"We are not lovers, we are not romantics, we are here to serve you." Gary Numan, "Down in the Park"
Let me start off by saying there's one thing you can be sure of: Whoever has the power to dictate terms decides whose "rights" matter, and whose don't.
Alarmists are ringing the fear note about the rise of AI, and its possible "takeover" of the human race; or, at the very least, its ascendancy. Well, looking around at the state of the world, I would say, YOU'D BETTER F*CKING HOPE SO.
The Powers That Be are speaking out of both sides of their "puffy bourgeois faces" about human rights. Meanwhile, the United States is shipping military aid to Israel so it can continue carpet-bombing women and children in Gaza. The UN says the humanitarian crisis will be catastrophic. Already thousands are dead. Keep in mind: Gaza is fully HALF comprised of children. I don't suppose that three and four-year-olds are somehow responsible for the attack last week that left 1,200 Israelis dead. But years of brutal occupation and a sixteen-year blockade will stoke the neverending fires of cyclical violence.
However, the ball is in Israel's court.
Who has the full backing of the world's major superpower?
Who has the eleventh largest, most powerful military apparatus the world has ever seen?
Who has instituted a very uncomfortably familiar system of racial segregation, and ethnic apartheid, complete with checkpoints and places where Palestinians are exclusively restricted from entering, such as the streets in Hebron?
The vomit brokers of the mainstream media, the political gangsters and talking head pundits, seem as absolutely bloodthirsty, to a man, as I've ever experienced. They're like sharks in the water. "Senator" Tom Cotton, who has the look of a "sheep-killing dog" (to quote Naked Lunch), proclaimed loudly and flatulently, "I hope they make the rubble bounce." Which I take it means, "Kill everything." The former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett was aghast that anyone should dare question him about the lives of Palestinian women and children. One would think such a man, one whose country boasts a military apparatus sworn to abide by the rule of international law, might be concerned about such considerations.
I want to quote from an article by Amy Wilentz in The Nation [2]:
Describing the siege now being launched against Gaza, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “No power, no food, no gas.” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the country’s impending attacks on Gaza would be unprecedented in their violence, and that’s saying something. When the IDF is finished, Hagari said, Gaza “will be something else.” A desolation. We see it already in photograph after photograph of gray craters and rubble.
The anger, revulsion, and indignation of Israel is wholly understandable, after what Hamas’s militants did in the kibbutzim near Gaza and at the Supernova rave. But the inability of Israel’s leaders to respond with any sign of balance, sobriety, or maturity is more than disturbing. It’s criminal. And it’s dangerous. Its precedent, of course, is George W. Bush’s disproportionate and incorrectly targeted military response to the attacks of September 11.
Today, a number of Jewish activists were arrested outside the White House. The group, a progressive group called IfNotNow, is calling for the United States to broker a ceasefire, before the Israeli incursion into Gaza, and to halt the shipment of arms to Israel. There is blood on both sides, all sides, every side. I personally don't know how the alignment of international forces is going to play out. Will a greater war result from this flashpoint? What will save us this time?
Perhaps the rise of AI, these alien intellects we've created, is the work of some supernatural agency we can't understand. Perhaps Mr. Grusch's "alien biologics" will sweep down in their UFO technology, finally, and become our messiahs or overlords. Both may coincide with this bloody, turbulent epoch, as the new "turn of the screw," the one Last Great Hope for the world, before it is plunged into eternal winter. America ceded that particular position long ago, every imperialist debacle putting the lie to its commitment as a "global peacemaker" and staunch defender of "human rights." Whoever has the power to dictate terms decides whose "rights" matter, and whose don't.
Etty Hillesum was right. If there is a God, we should have to beg his forgiveness for failing Him. "Help us to help You, God." she wrote. Etty was murdered at Auschwitz. But, most assuredly, if she were alive today, she would have understood.
Note: I didn't understand the extent of the racial segregation in the occupied territories until I saw this young female journalist's documentary. Palestinians are not permitted to even be in the same streets as foreign visitors or Israeli settlers. If this same situation were happening in any other country, modern South Africa for example, the entire international community would be revolted; they would be up in arms. But, for the Palestinians, there is nothing but relative silence.
How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown
Note.
[1] The title of this essay refers to the Latin phrase: Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. This translates as “they make a desolation and they call it peace.”
[2] Wilentz, Amy. "In Gaza They Don't Even Bother to Call It Peace." The Nation. Oct 30/Nov 6, 2023. Retrieved 10/15/2023. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-gaza-they-don-t-even-bother-to-call-it-peace/ar-AA1iiDu0?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=1a94d5efddc9463585bbdc1fd6e33a73&ei=8
About the Creator
Tom Baker
Author of Haunted Indianapolis, Indiana Ghost Folklore, Midwest Maniacs, Midwest UFOs and Beyond, Scary Urban Legends, 50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales, and Notorious Crimes of the Upper Midwest.: http://tombakerbooks.weebly.com
Well-Intentioned Whistleblower or Opportunist?
