RockCreek
RockCreek's JournalExcellent article "The Mathematics of Starvation: Why Aid Can't Fix the Lethal Shortage of Food in Gaza"
This is an excellent article showing some of the many inaquacies of food aid as currently provided to Israel. It also addressed medical and physiological aspects of what is needed.
I'm a medical professional and have been horrified at the current version of "aid" from that standpoint alone. (leaving aside political, practiczl, etc etc aspects).
The best part of the article is reached through the Archive link at the end.
from Haaretz:
The Mathematics of Starvation: Why Aid Can't Fix the Lethal Shortage of Food in Gaza July 23, 2025
To an uncritical eye, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – backed by Israel and the U.S. – looks like a dizzying success story. After it boasted on Monday that it has already distributed more than 85 million meals and that the day's distribution passed without incident, one might have thought all the earlier problems and the negative reports were just the project's birth pangs.
But a few other variables need to be factored into this equation of success. First and foremost, the equation lacks context and ignores the broader picture. If roughly 2.1 million people live in the Gaza Strip today, it's preferable for them to eat three meals a day, and GHF had been in operation for 56 days as of Monday, how many meals should it have distributed? A simple calculation produces the answer – 353 million.
Thus even if, by some miracle, Gazans had managed to evenly divide the food the organization handed out among themselves, then cook it and extract every last calorie and nutrient it contained, this would still be only a tiny fraction of the food they need to survive. And this gap reveals only the tip of the iceberg of the mathematics of starvation.
There's no shortage of other indications. Since this weekend, hunger in Gaza has escalated further. Hospitals, humanitarian organizations, journalists and Gaza residents are all reporting severe shortages of food even in comparison to previous months.
https://archive.is/4jbAr
op-ed "The Delusion of Moral Superiority Fueling Israel's War on Gaza"
cross posting in Israel/Palestine Forum
From the Times of Israel. Written by an old, dear friend. For thought and discussion.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-delusion-of-moral-superiority-fueling-israels-war-on-gaza/
"Israeli public discourse, and to a significant extent Jewish discourse abroad, reflects the assumption that we as Jews are facing barbaric implacable enemies, and that while we may have committed our share of sins, we are vastly better than they are. The logic goes: Since our lives are endangered by their inhumanity, and since if they were only reasonable like us we could co-exist, radical measures – like the war on Gaza – are justified.
People justify their positions through talk about security and geopolitics. However, if you pay attention, you can hear how the assumption that they are rationally and morally superior to the other side is woven into their thinking. Keep following that thread and you’ll see how it skews their picture of reality and their moral judgement.
It must be admitted of course that the actual barbarity of many of the powers we’re dealing with – such as the regimes of Hamas and Iran – is an important part of the reason Jews see them that way. It cannot be denied that that are powerful forces – both ideological and military – in the Muslim and Arab worlds that are genocidal in their attitude towards Israeli Jews. Their positions are characterized by dehumanization, racism, fundamentalism and militarism and they have murdered thousands of civilians.
It also needs to be acknowledged that important parts of the Pro-Palestinian solidarity movement and “progressive left” share in the politics of dehumanization. This was apparent in the voices that supported or refused to condemn the intentional mass extermination and kidnapping of civilians on Oct. 7. Here we got a chance to hear the Left rehearse its version of militaristic newspeak: Murdering families in their homes became “armed struggle” and “anti-colonial violence”. But just as with the rightwing rendition of these golden oldies (for the rightwing version, replace “armed struggle” with “warfare” and “anti-colonial violence” with “collateral damage”), the rhetoric does not alter the bottom line: If you do not deem it a crime to intentionally exterminate a civilian population, then you do not recognize those people as human beings."
Follow link above for more. No firewall.
op-ed "The Delusion of Moral Superiority Fueling Israel's War on Gaza"
From the Times of Israel. Written by an old, dear friend. For thought and discussion.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-delusion-of-moral-superiority-fueling-israels-war-on-gaza/
"Israeli public discourse, and to a significant extent Jewish discourse abroad, reflects the assumption that we as Jews are facing barbaric implacable enemies, and that while we may have committed our share of sins, we are vastly better than they are. The logic goes: Since our lives are endangered by their inhumanity, and since if they were only reasonable like us we could co-exist, radical measures – like the war on Gaza – are justified.
