Global
It is particularly difficult to pick out the most idiotic comments made by President Donald Trump over the past week as there is so much to choose from. There were the memorable doodle-headed speeches before the Israeli Knesset and the so-called Peace gathering in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt and the threats against Hamas over the failure to come up with the bodies of Israeli hostages that were killed by American government provided bombs dropped by Israel and are now buried beneath piles of rubble. And then there is the Insurrection Act, cited nearly every day by Trump or one of his cabinet, which, if it is successfully called for and passes through judicial review, will truly turn the United States into a police state ruled by a leader that clearly is mentally incompetent as well as providing all the signs that he is a narcissistic psychopath whose goal in holding the presidency is to be surrounded by folks who tell him constantly how great he is! And let’s not forget the bloviation regarding the “Triumphal” Arch being planned for the Arlington National Cemetery end of Memorial Bridge leading to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
A single, candid statement by US President Donald Trump during a Fox News interview on October 9 may illuminate the true calculus behind Israel’s decision for a ceasefire in Gaza, following a relentless, two-year genocidal campaign that has tragically killed and wounded nearly a quarter of a million Palestinians.
“Israel cannot fight the world, Bibi,” Trump declared during the interview, a direct warning he said to have previously delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Suddenly and violently, their childhoods were shattered. No child should have to live in a war zone. No child should have to bear witness to the murder of their mother. Some stopped talking. Others endured long rehabilitation for physical wounds in hospitals. We spoke to half a dozen Ukrainian orphans who witnessed their mothers killed in Russian drone or missile attacks. They are the hardest cases in a generation of children growing up scared by war, though many young people in Ukraine will have to make their way in life without one or both parents. We asked about interests, hobbies, plans and coping in times of terrible uncertainty, of facing the future and moving on.
Katia and Yulia
I sit here at my desk, looking out the window – and see someone walking through the parking lot. This is the most ordinary of moments. I shrug quietly. Life goes on.
My impulse is to stop writing the column here. That’s it. Nothing more to say. Life is totally fine and civilized and I’m here in the middle of it, growing old but giving no thought whatsoever to the darkness that lurks at humanity’s margins. Sure, the news covers that stuff, but what do I care? Things are fine where I live.
But the darkness tugs. I read the news. I know that hell consumes parts of the planet and certain lives have no safety – no value – whatsoever. Here’s a recent New York Times headline, as ordinary as the fact that someone was walking through the parking lot outside my window:
“U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says.”
Well, so what? They were transporting drugs. “The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. . . .”
Are American's seeing the images of ICE attacking people? It would seem that the entire population would revolt. There are a brave few protesting but not enough to change the behavior. Unless enough American's take to the streets or revolt in other ways, we will see this government to continue to commit crimes against innocent American citizens, for at least 3 more years. In a Democracy, public opinion alone would be enough to stop this.
Here are just a few links of ICE running wild in America. I urge everyone to have access to TwitterX/ TicTok and/or Bluesky. This is just a small sample of the horrors being inflicted.
Illinois State Police confronted a group of aggressive anti-ICE protesters,
WATCH: Law enforcement officers clash with anti-ICE demonstrators
The history of Zionism is fundamentally one of deception. This assertion is critically relevant today, as it contextualizes the so-called 'Trump Gaza proposal,' which appears to be little more than a veiled strategy to defeat the Palestinians and facilitate the ethnic cleansing of a significant portion of Gaza's population.
If we are to speak of a Palestinian victory in Gaza, it is a resounding triumph for the Palestinian people, their indomitable spirit, and their deeply rooted resistance that transcends faction, ideology, and politics.
For decades, the prevailing notion was that the 'solution' to the Israeli occupation of Palestine lay in a strictly negotiated process. “Only dialogue can achieve peace” has been the relentlessly peddled mantra in political circles, academic platforms, media forums, and the like.
A colossal industry burgeoned around that idea, expanding dramatically in the lead-up to, and for years after, the signing of the Oslo Accords between Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli government.
The Unmaking of 'Peace'
On Friday morning I jumped out of bed just before 5 am Eastern US time full of fear that President Donald Trump might have become the declared recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, following in the footsteps of noted warmonger President Barack Obama, who is fondly remembered for also institutionalizing the killing the American citizens overseas whom he targeted in weekly White House staff meetings. Trump has undoubtedly decided to follow the Obama model in his bombing of Iran and his apparent intention to overthrow Venezuela rather than Libya, but has expanded on that with his killing of Venezuelans on fishing boats in international waters without any evidence that criminal activity is intended. In both cases, as well as in that of their predecessor George W. Bush, the argument inevitably used has been that “terrorism” was involved, justifying instant death for the potential perps before they could actually act.
On Friday, October 10, 2025, the ceasefire took effect. After 735 days, tens of thousands of the two million displaced Palestinians began the painful walk home—some to rubble, others to houses barely standing. After two full years of relentless bombardment, more than ten percent of Gaza’s population was either killed or injured.
Over 81,000 were reported killed, including 67,000 confirmed dead and 14,000 missing and presumed dead. Among them: 20,000 children, 22,000 women, and 22,000 fathers. At least 1,000 infants under one year old perished—one Palestinian child every hour for two years.
The medical sector was systematically targeted: 1,670 medics and 140 civil defense workers killed, 125 health facilities destroyed, and 34 hospitals reduced to ruins. Gaza’s health system, once fragile, was deliberately annihilated.
Starvation became a weapon of war. At least 459 people, including 154 children, died of hunger. In their search for food aid, 2,600 more were killed and 19,000 injured. To silence witnesses, 254 journalists were targeted and killed.