Two years.

On this day in 2023, Hamas made a decision to strike at the Jews who dreamed of coexistence. The Jews most engaged in helping their Arab neighbors. Young Jews dancing for a better world, Jewish families who had welcomed Gazans into their homes, Jewish children. Jewish babies. The horror was not meant to free anyone. It was meant to kill all hope for peace and destroy Gaza. To reignite the cinders of war into a blazing fire. And they danced in the streets, celebrating the horror.

Many around the world will remember the victims of October 7 today. Many around the world will hope for the return of the remaining hostages and the end of this war today. Many but not enough. Many but not most. Too many others will celebrate this day, turning the monsters behind its horror into victims. Glorifying death. Calling for more death. Peace will be the last thing on the minds of too many around the world. Hate consumes them.

As a gentile who stood by Israel long before October 7, while dreaming of coexistence as did the kibuttznikim who were slaughtered that day, I feel more closely the disappointment and the anger of the Jewish people towards a world that did not miss the opportunity to show hate instead of love, in ways silent and thunderous. The silence still remains and for it I am most ashamed today.

It is beyond me that among the words barked at millions through the microphones of a bloodlust media none are directed at those who created the horrors of this day. Not one. All I hear in them is hate. A special kind of hate: hate for the Jews. Too many will celebrate this hate today. Far too many more will stay silent as they witness this. For that I am ashamed today. I feel part of the collective failure that the world has become.

I remember the signs of hope and despair along these two years. Despair reinvented into yet more hope and yet so much that nearly drowned it. The faces of hope denied stay with me. Hersh, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir the most. They stand in my mind for all the others whose lives, as theirs, were viciously taken. I think of them today. Their memory will remain a blessing.

On this day, my thoughts are for peace and the safe return of the hostages still in Gaza, and if I had to choose one person to speak to I would choose Yarden Bibas, and I would tell him how sorry I am that I have failed him. That the world has failed him. Two years later there is still a chance for a small measure of redemption that means everything for those whose loved ones remain captive. I hope with all my heart it comes true. Two years later I hope it’s not too late.

I hope it’s not too late for the hostages, not too late for ending the war, and not too late for the eyes of the world to open. In the midst of despair hope must rise. Like a blessing.

Am Yisrael Chai. 🟦

This Fourth.

4th of July. 249 years passed.

There’s no reason to celebrate this year. The specter of next year’s 250th anniversary looms large over the horizon. What have we become…

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” These words have been eroding from Lady Liberty’s stone for longer than we care to admit, and now that they’ve almost faded away we can read them clearer than ever. Like we feel the presence of a loved one after he or she is gone. Will we see the meaning of Emma Lazarus’ words restored in our lifetime? Who knows…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The most powerful and beautiful words in our Declaration of Independence ring desperately today, for they seem no longer to apply to this once great nation: great in its pursuit of happiness, not in happiness itself. The misinterpretation of the American Dream haunts us.

It was never about being happy at all costs. It was about pursuing happiness against all odds, in an imperfect union meant to become more perfect by the actions of the many and the few chosen by them. Greatness is to be achieved in this pursuit, not in the illusion of an arrival to such an impossible destination. The United States of America were never great, but they were the greatest in such an endeavor: progress, evolution, possibility. It’s all gone. We’re stagnant.

“We the people.” The Constitution leaves no room for doubt as to what Tocqueville witnessed first hand: we were always meant to be a Democracy. Those three simple words define it from the start of our foundation in the rule of law itself. For there is no Democracy without law and no people can govern outside of it. In its stead the words “We the Monarch” seem more appropriate. Or, to be exact, “We the Dictator”. This Independence Day we observe the end of Democracy.

As the aberration known as “Big Beautiful Bill” passed the hurdles of Congress and is signed into law myself and millions of Americans are bracing for impact; expected after the 2026 midterms, because the fascist party knows not to hit us with it before that. My family will be among the most affected and we are afraid for the future. How long we can survive has become the most important question. Others will experience the devastation before us. Those disappearing from life as we speak.

We live in a fascist state where the same troops that liberated concentration camps in Europe in 1945 are now mobilized to guard them on our soil. Where 10,000 goons are about to be hired to reinforce a secret police meant for more than catching criminals. A fascist state where this secret police will have unlimited power to remove any one of us from society and life itself. A fascist state where due process is dead. Where the law is drawn by one man’s pen. “We the Dictator.”

This Independence Day is held upon all these abominations meant to destroy freedom in all its forms. The next steps were foretold in the fascist manifesto we all got the chance to read before hand: Project 2025. The next steps will ensure fascism endures by denying us the right to vote freely. What forms these steps will take are becoming clear as what is left of our Judicial system is hard at work to dismantle every part of our electoral system that allows for free and fair elections.

