pentacles (Rx), Queen of Cups, III Empress, 10 of Swords; Treasure Island, Desert: Vision Quest; "just cuz they put a square on your head doesn't mean you're not still in school"; "Live a vibrant and colorful life despite the circumstances"

Hey there pile 1! I see that for you 2024 was not the start of chaos and challenge but a mere continuation. I feel a good deal of exhaustion with this pile. But I wanna tell you that since you picked pile 1 before 1/1, there's a message that you are still going on the right path even if you sometimes doubt your intentions. Like strong currents and waves of the ocean, our paths can become torrential and unpredictable, with many ups and downs. I feel you've faced through many obstacles in the course of your life so it's tempting to believe that not much will change in 2025. But I see that what's ending for you is the very expectation of said lack. With the 10 of Pentacles reversed, you're breaking down old narratives that no longer work to support you. This requires retooling your brain to think differently about a situation than before, to approach it from a alternate angle. It may require unlearning and relearning, much like pruning an old branch while watering the new.

I'm getting that with Queen of Cups, it's best to do this through loving reminders. I get that many of you in this pile may be resistant to or overly wary of toxic positivity, and that's understandable. A lot of advice online can scrape at the surface and be unable to fully peer into the depths of unique challenges we have had to endure. But we can be gentle with ourselves and take the time we need as we gradually welcome more optimistic affirmations into our minds and shift focus onto what we want instead of don't want. If it feels unrealistic to say to yourself, "2025 is going to be AMAZEBALLS!", then you can try something more grounded like, "2025 is filled with great opportunities."

The odds are, with the Empress, there likely will be a few great opportunities that come your way, like finding small oases filled with nutritious food blossoming in otherwise torrid and barren looking situations. If you're in the mindset to think of 2025 as being abundant and nourishing, then you will be more primed for those opportunities when they arrive. Being positive about the new year doesn't have to negate justifiable concerns, nor does it erase the troubles of the past. But it does prepare you to make the most of what's to come. Honor your past self and what you and your loved ones have gone through in the past twelve months, give yourself a chance to cleanse and heal by the oasis. Then let yourself stand and receive the blessings that are to come in due time. I'm wishing you much luck and good cheer, pile 1! Happy new year!

Pile 2: Carnelian Flame

Queen of Cups, 0 Fool, 7 of Pentacles, IV Emperor; All That Glitters, Spring Equinox: Rebirth; "Yeh I guess I do stuff but I don't feel like an actual thing yet"; "Everything is energy & energy never dies; it just transforms."

How's it going, pile 2? I chose flames for your pile because even though it's the middle of winter, I felt the invigorating energy of my local spring weather cycle in this pile. Everything from the rain to the warmth to the growth to the heat, in the right order! I sense this pile is very enthusiastic at the idea of having an exciting 2025. I don't wanna say that this could be "your year" so to not jinx it, but I'm inspired by the vibrancy in these cards. You feel more than ready to shed the old unwanted parts of the past and welcome the new you. I'm getting that a sense of imposter syndrome is dwindling away as you become more in tune with your emotions, and this is a growth that has taken place over time. As you give yourself more self love and praise for who you are, the more you're able to integrate the humble parts of you that accept learning and growth along with the parts of you that embrace your innate talents and traits.

With All That Glitters beneath the usually jester-like Fool card, You're learning to distinguish between the fake and the real when it comes to acting that you're accomplished and fulfilled from actually being it. It's a big leap to realize that some happiness is genuine, some confidence is real, and that some assertiveness doesn't hurt but might actually help to demonstrate your ability to lead. This kind of energy, the joy and self-assurance, is all yours. This is like a very soft release of an old ego that clung to the character role of playing small and buffoonish. Pile 2, it's time to give yourself some more credit.

I see 2024 as being a year where you realized some kind of personality change, mainly because you had to. It's like when somebody gets a promotion and suddenly it's like they have to take on a "bigger" role to play and it's like they have to grow their feet to fill into bigger shoes, so to speak. They have to change how they perceive themselves and make it real. You had to take on a larger role than you were ready for and it's created a change in views. So what has to end from that are the old thoughts that try to talk you down. Whatever position you're elevating yourself to, you deserve good things from your change, as flowers bloom from the snow. You've gone through the rite of passage, embrace whatever beauty that you will into your world. You don't need to "fake it" to make it in 2025, pile 2, because You Are It! Wishing you a very bright, happy new year!

