"As the war enters its sixth month, Mr. Biden finds himself in an investment trap that’s difficult to escape. He is increasingly frustrated and angry with Mr. Netanyahu. And yet he’s still in love with Israel. How to stand up to the first without damaging the second is proving to be an excruciatingly difficult challenge for a president whose regard for Israel runs deep in his emotional and political DNA and whose re-election campaign may depend upon which way he turns.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/opinion/biden-israel-gaza-policy.html

if indeed the daily numbers were what was reported, the only thing that's damn near certain about them is that they were fabricated. naturally occurring numbers simply don't behave that way. saying so doesn't stem from some emotional need (to be honest i found the conclusion suspicious as well), but it's hard to argue against sound math.

JL

And, there is no other solution than a 'two states in one land' option that will get Israel out of the vicious cycle of violence it has been in for as long as its existence.

Obviously, there is another solution to achieve that end... just probably not a solution you would agree with. :)

I've always been very pro-Israel and very anti-Netanyahu. And, there is no other solution than a 'two states in one land' option that will get Israel out of the vicious cycle of violence it has been in for as long as its existence.

One problem of many is that the available land for two states is shrinking as Israel builds more and more virtually permanent settlements on what would be, ostensibly, 'two-state' Palestinian land. So, there's that.

I wouldn't count Netanyahu out any more than I would count Trump out. It's seemingly very hard to keep bad weeds down - and that goes quadruple for the Israeli leader.

While this event and the deep dig I did I am considerably more pro-Israel than before. For example, I don’t see how a two state solution will work with Israel’s security requirements. I also think Israel is held to a far higher standard than any other country on the planet.

Having said that Israel clearly isn’t much concerned about the punishment of the Palestinian people for October 7 and I think effing Bibi will keep this operation active for as long as possible because once the dust settles he’ll get booted out of office. And thence he’s off to his corruption trials.

I can understand the urge to call into question this number of civilian deaths but it's hardly an implausible number.

And, here's another exhibit: the IDF mistakenly killed three hostages who had escaped their captors and who were shirtless, carrying white flags and yelling in Hebrew at the IDF to save their lives!

The IDF has been using dumb bombs which quite plausibly have led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths.

Add this to the fact that Israel is hampering - to put it mildly - humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza to the point where the US is resorting to ineffective air drops and sea ports that take months to put in place. This doesn't make any sense!

RE: "Biden ended his laundry list by talking about the situation in Gaza, where he did an adequate job (to my ears, at least) of walking the tightrope between supporting Israel in a generic way and supporting the human rights of Palestinians, 30,000 of whom have been killed in the ongoing war. I haven't heard any deeply-disappointed reactions from supporters of Israel or Palestine today, so perhaps he did manage to rhetorically thread this needle."

the trouble is, that's a needle that probably didn't need threading.

Exhibit A: the daily casualty report from gaza

Exhibit B: an article detailing some of the numerous things that are wrong with it

it doesn't take a professional statistician to tell that the numbers don't seem very plausible. one can certainly empathize on a case by case basis with innocent civilians who have been harmed, but the numbers are almost certainly not true, and don't reflect the immense effort that the IDF puts into trying not to kill people who aren't trying to kill them back.

JL

This Sunday is all about time, what with the clocks springing forward this weekend. I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to join in on all the fun, listening to the station and participating on the facebook page.

It all starts around 3:30pm left coast time and goes on for about 2-3 hours or so.

You can post your favourite songs about time and I am sure Dave Fineberg will play them on the radio for you!

https://www.facebook.com/CASFradio

Whaddaya want — Joe got the whole column devoted to hi

Longtime neocon operative Victoria Nuland is leaving the Biden administration. Now, if we could just get her out of the American foreign policy arena, altogether, at long last...

Their lack of success is unsurprising but, the candidate they are looking for sounds a lot like Joe Biden. Ahem.

And, so Biden misses out on a MIDOTW award. :(

And, so Biden misses out on a MIDOTW award. :(

Sigh. I guess you didn't watch my YouTube link I posted the other day of the enlightening discussion about the US-backed Israeli war in Gaza...

Eliz’beth,

Down hay yah here in ‘Murica we got this thang called and hay yah is they yaht speech. (17:23)

Didn't you notice anything a little off with how the Speaker of the House was reacting to Biden's speech?

Maybe it was just me focusing on his reactions but didn't he seem to be standing up, applauding and nodding in agreement more often than any other GOP speaker sitting behind a Democrat president during a SOTU speech in recent memory ...

Sounds like I should have taped the Republican response, too. Heh.

And, for all the wrong reasons.