A new Hep B vaccine recalled in Israel after 8,000 babies experienced severe reactions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVonFur8BIU

Some thoughts regarding the recent treatment of Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib at the hands of the legion of fanatically pro-Israel commentators that police public thought and opinion regarding the object of their affection: In their sycophantic adoration of Israel, they have utterly ruined the meaning of a term used to legitimately designate the many people who have held, and expressed, actual anti-Semitic views. “Anti-Semite” has been a legitimate accusation in many instances, but aiming it at every single critic of Israel has done nothing but cheapen it, doing a disservice to Jewish people who have suffered from actual anti-Semitism. Israel’s government isn’t all Jews, it’s a government. And it has committed crimes no different than many other incarnations of that evil institution throughout history. Its crimes deserve to be pointed out, just as the crimes of all governments do. But criticism of Israel’s crimes can be, and have been, blunted by throwing the race card at anyone acknowledging them. No one wants to be called a racist, especially an anti-Semite. So the task of pointing out Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, both historical as well as present-day crimes, falls to the few writers who don’t mind being called a racist. Back to Tlaib. A person of Palestinian descent, Tlaib described in an interview with Yahoo a “calming feeling” regarding the creation of Israel, knowing her Arab ancestors provided a haven for the Jewish people in the wake of the Holocaust. Here are her words:

“There’s kind of a calming feeling I always tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports…

I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time, and I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, right, and it was forced on them. And so when I think about a one-state, I think about the fact that, why couldn’t we do it in a better way?”

The modern State of Israel has to be one of history’s greatest ironies: that out of the Holocaust, a select few of the survivors could exploit the world’s goodwill in such a way as to build their own ethnic Apartheid State

I, for one, wouldn’t feel “calm” the way Tlaib does, in regards to my family’s treatment by a group of thugs. I’d be pissed off, and would probably never fail to mention it in casual conversation. But it speaks to the depth of her character that she can make peace with it while still retaining the capacity to criticize it in a very measured way, unlike many religions, and governments, that pass down historical grudges like heirlooms. Also, Israel isn’t the only safe have for Jews. Jewish people do very well in the United States. The Hasidic Jews of New York are thriving, despite the recent bout of actual, real anti-Semitism that flared up during the idiotic Great Measles Freak-Out of 2019.

Yet Tlaib has been unceasingly dragged in the deluge of editorials that followed her comments. They have nothing to fortify their arguments against her, so of course they brandish the race card, and how many people really take it seriously anymore? Tlaib was mild in the extreme regarding the founding of Israel. She could’ve mentioned the slaughter at Deir Yassin, where the Irgun and Lehi terrorist groups slaughtered hundreds of Arab families. The slaughter had an aim: to frighten the surrounding villages so much that they would leave. And they did leave. The massacre triggered the 1948 Palestinian Exodus.

Lehi was also the terrorist group that assassinated Swedish WW2 hero Folke Bernadotte, the man who, ironically enough, negotiated over 31,000 imprisoned Jews from Nazi concentration camps. He was unanimously chosen by the UN Security Council as the ideal candidate to mediate the Arab-Israeli conflict. He was apparently being too even-handed for the extremists on the side of Israel, and they murdered him! His killers were later pardoned, decades later. They are celebrated by Israel now as heroes.

The accusation of anti-Semitism deserves to remain unblemished. There have been, and will be, people deserving of the accusation. Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, are not among them. They are legitimate critics of the government of Israel, and that government’s crimes against other people. That accusation, though, appears to have been irredeemably cheapened by its careless use.

War is probably the most quintessentially human activity that our species engages in. As monstrous as it is, it has the remarkable ability to reveal the true nature of the people thrown into its various theaters. I am primarily talking about two Oklahoma soldiers, one a hero, one a murderer. One tortured and persecuted, one pardoned. That hero is Chelsea Manning, who, by taking on the entire Warfare State, has proved herself to be in possession of spinal column composed of pure titanium. She leaked evidence of war crimes to Wikileaks, and was therefore tortured by Obama, before he pardoned her. After Julian Assange, of Wikileaks, was arrested, she steadfastly refused to testify against him, and was promptly thrown in jail for contempt, probably in hopes that she would break down and relent. The black-robed filth clearly underestimated the nature of her character. She rode out her contempt sentence, and was released. Listen to Chelsea for yourself:

The other soldier, Michael Behenna, was tasked with releasing a prisoner. He murdered him instead. This murderer received a pardon from Trump, and applause from the mob of military-worshiping imbeciles that populate this state. Nothing more need be said about the murderer and coward, because that’s all he is.

Tulsi sat down with Joe Rogan for a 2.5-hour long interview today, and her unalloyed, intransigent stance against endless war was on full display. Listening to her feels like listening to Ron Paul, who of course recently said that she is, by far, the best candidate. I would go on, but, well, just watch for yourself!

A person of principle is a rare animal. A politician of principle sounds like an oxymoron, rivaling Bigfoot in mythic status, a creature that nature normally would not abide, yet there sits Tulsi, speaking about the military-industrial complex, and bringing an end to our endless wars.

There is something intensely admirable about a person willing to plainly state what they believe, and what they will do, with no subterfuge To be principled is to say, “I believe this and this, and neither God nor the Devil will convince me otherwise”. It’s a rare quality, but one that strikes fear in the hearts of the filth that lives off the chaos and death of Imperial wars.

From an October, 1923, issue of the Freeman:

“Of all things that human beings fear (and they are a timorous race) the one that strikes them with abject and utterly demoralizing terror is freedom. They are so afraid of it for other people that almost simultaneously they come to dread it for themselves…They are willing to go to the most fantastic lengths in restriction and repression; but the one thing that they never yet have shown the courage to try is simple freedom, which some day they will have the happy surprise of discovering to be the only thing that really works.”

