Promises of "absolute victory" in Gaza are nothing but "gibberish", according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Gallant's comments were not meant to be public, but somehow were leaked and published by Israeli media on August 12. 

 The explanation of why Netanyahu is pursuing a losing war in Gaza has been largely confined to the prime minister's personal interests: avoiding the outcome of his corruption trials, preserving his extremist government coalition and avoiding early elections. 

I stepped out. I jumped on the 1. My 62 dollar, 31 day-pass expired.

I paid 5 for a day pass. Five dollars is  still cheaper than paying for parking. I would visit Kroger soon for my 62 dollar Month COTA pass.

GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan’s concert existed within a short jaunt from my residence. At first discovery of the Wu, if people asked who my favorite Wu-Tang Clan member. I would say, GZA or RZA. In an online quiz, those would be the intellectual Wu members. I don’t have a Wu Favorite anymore. I like everyone in Wu-Tang Clan.

GZA was opening for Sublime with Rome. I’d looked at Sublime’s setlist. Sublime wasn’t playing the only Sublime song I know, KRS-1. During KRS-1,  Sublime details Boogie Down Bronx’s KRS-1 teaching them about Elijah Muhammad, and our countries’ economic disparities.  I hadn’t heard this song until last year. Sublime’s KRS-1 was an epiphany for me.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Bangkok to Beijing train journey became one clickity-clack link closer with the completion by Thailand and Laos of a Mekong River railway bridge and tracks last month, enabling cross-border rail transport with Laos for the first time and only several dozen miles remaining as the last trackless gap to reach China.

With the Thai-Lao railway's new opening, a 12-hour-long train trip now runs from Bangkok's main Krung Thep Aphiwat Station to Khamsavath Station in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Vientiane's small Khamsavath Station, about six miles outside of the capital, is the final stop for the new Thai-Lao railway's carriages.

To reach China, passengers and cargo arriving by train from Bangkok still need to cross Vientiane's streets via taxis, vans, and other vehicles to traverse the several dozen miles from Khamsavath Station to Vientiane Railway Station, until that last rail link is constructed.

Some officials indicated those final tracks could be laid by 2028.

An observation from George Orwell -- “those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future” -- is acutely relevant to how President Biden talked about Gaza during his speech at the Democratic convention Monday night. His words fit into a messaging template now in its eleventh month, depicting the U.S. government as tirelessly seeking peace, while supplying the weapons and bombs that have enabled Israel’s continual slaughter of civilians.