Will the 2026 midterm elections be held with these measures in place? Will they be postponed by the stroke of a pen until they are, as it happened already in Miami. It’s no longer a remote possibility but a certainty. The rule of law is not just dying; it’s committing suicide before our eyes. While the establishment seeks to preserve the fascist dictator through his own Justice Department, the remaining judiciary looking to obstruct and resist is left with inconsequential rulings.

As Emil Bove put it: “Fuck the courts.” He knows they have no power left, for the enforcement of the law is in the hands of those needing the law enforced upon them. Fascism regards only its own directions and writes the law to fit them, while designating unlawful any legal action or concept that goes against it. In this new order, Congress is powerless by advancing obedience while fascists control both chambers of legislature and oversight.

We are left with record breaking speeches and cosmetic changes that do nothing to stop the march towards fascism as its boots already walk over Congress with little resistance. It will soon, like the Courts, find out there’s nothing to be done except raise awareness and try to delay the seemingly inevitable disaster. What is the point of these fights in Congress and in the Courts? Only one: to buy us some time. We have been for years the ONLY ones capable of standing up for Democracy.

There’s no time to waste (as if there ever was) waiting for elections that may never come. A lot needs to happen right now, before 2026. It’s up to us alone. Congress and the Courts can only buy us some time. The question is: what are we going to do with it?

This Independence Day is a good day to think about that. And do something.

The fight is on.

No Mercy.

Good day to you, Threadheads, Threaders, and all in between. Coffee will last.

No mercy.

It’s been a while. The trials and tribulations of life and the resulting stress had me at a loss for words. Much needed words that need a cool head to sound right. I think I am ready, and I hope you are too. So, my thriends, walk with me.

By now we can all drop any shred of hope for a standard political resolution to our problems. And it’s time we drop the correctness political discourse depends on in a democracy. So let’s start there: we are no longer a democracy when it comes to the way we are governed. We still have good reason to trust our votes matter but all else is gone; even the confidence our votes will be respected, regardless of their merit and importance.

Everything Project 2025 projected is coming to pass. And then some. We have some of the worst people in the world in charge of our lives, from our health to our security. The only thing that matters to them is the health and security of their dictator. They live to serve him. Another act we must drop: the GOP is no longer a party subjected to democratic rule. It’s a fascist party. Make America Great Again is a fascist slogan. Say it. It’s a fascist slogan.

The only thing capable of holding us somewhat together as a nation still aspiring democratic values is the rule of law, of which the corner stone is due process. Due process is the only thing we must cling to, even when it applies to hateful people deserving no other mercy. No mercy means no quarter and anything goes: EXCEPT due process. That must stand no matter what, lest we become the monsters we fight against.

Mixed with the hundreds, thousands of innocents being dragged out of the street by our own Gestapo, aka ICE, are very dangerous people who deserve nothing but DUE PROCESS, so they can be punished under the rule of law. Another act we have to drop: ICE is a fascist secret police, like the Gestapo. Say it: ICE is the new Gestapo. It needs to be disbanded and most of their members put to trial and punished with DUE PROCESS. That is the essence of our fight.

Women are already living in Gilead. By extension so are we all. Drop the normalization of the way women are being treated all across the country as if they are isolated cases: they are the norm. The living incubators, the imprisoned who had a miscarriage, the forbidden to travel. They are one step away from color coded dresses but they already are living under his eye. Say it: women have lost their rights. It’s done. Do not sugar coat it.

Disabled people, including our veterans, are being sentenced to death right now. Not tomorrow. Today. The already little protections they had are not going away: they are gone. It’s only a matter of time before they are hit with a sledgehammer. It’s inevitable. Many will die. Say it: America is killing disabled people. Don’t be afraid of the truth. Face it. Use it. Fight.

Our protections, mediocre as they were, from bad actors like predator landlords, women abusers, child molesters, greedy corporations, medical malpractice, you name it, are all gone. It’s open season on the weak. And what’s left of the middle class, already a caricature, is dead. Millionaires are now the struggling middle class, the rest is but a withering working class, blue and white colared, waiting for the death blow. We are a collapsing society in a fascist country. Say it.

Our children are being funneled into a system of education meant to push out the most vulnerable and indoctrinate the ones still capable of attending it. The same people who claim to defend us from antisemitism are banning the diary of Anne Frank in schools and using the Palestinian extremists to keep universities closed to all who seek knowledge, quickly transforming education, from top to bottom, into a tool of the fascist state. This includes military schools and academies.

