Analysis: Shadow of collapse, internal conflict over declining US

December 23, 2021 - 8:41 AM News Code : 1211403 Source : Al Waght NewsLink: 

As we approach the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, we — all of us former senior military officials — are increasingly concerned about the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and the potential for lethal chaos inside our military, which would put all Americans at severe risk," they wrote.

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): As about two weeks remain to anniversary of Trump supporters' attack on the US Congress,  a large number of political observers and even military commanders express concerns about the deepening gaps in the US and even go further and warn about a danger of collapse and even an internal conflict in the country. Over the past few days, the retired Major General Paul Eaton, retired Brigadier General Steven Anderson, and retired Major General Antonio Taguba in an article published by The Washington Post have warned that the US is broken apart and that it needed to prepare for the worst scenarios after next elections. 

"As we approach the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, we — all of us former senior military officials — are increasingly concerned about the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election and the potential for lethal chaos inside our military, which would put all Americans at severe risk," they wrote. The fact is that contrary to several-decade media-presented pink picture from the US, the country presently stumbles saving its unity. 

Why are concerns about collapse growing? 

The events of the Capitol on January 6, like any other major event, grabbed, undoubtedly, the focus of American think tanks and researchers. Earlier, "Trumpism" as a type of American neo-Fascism had been a topic of study of political research centers, with all agreeing that the US was divided between Trump proponents and opponents. 

On the eve of the anniversary of the assault, two issues are giving rise to concerns about possible US collapse. First, polls suggest that about half of voters feel it is time for the country to break down. Second, and more important issue, is that the possibility of military coup following 2024 elections is occupying the mind of the political observers. 

This seems even more serious when the evidence shows that many of the participants in Congress storming were veterans or even serving military personnel. From the perspective of a political sociologists, this means that a radical section of American society seeking to seize Congress is in the US military and ready to take up arms if in next elections a confrontation erupts between Trump supporters and opponents. 

Biden did poorly bridging the gaps 

Joe Biden's performance in domestic and foreign policy since taking office on January 20 has accelerated American society's movement to partition and decline. 

During the election campaigns, the Democrats and Biden claimed the American people should vote Biden to restore unity to a divided nation, and constantly warned that if they did not win, the country would fall into disunity and collapse. Now and nearly a year after Biden took office, he has acted in such a way that many hardline Democrats have joined the president's opposition. 

Over the past few months, the vast majority of polls have clearly shown American citizens' dissatisfaction with Biden and the declining popularity of the White House leader. A new poll result, published by PBS / NewsHour / Marist Poll on December 20 showed president's public acceptance is in new records low, with over half of the voters dissatisfied with his performance. 

In that poll, about 55 percent of Americans disapproved of Biden's first year in the White House, with 44 percent of them strongly discontented with his first-year performance. The result shows that Biden's popularity has fallen by 20 percent since he took Biden's place in last January. The poll was conducted between December 11 and 13 among 1,400 adults with a 4-percent margin of error. 

Also, a new poll by Ipsos and ABC News showed that only 28 percent of the Americans are happy with the way Biden is trying to curb inflation and 69 percent others are discontented. These polls have one message to convey: The Americans not only do not see Biden a savior of peace and stability in the country but also find him a divisive factor politically and socially. 

Social gaps of the states 

Just contrary to the image the American political and media circles try to demonstrate from the US, the country has a broad political fault line. The most important and active fault line currently is racism that is taking fascism's color and smell. Today, the Republican Party has virtually become the hotbed of neo-Fascist and white supremacist activity. Trump's assumption of power in 2017 gave a chance of surfacing for the activities of these groups that for years lived on in the bottom layers of the society.  

At present, a large number of the Republicans and white rightists believe that they are at an existential struggle with the blacks and other people of color, as well as those they label "illegal foreigners" who, the radical whites think, want to replace the whites. The more worrisome point is that this racist population, to Trump they are supporters, have a deep belief that Biden's victory was fraudulent and that they do not recognize him as their legitimate president. 

