Global

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.”

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

Every bullet fired into a crowd penetrates the national soul — or so it seems to me, as I continue to grapple emotionally with the Trump-rally shooting in Butler, Pa. on July 13, which left one attendee murdered, several others wounded and the shooter himself dead.

As with all such shootings, this goes beyond “motive” into a collective nethersphere of uncertainty. For God’s sake, what is life? Why is it so, shall we say, cheap? Why are we organized — politically, socially — primarily around its elimination? Why are guns so damn sacred . . . not to mention fighter jets, nuclear weapons, our annual military budget? Why do the following words make me cringe:

“We cannot — must not — go down this road in America, Violence has never been the answer.”