LGBTQ+ people and all non white people are being discriminated and persecuted at all levels. Xenophobia and Racism prevail with a new name: DEI. They no longer need the F word or the N word. All they have to say is DEI. America is a misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, racist country. And many revel in it. No mercy for them. They are not our equals. They need to be punished with DUE PROCESS. Say it: we are a xenophobic racist country. We always were.

Those being taken to black sites and foreign prisons could be us. Those being shot in the street for being Jewish could be us. Those losing their children could be us. Those in charge of enforcing the law don’t have need for any laws. All they need are orders. And they are executing them. So what if the piece of shit in charge of Homeland Security had no idea what Habeas Corpus is? Get over it. It matters no more. We are not walking into fascism. This is fascism. Say it.

The strong man rationale applied to things that should bother us and must be addressed and resolved, from banned books to charter schools, from masked secret police officers to eugenics doctors, from terrorist sympathizing students to street criminals, is throwing thousands of good innocent people into the fascist grinder with no recourse. The rule of law hangs by a thread when law enforcement is ruled by fascists. No due process is the end.

And the only thing that separates us from what is happening in Israel is war. For now. Those who claim to be Zionists are being smothered by the actions of a fascist government and branded as baby eating monsters, just as those of us who claim to be Americans are being branded with Gilead’s burning iron. The world hates Israel and America. We are perceived as monsters by allowing monsters to rule us. Say it: we are perceived as monsters.

Monsters that need to be shot on the street, like the Jewish couple was in DC. Free Palestine means kill Jews. As it was in Nazi Germany so it is here, now. We are all but animals to them. And we will be put down if we don’t fight back. The police will not help us. They are controlled by fascists. The courts may try to, but don’t be surprised if you are taken away by masked goons as you leave court just as the so called immigrants are now. There is no more law. Only fascism.

It’s fight or flight time, thriends. Choose if you can for now is the time to decide. IF you can. Me, I have no choice. With my severe limitations I must fight. I can’t leave. Stop pretending there is time. There is none. Stop making heroes out of politicians who only live to disappoint us. They are rotten, most of them. Even the nice ones. YOU are it. Believe in yourself. Everything goes, except due process. So know it’s time to fight. And FIGHT.

No mercy.

Not throwing away our shot.

Happy Easter, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee is nice.

A new tomorrow.

Four million people on a holiday weekend went into the streets to stand for the rule of law and due process. At last, tyranny is the main concern. Tyranny became a kitchen table issue. About time.

I watch Hamilton a lot. Like a favorite song that plays on repeat. Can’t help but to compare those revolutionary days with ours. We have a new king to defeat and a new country to build. Will we miss this chance? Will we wait for the wind to take us where our will should? What will this revolution mean if we forget we are the wind that needs to fill our sails? It’s up to us to demand it.

It feels like our Constitution has failed us, but it was us who failed it. We stopped looking at it as a living document and enshrined it for the future, placing it on a pedestal made of the honor of men. Men who more often than not are not honorable. We counted on the very thing men held high to keep them honorable. The design was not flawed. We were. We lost trust in our government for lack of its virtue as we lost our own.

Now we are by the dawn of a new age, fighting in a new revolution. For it to amount to something significant the result must be new as well. We must not be fighting to preserve our Constitution but to bring it back to life. The tyranny we oppose was engendered through the cracks in it as it withered on the flawed pedestal we placed it on. To ensure it does not surface again we need to renew it.

Long gone seem the days of Constitutional crisis now that we watch it collapsing. The speed of the ongoing collapse is what made tyranny the people’s main concern, instead of the border or the economy. The way our government works became clear as we watched it collapse and now everyone sees how the issues usually discussed around kitchen tables are all connected and dependent on the health of democracy.

Fighting for the soul of our nation has turned into a concrete reality and not just a verse from a poetic aspiration. It is now essential. And clear. I am yet to see the rising leaders of this revolution to proclaim this goal of renewal and Constitutional rebirth. It must come after what has turned into a battle we cannot afford to lose. Those words of reassurance are needed from them. Words of warning and alarm are now less needed than those pointing the way forward.

The millions gathered every day a Hands Off national event happens are thirsty for those words and already awake. We need to see the future through the eyes of our leaders and hear them talk about it in no uncertain terms. Like the original revolutionaries of 1776 we have a country to build after victory comes. And it will come. It’s time to start building its new foundations by planning ahead and stating our goals.

Whatever comes next must be new and progressive. These times are made for glory and vision. We must have that vision in our minds and hearts and demand it from our leaders. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, 250 years later. This is it. Whatever we do, we cannot be throwing away our shot.

Resist. Oppose. Rebuild.

Trojan Horse.

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Black coffee in the storm.

Secular.

The behavior free from religious or spiritual beliefs that guarantees every religion the right to exist is often considered by religious people a negative attitude, more so if they are extreme believers. Usually they complain about it by claiming the exact opposite of what it does, accusing it of restricting religious activity. Bullocks.