Moreover, the citizens in many states of America have held deep belief in split and birth of independent new countries. For decades, people especially in Alaska, Texas, New Hampshire, New York, and other states have been speaking out about secession but their agenda went nowhere. At present, too, in many states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan there are deep differences, with pro-separation factions thriving.

ECOCIDE

Louisiana firm to pay $475M over longest-running U.S. oil leak

Rebecca Falconer

AXIOS

A Louisiana-based oil company will pay $43 million in civil penalties and damages and $432 million to a clean-up trust fund to resolve liability for a spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: Taylor Energy's former Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production facility is the source of the longest-running oil spill in U.S. history, ongoing since 2004, per a Department of Justice statement.

Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA's National Ocean Service said in a statement the proposed settlement "represents an important down payment to address impacts" of the spill — which began when a Taylor Energy production platform some 10 miles off Louisiana's coast collapsed during Hurricane Ivan.

The resulting oil discharge "continues to this day," the DOJ noted.

Details: Under the settlement agreement that's subject to final court approval, Taylor must dismiss three existing lawsuits it filed against the federal government. But it does not admit any liability.

The big picture: Ivan triggered a mudslide, causing the Taylor production platform to collapse, with 16 of the 25 damaged undersea wells leaking since then, per the New York Times.
Taylor managed to cap the others but said it couldn't do so with the rest because were "buried under so much mud and debris," per the NYT.

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson, sector commander in New Orleans, noted in a statement that for the past three years teams had removed more than 800,000 gallons of oil that had been discharging into the Gulf of Mexico.

What they're saying: "Despite being a catalyst for beneficial environmental technological innovation, the damage to our ecosystem caused by this 17-year-old oil spill is unacceptable," said Duane Evans, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

For the record: Taylor "sold its oil and gas assets in 2008 and ceased all drilling and production operations," according to a website statement. It now exists today solely to respond to the spill.

The other side: Taylor couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The company said in a statement to CBS' "60 Minutes" when the show covered the spill last month that Taylor "has retained and relied upon the world's foremost experts to study and then recommend a plan of action... We continue to advocate for a response driven by science."

What's next: The US District court will decide whether to approve the settlement's proposed consent decree at a date to be scheduled.

Manchin the menace

by Herb Boyd

AMSTERDAMNEWS.COM

December 23, 2021

Earlier this week Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia continued to be the mess of a menace to the Biden administration, particularly the $2 trillion Build Back Better bill. This would not be a grave concern if the senate was not 50-50, thereby making his vote so pivotal.

Manchin’s opposition has long been a problem on climate change, but here lately he has taken a stand against the Child Tax Credit, which expired on Dec. 15, leaving millions of Americans deprived of the $300 monthly allotment. His reluctance, as a Democrat, to go along with the party line has flummoxed his colleagues but it is consistent with his aim to please his donors from the coal, gas, and oil industry—to say nothing of his personal investments on these energy matters.

His opposition to the Child Tax Credit is on the unsubstantiated grounds that the recipients would use the payments to buy drugs, according to sources familiar with his comments. More directly, his rationalization of resistance was based on the nation’s debt and inflation.

“I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation,” he said in a statement last Sunday. “My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face. I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight.”

A White House response to his remarks contradicted what he had previously stated. “Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead and to work with us to reach that common ground. If his comments on Fox and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate,” White House Secretary Jen Psaki said.

In private conversations, according to the Huffington Post, Manchin said he believed paid family leave would be exploited by Americans to go hunting during deer season, especially in his home state. This report was countered by his spokesperson who noted that “Senator Manchin has made clear he supports the Child Tax Credit and believes the money should be targeted to those who need it most. He has also expressed support for a paid leave program that has a dedicated, sustainable funding mechanism.”

Meanwhile, on Sunday, President Biden and Sen. Manchin met after Manchin’s appearance on Fox News, in what was described as a cordial meeting.

One thing seems predictable, Manchin will flip flop on issues and find every justification to block Biden’s plans, even if some of his reasonings are absolutely outrageous and reprehensible.

