Israel Invades West Bank – Declares Will Be Treated Like Gaza

When Israel threatens to turn the West Bank into the new Gaza, believe them.

Peace & Justice History for 9/1

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryseptember.htm#september1

September 1, 1939
Nazi Germany invaded Poland, overwhelming the Polish Army with 58 German divisions and air cover from the German air force, the Luftwaffe. This action started the second world war, prompting England and France to declare war on Germany two days later.
September 1, 1945

The Emperor of Japan surrendered unconditionally to the U.S. and its allies in a ceremony on the deck of the battleship U.S.S. Missouri, ending the second world war.
September 1, 1986
Angelo (Charlie) Liteky & George Mizo, both Vietnam veterans, began an open-ended Fast For Life on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. They were calling attention to their opposition to U.S. support of the Nicaraguan contras and repressive regimes in El Salvador and Guatemala.

“our expression of a deeply felt desire to do everything and anything we can . . . to stop the war with Nicaragua.”
Charles Liteky, George Mizo
Liteky was a Catholic chaplain in the Vietnam War and had received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Charles Liteky and his subsequent peace efforts 
September 1, 1987
During a nonviolent protest at the Concord (California) Naval Weapons Station, a Navy munitions train ran over Brian Willson.
An Air Force and Vietnam veteran, Willson and the other protesters were attempting to stop shipment of weapons to Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Brian Willson bird-watching California, 1997.

They considered U.S. policy in Central America a violation of the Nuremberg Principles. (Here is a link to those principles)
Willson lost both legs and suffered other injuries but has remained an active and articulate leader in the anti-military movement.


Ron Kovic (author ‘Born on the Fourth of July’)
and Brian Willson (also born on the Fourth of July)
Willson’s testimony before the U.S. House Armed Services Subcommittee on Investigations
September 1, 1989
White House staffers decided to purchase some crack cocaine so President George H.W. Bush could hold the illegal drug in his hands during a national address. On the first attempt, the drug dealer didn’t show up. On the second try, an undercover drug agent’s body microphone didn’t work. Trying for the third time, Bush’s team managed to purchase the crack, but the camera operator videotaping the deal missed the action as a homeless person assaulted him.
September 1, 1997
Kurdish and British activists blockaded an arms trade exhibition outside London. 89 members of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT)were arrested for protesting the presence of Turkish, Chinese and Indonesian government representatives in Britain to purchase weapons. The Labour government had pledged “[We will] not permit the sale of arms to regimes that could use them for internal repression or external aggression . . . .” Great Britain is the world’s second largest arms manufacturer (by dollar volume) after the U.S.
Campaign Against the Arms Trade home 
September 1
– International Day of War Tax Resistance.
“Refusing to pay taxes for war is probably as old as the first taxes levied for warfare…”
War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

Kansas women rally adjacent to J.D. Vance fundraiser, with vulnerable plea for reproductive rights

By: Grace Hills – August 24, 2024 8:28 am

First some content warning; the article has a warning that it references rape. The article is below, but I’ll leave some space here; the first mention is in the first sentence beneath their warning. The article will be beneath the Xs; I can’t get formatting to leave space. Also, Sen. Marshall lies like a Trump.

Amber Dickinson spoke on reproductive rights at the "Kansas Women for Harris" rally Aug. 22. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

 Amber Dickinson speaks on reproductive rights at the “Kansas Women for Harris” rally Aug. 22, 2024, in Leawood. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

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Trigger warning: This story references rape. 

Help is available

LEAWOOD — Amber Dickinson took a personal and vulnerable stand for reproductive freedom as she talked publicly for the first time about being raped.

Before her speech Thursday in Leawood at a rally of “Kansas Women for Kamala Harris,” only a handful of people knew she is a survivor. Through tears, she explained that she was worried she would stand in front of strangers and cry, when she was supposed to be strong.

“But whose definition of strong are we obligated to adhere to? It is time that women create their own definition of strength,” Dickinson said. “Because strength is not sexually abusing women like Donald Trump. Strength is not belittling women like J.D. Vance.”