Pile 3: Amethyst Sky

XVIII Moon, I Magician, VIII Strength, 10 of Wands; Serendipity, Galaxy: Perspective; "Relax, it's still just the loading screen"; "It takes courage to be honest & authentic. The ones meant for you will stay."

Hello, pile 3. You have a lot of major arcana in your spread, which suggests a major ending that may be happening as this reading is being written. You could be in the midst of a huge transition in your life. I'll admit to chuckling a bit when I saw the loading screen card show up underneath the Moon, as I have often thought of the Moon card as being similar to the uncertainty of an intermission. Like when people rise from the theater for the restroom and concession stand, thinking about how the following act will be. There's a bit of trepidation of finding out what's coming next, especially if this last year has really put you through the wringer. Now would be a good time to freshen up with cheer, relaxation, and good snacks if you feel as though 2025 may be "big" for you in any way.

This reading gives me a strange déjà vu as though I've written this in a dream, so perhaps you may wonder if next year will bring a lot of the same baggage of the previous year. But I see here with Magician that you have a lot of power in your hands to mold your new beginnings into what ever you want it to be, and luck is on your side here. You are a video game player of your life here, not a movie goer observing, and next year can be a chance for you to play around with how you'd rather have things be. See how the loading screen resembles the galaxy in the Perspective card? The loading screen is not there to keep you stuck; this downtime can be used to reassess your path and how you want it to go. So if your life right now is quiet, now is a great time to self reflect on your desires and what you would do if you knew you could do anything (ah great, now I'm thinking about that kid from the meme!).

I see you overall ending the feeling of needing to hold onto baggage from the past. You can feel more comfortable changing course even if it means playing the game differently before and after the loading. You don't have to hold onto an old narrative just because it's what others expect from you. Please take time to rest and recharge in between these major transitions you're going through, and know that the next year does not have to be a repeat of the last. You have the power to change and expand more than you know. Wishing you the best of luck pile 3 and have a happy new year!

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2024, @VitaminseeTarot ™

[northgazaupdates]

4 December 2024

The occupation continues its 2-month ethnic cleansing and extermination campaign in north Gaza. Journalist Ibrahim Al-Khalili documents the evacuation of displaced civilians from Beit Lahiya. Right now, the last functional shelter center in Beit Lahiya was forcibly evacuated by the IOF. Civilians were ordered to leave at gunpoint as quadcopters (unmanned drones mounted with machine guns) hovered over them.

English subtitles contained within the video

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sahat English (@sahatenglish)

[rthstewart]

From Judd Legume

The foreign policy of an American kleptocracy

Pesident Trump's Middle East policy took a dark turn on Saturday when he announced on Air Force One that he favored the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. "You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," Trump said.

Trump was not just floating a theoretical policy. His administration is already taking steps to try to remove more Palestinians from the area. Trump said he spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan, a country that has already taken in nearly 2.4 million Palestinian refugees, "to take on more." He indicated he would press Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to take in Palestinians currently living in Gaza in a call on Sunday.

Trump said the relocations might be temporary or "could be long-term." He said he wants to "build housing [for Gazans] in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change."

What are the motivations and origins of Trump's radical new policy? Follow the money.

Trump discussed his vision for Gaza on January 20, his first day in the office, suggesting Gaza could be an ideal site for real estate development. "You know, Gaza is interesting. It's a phenomenal location. On the sea, the best weather, you know, everything's good," Trump said while signing executive orders in the Oval Office. "It's like some beautiful things could be done with it, but it's very interesting. But some fantastic things could be done with Gaza." Trump said that Gaza has "really got to be rebuilt in a different way" and that he "might" be interested in helping.

In an October 7, 2024 interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump expounded on his vision for Gaza as a luxury resort. "It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything," Trump said. "They never took advantage of it, you know, as a developer. It could be the most beautiful place, the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate."

The article continues with a discussion of what is in it for Trump and his son in law Jared Kushner.

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸 🚨

FULL STATEMENT FROM HAMAS ON AARON BUSHNELL'S SELF-IMMOLATION IN PROTEST OF THE ISRAELI GENOCIDE IN GAZA

The Hamas political resistance movement released a statement on the self-immolation of American servicemember Aaron Bushnell on Sunday.