 US delays intelligence center targeting foreign influence

 BY NOMAAN MERCHANT 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

 DECEMBER 22, 2021 

 As Russia was working to subvert U.S. elections and sow discord among Americans, Congress directed the creation of an intelligence center to lead efforts to stop interference by foreign adversaries. But two years later, that center still is not close to opening. Experts and intelligence officials broadly agree the proposed Foreign Malign Influence Center is a good idea. 

The U.S. has lacked a cohesive strategy to fight influence operations, they say, with not enough coordination among national security agencies. Adversaries that tried to interfere in the last two presidential elections continue to bombard Americans with disinformation and conspiracy theories at a time of peril for democracy in the U.S. and around the world. But the intelligence community and Congress remain divided over the center's mission, budget and size, according to current and former officials. 

While separate efforts to counter interference continue, a person identified this year as a potential director has since been assigned elsewhere and the center likely will not open anytime soon. “It really is just giving a gift to Russia and China and others who clearly have their sights set not only on the midterm elections but on ongoing campaigns to destabilize American society,” said David Salvo, deputy director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. 

The nation's top intelligence official had advocated for the center before taking office. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines last year co-chaired a German Marshall Fund task force supporting it. In a statement, spokeswoman Nicole de Haay said the director's office "is focused on creating a center to facilitate and integrate the Intelligence Community’s efforts to address foreign malign influence.” 

But some lawmakers are concerned about further expanding the mission of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. ODNI was originally envisioned as a small coordinating body to address the intelligence-sharing failures preceding the Sept. 11 attacks. It has several centers that critics say are well-meaning attempts to solve problems but end up causing unnecessary duplication. 

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner said that while he supports the center, there were “legitimate questions about how large such an organization should be and even about where it would fit" with existing government efforts to fight foreign interference. “We want to be sure that this center enhances those efforts rather than duplicating them or miring them in unnecessary bureaucracy,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement. “I don’t have any real doubt that we will ultimately stand the center up in the relatively near future, but we need to be sure we get it right.”

 It's unclear who would lead the center. Separately, there is also a vacancy for a new election threats executive after the previous executive, Shelby Pierson, ended her term and returned to another intelligence post. Pierson had been in the spotlight last year after giving lawmakers a closed-door briefing on Russia's efforts to intervene in the 2020 election in favor of President Donald Trump. That angered Trump, who berated the then-director of national intelligence and later replaced him. Trump has promoted falsehoods about elections and pushed Republicans to follow his lead. Experts on democracy have long warned that what the government refers to as “malign influence” is a national security threat. Social media has helped make disinformation a cheap and powerful tactic for adversaries who can push false or altered stories, videos and images, and amplify falsehoods already circulating among Americans to promote their own interests and create chaos. 

 U.S. and other Western authorities have accused Russia of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines, stealing data from local and state election servers, and pushing false stories intended to exploit divisions over race and civil rights. Intelligence agencies have found that Russia used influence operations to interfere with the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump's campaign and conducted operations in Trump's favor in 2020. 

The U.S. assessed China ultimately did not interfere in the 2020 election, but Beijing has been accused of promoting false theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to sway businesses and all levels of government. Iran was accused of sponsoring emails intended to intimidate Democratic-leaning voters into supporting Trump. 

Experts say the new center can warn Americans about interference and produce better information for policymakers. While the FBI, the National Security Agency and several other government agencies have long worked on foreign interference, “we are not organized in a way where we are building a coherent threat picture,” said Jessica Brandt, an expert on foreign interference and disinformation at the Brookings Institution. But there are risks in the intelligence community ramping up its monitoring of what Americans see and read. 

The FBI and NSA have been accused of unlawfully spying on Americans. That history contributes to many Americans' distrust of the intelligence community, as do Trump's attacks on intelligence professionals and what he has derided as the “deep state.” Opponents note the U.S. also has a history of covert interference in other countries and has helped overthrow governments seen as anti-American. 

A column published by the Kremlin-backed RT.com alleged the proposed center “is just official cover for American intelligence interference in domestic politics.” The intelligence community also risks being seen as political or infringing on First Amendment rights if it takes the same untruths spread by Americans and labels them as foreign interference when they're spread by an adversary. The center “is going to have to figure out this enormous challenge to convey threats to American elections, American democracy, at a time when there seem to be two completely different realities,” said Salvo of the German Marshall Fund. 