Dickinson, a political science professor at Washburn University who has written opinion columns for Kansas Reflector, joined speakers who highlighted the ways Harris’ and former President Donald Trump’s policies affect Kansans. The rally was a counter-protest to Vance’s nearby fundraiser, where Republicans claimed he raised $1.5 million.

Dickinson spoke on reproductive rights, highlighting experiences of women in Oklahoma, a neighboring state with a total abortion ban. She spoke of a fetus found in an Oklahoma college residence hall bathroom. She said this is what the future looks like “if you allow wicked men like J.D. Vance and Donald Trump get what they want from us.”

After Dickinson spoke on reproductive rights, other women spoke on gun safety and funding in public schools. 

Kristen Blackton, a former middle school teacher and part of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said she witnessed the rise of mass shootings in schools, resulting in her students asking her: “Can you protect us?”

“In our state, in Kansas, the rate of gun deaths has increased 48% from 2013 to 2022 and gun violence also disproportionately affects communities of color, with Black people in Kansas being over two times more likely to die by guns than white people in Kansas,” Blackton said. “This is not normal.”

Child paints a "we're with her" sign at the "Kansas Women for Kamala Harris" rally on Aug. 22. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
 A child paints a “we’re with her” sign at the “Kansas Women for Kamala Harris” rally on Aug. 22, 2024, in Leawood. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

She talked about legislation introduced by Rep. Linda Featherston, D-Overland Park, that would make safe storage of firearms a requirement. Blackton and other Moms from the group pushed for the bill, which failed to advance.

“Do you know why? We currently have a Republican supermajority in Topeka,” Blackton said. “This means that Republican lawmakers often act like they have no need to listen to their constituents and work across the aisle to improve the lives of Kansans.”

Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, D-Leawood, spoke about Moms for Liberty, a group that is known for challenging books in public schools.

Poskin praised Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to attend formerly a whites-only school after Brown v. Board, as a Civil Rights icon. Poskin said she donated copies of “Ruby Bridges’ Walk to School,” a children’s book written by Bridges, to local elementary schools.

“Moms for Liberty attempted to ban this sweet book from the second and third grade curriculums in the state of Tennessee,” Poskin said. “And if you don’t think it’s coming here, you’re wrong.”

Ten miles away from the Democratic women rally, at Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance dined with donors who paid $5,000 to $50,000 to attend. Former U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Kansas U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and Oklahoma U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin also were part of the fundraiser.

Mike Brown, chairman for the Kansas Republican Party, called the dinner a “huge success” in the party’s weekly newsletter Friday. Brown said more than 300 people attended, and raised $1.5 million.

On Tuesday, Marshall told KWCH, a radio station in Wichita, that he has heard from Kansans whose top concerns are inflation, border security, and government overregulation.

‘Regretted it every day of my life’: Former MMA fighter Ronda Rousey apologizes for sharing Sandy Hook conspiracy theory years ago

“I should have been canceled, I would have deserved it. I still do,” Rousey wrote in an apology late Thursday.

(I intended to post this yesterday, but didn’t get to it. It’s still pertinent. It’s good to see people step up when they make mistakes.)

Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey in 2018. Ethan Miller / Getty Images file

By Marlene Lenthang Aug. 23, 2024, 7:43 AM CDT

Former MMA fighter Ronda Rousey has apologized for sharing a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory 11 years ago on X, then Twitter, saying, “I’ve regretted it every day of my life since.”

The 37-year-old Californian pro wrestler shared a lengthy statement late Thursday night (early Friday EST) saying she had long wanted to apologize in the years since sharing the controversial conspiracy, and is finally coming clean.

“I apologize that this came 11 years too late, but to those affected by the Sandy Hook massacre, from the bottom of my heart and depth of my soul I am so so sorry for the hurt I caused,” she wrote. “I can’t even begin to imagine the pain you’ve endured and words cannot describe how thoroughly remorseful and ashamed I am of myself for contributing it.”

Rousey opened her apology saying “I can’t say how many times I’ve redrafted this apology over the last 11 years.” She revealed that she internally grappled over the timing of sharing an apology and feared she could “be causing even more damage by giving it.”