Secularism is the umpire that prevents religions from fighting each other to the death in search of hegemonic purity, as defined in each of their holy books. The restrictions it imposes on religions are of political nature, meant to allow each to thrive equally without interfering with the policies society lives by as a whole. The only activity secularism restricts from religions is political activity, something one would expect postmodernists to cheer.

The enthusiastic deconstruction of norms and standards à la Derrida, initiated by the dawn of the last century, misjudged the back door built in the anti binary construct that would allow for clever agents to infiltrate it and corrode it from within: relativism. But they were directed at Western institutions they identified as culprits in the making of an unbalanced world, such as colonial power and Christianity (the twin enfant terribles behind the creation of the Third World).

The basic tenets of postmodernism crumbled under the weight and influence of relativism as soon as it became cultural. Cultural relativism erased every shred of subjectivism and created a sense of cultural identity far from diverse and inclusive, quite the opposite. The exact same things condemned and excised from Western thought were not only permissible but celebrated in the societies Europeans initially dominated and later made up by drawing lines on maps.

Because those societies were victims of modern Europe, they got a pass on modernity itself and were allowed to fester in medieval limbo as a reward for the suffering and injustice initiated by the Crusades and perpetuated by each Cruise missile and drone strike, precision be damned. XXI century warfare still has not shrugged the previous age bellicisms and, of course, all “resistance” is justified and objectively condoned. Relatively speaking, of course.

Postmodernism became a regressive movement through the excesses of cultural relativism that fights with equal fervor the teaching of Christian and Jewish values and the attempts to exclude Muslim ones from academia. The same movement that sought to remove the sword from Christianity (and Judaism) places it firmly and joyfully in the hands of Islam, oblivious to the fact it will undoubtedly be used to strike it down. Cultural relativism is the well fitting suicide vest of the West.

This reality has yet to find an objective secular response that both denounces it and rejects it as inevitable. Like the idiotic protestors who cosplay suicide bombers with fake explosives they believe the suicide vest they strapped to themselves won’t explode. It’s just a prop to get the point across, not a real thing. And yet, all these mostly atheist activists are doing is to glorify and promote the end of what allows them to foolishly celebrate their own demise.

They became what they should despise and are actively destroying the secular societies that gave them freedom of speech as they uphold the exact opposite values like their lives depend on it while walking voluntarily towards their own deaths. A death cult has managed to instill its ideal into those who started out to destroy the very notion of cultists in our society. The back door is wide open and they’re walking right through it.

As we face the challenges posed by an increasingly authoritarian regime, and the threats to our very lives posed by their insanity, we have to confront this reality without reservations. The best way to do it is to recognize cultural relativism as the Trojan Horse it is. Yes, we cheered it and brought it inside our walls ourselves but it’s not too late to destroy it. Objectively.

Is that all there is?

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. More coffee.

Mr. Booker goes to Washington.

25 hours and 4 minutes was what it took for a black Senator to break the previous record for filibustering, held by segregationist Strom Thurmond since 1957, who used it to try to stop the Civil Rights Act that year. Cory Booker did a man’s job and stood up for all of us. What was achieved?

At the 24 hour 19 minute mark, Chuck Schumer interrupted Booker for a question, which Booker initially denied, but good old Chuck didn’t yield and asked if he knew Thurmond’s record had been broken to thunderous applause in the chamber. It was a moment worthy of recognition. Throughout the filibuster many Democratic Senators chipped in with questions, prefaced by deserved words of gratitude and praise for Booker, lauding him as an example to follow.

Cory Booker’s historic filibuster will go down in Congress records as a victory of the black man over the segregationist, right versus wrong, as it should. Unlike the infamous previous record, however, the procedure it broke for the amount of time it lasted will not deserve more than a footnote, since he was not really filibustering the passage of a bill, rather making use of his time to raise awareness to the state of our nation under this administration.

Basically, he stopped the Senate’s “business” for 25 hours and 4 minutes, and in doing so sparked the imagination of people who have been demanding action from Congress to stand up for them. It was a big deal. We need Congress Democrats to stand up like he did, more and more. Will they? I hope so. I hope this extraordinary feat leads to more than an incentive to break his record, like some isolated sports statistic. A curiosity in the Guinness Book of Records.

Although I appreciate the momentousness of the occasion, I couldn’t help but to cringe hearing Shumer’s schmuck voice asking that; asking if Booker realized he just made the Guinness Book. It made it look like that’s all there was to it. And if that’s all there is, like Peggy Lee sang, let’s break out the booze and have a ball. Right? The first thing that happened in the Senate right after Booker’s record breaking speech was the vote to confirm Matt Whitaker as ambassador to NATO.

