Americans Involved In Illegal Israeli Settlements

I don’t know about you but I find the following material absolutely scandalous.  It seems that America is more connected than you think with activities in Israel, as follows:

Native journalist Zebula Hebert told me that, in the Israeli colonization of Palestine, he sees “the United States’ genocide against American Indians. Gaza and the West Bank are two big reservations…”  A new study out of Oxford University further reveals that this statement is more literal than symbolic, finding that 15% of Israeli settlers illegally living in Palestine are US citizens; see IB Times.  (Of Israelis overall, only 2% are US citizens.)  Though law on the issue is unambiguous and every authoritative body agrees Israeli settlements are war crimes, the Israeli government entices the settlers, many of whom are religious extremists needing no enticement, through subsidies, and the US subsidizes Israel with nearly $4 billion per year, in addition to lethal weapons transfers and other forms of support, such as blocking (virtually alone in the world) all UN resolutions condemning the settlements.  Israel is the largest foreign recipient of US aid, and Obama has raised the level of aid after each of Israel’s three major massacres against Gaza since he took office, even though Israel is a super-rich nuclear state already armed to the teeth.  Robert Fantina points out that while “the average cost of tuition to earn a bachelor’s degree [in Israel] is $2,537.00 in U.S. dollars … [i]n the U.S., the average tuition for a bachelor’s degree is $29,408.00.”  Apparently, the US prioritizes even the war crime of colonization over the education of its own citizenry.  But, considering analyst Finian Cunningham’s point that the “weaponization of ignorance” is one of the deadliest arrows in the US quiver, and that the US itself is the largest remaining settler-colonial society, still repressing the native populations and selling off their land for resource extraction, this shouldn’t confuse.  

The Rude Pundit regards all of the "education miracle" in New Orleans as just "smoke and mirrors".  I've heard education is better but people still hate the Governor for making the state a basket case.  This is cognitive dissinence.  Real Estate prices in New Orleans are higher, but race relations are worse and there are more people in poverty than ever before.  When President Obama wanted to visit New Orleans, Governor Bobby Jindell told him not to mention things like climate change or disasterous Ecology.  So he attacks the president's politics, and then tells him not to say anything "political".  It's like the governor was looking for theater and not real substance here.  Others have spoken more eloquently about the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina far better than I have here.

My solution to the inheritance and gift tax situation differs from that of Washington’s blog.  I think all taxes in this area should be related to income the person already has.  For instance if I get $29,000 from playing on Jeopardy I think we should look at the income tax bracket I am and decided whether a person earning $29,000 should pay any federal income tax.  If not then I get to keep it all.  I think the rate for my getting ten thousand from a lucky poker night at Las Vegas should be radically different from if Donald Trump earned the same amount.  I don’t put death and inheritance taxes on the same moral plane as “unearned income” such as stock dividends and bond interest.  This is because these are capital related- - and I might agree that these should be taxed at the highest rates- - possibly over and above earned income.  The figure of 45% comes to mind as a figure used in Europe.  There is an old adage that the government taxes activities it wants to discourage and gives monetary incentives for activities they want to encourage, such as charity giving.  The ninety percent figure suggested in the blog is a nightmare out of Hell for sure.  I think there are more civilized ways to increase revenue by eliminating deductions for the rich, and encouraging the many poor among us to take full advantage of deductions we used to have prior to 1986.  Clearly we want to encourage borrowing in this climate and encouraging lending and investment and discourage hoarding.  I discussed other changes in the tax code in one of my recent postings.

On “rewind” they said that on this August 29, 2015 it’s the anniversary of “War” by Edmond Starr going number one in 1970.  I thought the song was popular earlier in the summer.  But as to the date with the Beatles, August 29^th  1959 is the date the “Beatles as we know them” began playing at the Casbah Club run by Mona Best, who had this son (Pete) who played drums.  The Beatles consisted of John, Paul, George, and Ken Brown, but no drummer.  John Lennon said that the Beatles didn’t need a drummer because they were just so naturally rhythmical.  It was also this weekend in 1970 that Ruben Salazar was hit with a tear gas canister by the LAPD and died.  And they televised the coroner’s inquest and ruled it “Death at the hands of another”.

This morning there was a University of Indiana (?) debate where liberals dominated on the topic of Citizen’s United.  Both sides argued well.   The whole thrust of our side of course is "Corporations are NOT people and so do NOT have all those rights.  And to preserve the democracy rights we humans DO have, it's necessary to point out that corporations are Not People.  Capish?  We had tomato soup again for lunch, and turkey sandwiches and a pasta salad.  We had honeydew for dessert.  I had Shawn Hannity on.  In terms of Days of our Lives it’s getting too crazy.  They showed the scene of someone lying in an alley perhaps dead, and perhaps it was Bo.  Caroline had a bad dream she told Victor of.  And we meet Kayla’s son Joey for the first time now that he’s in boarding school.  Then Patch makes an appearance a minute later.  (This is a guy who used to be a regular till the summer of 1990)  It’s like a guessing game.  Is any of this stuff connected?  For instance - - at the same time Aden is giving Hope an engagement ring.  And there is a hint that perhaps Clyde Weston had Serena murdered to make Benjamin look better and get Chad permanently out of the way.  So does Clyde murder innocent people in cold blood "Just to make a point"? (Benjamin and Chad are rivals for Abigail's affections) Meanwhile Stephano is still maintaining anger against Chad.  Then I checked the courtyard- - and nobody was out there and I put two and two together.

We had a resident’s council meeting today in a dining room getting hotter by the minute.  There was talk about not opening up the windows because the kitchen has been complaining about flies in the food.  That new cook is in trouble with Sarah because the food is supposedly too spicy and perhaps greasy, for people’s delicate digestive system.  But I would just say that diaria with me is NOT related to food content but rather who is infected when they prepare it.  It’s viruses and not spicing.  I was particularly in praise of the soups now.  Sarah had a lot to say about the need for a daily shower around here.  They are taking away Daniel’s radio because he plays it loud all hours of the day and night and David Shaner can’t sleep.  They seemed to intone that it’s a whole different staff who are caregivers as opposed to housekeepers.  I guess Sandy hasn’t worked here in several months.  Yadera left here because she got a better job offer somewhere else.  Good for her- - but it’s our loss.  Attendance was definitely up today.  They reviewed a lot of “old business” from the previous month- evidently a busy meeting I missed.  The luau has been postponed till late September.  And any beach trips are postponed till then too because as Sarah explains “This hot weather isn’t good and people have sun sensitivity with their medications” – and I guess heat stroke too.  I might prefer cooler weather myself since I don’t think we’re going in the water.  They wheeled the cart in for a single glass of iced tea.   I was going to remark- but didn’t that if we’re so concerned about heat, how come we don’t have ice cream nearly as often as we used to a couple of months ago.  I didn’t know there were regulations about just plain ordinary ice.  “Senior” places like ours aren’t supposed to have it because old people will choke on it.  But there are a lot of “not old” people living here.