13Jan2024 Washington DC
Approaching the rally.
Estimate of people at the rally was 400k. Sounds about right.
The crowds demanded a ceasefire and insisted that Mr. Biden force Israel into one. They also called for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is absolutely crystal clear towards those who want the deadly offensive against Gaza to stop. The attack will not stop.
The 2.3 million citizens of Gaza lack
water, food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies, this against the backdrop of a 17-year Israeli blockade, which before this war made approximately half of the people in Gaza food insecure and more than 80 percent reliant on humanitarian aid.
Detailed story on the march, with profiles of many marchers.
“We brought 1,000 people from Detroit on 30 buses and 100 cars,” he told People’s World. “We are here to demand a ceasefire in the war on Gaza. We want this 70-year occupation of Palestine to end now.”
And some facts and figures:
The demonstration was a high point of the worldwide “Global Day of Action” in solidarity with the Palestinian people. At least 24,285 Palestinians in total have been killed in Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza. Demonstrations were also seen in other U.S. cities from coast to coast, and millions joined mass rallies outside U.S. embassies around the world on the 100th day of Israel’s attack on Gaza.
Have the attacks from Israeli forces slowed?
Although the U.S. claims that Israel is beginning to lower the intensity of their attacks on Gaza, Palestinians living in the besieged enclave have noticed no changes in Israel’s bombardment.
One of the very serious problems with accusations of antisemitism is that true antisemitism, being against the very existence of the Jewish people, is often confused wth being critical of the policies of the state of Israel.
A Representative, while running for Senator, accused a university professor of antisemitism. In his letter of complaint to the University President
Israel was predictably mentioned a number of times, as these things generally have very little to do with actual antisemitism and more to do with the United States’s closest ally.
How’s the news on Ukraine funding? Hoo boy! Very bad! Republicans simply have no reason to advance much of anything except the absolute, rock-bottom bare minimum necessities. Politically, the best thing Speaker Johnson can do is nothing. That’s the most advantageous position he can take. That’s the position where he can most easily avoid getting tossed out the way Kevin McCarthy was last year.
This bloggers notes that the Kremlin was probably quite happy to hear that Speaker Johnson had “dug in against President Biden’s efforts to revive stalled legislation to send aid to Ukraine…” It’s very cool that Germany and France are stepping up to provide more aid, but the US contribution is really vital. How does Russia feel about Ukraine? Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, says “[The people of Ukraine’s] only choice is to become Russians or die.”
The Republican-led House is determined to get a really extreme border bill in, but again, would they be just as happy getting an issue they could run on? If Biden completely gives in to Republican pressure, will that be sufficient to get more Ukraine aid?
Generally, Donald Trump prefers to hire people who he thinks look good on TV. Sure enough, his lawyer Alina Habba, is physically attractive. But is she a competent lawyer? Ehh, not so much. A sample of the back-and-forth:
RW: Let’s show this–
Habba: Objection
Judge Kaplan: Ground?
Habba: It’s prejudicial.
Judge Kaplan: All evidence is prejudicial against the party it is offered against
Ah, okay. I had seen many people on Twitter/X saying that E. Jean Carroll, Trump’s accuser, had deleted evidence and that rendered her whole case hopelessly tainted and everything should be thrown out.Carroll had deleted threatening text messages. The judge did not regard that as having any effect on her case.
More on Donald Trump’s legal problems.First, our blogger brings us up to date.
Last week, one of his lawyers suggested in open court that presidents could order SEAL Team Six to literally murder his or her political rivals, and that president shouldn’t face criminal prosecution unless a majority of the U.S. House and two-thirds of the U.S. Senate acted first. Asked if he agreed, the Republican effectively endorsed the argument.
The latest:
In an all-caps tirade published to his social-media platform — at 1:59 a.m. local time — the Republican wrote, “Even events that ‘cross the line’ must fall under total immunity. … Sometimes you just have to live with ‘great but slightly imperfect.’”
What Trump described, in other words, is a legal dynamic in which sitting American presidents are free from legal accountability, even when they commit crimes.
Needless to say, the legal system cannot possibly endorse this line of reasoning!
If liberals have a new heroine of the moment, Representative Jasmine Crockett would be it. I urge readers to just go to the bottom of this entry and listen to her full four-minute speech. She earlier slammed Speaker Johnson for turning up his nose at the offer of a “mere” $14 billion that was offered to help with the Southern border, y’know, the very same border that Republicans are allegedly concerned about!
The newspaper The Texas Tribune was impressed enough to present her in an extensive biographical piece.
This was a big TV screen that enabled us to see the people on stage. Generally too many flags to really see what was going on.
Was there ever a mass march? Between 3:00 and 4:00, think I saw a number of groups of perhaps 100 or so taking off in the direction of where the march was supposed to take place. But clearly, the “big” march never started. I took off at 4:00, it took me about an hour to get to the train station and my train left after another hour, during which I had dinner.
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