It all started with what she called “the single most regrettable decision of my life” — “I watched a Sandy Hook conspiracy video and reposted it on Twitter,” Rousey wrote. (snip-More)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/regretted-every-day-life-former-mma-fighter-ronda-rousey-apologizes-sh-rcna167913

AP News: An Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school kills at least 80 people, Palestinian health officials say

The Gunfighter | A Short Film by Eric Kissack (narrated by Nick Offerman)

In a small town in the old west, a lone and weary gunfighter enters a saloon. As he walks through the room surrounded by the people of the town, a voice begins narrating the scene, telling us exactly who this gunfighter is. But unlike every classic western to use the narrator trope, the characters in this film can hear the voice. This omniscient narrator quickly begins divulging the deepest, darkest secrets of the people in the saloon. He exposes infidelity, homosexuality, prejudice and even a bit of bestiality. As the story unfolds it becomes evident that the voice is a bloodthirsty bastard that wants nothing more than to see the people of the town kill each other in a needless gunfight.

Good Sense

“Armistice Sonnet

Ceasefire is a diplomatic gimmick,
They cease only to hit back harder.
Demilitarization is what we need,
We got no use for one more ceasefire.

Ceasefire only postpones war,
disarmament instills peace.
Armistice empowers armament,
demilitarization plants peace.

Tyrants don’t call truce to allow aid,
but only to rearm themselves,
so they can call in more ammunition,
from their apely imperialist friends.

One more ceasefire we could do without,
World is wailing for the final ceasefire.
Disown every statesman who prides military,
Builders of military are merchants of murder.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

Airstrike at Gaza mosque kills at least 80, Palestinian officials say

I don’t care if there was an entire army hold up there, there are rules to war that Israel has violated each one.   They are willing and wantonly killing civilians.  Plus they are trying to sabotage the peace plans.  I am very glad Biden is not running because he is allowing Israel to get away with this.   Hugs.  Scottie

AP News: An Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school kills at least 80 people, Palestinian health officials say

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-10-august-2024-f33867d7596ebb70c1cb3a77fd4437cc

Hi everyone.  Thanks to Ali for correcting my post to include the link.  Ali you really are grand.  The total is not up to 100 dead.  Hugs.  Scottie

Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school used as a shelter kills at least 80, Palestinian officials say

At the link about there are pictures and videos of the devatation and the shock of the people including the kids.  Hugs.  Scottie
 
BY  WAFAA SHURAFA AND SAMY MAGDY
Updated 6:13 PM EDT, August 10, 2024
 

An Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks of the 10-month Israel-Hamas war. A witness said it struck during prayers at a mosque in the building.

It was the latest of what the U.N. human rights office called “systematic attacks on schools” by Israel, with at least 21 since July 4 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children.

“For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter,” it said after Saturday’s attack.

The Israeli military acknowledged it targeted the Tabeen school in central Gaza City, saying it hit a Hamas command center in a mosque in its compound and killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. Izzat al-Rishq, a top Hamas official, denied there were militants in the school.

Israel’s military also disputed the toll, saying the “precise munitions” used “cannot cause the amount of damage that is being reported” by the Hamas-run government. It said the steps it took to limit the risk to civilians included the use of a “small warhead,” aerial surveillance and intelligence information.

Walls were blown out on the ground level of the large building. Concrete chunks and twisted metal lay on the blood-soaked floor. Bodies, some in bloodstained shrouds, were placed shoulder to shoulder in makeshift graves, making room for more.

Fadel Naeem, director of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that it received 70 bodies along with the body parts of at least 10 others. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that another 47 people were wounded.

“We received some of the most serious injuries we encountered during the war,” he said, with many wounded having limbs amputated and some with severe burns.

The strike hit without warning before sunrise as people prayed, according to witness Abu Anas.

“There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people,” he said, prayer beads in hand. “The missile fell on them without warning. The first missile, and the second. We recovered them as body parts.”

Three missiles ripped through the two-story building — the first floor housed the mosque, and the second level had a school — where about 6,000 displaced people were taking shelter, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense first responders, who operate under the Hamas-run government.

Many of the casualties were women and children, he said.

A camera operator working for the AP said a missile appeared to have penetrated the floor of the classrooms to the mosque below and exploded.