🟢 From Hamas:

—

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

We in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) express our heartfelt condolences and our full solidarity with the family and friends of the American pilot Aaron Bushnell, whose name has been immortalized as a defender of humanitarian values and the plight of the oppressed Palestinian people who are suffering due to the U.S. administration and its unjust policies, like the American activist Rachel Corrie who was crushed by a zionist bulldozer in 2003 in Rafah, the same city for which Bushnell paid for with his life to pressure his country's government to prevent the criminal zionist army from attacking it and committing massacres and violations in it.

The administration of US President Joe Biden bears full responsibility for the death of the American military pilot Aaron Bushnell due to its policy that supported the Nazi zionist entity in the genocide war against our Palestinian people, as he gave his life in order to highlight the massacres and zionist ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip.

The heroic pilot Aaron Bushnell will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global humanitarian solidarity with our people and their just cause.

The tragic incident that cost pilot Bushnell his life is an expression of the growing anger among the American people who reject their country's policy that contributes to the killing and genocide of our people, and rejects their government's violation of global humanitarian values, by providing cover to ensure the impunity of the Nazi entity and its leaders from punishment and accountability.

Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas

Monday: 16 Sha'ban 1445H

Corresponding: 26 February 2024

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[n-antarctica]

(March 19, 2024)

Some sleepy chibified Badd and Zenko!

Taking the chance to mention i've been on a life/spiritual cleansing streak lately... sacrifices are being made, but health comes always first.

I got into unpaid leave at one of the places I work in. I've been considering either dropping Twitter or taking a long break from it. I've finally gone and gotten my eyesight checked, and yeah, I'm gonna need glasses, but they were ordered already and they should come next week.

I need to priotize myself, and my well being.

[eretzyisrael]

Read “THE LIES OF PALESTINE” (below), by Jay Gadi…a MOST excellent piece.

• Arabs were in the land first: Their 1,500-year-old mosque is built on top of the 3,000-year-old Jewish temple, which is proof that Israel was there long before Arabs. The Israelites are mentioned 43 times in the Quran and the Hadith, but there is no mention of Palestine, not even once. The Qur'an specifies that the “Land of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, that God Himself gave that land to them as heritage and ordered them to live therein.”

• All the land belongs to the Palestinians: Israel became a state in May of 1948. There exists an international doctrine called “Uti Possidetis Juris.” This doctrine provides that emerging states presumptively inherit their pre-independence administrative boundaries. Applied to the case of Israel, “uti possidetis juris” would dictate that Israel inherit the boundaries of the British Mandate of Palestine as they existed in May 1948. In the 1967 conflict, Israel absorbed additional territory from Egypt and Syria.

• Israel expelled thousands of Arabs: In May of 1948, Israel sent a letter to the Arabs living in the newly formed Israeli territory inviting them to stay and participate, with equal rights, in the future of the country. The Arabs of six countries refused to accept Israel as a nation and planned to destroy it and all of its population. They advised Arabs in the area to leave so as not to be caught up in the fighting. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs left their homes, voluntarily, on the advice of the attacking nations. Arabs that attacked Jews within Israel were expelled.

• Israel carried out ethnic cleansing in the Nakba: On the eve of May 14, 1948, the Arabs launched an air attack on Tel Aviv, which the Israelis resisted. This action was followed by the invasion of the former Palestinian Mandate (Israel) by Arab armies from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. After 10 months, Israel won the war in which many Arabs were killed and many others became refugees. Arabs called this the Nakba (catastrophe), blaming Israel for the death and displacement of the Arabs when, in fact, they were just defending their newly formed country. The original reason for the term Nakba, was the embarrassing loss of all those Arab countries against tiny Israel. They adjusted the term to make themselves the victims.

• Israel has been attacking Arabs for 76 years: Every conflict Israel has had with the Arabs has been started by Arab aggression including the Nakba, when six Arab countries tried to wipe out Israel. The only time Israel ever fired first was at the beginning of the Six-Day War, in anticipation of the attack being planned by Gaza, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Israel’s preemptive strike is why this conflict lasted only six days.

• Children in Gaza are starving: Israel has allowed more than 40,000 trucks carrying more than 500,000 pounds of food, water, medical supplies and other aid into Gaza. No other country does that for their enemy. (As of July 31, 2024)

• Israel is committing genocide: Hamas and hundreds of supporters, including nine UNRWA members, invaded Israel on Oct. 7th and INTENTIONALLY killed over 1,200 innocent civilians. When it is done intentionally, it is GENOCIDE. Israel has no intention of, or benefit from, the targeting innocent civilians.

