Global
The eminent Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus in a biography of his illustrious father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agrippa famously wrote “Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.” Which translates in the Loeb Classical Library edition as “To plunder, butcher, steal, these things they misname empire: they make a desolation and they call it peace.” Lord Byron, in his poem the Bride of Abydos, rendered the Tacitus Latin as “Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease! He makes a solitude, and calls it — peace.” Per Tacitus’ no doubt second hand account , the words were originally spoken by the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus who was addressing his assembled warriors concerning Rome’s insatiable appetite for conquest and plunder. The chieftain’s sentiment can be contrasted to pax in terra “peace on earth” which was sometimes inscribed on Roman medals (phalera) awarded to soldiers returning from the imperial wars.
Trump intended his second inaugural address to be uplifting and unifying, though
it is riddled with questionable claims, downright lies, and is hardly unifying. (See a
transcript of the address at: https://nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-
inaugural-speech.html.)
As of Jan. 20, his first day in office, he began implementing many of the policies to
which he referred in the address as well as in speeches during the presidential
campaign, and, in some cases, over many years. There are some issues that he
avoided discussing; for example, whether he will issue a federal ban on abortions.
By the end of his first days in office, he issued hundreds of “executive actions,”
many of which will be contested in courts (https://apnews.com/article/what-has-
trump-done-trump-executive-orders-f061fbe7f08c08d81509a6af20ef8fc0). Here
are some examples of Trump’s actions and anticipated actions and the effects.
They threaten to destroy the tenuous democracy that we know, and replace it with
After 471 days of relentless carnage, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded over 111,000. According to The Lancet, up to 186,000 deaths may ultimately be attributed to this war. 70% of all those murdered are women and children. Despite this staggering human cost, Gaza emerged victorious, defying a Zionist colonial project backed by decades of Western political and military support.
The whole world witnessed a genocide in real-time, as Gaza endured 2-ton bombs, cluster munitions, and systematic starvation. Yet, against all odds, Gaza triumphed, shattering the myth of Israel’s invincibility. The Gazan “David” stood tall against the “Goliath” of a settler-colonial state, marking a decisive moment in the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
Bethlehem University Announcement and fundraiser in honor of nomination to
Nobel Peace Prize of Prof. Qumsiyeh
https://www.bethlehem.edu/2025/01/15/prof-qumsiyeh-nominated-for-2025-nobel-peace-prize/
“This (Gaza) is the moral issue of our time; this is the Holocaust of our
time, this is the Trail of Tears of our time, this is the Middle Passage of
our time.” Max Blumenthal
“Silence in the face of Evil is itself evil” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German
anti-Nazi dissident
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities.” Voltaire
As a hudna (ceasefire) will start Sunday, the occupation regime intensified
its killings of Palestinians including 150 civilians in the last 30 hours
(including six journalists). Despite corporate media being Zionized, even