That was the “business” Booker’s filibuster was holding: to confirm the “toilet guy” as our representative in NATO. Cloture had already been voted on before without noticeable opposition, the vote itself got unanimous consent to proceed. Just another missed opportunity to delay and obstruct the actions of this administration. The footnote no one will notice under Cory Booker’s historic achievement; not exactly the Civil Rights Act of 1957, is it.

Whitaker’s confirmation got a yes vote from the Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, while another Democrat, Pat Murray, didn’t vote. Just business as usual in the US Senate, after a 25 hour stand for what is right. Does it matter? After last night’s Florida election for the House of Representatives, when the chance to flip two seats was unsurprisingly lost, looks like we’re in the same place, even if Wisconsin saved the night, to Elon Musk’s chagrin.

Cory Booker’s timing was picked to coincide with those elections and it captured national attention and headlines for the duration. It was not used to stall or oppose any landmark legislation but ALL legislative processes that enable this administration’s wrecking ball policies. It can and should be used every single time, whether the order of business is cutting Medicaid or confirming some “toilet guy” to a government position. It doesn’t matter. Every single time.

Cory Booker didn’t just find out some extraordinary way to interfere with Senate business. It was there to be used each time another sycophant was confirmed. It was not. Will it be used again? Will Democrats learn to use it at every turn, or will they sit around and wait for 2026 as Schumer proposed, with an occasional vote in favor of the other side? The 25 hour filibuster was an extraordinary use of an ordinary Congress rule: as long as a Senator holds the floor nothing else matters.

In an age of advertising political campaigns, where fancy buses and merchandising, tv ads and more and more open bribery substitute policy and ideas, it’s essential to shine a bright light on the issues people are voting for.  Capturing the news cycle attention for extended periods of time while pursuing that objective is a very effective way of doing just that. That is the lesson Booker learned from John Lewis. That’s the necessary good trouble we need.

The people are grateful for Cory Booker’s exceptional action and are now more galvanized. One can hope Congress Democrats learn from it and choose, like him, to take a stand whenever they can, for as long as possible, every single time. Time will tell. Time we unfortunately don’t have plenty of. Here’s hoping this is not all there is.

Fear.

Another Sunday, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee is always black.

Sting’s “Nothing like the Sun” came out in 1987. I had the vinyl. Among its songs was “They Dance Alone”. It immediately struck me for what it was. I had experienced a fascist dictatorship first hand as a child and witnessed fear in the eyes of grownups. The fear of disappearing.

Back then, before the military coup turned popular revolution of 1974, the entity in charge of controlling and crushing dissent was the infamous PIDE (the hated Portuguese acronym for State Defense International Police). Their station in Porto, where I was born, was situated next to one of the city’s largest cemeteries and rumor had it there was a tunnel between the two, along which the bodies of arrested dissenters were taken to unmarked graves in the dead of night.

Renamed DGS (Directorate-General of Security) in 1968, PIDE/DGS is to this day remembered for its cruelty and fanaticism. On April 25, 1974, the day of the coup that ended 48 years of fascism in Portugal, the only fatal casualties were four civilians shot by PIDE agents who opened fire from inside the secret police headquarters in Lisbon, surrounded by the armed forces movement. One agent was also shot dead. I can’t help to think about our country and what’s happening with ICE.

More than any other agency connected to Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has that same nasty sound that Directorate-General of Security had. Very euphemistic and ominous. And more and more ambiguous, overreaching, and secretive. While it is true that immigration requires lawful control and management, the fact that ordinary law enforcement agencies, from the border to our cities, were deemed ineffective to deal with it always worried me.

The creation of ICE in 2003 was a direct consequence of 9/11. As many of the provisions of the Patriot Act, the ones in the Homeland Security Act were far too ambitious, inadequate, and open ended. We suffer to this day from those laws allegedly unintended consequences. I don’t believe they were unintended. They were stepping stones to reach the point we’re at today and by not recognizing them as such, and correcting them when we could, we opened the door to this reality.

Like many other extreme measures supposed to increase our “security”, ICE’s birth was made possible out of fear. Someone really bad was plotting our destruction, from within and from outside, and somehow the existing law enforcement agencies (which in our case were already some of the largest and well equipped in the world) were not enough to handle it. “Special measures” were required. Since its inception, many have called for the extinction of ICE. They were correct.

Like the defunct Portuguese “State Defense” police, initially meant to keep bad actors away from our borders, I predict ICE will morph into a broader “Directorate-General of Security”, whatever they choose to call it, to try and hide its revealed euphemism and unlawful acts in a new coat of paint at the same time its mission is expanded from immigration control to actual population control, regardless of status. The “enemy within” will in fact be us. All of us.