Congress authorized the center in late 2019 and directed ODNI to create it. Several people who worked in intelligence matters at that time, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe confidential discussions, say they didn't know of any effort by the Trump White House to stop the center. Instead, leaders within ODNI disagreed on how to structure the new center or whether it should be a “virtual center" without an office. According to one of the people, William Evanina, the former chief of ODNI's counterintelligence center, offered to take the malign influence center under his authority, but the office ultimately did not choose that option. Evanina declined to comment. After Biden took office, ODNI presented a plan for a small center with a few dozen staff members to the intelligence and appropriations committees in the House and Senate.

 But even as Congress required the center's creation, key lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the plan. A proposal to fund the center this summer failed and it is unlikely to be completed while the government is operating with temporary funding. The center may now be included if a full spending plan is approved in early 2022. Suzanne Spaulding, an election security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called for the U.S. government to act quickly. “Time is not on our side,” Spaulding said. “Disinformation is a national security threat and should be treated with the urgency that a national security threat engenders.”

 https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/article256810177.html#storylink=cpy

Congressional Panel Launches Investigation Into Promoter Of Deadly Astroworld Concert

Ten people were killed during a massive crowd surge at the concert and attendees were packed so tightly that many could not breathe or move their arms. 

The people killed at the concert died from compression asphyxia.

Juan A. Lozano
12/23/2021 


HOUSTON (AP) — A congressional committee has launched an investigation into the promoter of the Astroworld music festival in Houston, in which 10 people were killed during a massive crowd surge and attendees were packed so tightly that many could not breathe or move their arms.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter Wednesday to Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s president and CEO, Michael Rapino, asking for information about the company’s role in the Nov. 5 festival and concert by rap superstar Travis Scott.

Information the committee requested included details about security, crowd control and mass casualty incident planning; details about any pre-show briefings by Live Nation or is subsidiaries on any safety concerns; and what steps the concert promoter will take to prevent injuries or deaths at future events.

“Recent reports raise serious concerns about whether your company took adequate steps to ensure the safety of the 50,000 concertgoers who attended Astroworld Festival,” the committee said in the letter.

The youngest of the 10 victims was 9-year-old Ezra Blount. The others who died as headliner Travis Scott took to the stage ranged in age from 14 to 27.

ROBERT BUMSTED VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

The committee is requesting that Live Nation provide documentation on the questions by Jan. 7 and that it provide a briefing to committee members by Jan. 12.

Such a briefing would be behind closed doors and not open to the public.

“We are assisting local authorities in their investigation and will of course share information with the Committee as well. Safety is core to live events and Live Nation engages in detailed security planning in coordination with local stakeholders including law enforcement, fire and EMT professionals. We are heartbroken by the events at Astroworld and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of the victims,” Live Nation said in a statement.

The youngest of the 10 victims was 9-year-old Ezra Blount. The others who died as headliner Scott took to the stage ranged in age from 14 to 27.

Some 300 people were injured and treated at the festival site and 25 were taken to hospitals.

Last week, officials announced that the people killed at the concert died from compression asphyxia. A medical expert says the pressure from the crowd surge at the event was so great that it quickly squeezed all the air from the lungs of the victims, causing them to pass out within a minute or so and die because critical organs, such as the heart and brain, were depleted of oxygen.


Nearly 400 lawsuits have been filed over injuries and deaths at the concert, including many against Live Nation and Scott.

FUNDAMETALISM IS ANTI HUMANISM

Thousands of LGBTQ+ Israelis received text messages to ‘repent’ or face ‘death’
Sarah Toce, 

The New Civil Rights Movement
December 22, 2021



The Jerusalem Post has reported that thousands of LGBTQ+ Israelis received text messages saying they "deserve severe punishment, death and deportation" and calling on them to "repent." The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel confirmed the news Monday.

"You are LGBT and an apostate. You deserve severe punishment, death and deportation from Israel," the message read. "Come to Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan in order to repent. We would be glad if you undergo conversion to faith."

