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The False Promise Of A Two State Solution
Posted 2 months agoEverybody in politics and international statecraft just needs to drop the hackneyed cliche of the possibility of there ever being a "Two state solution" already. That idea has been dead as a doornail for decades already.
Israel never wanted or would ever allow such a thing to happen.
The only way that that could happen would be if Israel was willing to enforce their pre '67 borders, which amounted at that time for the Palestinians being reduced to living on only 22% of their land. Does anyone REALLY believe that Israel would accept that?
The Palestinians were willing to settle for that at the time, but no, Israel wouldn't.
Their long term goal has always been to purge all Palestinians from their land, and establish a "Greater Israel", which would also Include at least Southestern Syria, the Sinai, Southern Lebanon, and Southern Jordan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Israel
Israel never wanted or would ever allow such a thing to happen.
The only way that that could happen would be if Israel was willing to enforce their pre '67 borders, which amounted at that time for the Palestinians being reduced to living on only 22% of their land. Does anyone REALLY believe that Israel would accept that?
The Palestinians were willing to settle for that at the time, but no, Israel wouldn't.
Their long term goal has always been to purge all Palestinians from their land, and establish a "Greater Israel", which would also Include at least Southestern Syria, the Sinai, Southern Lebanon, and Southern Jordan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Israel
Trump And Vance Want To Ban Trans People From Owning Guns
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.democracynow.org/2025/9.....om_owning_guns
https://www.the-independent.com/new.....-b2821095.html
Because the shooter at Annunciation Catholic Church happened to be trans. The Trump adminitration is advocating the banning of guns for all trans people.
By that same logic men and boys should also be banned from owning guns.
Less than one percent of mass shooters are trans, while close to 99% are men and boys.
2A groups such as the NRA, -whatever's left of them- and others have gone to bat for the rights of trans people to own guns. Of course they would. They're shills for the gun manufacturers.
Your marching orders:
https://youtu.be/eOI5OgDCws0?si=LBi_fdKDg3s6vBST
https://www.the-independent.com/new.....-b2821095.html
Because the shooter at Annunciation Catholic Church happened to be trans. The Trump adminitration is advocating the banning of guns for all trans people.
By that same logic men and boys should also be banned from owning guns.
Less than one percent of mass shooters are trans, while close to 99% are men and boys.
2A groups such as the NRA, -whatever's left of them- and others have gone to bat for the rights of trans people to own guns. Of course they would. They're shills for the gun manufacturers.
Your marching orders:
https://youtu.be/eOI5OgDCws0?si=LBi_fdKDg3s6vBST
Trump Makes A Rare Good Call
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.politico.com/news/2025/.....f-war-00545673
I suppose that even a broken clock can be right once every four years.
I doubt that we both think this is the right thing to do for the same reasons, though. He and Hegseth no doubt think it makes us sound tough. I've long thought that we should return to calling it the Department of War because who are we kidding? When's the last time we used it for our actual defense? He said that calling it the Departmnent of Defense was "woke".
This is also another case of something that congress would need to do, although he claims that that isn't so.
It's estimated that doing this could end up ncosting as much as a billion dollars.
It reminds me of the nauseating way that everybody always feels compelled to declare that "Israel has a right to defend itself" when they're doing nothing of the sort. They're engaging in retributive slaughter and genocde.
I'm surprised he didn't rename it the Ministry of Peace.
I suppose that even a broken clock can be right once every four years.
I doubt that we both think this is the right thing to do for the same reasons, though. He and Hegseth no doubt think it makes us sound tough. I've long thought that we should return to calling it the Department of War because who are we kidding? When's the last time we used it for our actual defense? He said that calling it the Departmnent of Defense was "woke".
This is also another case of something that congress would need to do, although he claims that that isn't so.
It's estimated that doing this could end up ncosting as much as a billion dollars.
It reminds me of the nauseating way that everybody always feels compelled to declare that "Israel has a right to defend itself" when they're doing nothing of the sort. They're engaging in retributive slaughter and genocde.
I'm surprised he didn't rename it the Ministry of Peace.
The Judgment Against Trump's Military Occupation Of LA
Posted 2 months agoThe brilliant Sasha Abramsky Has some on point words for Trump and Hegseth on this subject in the first segment here:
https://www.backgroundbriefing.org/2025/09/02/
This still has to go to the Supreme Court.
https://www.backgroundbriefing.org/2025/09/02/
This still has to go to the Supreme Court.
This Is Terrifying
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.democracynow.org/2025/9.....pyware_program
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news.....sraeli-spyware
More fascist shit from the Trump regime.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news.....sraeli-spyware
More fascist shit from the Trump regime.
Big Crime
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B9.....pbl8&t=19s
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2.....song-big-crime
And for what Faux News has to say about this:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/white.....ackdown-cringe
The way the reader here says "Cringe" is so fucking laughable...
And don't call Neil Young a "Lib", you morons.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2.....song-big-crime
And for what Faux News has to say about this:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/white.....ackdown-cringe
The way the reader here says "Cringe" is so fucking laughable...