• Israel targets women and children: Israel is the only military in the world that drops leaflets, sends text messages, uses “knock bombs,” announces their plan to attack by drones so that civilians can escape. The civilians who try to leave are often shot by Hamas and are included in their count of dead or injured civilians.

• Israel is holding Palestinian hostages: They are not hostages; they are prisoners being held in Israeli jails. They have committed crimes, from throwing rocks at the IDF to killing Israelis. They are not innocent civilians, like the Israelis taken on Oct. 7th.

• Gaza just wants peace: Arabs in Gaza get monthly cash rewards from the Palestinian Authority (PA) if they are injured, captured or killed while carrying out attacks on Jews. Hamas and their hundreds of supporters, including the nine UNRWA workers who carried out the attack in Israel on Oct. 7, are getting monthly rewards for their terror attack. The budget for these rewards is $300 million dollars a year. The Arabs are rewarded for genocide.

• Gaza is an open-air prison: In 2005, Israel removed every Jew, dead and alive, from Gaza hoping to bring peace to the area. The Arabs burned everything left behind by the Jews. Shortly after, rockets, suicide bombers, Molotov cocktails, explosives and knife attacks came from Gaza, so Israel was obliged to implement import controls to reduce rocket attacks and border checkpoints to prevent the other types of attacks on Israel. The Arabs turned their freedom into an “open-air prison.” They are posting pictures now of Gaza before and after Oct. 7 and it looked pretty good before.

[palestinegenocide]

The exquisite choreography of hosting a war criminal at the White House

The grisly farce that is the Biden administration’s support for Israeli war crimes became even more grotesque this week.

Netanyahu is coming to Washington in a few days. Democrats believe overwhelmingly that Netanyahu is carrying out a genocide– nearly 39,000 Palestinians deaths with thousands more under the rubble. So some Dems will boycott Netanyahu’s speech to the Congress, but the Democratic Party leadership is rolling out the welcome mat.

Netanyahu is to meet at the White House with the president who has provided Israel with endless munitions to carry out the war. And though many expect Biden to drop out of the presidential race,the New York Times says Biden won’t do so before he meets with Netanyahu, because Biden does not want to give the far-right-wing prime minister who has repeatedly bossed Democratic presidents the “satisfaction” of seeing Biden when he’s a lame duck.

Though if you think Kamala Harris will stand up for human rights and U.S. interests if she becomes president—think again, she is going to meet Netanyahu too, the White House assured the press.

Why meet with this war criminal at all? To answer that, consider who are the most important voters in the Biden debate right now: the donors who are the last shoe to drop on Biden’s reelection hopes, pulling their money to pressure the president to get out of the race.

Many of these donors now in rebellion are big Israel supporters. Michael Moritz the latest billionaire to put it to Biden has been in solidarity with Israel. Reid Hoffman who organized a concerned donors call with Kamala Harris calls Israeli forces a model.

While another group of 75 donors almost all of whom want Biden out is reported by CNBC to include as leaders Ari Emanuel and his brother Zeke. Ari Emanuel said that Israel’s war is “justified” in May 2024, and has said that he loves the country. Of course, there are Dem donors who don’t care about Israel. But the power map is clear.

It’s not like Trump is any different. The top Republican donor is thought to be Miriam Adelson, the Israeli doctor, and she is reportedly spending millions to stake Trump to a promise to allow Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Just as Adelson’s late husband Sheldon, once the biggest Republican donor, asked Trump to move the embassy to Jerusalem and trash the Iran deal, and Trump followed through, in utter contempt for the Palestinian people and world leaders.

So our Middle East policy is up for bid by billionaire zealots. This is what a liberal democracy looks like.

In any just order, the U.S. would have nothing to do with Israel. The country is committing flagrant war crimes in Gaza, killing journalists and athletes and other civilians with complete impunity.

And the International Court of Justice last week issued (yet another) ruling saying that the settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are violations of international law.

Back in December 2016 the Obama administration after 8 years of being walked over by Netanyahu allowed the U.N. Security Council to issue the same determination, in a resolution on which Obama abstained, that condemned the occupation. President-elect Trump called the Russians to try and stop the resolution but it went through. And of course nothing came of it. The Biden administration has never followed through on the landgrab, and the ethnic cleansing.

Al Jazeera graphic showing Israeli land seizures at a 25 year high in West Bank.

The Knesset passed a resolution this week saying there must never be a Palestinian state; that would be an “existential threat” to Israel.