As writers go, Fred Reed is my favorite living stylist of all time. There are no other living writers half as charming, no other columnist comes close. You can almost see, and smell, the sweat and toil that go into producing their tiresome tracts. Fred’s writing comes across as perfectly natural, as if written on the fly before jaunting off to some remote outpost in Mexico. Which is probably closer to the truth than not. If I also counted the dead among favorite writers, I would have to also include Albert Jay Nock. But Reed still walks among the living, and so we are gifted with his thoughts on present-day happenings on a weekly basis at his blog, FredOnEverything. One such happening is the continuous war promotion on the part of the so-called Christians that, for some reason, are allowed to shape foreign policy:

“Tell me, Mr Pompeo, Mr. Pence:. Have you ever seen a child die of starvation? I have heard it described. It takes many days. Crying, crying, crying, slowly getting weaker. The mother, frantic, desperate, going crazy. The child holds out his arms, expecting as children do that their mother will do something. The crying eventually stops.  But maybe  you would get more of a kick out of watching one die of cholera caused by your wars. Death by cholera is quicker, but more interesting: Puking and defecating uncontrollably, crying, crying. The dehydration kills them. Neat, huh? Meanwhile, Mike, you eat prime rib in Washington and talk of the sanctity of your faith. You are a goddamned pious monster. May you rot in hell, if any.

We have Pompeo, a malignant manatee looking to start wars in which he will not risk his flabby amorphous ass also parading his Christianity. Bolton, a mean sonofabitch who belongs in a strait jacket, at least doesn’t pose as someone having a soul. And the Golden Tufted Cocatoo, too weak to control those around him, preening and tweeting. God save us.

Those of a certain age may remember Christianity as a vague though real niceness practiced by people who would have been equally nice without it.  Christmas meant trees glowing with lights and a nativity seen on the town square, this not yet being illegal, and choirs of children singing carols in front of houses, carols on public streets not yet having been found unconstitutional. It means a spaniel-eyed Jesus looking skyward in sappy adoration. It was pleasant. This is not the Christianity of Pence and Pompeo. They are amoral Christians. They are cruel Christians. They are evil Christians.”

These are Christians of the Old Testament, of the Inquisition. But the specific ideology isn’t really the issue. These people are monsters with very limited capacity to employ the higher functions of their brain. Thinking is hard. Better to latch on to an ideology sufficiently strong in order to silence the conscience and the objections of their reason. The type of monster existing within Pompeo and Pence also existed in atheist Soviet Union, among the butchers of the Inquisition, and of every other bloodbath committed by one group against another. The amazing thing is that they probably sleep like babies, secure in their knowledge that God, or Science, is on their side.

Here is a cartoon published last week in the international edition of the New York Times, which received sweeping denunciations from every hall of power, followed by a quick retraction on the part of the Times, and a cancelling of the contract with the cartoonist. But just look at it:

It’s a miracle it made it into a mainstream publication at all, considering it mocks the highest symbol on the totem pole, the US-Israel relationship. It depicts the US being led blindly by Israel, which, of course, accurately depicts the nature of the relationship. And if anyone criticizes that relationship, they hide, cravenly, behind the race card, slinging “anti-Semite!” rapid-fire. Why is this so? Growing up in the midst of Southern Baptist obsession with the End Times, I know that that obsession made it inevitable that they would nurture a similar obsession with the state of Israel. Southern Baptists elect Southern Baptists, and so many legislatures are inhabited by people who sincerely believe Armageddon will arrive at any moment, with the Anti-Christ materializing and ready to wreak havoc on the world. Jerusalem apparently must be Jewish-controlled in order for all of this to happen. Hence the obsession, and the complacent attitude toward Israeli crimes, including the 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, which killed 37 US servicemen. Also something that doesn’t keep them up at night is the obvious control Israel exercises over our own government. They operate an open-air concentration camp of 1.8 million Palestinian civilians. They control the borders, prohibit many, many goods from entering, and conduct random night-time raids to keep the Palestinians on their toes.

But Israel is an ethnic Apartheid State, brought into this world through the modern methods of terrorism: a series of campaigns of unpredictable, indiscriminate mass murders and assassinations,  in order to clear space for their new nation. They’ve never attempted to get along with any neighboring country, instead building a fortress State, and becoming a permanent welfare recipient, and liability, of the United States.

It’s a shame that such a state was built by such a persecuted people in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The world’s goodwill was exploited, and Israel has bizarrely become almost a mirror of Nazi ethnic ideology: the treatment of Palestinians by Israel mirrors the treatment the Jews received at the hands of Hitler’s murderous regime.

Say any of that in public and you’ll be called an anti-Semite, or worse. Such is the power of ideology on the mind.

KAREN KWIATKOWSKI: The chemical torture of Julian Assange: He’s being treated, against his will, with 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate.

BONNIE KRISTIAN: Trump’s latest pardon is an implicit endorsement of war crimes

Truthdig: The Pentagon’s trillion-dollar boondoggle

Health Impact: FDA approves Dengvaxia vaccine that harmed over 100,000 Philippine children, allegedly killing 600

Reason: Oklahoma just passed a major licensing reform for individuals with criminal records

The Guardian: Is Chinese-style surveillance coming to the West?

ANDREW BACEVICH: How the Medal of Freedom became a fraud

Progenitor of the present-day Liberty Movement, Ron Paul, appeared for an interview on RT, throwing his support behind Tulsi Gabbard’s Presidential bid: “She is, by far, the very, very best…She’s the most intelligent, and would be the best, if we had to pick one of them to be our President.”

What a strange feeling it will be to register Democrat, but how thrilling it will be to again vote for someone calling out the “regime-change wars” and intransigently stating that they will end them, once and for all.