People justify their positions through talk about security and geopolitics. However, if you pay attention, you can hear how the assumption that they are rationally and morally superior to the other side is woven into their thinking. Keep following that thread and you’ll see how it skews their picture of reality and their moral judgement.
It must be admitted of course that the actual barbarity of many of the powers we’re dealing with – such as the regimes of Hamas and Iran – is an important part of the reason Jews see them that way. It cannot be denied that that are powerful forces – both ideological and military – in the Muslim and Arab worlds that are genocidal in their attitude towards Israeli Jews. Their positions are characterized by dehumanization, racism, fundamentalism and militarism and they have murdered thousands of civilians.
It also needs to be acknowledged that important parts of the Pro-Palestinian solidarity movement and “progressive left” share in the politics of dehumanization. This was apparent in the voices that supported or refused to condemn the intentional mass extermination and kidnapping of civilians on Oct. 7. Here we got a chance to hear the Left rehearse its version of militaristic newspeak: Murdering families in their homes became “armed struggle” and “anti-colonial violence”. But just as with the rightwing rendition of these golden oldies (for the rightwing version, replace “armed struggle” with “warfare” and “anti-colonial violence” with “collateral damage”), the rhetoric does not alter the bottom line: If you do not deem it a crime to intentionally exterminate a civilian population, then you do not recognize those people as human beings."
Follow link above for more. No firewall.
From The Guardian "Meet the new American refugees fleeing across state lines for safety"
Chilling article, with numbers as well as profiles of 5 families. Worth the read. Apologies if previously posted; I did not see it on search.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/24/american-refugees-escape
"America is on the move. Hundreds of thousands of people are packing up boxes, loading U-Hauls, and shipping out of state in an urgent flight towards safety.
They’re being propelled by hostile political forces bearing down on them because of who they are, what they believe, or for their medical needs.
All are displaced within their own country for reasons they did not choose. They are the new generation of America’s internal refugees – and their ranks are growing by the day.
Here, we profile families who have joined America’s swelling class of internal refugees. They represent just five stories among many others which might have been included: librarians fleeing book bans, professors forced out by ideologically-motivated college education boards, and most recently, the thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration."
Report that Pro-Palestine protestors shut down Grand Central Station April 7th
I saw this in the Jerusalen Post, with excerpt and link following. Another link from the UK follows.
Minimal coverage coming up from the US M$M when on my search.
https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-849279
Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down Grand Central Station in NYC
By MICHAEL STARR APRIL 8, 2025 04:27
Updated: APRIL 8, 2025 12:22
The protests in Grand Central Station come after Trump told reporters that the US "controlling and owning" the Gaza Strip would be a positive development.
Anti-Israel protests shut down New York City's Grand Central Station on Monday, according to demonstration organizer Within Our Lifetime.
Betar warned all Jews in the area to avoid Grand Central Station in a post on X/Twitter. The account added that the protesters were masked and armed.
Activists wearing keffiyehs entered the American landmark waving Palestinian flags and banging drums in response to a global strike called for by Palestinians over the ongoing war in Gaza, WOL leader Nerdeen Kiswani explained in a social media post.
Kiswani said that the New York Police Department had shut down the entrances to the station because the authorities didn't want people to hear their message.
Another source:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/just-getting-started-pro-palestine-032743443.html
Can people in DC flood the streets with yellow and blue today?
I am thousands of miles away, or I would be out there. Flags, sheets, curtains, anything. The colors make the statement.
Starmer to join Macron-led European crisis summit on Trump's Ukraine plan French president calls for urgent talks in Par
Source: The Guardian
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, was on Saturday night seeking to convene an emergency meeting of European leaders, including the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, as concerns grew over Donald Trump’s attempts to seize control of the Ukraine peace process.