Netanyahu repeated the claim of Jewish supremacy in his response to the International Court of Justice.

The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland. No absurd opinion in the Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestoral home.

The Biden administration is incapable of condemning these racists. “It’s like pulling teeth to get you to say something on this,” a reporter complained in the State Department this week after the Knesset’s attack on a Palestinian state.

Antony Blinken was unable to say a critical word about Netanyahu during a fawning interview in Aspen (by NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly) in which he used a football metaphor to claim the U.S. was doing something to stop the genocide. “I believe we’re inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line in getting an agreement that would produce a ceasefire, get the hostages home, and put us on a better track to trying to build lasting peace and stability.”

And keep the bombs flowing, as Israel bombs hospitals and refugee camps…

Netanyahu should be persona non grata in Washington. But he will be welcomed with open arms.

As a former Biden official Tariq Habash said on a webinar this week, our policy is “rooted in anti-Palestinian racism”– in the dehumanization and erasure of Palestinians.

Habash quit the Biden administration in January. Let’s hope that his courage and honesty are infectious.

[stele3]

Okay hey sorry I sent an ask earlier about how your take seems like pro-Palestine protest is antisemtic or at least that’s how it seemed to me. BUT I scrolled through your tags further and I realise it really is more about this current situation about Khalil (I thought you were conflating him being Pro Palestine to him being antisemitic) , considering the coverage you’ve been giving to the atrocities in Gaza as well. Sorry, my bad.

Hope you have a great day ahead and also hope the world becomes a lot less hateful and vitriolic for us all.

No problem! Thank you for looking closer instead of just assuming the worst of me.

For anyone wondering about my stance on I/P: Hamas is a far-right organization that has committed heinous acts in Palestine for years, including assassinating the children of left-wing Fatah politicians as well as killing sex workers and drug addicts. They attacked Israel on Oct 7, raping hundreds of girls and women, burning and beheading hundreds of people including children, and taking hostages. Iran is materially supporting Hamas in all their actions.

The current right wing gov of Israel has responded by committing acts of genocide in Gaza, as determined by Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, multiple UN commissions, and Human Rights Watch. There really isn’t cause for debate, here. It’s a genocide. The U.S. is materially supporting Israel, and Trump is now planning to ethnically cleanse Gaza by forcibly removing Palestinians.

The anon was responding to my stated opinion on Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student facing deportation for leading pro-Palestinian protests. He’s an asshole who has stated support for Hamas and their attack; he also deserves due process under the law.

Mahmoud and many other pro-Palestinian activists have engaged in rampant antisemitism, flinging abuse and harassment at Jews in the diaspora. Not ALL pro-Palestinian activists have done so, but enough have tolerated or ignored antisemitism in their ranks — up to and including the presence of Nazis at pro-Palestinian rallies — that the movement is tainted. If a bar allows Nazis in, that’s a Nazi bar.

Also, as we see with Tumbr user heritageposts, the pro-Palestinian movement is rife with plants and psyops agents who agitated against the Democratic Party in order to sway the U.S. 2024 election, then went silent on the issue they supposedly cared so much about once Trump was elected. Strange how fewer people post online about Palestine these days, isn’t it? Or how so many fewer people are protesting outside the White House, or the news briefings, or college campuses, or at Trump rallies?

Both Israelis and Palestinians are indigenous to the Levant. The only way forward is to live together in peace instead of the current situation, in which both groups are used as proxies in the larger struggle between U.S./Europe vs Russia/Iran/China.

Anyway, that’s my collective stance, for anyone wondering.

[doctorguilty]

CONGRESS ALERT - March 13, 2024 The House is currently circulating a "discharge petition" to force a vote on the Senate supplemental $14 billion military aid package to support Israel’s continued massacres, ethnic cleansing, and starvation in Gaza; 218 Members in the House would need to sign the discharge petition in order for it to trigger a vote on the House floor on the military aid package to Israel. We must stop it. Tell your Member of Congress NOT to sign the discharge petition and to oppose any efforts to provide any additional military assistance to Israel.    

As of March 21st there are already 188 signatures out of the 218 necessary signatures to move this discharge position. WE DO NOT WANT THIS TO MOVE. This will move if 30 more members sign.

Click the above link to send your representative an email in just seconds, or put through by phone.

If your representative is not on this list, it means they have not yet signed. (If you don't feel like looking at the list to check whatever, just send the email anyway!)