As expected, the people being taken off the streets as they go about their lives, going out to meet friends or taking out the trash, went from immigrants to legal residents and pretty soon naturalized citizens. Their common traits are not where they are from; they’re from everywhere, from Latin America to the Middle East, from Canada to Russia. They only have one thing in common: dissent in any form. Real or perceived dissent. It doesn’t matter.

We’re not Pinochet’s Chile yet, or Salazar’s Portugal, but we’re moving fast towards it. The rule of law is already gone from the actions taken by ICE; there are no warrants, no probable cause brought to a judge that justifies them. The proof is some of its arrests are foiled by mere bystanders who choose to oppose them and defy them. Fear is not great enough yet, but it’s growing. We can’t allow it.

The images of people being snatched off the street are meant to grow that fear; to make us run our blinders shut and stay home, hoping they won’t knock on our doors, and thankful they don’t. They don’t have warrants, they have screenshots or copies of words spoken against the government’s authority. It doesn’t matter what the words really mean, there is no process due to establish it. The mere perception is enough. The message is clear: mind what you say.

In the mix of these words are some that cause us repulsion, some that we sympathize with, others we have no particular feelings about. But they all have dissenting qualities and that is why they are mixed together, regardless of who wrote or said them. Soon the fear will grow into what we allow ourselves to say or write. Don’t let it. Each word left unsaid is a light that goes out and permits darkness to expand. Keep talking about it; writing about it. It’s important.

The changes we need will only happen if we keep fighting for them; if we deny fear to take hold. Don’t let it get to the point Chile or Portugal once did. We still can stop it. We must stop it. Don’t be afraid.

“One day we'll dance on their graves; one day we'll sing our freedom. One day we'll laugh in our joy, and we'll dance.”

April 5 is coming.

Nuance asks for Clarity first.

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee helps.

“The whole world must see that Israel must exist and has the right to exist, and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.”

MLK Jr., October, 1967

These words are undeniably from MLK Jr. himself. You can see him saying them in footage from an interview. And yet…

When King spoke those words only three years had passed since the notion of a Palestinian nationality was crafted by an Egyptian named Yasser Arafat. At the height of the civil rights movement, the American Jewish community supported it and joined in out of their identification with the plight of Black Americans. This connection has always been present and many have tried to sever it from the start.

Those who claim MLK Jr. “didn’t mean what he said” point to the controversial “Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend”, attributed to King but disputed as verifiably his. Although in this letter the idea of anti-Zionism being nothing but antisemitism is approached, they quickly jump to the conclusion that, since there was an effort to “falsify” King’s ideas on the matter, what he demonstrably said didn’t mean what it seems to.

The Soviet Era campaign against Israel, completed with the USSR express support for Arafat’s Fatah, later not so overtly given by virtue of Black September, was in its early years back in 1967. King also tied his views on the Soviet Union with the fight of the Jewish people for survival: “We cannot sit complacently by the wayside while our Jewish brothers in the Soviet Union face the possible extinction of their cultural and spiritual life”, he stated clearly.

All this to say that anytime you see people talking about MLK Jr. as a defender of Palestinian rights against Israel’s right to exist they always do so conditionally, arguing he wouldn’t show any support for Israel had he lived longer or was alive today. “But did he support Israel in the war? Why didn’t he visit Israel?” These questions emerge even in Harvard papers who advocate for a more nuanced approach to King’s views on Israel and Palestine.

It’s almost as if, unable to sever the ties between the struggle of MLK Jr. and that of the Jewish people, they take refuge in nuance as a first step to proclaim he would say different had he the chance to see the whole picture today. Nuance isn’t the problem; it never was. The problem, to these people, is clarity. Like Arafat, they squirm in the corners they back themselves into, forced to admit Israel exists, only to break out in favor of a one Arab state where the Jewish state lives.

We still struggle with the notion of systemic racism but at least that fact has left the fringes of political discourse and finally took center stage. Not so with antisemitism. And yet, any Jew will probably tell you they feel like Mohamed Ali when he described the reality of life in America for black people. A thousand friendly snakes will not shield them from the ten thousand rushing towards the open door. Like the black man, the Jew’s best course of action is to close the door.

Which brings us to “Islamophobia”. While racism and antisemitism are openly regarded as “gross exaggerations” of systemic oppression, “Islamophobia” is more often than not described as an undeniable reality, not underlying but at the very surface of our society, not just systemic but especially endemic. “Everyone knows that”. And yet, like the snakes in Ali’s analogy, what are we, Westerners, supposed to do as we watch ten thousand Muslims rushing towards our door?