And don't call Neil Young a "Lib", you morons.
Trump Blocks Entry To The US For Palestinian UN Delegates
Posted 2 months agoThe Trump administration has revoked the visas for the palestinian delegates to the upcoming UN General Assembly.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2.....neral-assembly
While this is a typical move for Trump, it's a completely unprecedented move for the US government. In order for the UN offices to be located here, the US agreed in 1949 that they'd always admit all delegates, no matter where they were from. Of course the US government has no respect for the UN where it comes to Israel.
At least there are a few Palestinians already in the US planning to attend, so they won't go completely unrepresented.
Here's how Marco Rubio and the State Department is spinning this:
https://www.state.gov/releases/offi.....-ahead-of-unga
*Update of 9/4:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/4/un_palestine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2.....neral-assembly
While this is a typical move for Trump, it's a completely unprecedented move for the US government. In order for the UN offices to be located here, the US agreed in 1949 that they'd always admit all delegates, no matter where they were from. Of course the US government has no respect for the UN where it comes to Israel.
At least there are a few Palestinians already in the US planning to attend, so they won't go completely unrepresented.
Here's how Marco Rubio and the State Department is spinning this:
https://www.state.gov/releases/offi.....-ahead-of-unga
*Update of 9/4:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/4/un_palestine
Katrina
Posted 2 months agoTwenty years ago today I was at Burning Man, and word was just filtering in as to what was happening in New Orleans. A group of people took a large flatbed truck, loaded it with food, water, scrounged lumber, tools and other supplies, and set off for NOLA to see what they could do to help. Burners Without borders was born out of that:
https://burnerswithoutborders.org/
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....ricane_katrina
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/28/malik_rahim
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....ordan_flaherty
The Katrina Tribunal:
https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/ka.....nment-ignored/
-what little help came for these people came from mutual aid efforts within theor own community, which is always the case in such disasters.
Katrina was a natural disaster, sure, but what happened to NOLA was the result of dritical government failure in planning, and deeply enrenched systemic racism which was exposed by the different ways that Katrina affected and still affecting black people there. There are around 120,000 fewer black people there now than ther were before Katrina hit. Something close to 1800 people, mostly poor and black, died there.
Kanye West was quoted at the time on Democracy Now! as saying " I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a Black family, it says they’re looting. If you see a white family, it says they’re looking for food. … George Bush doesn’t care about Black people."
-Anybody else here rememberbwhen Kanye was sane?
The last part of that inspired this song, which was put out a week after the hurricane hit:
https://rappersiknow.bandcamp.com/t.....t-black-people
The state authorized vigilantes to shoot to kill looters there, and some of them were shot. They were all black. Cops even fired on and killed black people like Henry Glover there. People were stranded in flooded jails, and left starving on rooftops for a week.
I find myself reminded of this in the way that Kristi "Puppy killer" Noem said that the feds wouldn't punish people carrying long guns in DC, which is understandably illegal there.
The great Greg Palast recently updated a film about Katrina that he made at the time, which illustates the failure of Louisiana government to plan for and deal with the Flood, the way that they dearly with it and it's lingering affects on the city, and the complete failure of FEMA there. The film is updated with how this relates to the Kerr County Flood and Trump's current plans to end FEMA:
https://kpfa.org/episode/flashpoint.....ugust-19-2025/
It's hard to wrap your head around just how vast the destruction in NOLA was and still is. but the state's plan to ethnically cleanse it of black people has been relatively successful.
There are even more stories from Katrina than there are people. Here are a few:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lampshade
https://www.npr.org/2013/09/08/2168.....a-hit-hospital
And the story of how, after his home in New Orleans was destroyed, Musician Biff Rose hit the road, and I finally got to see him perform when he washed up here in the East Bay, where he ended up having a romance with a DJ from Berkeley campus radio station KALX.
-I may well end up updating this post, but I wanted to get it up as soon as possible, so watch this space.
https://burnerswithoutborders.org/
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....ricane_katrina
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/28/malik_rahim
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....ordan_flaherty
The Katrina Tribunal:
https://kpfa.org/area941/episode/ka.....nment-ignored/
-what little help came for these people came from mutual aid efforts within theor own community, which is always the case in such disasters.
Katrina was a natural disaster, sure, but what happened to NOLA was the result of dritical government failure in planning, and deeply enrenched systemic racism which was exposed by the different ways that Katrina affected and still affecting black people there. There are around 120,000 fewer black people there now than ther were before Katrina hit. Something close to 1800 people, mostly poor and black, died there.
Kanye West was quoted at the time on Democracy Now! as saying " I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a Black family, it says they’re looting. If you see a white family, it says they’re looking for food. … George Bush doesn’t care about Black people."
-Anybody else here rememberbwhen Kanye was sane?
The last part of that inspired this song, which was put out a week after the hurricane hit:
https://rappersiknow.bandcamp.com/t.....t-black-people
The state authorized vigilantes to shoot to kill looters there, and some of them were shot. They were all black. Cops even fired on and killed black people like Henry Glover there. People were stranded in flooded jails, and left starving on rooftops for a week.