Speaking at the Munich security conference, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said he was “very glad that President Macron has called our leaders to Paris” to discuss “in a very serious fashion” the challenges posed by Trump.
“President Trump has a method of operating which the Russians call razvedka boyem – reconnaissance through battle: you push and you see what happens, and then you change your position ... and we need to respond,” the Polish minister said.
The meeting, likely to be held on Monday, is expected to discuss US efforts to exclude European leaders from the peace talks, the position Europe should adopt on Ukraine’s future membership of Nato and how Ukraine can be offered security guarantees, either through Nato or some European force.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/15/europe-will-not-take-part-in-us-russia-talks-ukraine-kellogg
These Europeans are showing more understanding of Trump and of the need to act quickly than the current Democratic Party leadership.
The rest of the article is worth reading. No paywall at the Guardian.
From the CBC "Trump bump: U.S. citizenship renunciation inquiries surge in Canada, lawyers say"
From the CBC
"Trump bump: U.S. citizenship renunciation inquiries surge in Canada, lawyers say"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/trump-canada-us-dual-citizenship-politics-1.7443426?cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Calgary_1652_1849689
Exerpt:
"...lawyers in Canada involved in U.S. citizenship renunciation say inquiries have spiked sharply since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump last November.
Cowgill, a lawyer with Cross Border Visas, says monthly inquiries nearly doubled in December and he expects applications will rise this year.
Alexander Marino, director of U.S. tax law at Moodys Tax Law in Calgary, said that most people renounce U.S. citizenship for tax reasons — the U.S. is one of the few countries that imposes tax based on citizenship, not residency.
....
He said the spike in interest now is greater than in 2017 after Trump's first presidential win, and he expected 2025 to see a record number of people try to give up U.S. citizenship.
Moodys typically offers five to seven renunciation information webinars each year for U.S. citizens living in Canada; this year, they may schedule up to 12, Marino said...."
Bernie Sander's Opinion in The Guardian "What Trump didn't say in his inauguration speech"
Bernie Sanders Opinion "What Trump didn't say in his inauguration speech"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/23/bernie-sanders-trump-inauguration-speech?CMP=GTUS_email
I was at the Trump inauguration on Monday, and needless to say, I disagree with almost everything he had to say.
What really struck me, however, is not what he said, which was not surprising given his general rhetoric – but what he didn’t say. The simple truth is that Donald Trump gave a major speech, the first speech of his second presidency, and ignored almost every significant issue facing the working families of this country.
How crazy is that?
Our healthcare system is broken, is dysfunctional and is wildly expensive. We remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee healthcare for all. Not one word from Trump about how he is going to address the healthcare crisis.
We pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs – sometimes 10 times more than the people in other countries – and one out of four Americans is unable to afford the prescriptions that their doctors prescribe. Not one word from Donald Trump on the high cost of prescription drugs.
(Follow link for entire piece).
Is there any constitutional or legal solution?
Please read through this as I put forward a previously unthinkable possible outcome. It needs to be considered, if only so as not to be surprised and paralyzed.
The evil one has essentially shut down the CDC and the NIH. At this point, he is (again) a threat to public health and safety. Shutting down public health systems can be as or more dangerous than most military actions.
He is attacking those he percieves as weak first.
The US constitution does not guard against this craziness. We have been over this again and again in Term 1. I believe the Democrat leadership as well as millions of others tried their best to come up with solutions in Term 1, contingency plans before the election, and action plans since the election. Is there any realistic solution other than a temporary military takeover? If I remember correctly, this action was discussed by some military behind the scenes in Term 1.
I never thought I would think that this would cross my mind as solution for my country. Yet the constitution was written for "gentlemen" and won the assumption "honor" would be a driving force. Term 1 and the beginning of Term 2 have shown us that the Crazy One and his minions do not operate with honor.
The US has not been a country of mass demonstrations and general strikes for generations. I would prefer those, and hundreds of other ways of acting against this
Please try to discuss this rationally and without too much actions. I am putting this out as an IDEA. It is in the range of possible outcomes, and should be discussed.
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