While all evidence points to most ten thousand being hateful and fundamentally engaged in a Da’wah dressed Jihad, there’s the case to be made for the one thousand who are modernists and capable of coexisting with us. But like Mohamed Ali said, they all look alike. Better close the door. The parallel with the snake analogy breaks here, when applied to fundamentalist Islam. What became systemic, in Western societies, was the belief Islam is a religion of peace.

Just as it became norm to justify the visible traits of hegemonic theocracy in Islamic societies as “respectable cultural features” at the exact same time we rebel against the same regarding Christian (and Jewish/Israeli) societies. The Achilles heel of the State of Israel is its strength: to this day, the effort to build a modern, secular, inclusive, democratic society goes on in Israel. Another imperfect democracy. “Shocking”, I know.

Because of the unique Jewish identity, the eternal mix between religion and nationality illustrated by the obstacles preventing Israel from adopting a form of Constitutional structure, our efforts to superimpose Western blueprints on Israel are doomed to fail. The more you dive into it, the more a two state solution becomes obvious. And yet, despite all this, Arab Israelis consider themselves to live better lives than most Arabs in their own countries.

That fact, which is not contradictory of the differences between the lives of Jewish and Arab Israelis, is hardly mentioned in the West. Just like the ongoing demonstrations of Palestinians against Hamas in Gaza are conveniently ignored in the news. Nuance is not the enemy: clarity is. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Israel has the right to exist. Making pro Palestinian supporters agree to such simple truths is like pulling teeth.

To Black Americans, same as to Jewish Americans, the ten thousand snakes are a clear and present danger. They can feel it in their bones. To most of the rest of us, it is finally becoming clear how that feels like, as we close the door ourselves on our very own families and friends who turned out to be among the hateful, although they look just like us. Perhaps now clarity will prevail before nuance can be invoked. Nuance asks for clarity first. We should be wise to understand this.

“I Don’t Recall.”

“I don’t recall.”

Tulsi Gabbard, DNI, and John Ratcliffe, CIA director, don’t recall. They also can’t say or don’t know. Sure, Signal is encrypted and has been in use by the CIA. How? That’s worth looking into, but judging by an earlier Pentagon warning against the use of that end-to-end encrypted app (we all have access to) it is safe to assume the DOD uses it as well. At least until the warning was issued.

Obviously, whatever the parameters for using Signal in Defense and Intelligence business were (are?) they don’t involve discussing matters not approved for public knowledge. That’s the point here, that transcends the classification of the matters discussed. As senator Mark Kelly pointed out, during the Select Committee on Intelligence Hearing this morning, “controlled unclassified information” is not admitted on unsecured platforms. Both Gabbard and Ratcliffe were unaware of this.

For a moment they didn’t even seem to understand what controlled unclassified information is, let alone the protocols for its discussion over communication platforms. They also seemed confused about the level of classification of the matters discussed in the so called “Houthi Signal chat group”. They were presented information regarding a projected military operation over an unsecured platform and their reaction to it was that it must be unclassified.

Think about this for a minute. A projected military operation is being discussed over unsecured comms and, because the Secretary of Defense and a National Security advisor are on it, this information is assumed as not classified. Now, pretending we are ignorant and consider any plans to attack a foreign country, in particular when such attack is imminent, as unclassified information, our common sense would at least realize it is not approved for disclosure over unsecured lines.

The reason for it is obvious to any six year old, but apparently not to the heads of the DNI or the CIA, never mind the Secretary of Defense. As I write these words, the declassification by magical thinking justification is already making its way to the news, but that doesn’t include controlled unclassified information. Although I will not be surprised if the ability to remove control from such material can also happen by magically thinking about it.

All these incredibly stupid excuses and arguments defending what is possibly the worst intelligence self inflicted breach in our history only reveal the level of incompetence that exists at the highest levels of our government. Plus their relentless impulse to lie. Gabbard and Ratcliffe may be incompetent but they surely are capable of remembering details regarding a high level conversation about an attack on another country 10 days ago.

To believe otherwise and assume that they actually “don’t recall” such details only means they are totally inept to perform their jobs at the top of the intelligence community. Even the uniformed officers in that hearing couldn’t bring themselves to answer simple direct questions for fear of appearing critical of the event at hand. They did look very uncomfortable, though. At least they didn’t use “I don’t recall” in their illusive answers.

I know what to expect from all this. Nothing. I don’t expect anyone to be fired; I don’t expect Signal to stop being used like this; I don’t expect any meaningful results from a hypothetical FBI investigation I doubt will even happen, except maybe in a paper covered in random words of exoneration, maybe followed by another hearing with similar results. The Secretary of Defense appears to be drunk half the time and that’s acceptable. Why should anything happen now?