“I want to believe that you're telling the truth But something tells me don't trust you” – Agnostic Front When a family enrolls a child in a school, the district immediately starts incurring expenses. Space must be reserved for each student and teachers assigned to those classrooms. The district must ensure that textbooks and other supplies are available. These costs are constant and do not change when a child misses a day of school.
By Carl J. Petersen4 days ago in The Swamp
Rivers of Death
Rivers bring water the element essential to all life on Earth but wherever rivers flow they also bring death surprise attacks Savage kills and brutal fights every day is a battle for survival on these rivers of [Applause] death I'm under the African Sun Staying Alive is hot thirsty work and among the ranks of animals jostling to get a drink lurk Killers waiting to strike but while Lions may be fearsome and the huge Nile crocodiles ruthless Predators one of the continent's deadliest River Killers is mostly vegetarian renowned wallowers spending up to 16 hours a day lounging in the water hippos could be mistaken for relaxed creatures and yet the river horse as their name translates from ancient Greek can be a very angry pony indeed with tusks up to a foot and a half long hippos are literally armed to the teeth and a charging bull Hipp can impact with the weight force of a pickup truck what's more hippos May brutally defend their territory an Impala has been chased into a muddy Watering Hole by a lion it's stuck but for fortunately for the stricken analou the lion is reluctant to follow it into the Meer unfortunately it finds itself in the domain of a hippo ill disposed to uninvited guests the hippo's not stealing the watching Lion's meal she's most likely just aggressively defending her calf and the Impala pays the ultimate price for crossing a doting mother hippos are thought to kill more people each year than the rest of Africa's most dangerous animals combined and during mating season their ruthless aggression is directed at other hippos two bulls square up the pod's dominant male and a Challenger at stake the Riverbanks Prime mating territory and a Herm of females the dominant male puts on an aggressive display posturing to show he will not yield but the interloper Demands a fight finally the dominant male is Victorious the Conqueror celebrates with a dung shower marking the border of the territory he has successfully defended while the vanquished suffers more than just the agony of defeat his back is carved open and by Sunset the crocodiles are watching closely they'd be unlikely to take on a bull in rude Health but now they Circle an expectation the hippo breathes his last the price of insurrection is life his Hulk will not go to waste the crocodiles move in swiftly to Feast on the corpse for these voracious Predators it's a considerable meal but one dead hippo is a mere snack compared with the annual Feast provided by a particular African river each year the serengetti vast grass Plains filled to the Horizon with grazing animals taking part in one of Nature's greatest spectacles around 1 and2 million wilder beast join 700,000 other herbivores on the Great Migration around 1 in six of these migrants will die before completing the 500 M circuit many are outrun and taken down down by Africa's formidable array of Savannah carnivores their Journey coming to a Grizzly end but one of the deadliest single obstacles the vast herds must Traverse is the mara River after 3 months on the move the wilderbeast are exhausted and emaciated all that separates them from the Fresh pastures of the msai mara is the width of the river and a whole bunch of huge ravit Nile crocodiles despite the chilling threat posed by these powerful Predators some of the herd are either oblivious to the danger or so thirsty they dare to take a drink anyway for an unlucky few it will be their last and these witless victims merely wet the Croc's appetite the true Feast begins when the first of the herd Braves the river in the crush and Chaos of the crossing the 16t Crocs grabs scores of victims when 1,600 lb of musc futile the marus Crocs survive on meager rations for most of the year so take full advantage of the great migrations time of Plenty they Gorge themselves eating up to half their body weight in one sitting and with so many different species crossing the river the banquet is as varied as it is Bountiful but not all Africa's Crocs have such an easy meal ticket on the banks of this Kenyon River a Croc has got too close to a pack of feeding Lions a move it's about to regret it's a fierce attack but the Crocs skin is covered in bony armor plating eventually the Lion's Uninvited Guest Retreats having taught the Crocs and dinner manners the big cats return to the carcass the Amazon is a giant of a river and and conceal some monstrous Predators which kill with a crush and in a bloody frenzy draining a lowland Basin of close to 3 million square miles around 1/5 of the water that runs off the earth's surface is carried by the Amazon this giant of a river is renowned for its oversized residence both prey and Predator around 4 ft long and and weighing as much as an adult human capibara are the world's largest rodent they're
By cacloaidongvat6 days ago in The Swamp
Comments (3)
Interesting story. Apartheid is horrifying. The two countries are side by side but yet so distant from each other. Genocide is horrifying. I am part Choctaw and my ancestors remember The Trail of Tears. It's all about control over other people. I pray to the universe it doesn't happen here in America but we are on the precipice of a full takeover here in America. I am politically inclined but try to be more subtle but direct. Check out my stories on here
What a bunch of Judeopathic baloney! Shame on you and on Vocal for publishing your ignorant Judeopathic out-of-context antisemitic drivel.
Soda Stream was one of those things that sounded like it would be fun to try. But when I heard that it's an Israeli company which supports the settlers & settlements in the occupied territories..., I just feel sick whenever I see the displays in the stores. I seriously want to spit, knock the displays over & destroy everything I can.