According to The Jerusalem Post, "The message included a phone number and a Telegram account to contact and stated that it was sent by Rabbi Chaim Aryeh Hadash, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ohr Elhanan. The rabbi has denied that he has any connection to the message, saying he has never talked about the issue and the issue is not addressed in his yeshiva."

The Agudah and the Havruta organization for LGBTQ+ religious Jewish men invited Hadash to a dialogue with the LGBTQ+ religious Jewish community. They also called in a letter for Hadash to publish a public condemnation of the messages sent in his name and to "prevent the further great desecration of God that has already been done." The director-general of the Israel Internet Association, Yoram Hacohen, called for police to investigate whether the person who sent the text used data from the Black Shadow attack, adding that "Since these are text messages, it is possible to find out their source and take criminal action against the perpetrators...These are, on the face of it, elements who have grossly violated the Privacy Protection Law - I call on Israel Police to act immediately to locate the perpetrators. They have the tools to do that." This latest incident comes just days after a seminar hosted by the 105 hotline for the protection of children online concerning harm against LGBTQ+ youth online.

US will never completely eliminate Covid, says Dr Anthony Fauci

Gino Spoochia
December 23 2021

As Americans prepare for a second Christmas with Covid, health chief Dr Anthony Fauci has warned that the United States will never be able to completely eradicate the disease.

The top medical adviser to US President Joe Biden argued in an interview on Tuesday that without an availability of vaccines worldwide, there was no way Covid could be eradicated.

It follows only one disease, smallpox, being fully suppressed through scientific intervention, Dr Fauci told The Atlantic.

“I don’t think it’s possible that we’re going to eradicate this infection,” Dr Fauci said. “Because we’ve only eradicated one infection in human history, and that’s smallpox.”

“And I don’t think you’re going to eliminate it, because you have to have essentially a universal campaign for vaccination like we did for polio and measles,” he added.

While the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has made similar claims about Covid before, his warning on Tuesday was among the starkest yet about what life will look like in the future.

Asked whether or not testing would still be needed, in addition to public health measures, Dr Fauci said he did not know for sure, but that the current situation of “worrying” about every social interaction was not going to stay.

“What we can do is reach a level of ‘control’ that we can live with – where it doesn’t disrupt society, it doesn’t disrupt the economy, and it doesn’t have us always looking over our shoulder wondering whether we’re going to get infected,” the NIAID director said.

“I see that there will be persistence of Covid-19, or at least SARS-CoV-2, but there’s not going to be the profound impact that it’s currently having right now in our society. Whether that’s this coming spring and summer or a year from now, I don’t know. But it’s not going to stay the way it is, for sure.”

The US also has one of the lowest proportion of adults fully vaccinated against Covid among developed nations, with around 61pc of the population immunised. That compares to roughly 80pc of the population in the UK, and many other European nations.

It comes as Mr Biden addressed the nation with a call for millions of Americans to get vaccinated or boosted against Covid after 800,000 deaths in the US. He said there was a “patriotic duty” to get the shot.

He also acknowledged the Trump administration’s work on researching and funding Covid vaccines, in what was an apparent attempt at persuading vaccine-hesitant Americans on the right to protect themselves and others.

Meanwhile Fox News has defended political commentator Jesse Watters after he used the phrase “kill shot” in a speech urging young conservatives to confront Dr Fauci in public with a hostile interview. Dr Fauci, asked about it on CNN, said that Mr Watters should be fired “on the spot” but predicted he wouldn’t be held accountable for his language.

Fox said Mr Watters’ words had been “twisted completely out of context”.

Mr Watters, also a host on Fox News Channel’s panel show The Five, who made his initial mark doing aggressive interviews for Bill O’Reilly, spoke on Monday to a group of college and high school conservatives. His audience booed at the mention of Dr Fauci’s name.

Mr Watters said Dr Fauci should be confronted on the subject of whether the National Institute of Health funded research at a lab in Wuhan, China. He said an interviewer should suggest he lied about the topic – something Dr Fauci has disputed.

“Now you go in for the kill shot, the kill shot with an ambush, deadly, because he doesn’t see it coming,” Mr Watters said.

