Global

The First Gulf War back in 1990 was a big huge success. One of the things it accomplished was a major U.S. troop presence in Saudi Arabia. Muslims around the world were outraged. Bombs were repeatedly set off at Khobar Towers where troops were stationed. In 1998 Osama Bin Laden declared:

“For over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples. . . . The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies — civilians and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.”

This is very important and no country can claim these are "disputed
territories" or that there is a "conflict" any more. In a stunning and
highly researched opinion, the International Court of Justice (highest
global legal authority) concluded that all activities carried out by Israel
(the occupying power) in the occupied areas (Golan, Gaza, West Bank
including Jerusalem) are illegal  (violate international law) and must be
dismantled and reparations made. Illegal activities include Jewish
settlements building, home demolitions, walls, economic deprivation, ethnic
cleansing etc.  The court ruled per international law that the decades long
occupation must end and that Palestinian must have self-determination

As Joe Biden inches toward retirement, right-wing attacks on his presumptive replacement, Kamala Harris, are already beyond the pale.

The meanness of spirit and naïveté can sometimes be breathtaking.

Take a vicious recent commentary by David Suissa in LA’s Jewish Journal.

Suissa welcomes Trump’s nomination of JD Vance as a “breath of politically incorrect fresh air” and a “middle finger to identity politics.”

Suissa presumes that Trump has big-heartedly chosen Vance for the VP slot out of a selfless bow to “the best man for the job.”

By contrast, Suissa implies that the choice of Harris means just to fill the Democratic ticket with a woman of color. Her prominence, he implies, is strictly the product of her politically correct race and gender.

The level of deception is mind-boggling…but deadly characteristic of the Trump Cult.

President Joe Biden has signed the ADVANCE Act, a measure passed overwhelmingly by both houses of the U.S. Congress which promotes nuclear power.

“I signed the ADVANCE Act, a bipartisan win for American energy security, innovation and achieving economy-wide, net-zero emissions by 2050. Clean nuclear power and good union jobs. That’s what the ADVANCE Act will help deliver,” declared Biden on his “President Joe Biden” Facebook page on July 9th after signing the measure sitting at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House surrounded by a group of its Congressional supporters. 

The “ADVANCE” stands for “Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy.”

The great ANDREA MILLER from the Center for Common Ground then takes us through a devastating exposition of the US Supreme Court’s decision to restore an absolute monarchy to the North American continent.

Her “Protecting Democracy from the Court” lays out in terrifying detail the Supremes’ attack on democracy.  Their decisions range from dismissing charges against January 6 insurrectionists to establishing the divine right of a sitting president—-and maybe even an ex-president—-to break any laws they want.

MYLA RESON asks about the Biden Plan for reorganizing the Supreme Court.  

ERIC LAZARUS proposes a civil assembly to substitute for the Court as is done in Ireland.

GREGG GORDON says “we’re the King” and points out that the Court’s decision now applies to President Biden, giving him absolute power….for the time being.

LYNN FEINERMAN tells us of GREG PALAST’S cinematic warning, in the movie “Vigilantes”,  against vote challenging, which allows a single individual to disqualify thousands of registered voters without due process.  

Much has been written about the political earthquakes in Britain and France, the first
resulting in the crushing defeat of the Conservative Party and the latter in the
overpowering of the far right, by a largely leftist coalition.
 
But these were not the only important outcomes of the July 4 and July 7 general elections
in two of Europe's most influential countries.
 
One other important, if not unprecedented outcome, was the centrality of the Palestinian
cause to the political discourses in London and Paris which, in truth, are only reflections
of greater changes underway on the entire European continent and body politic.
 
For a long time, we have been told that outward advocacy of Palestinian rights is a lost
political cause in Europe, where Israel holds a special status due to the West's historical
role in creating, sustaining and defending Israel.
 
That affinity, however, was cemented by more than mere political traditions. In countries
like the United States - but also Britain and France - the pro-Israel lobby served the role