The U.N. previously said that as of July 6, 477 out of 564 schools in Gaza had been directly hit or damaged in the war, adding that Israel has a duty under international law to provide safe shelter for the displaced.

“There’s no justification for these massacres,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement posted on X, referring to strikes on schools. U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy said that he was “appalled.” France’s foreign ministry called the recent number of civilian victims in Israeli strikes on schools “intolerable.”

The U.S. said it was deeply concerned about reports of civilians killed.

“Far too many civilians continue to be killed and wounded,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement.

Israel has blamed civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying the group endangers people by using schools and residential neighborhoods as bases for operations. The U.N. human rights office acknowledged that colocating combatants with civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law, but that Israel must also comply with the law’s principles of precaution and proportionality.

The strike came as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Egypt, which borders Gaza, said that the strike on the school showed that Israel had no intention of reaching a cease-fire deal. Neighboring Jordan condemned the attack as a “blatant violation” of international law. Qatar demanded an international investigation, calling it a “heinous crime” against civilians.

Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday, said of the Israeli strike in Gaza: “Yet again, far too many civilians have been killed.”

“Israel has a right to go after the terrorists that are Hamas,” she said. “But as I have said many, many times they also have, I believe, an important responsibility to avoid civilian casualties.”

Pressed on the fact that such comments have done little to lower the numbers of civilians in Gaza killed in recent months, Harris said, “First and foremost — and the president and I have been working on this around the clock — we need to get the hostages out.”

“We need a hostage deal and we need a cease-fire,” she said. “And I can’t stress that strongly enough. It needs get to done. The deal needs to get done and it needs to get done now.”

Late on Friday, two separate airstrikes in central Gaza killed at least 13 people, including three children and seven women, hospital authorities said. An AP journalist counted the bodies at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

One strike hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing seven people, all but one of them women, hospital officials said. Another hit a house in Deir al-Balah, killing six, including a woman and her three children, the hospital said.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,790 Palestinians and wounded more than 92,000 others, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its tally. The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250 others.

Families of hostages demonstrated again Saturday night in Tel Aviv seeking a cease-fire deal to bring loved ones home.

More than 1.9 million of Gaza’s prewar population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, fleeing repeatedly across the territory to escape offensives. Most are crowded into tent camps in an area of about 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) on the Gaza coast with few basic services or supplies.

In the occupied West Bank, dozens of people gathered in Ramallah to protest the latest Israeli strike on a school.

“The message that must be sent to the world, a numb world, a world that is not moving, is ‘how long will the war continue?’” asked one, Muin Barghouti.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed. 

Virginia man charged with threatening to kill Vice President Kamala Harris

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN Published 5:46 PM EDT, Mon August 5, 2024

sigh.

CNN — 

A Virginia man has been charged with making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris and appeared in federal court on Monday.

According to court records, Frank Lucio Carillo made several threats against Harris, President Joe Biden, FBI Director Christopher Wray, several Arizona officials, and others on the right-wing social media platform Gettr.

In response to a subpoena, the FBI found 4,359 posts from Carillo “targeting various public officials,” including Harris.

In several posts, Carillo allegedly threatened to cut out Harris’ eyes and described various ways he wanted to kill the vice president, court records say.

“I will cut your eyes out,” Carillo allegedly wrote in one expletive-laden rant where he called Harris a “b*tch” and said he hoped she would “suffer a slow agonizing death.”

A number of similar posts are cited in court records, with graphic and detailed threats against the vice president as well as others, including one Islamophobic post in 2023 when he wrote that people should “go out with your guns and kill all Muslims.”

When FBI agents first arrived at Carillo’s house over the social media posts, Carillo asked if they were there “about the online stuff,” and said, “I posted it.” Carrillo, appearing to talk to himself, also said, “I guess I’m gonna need a lawyer,” according to court documents.

Federal agents retrieved two firearms from his home, including a pistol he bought in 2023 and a rifle purchased this year.

A hearing to determine whether Carillo will remain behind bars while awaiting a resolution in his case has been set for Thursday. (snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/05/politics/death-threats-kamala-harris-virginia-man-arrested