A partial clip of Mr Watters’ speech, beginning with the “kill shot” quote, spread around the internet, with some commentators suggesting that he had advocated assassinating Dr Fauci. (© Independent News Service).

Why they hate him: Dr. Fauci triggers the right because he reveals their deepest insecurities

Amanda Marcotte, 

Salon
December 22, 2021

CBS/screen grab

"Whatcha reading for?"

It's the laugh line in a classic bit from Texas comedian Bill Hicks, recounting his encounter with a Waffle House waitress in Tennessee who did not understand why a man sitting by himself in a coffee house would read a book. The bit continues with a truck driver standing over Hicks and menacing him with, "We've got ourselves a reader."

Hicks, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, has a lot of material that hasn't aged well. Still, I have fond memories of this part of his act, which tended to kill with Austin audiences, packed as the city was back then with escapees from the less liberal parts of Texas. That audience brimmed with people who had repeatedly been on the receiving end of the anger Hicks described. He captured the defensive rage the willfully ignorant have towards those who look at the larger world with curiosity, instead of fear.

I thought about that Hicks bit when I saw Tuesday's news that Fox News' Jesse Watters, a man who radiates a strong "I paid some nerd to write my term papers" energy, threatened the life of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been the top COVID-19 advisor to President Joe Biden. Oh, Watters pretended it wasn't a threat when he told an audience at the conference for right-wing youth group Turning Point USA — founded by Charlie Kirk, who blames his lack of a college education on minorities supposedly taking "his" spot — to "ambush" Dr. Fauci with a "kill shot." Watters pretended he was speaking metaphorically, encouraging "deadly" questions instead of actual violence. But obviously, the garish rhetoric, especially in light of the growing violence on the right, was meant to intimidate.

What struck me about the whole incident was how weird it was.

Both Watters and his audience — who were whooping and hollering — are just so clearly threatened by Dr. Fauci. The frenzy of defensive rage that Dr. Fauci inspires on the right is hard to square with the man himself, a slight and mild-mannered fellow who retains a 50s-era Brooklyn accent. It's like being threatened by a puppy dog. It's like experiencing foaming rage at a child flying a kite. Dr. Fauci's main two public qualities are that he's very nice and wants to help. Who hates that?

Well, right-wingers do. And it's not just Watters.

Dr. Fauci has been the favorite target of "who does he think he is"-style rants by pretty much every right-wing pundit and politician out there for over a year now. He's easily the most reliable hate object they've had since Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Those three are some readers — and that reliably triggers the bullying response in the Jesse Watters types. Despite all of their chest-thumping bravado, this knee-jerk hostility to those perceived as intellectually curious evinces a deep insecurity driving right-wingers.

We also see this in the furious reaction on the right to polling data showing that young Democrats are not interested in socializing with, much less dating, Republicans. Considering how much liberals are demonized in right-wing media, you'd think the last thing conservatives would want is their company. But so much of that anger is driven by conservative insecurity, knowing that ultimately, their company is mostly irritating and definitely not interesting, and lashing out at others for perceiving that.

Which isn't to say the stereotype of the smug liberal doesn't exist. That Hicks routine is iconic in the annals of smug liberalism. But nowadays, the trend in smug liberalism tends to be more condescending than catty. It's those on the left who mistake intentional obtuseness for inborn stupidity. It manifests in lectures at other liberals about how we need to be patient with the unvaccinated Trumpers, because they can't be expected to understand how vaccines work. Or in treating Fox News viewers like dim-witted ciphers, instead of people who actively seek out propaganda and reject reality-based information. Say what you will about those on the left who are angry at the unvaccinated, fascistic Fox News audience — at least we give them the respect of knowing that their ignorance is a choice, not a predetermined condition.

In truth, the "smug liberal" is far more of a paranoid fantasy on the right than a reality. It's the manifestation of their own resentment of people who did do the reading, people who do want to know more about the larger world. They are jealous of people who say yes to novel ideas and new experiences, instead of freaking out at the mere thought of having to learn something new. It's not that such people are especially smug. Dr. Fauci, for instance, radiates kindness and patience. It's that conservatives are just that insecure about their own shortcomings.