These hearings will not make this government do anything. The courts are barely functioning; do you really think Congress will do something about this that will force the Executive to “see the error of their ways”? Not going to happen. But hearings like this serve a very important purpose. They show the country what is going on and who these people really are. The government will do nothing. Congress will do nothing. But the country might. The country should.

Under God on Sundays.

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee in a cold Spring Sunday.

True believers.

Imagine a world where Christian communities and their religious leaders tried to impose their system of beliefs upon others. Wait… Just look out the window; you don’t have to imagine it. It’s happening right here. It’s called theocracy and it’s being espoused by many politicians. It hides in plain sight.

While the technocrats may be atheists, for the most part, they provide cover for the religious motivations of the fascist kleptocrats who are pushing the theocratic agenda. They are all wrapped into one, as long as their interests align, but the truth is the religious aspects of their agenda, although mingled with more mundane ones, are obvious. From abortion to gay marriage, from the women’s right to vote to denying transgender expression, they try to impose their views on others.

Western societies have found their way to secular living, relegating our predominant religion to the personal sphere but, like everything else prone to excesses, the separation of church and state needs constant scrutiny and checks to prevent the insidious return to a religion based political system, in which the law is subjected to the interpretation of “holy scripture”. In 1954 the words “under God” were added to the pledge of allegiance.

Although it may be argued that each individual may be thinking of their own God when saying it, the implication is the nation is united under one God, even if “one” is missing from the text. It was a small step destined to become a giant leap for Christianity in the United States. You can decline to end your swearing in a court of law by stating “so help me God” if you’re not religious, or affirm your oath of office on something other than a bible, but that’s an individual perk.

Collectively, we remain “one nation under (one) God”. Many of us say the pledge of allegiance in the morning and join a pro choice rally in the afternoon, oblivious to this fact. As if being a Christian is no longer a matter of faith or it allows for a selective approach to the dogmas upon which religion is founded. Millions of people in the West have become accustomed to calling themselves Christians because they attend mass on Sunday. Basically that’s what “under God” means to them.

This subconscious complicity in the acceptance of religion into the political fabric of Western societies not only undermines the separation of church and state but it allows the skewed perspective many have of what religion itself is and, by extension, projects that perspective onto all religions, aided and abetted by notions of tolerance that are as misguided as “under God on Sundays” is.

This explains not why so many have no problem taking to the streets in support of those whose religion has achieved political predominance, but it does explain why many others who don’t participate in such activities still accept them as protected speech. They often excuse those excesses as cultural features to be respected. Sure enough, 9 out of 10 times they do demonstrate against the excesses of “their religion”, against the God they live “under”, even if just on Sundays.

Not even considering the violence extreme Christian beliefs provokes, which is very small when compared to the one provoked by extreme Islamic beliefs, the fact many oppose a Christian take over of of our society at the exact same time they promote Sharia Law abiding systems is astounding. How many abortion clinics were bombed? How many doctors who provided abortion were murdered? The violent manifestation of Christian extremism is never excused by “cultural norms”.

The vast majority of Christians condemns those terrorist actions by people who share their religion because they think they can do that without sharing their beliefs. The Sunday church goers and the self flagellating fanatics are not the same and yet they’re all Christians. The misconception of what religion means and actually is makes us tolerate excessive manifestations that eventually lead to the bombing of abortion clinics or legislation meant to extinguish them.

The idea there is an Islamic counterpart to our Sunday morning Christianity is preposterous, but that is exactly what rests on the Western subconscious tolerance for the intolerable. We project our idea of religion onto others and when that becomes ridiculously impossible we turn to “cultural differences” as an excuse. As if we should tolerate a culture that kept the practice of human sacrifice for hundreds of years up to this day.

Our colonial guilt runs so deep that we see the defense of our highest moral values as perverse as that of our worst amoral ideals. This is why otherwise perfectly rational people can’t bring themselves to condemn the very same things in others they so clearly oppose in themselves. Unfortunately, this lack of moral courage and clarity affects some of the politicians who are at the forefront of the fight against the rise of fascism.

Knowing this and the stakes we are up against we, who see both, must find a way to work in this environment, together with them. Be that as it may, we cannot make excuses for them or pretend it’s not a dangerous path to take. We need to make clear, through our words and our deeds, that no extreme religious beliefs are acceptable and no mix between religion and politics can be tolerated. This includes faith based actions in a public context. Like praying.

These evangelical religious rituals we are witnessing in the White House are the exact same as those performed by rows of believers lined up on the street praying towards Mecca. They are both intolerable insertions of religion in the public sphere, meant to normalize and impose the practice of religious rituals in public as an integral part of society. The imposition of religious beliefs will follow. If you oppose some you must oppose all, especially if you only go to church on Sunday.