That's why this assault on schools has been such a potent organizing force for Republicans. It really plugs into not just the racism of the right, but the defensive posture of those who are deeply afraid that their kids will be rewarded for intellectual curiosity and grow up to be brighter than dear old mom and dad. Though it has admittedly produced some truly sublime moments of comedy, such as when a woman named Kara Bell stood up at a Texas school board meeting to rant, "I've never had anal sex. I don't want to have anal sex." It earned her the online nickname "Cornhole Karen".

Ashley Hope Perez is the author whose book, "Out of Darkness," was the object of Bell's rage. As amusing as the clip is, it hasn't been so fun for Perez, who has been the target of harassment for writing the historical novel that explores racism in 1930s Texas. As Perez astutely noted on a recent Slate podcast, the hysterics over sexual content are actually a cover for the true objections conservatives have to the books they are challenging: that they center "characters or experiences from nonwhite, nondominant communities." What scares white conservatives is the possibility of learning — or having their kids learn — anything about the world outside of their cloistered enclaves of willful ignorance.

Still, there's something about the screeching about anal sex that also underscores the larger problem here: bitter incuriosity. And it is delivered in a way that was funny enough for Jimmy Kimmel to make it his clip of the year. It's not that Bell doesn't like anal sex, which is really just a matter of taste. It's the self-righteous fury at the very idea that anyone would be curious about such a thing. It's treating ignorance like a virtue, and intellectual dullness like a mandate.

It's been long understood that, once you control for demographic factors, the personality trait psychologists deem "openess to experience" is a major predictor of progressivism. That used to mostly be an interesting but irrelevant factoid, like learninig that orange cats are mostly male or what a "strawberry moon" is. Now, however, this personality difference is a central motivating factor in a growing fascist movement. The kind that wants to violently put down those who do express inquisitiveness and a willingness to be intellectually challenged. The kind of movement that leads crowds to cheer wildly at the idea of taking a "killshot" at an 80-year-old man whose main crime seems to be that he studied hard and knows things about science. This isn't just an unpleasant encounter in a Waffle House. It is a rage that is threatening to destroy a nation.

Trump and Don Jr. could be in big trouble if Assange is extradited to the US: national security expert

Tom Boggioni
December 18, 2021

President Donald Trump and Donald Trump, Jr (Twitter)

Saturday afternoon, the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI explained to MSNBC host Alex Witt that Donald Trump and his son Don Jr. should be shaking in their boots if Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is successfully extradited to the U.S.

According to Frank Figliuzzi, Assange could provide information linking the two Trumps -- along with former Trump adviser Roger Stone --to the Russians and possible collusion with the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

On Dec. 10th it was reported that government lawyers "won an appeal against a London court ruling that had blocked the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Britain."

AFP reported, "Assange is wanted to face trial for the publication by WikiLeaks in 2010 of classified military documents relating to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."



RELATED: Trump's CIA considered kidnapping or assassinating Julian Assange: report

According to Figliuzzi, successful extradition and interviews with Assange could center on Trump and his oldest son.

"There's at least three people who should be very concerned about the possibility of Assange being extradited to the United States, " the ex-FBI man explained. "First, former president Trump. secondly, Don Trump Jr., and also Roger Stone, and here's why. Assange possesses the capability, the knowledge to help close the gap between all of that [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller investigation talk of collusion with Russia and the 2016 campaign, and the gap between that and criminal chargeable conspiracy with Russia."

"So here's the deal, if you recall Assange's Wikileaks actually reached out to Guccifer 2.0 known to be a Russian intelligence GRU entity and said give that to me, Wikileaks, that hacked material that, by the way, Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking. Give that to me, I'll disseminate it and help the Trump campaign. He knows also who he was in direct contact with during the campaign."

"We know from the investigation that Don Jr. was in contact with Wikileaks for months during the campaign, even received tasking and acted on it from Wikileaks," he continued. "We also know from the investigation that Rick Gates, an aide to Trump, on a trip to La Guardia airport with Trump, Trump took a call he says from Roger Stone, hung up the phone and told Gates there's going to be more dirt coming from Wikileaks soon."

"If Assange can close that gap: here's who I talked to in the campaign, here's what they told me Trump knew, here's how I talked with Russia on behalf of the campaign, it also means that Trump would have lied to Mueller when asked about this issue numerous times," he added.

Watch below:

2021 becomes deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014

On average, Israeli forces and settlers killed 6 Palestinian children per month this year.

Israeli forces and armed Israeli civilians have killed 78 Palestinian minors in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza, making 2021 the deadliest year on record for Palestinian children since 2014.

In Gaza, 61 Palestinian children were killed, while 15 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, were killed according to the figures released by Defense for Children International - Palestine.

Armed Israeli civilians also killed two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank.

The documentation gathered by a local Palestinian child rights organisation showed that Israeli forces shot and killed 17 Palestinian children with live ammunition, 15 of those in the occupied West Bank and two in Gaza.

At least nine Palestinian children were shot and killed in the context of demonstrations or confrontations with Israeli forces and did not present a direct threat to life or of serious injury when they were shot, it said.

(TRTWorld)

Deliberate killings

Intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present, according to international law.

“However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings,” the group said.

The investigation also showed that armed Israeli civilians killed two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including the occupied East Jerusalem.

Most recently, 15-year-old Mohammad Nidal Younis Mousa lost his life on December 6, hours after a private Israeli security guard shot him after he had allegedly committed a car-ramming attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near Tulkarem.

‘Children killed in their beds’

Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinian children during Israel’s military aggression on Gaza in May 2021, dubbed Operation Guardian of the Walls, the organisation said.

An Israeli air strike killed six children on May 10, the first day of the assault, in Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza.

Those killed in the Israeli air strike included Rahaf Mohammad Attalla al Masri, 10, her cousin Yazan Sultan Mohammad al Masri, 2; brothers Marwan Yousef Attalla al Masri, 6, and Ibrahim Yousef Attalla al Masri, 11; as well as Hussein Muneer Hussein Hamad, 11, and 16-year-old Ibrahim Abdullah Mohammad Hassanain, the organisation said.

Another ten children were also injured in the same air strike.

One Palestinian child was killed by an unexploded ordnance, the origins of which could not be determined, according to the documentation.

Israeli forces killed Palestinian children using tank-fired shells, live ammunition, and missiles dropped from weaponised drones and US-sourced warplanes and Apache helicopters during the military assault, according to the report.

“Israeli warplanes and weaponised drones bombarded densely populated civilian areas killing Palestinian children sleeping in their beds, playing in their neighborhoods, shopping at stores near their homes, and celebrating Eid al Fitr with their families,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP.

The investigation also noted that seven Palestinian children were killed by rockets misfired by Palestinian armed groups within Gaza during the escalation of violence in May, bringing the total number of children killed to 86.

Israeli agression began on May 10 after Palestinians protested against Israel’s heavy-handed policing of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, built on a contested site sacred to Jews and Muslims, and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers in a nearby neighborhood.

The 11-day air, land and sea assault on Gaza killed at least 250 and injured almost 2,000 Palestinians.

International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. “Israel as the occupying force in Palestine is required to protect the Palestinian civilian population from violence,” the organisation said.

The rights group stated that 2,198 Palestinian children have been killed as a result of Israeli military and settler presence in the Palestinian territories since 2000.

However, almost no Israeli officer or civilian has been held accountable for the deaths of these Palestinian children in these two decades. The odds that a Palestinian would see his or her complaint lead to the prosecution of a soldier who harmed them is 0.7 percent, according to a report by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organisation.

Instead of holding its forces accountable for the killing of Palestinian children, Israel designated several prominent Palestinian human rights groups that protect Palestinian children's rights as outlawed "terrorist organisations," including the Defense for Children International - Palestine, the organisation which conducted this investigation.

“The international community’s lack of political will to hold Israeli officials accountable guarantees that Israeli soldiers will continue to unlawfully kill Palestinian children with impunity,” Eqtaish added.

Gaza Emergency | UNRWA