I find myself reminded of this in the way that Kristi "Puppy killer" Noem said that the feds wouldn't punish people carrying long guns in DC, which is understandably illegal there.
The great Greg Palast recently updated a film about Katrina that he made at the time, which illustates the failure of Louisiana government to plan for and deal with the Flood, the way that they dearly with it and it's lingering affects on the city, and the complete failure of FEMA there. The film is updated with how this relates to the Kerr County Flood and Trump's current plans to end FEMA:
https://kpfa.org/episode/flashpoint.....ugust-19-2025/
It's hard to wrap your head around just how vast the destruction in NOLA was and still is. but the state's plan to ethnically cleanse it of black people has been relatively successful.
There are even more stories from Katrina than there are people. Here are a few:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lampshade
https://www.npr.org/2013/09/08/2168.....a-hit-hospital
And the story of how, after his home in New Orleans was destroyed, Musician Biff Rose hit the road, and I finally got to see him perform when he washed up here in the East Bay, where he ended up having a romance with a DJ from Berkeley campus radio station KALX.
-I may well end up updating this post, but I wanted to get it up as soon as possible, so watch this space.
Alligator Auschwitz: The Final Chapter?
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation.....rders-shutdown
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39dm3kv4exo
Thanks to a recent legal decision, Alligator Alcatraz is being closed.
It was a supremely stupid idea in the first place. It would inevitably damage a sensitive biome, and It was stupid to imprison people in such a remote place so susceptible to hurricanes. It was built using FEMA materials and money.
Of course they'll just open other facilities elsewhere.
Here are the previous journals i posted about this:
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11175407/
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11178725/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39dm3kv4exo
Thanks to a recent legal decision, Alligator Alcatraz is being closed.
It was a supremely stupid idea in the first place. It would inevitably damage a sensitive biome, and It was stupid to imprison people in such a remote place so susceptible to hurricanes. It was built using FEMA materials and money.
Of course they'll just open other facilities elsewhere.
Here are the previous journals i posted about this:
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11175407/
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11178725/
Fender And Rednef
Posted 2 months agoAre they fuckin?: Discuss
Trump Says He Will Ban Flag Burning
Posted 2 months agoToo bad for him he can't do that. There have been two Supreme Court decisions which have affirmed this.
This is just another of his attempts to flood the zone with shit and distract from the other fascist stuff he's doing.
I've burned a few flags in my day, the first of them being in the early 70s.
A flag is never so alive as when it's burning.
I've long had the idea of making an eternal burning flag sculpture. It would be sort of like the eternal flame, but would include a sculpture of a flag.
Here Drumpf, take this:
Come and get me, motherfucker!
This is just another of his attempts to flood the zone with shit and distract from the other fascist stuff he's doing.
I've burned a few flags in my day, the first of them being in the early 70s.
A flag is never so alive as when it's burning.
I've long had the idea of making an eternal burning flag sculpture. It would be sort of like the eternal flame, but would include a sculpture of a flag.
Here Drumpf, take this:
Come and get me, motherfucker!
Palestine Will Never Die
Posted 2 months agoPalestine Will Never Die - Lowkey Feat. Mai Khalil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox4iUMYewvw
Waqafa ạlṭĩf̊lu waḥ̊dahu wāllãyālī
Waraṣāṣuⁿ min̊ ḥaẘlihi wajunūdiⁿ
Waqafa ạlṭĩf̊lu wāl̊ḥijāraẗu ạảk̊wāmuⁿ
Waʿaẙnāhu ʿaz̊maẗuⁿ waṣumūduⁿ
Waʿaẙnāhu ʿaz̊maẗuⁿ waṣumūduⁿ
Falastine
Falastine
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sеa
Free, free, free, free
How can I start?
Can′t get the image out of my hеart
When we've seen the bodies found
In a mountain of parts
Netanyahu told you
Just another child of the dark
Clear it′s gonna take much more
Than thousands to march
More than a speech
More than a poem
More than a track of music
Gonna take more
Than a sit-down with Bassem Youssef
Even bringing back ambassadors
Is an act that's useless
As long as you pump oil for Apaches
And the tanks they're using
Freedom just beyond reach
For people you cannot see
He′s wheezing and cannot breathe
And screaming through the concrete
Looking for his four children
The bombs leave structures
That I wouldn′t wanna call buildings
My finger's pointed at this government
You all killed them
Tell me that you wouldn't take up arms
If those were your children
Let me make the factor clear
Those bombs were manufactured here
And they want the lands that′s theirs
Because of natural gas in there
It's all death in the atmosphere
While we hapless, stand and stare
And a little boy
Begs for his brothers strand of hair
Truth is, I don′t know
How anyone can live
After digging for their dead kids
Buried under bricks
Israel is a terror state
Terrorists that terrorise
I testify my television
Televised them telling lies
This is not a war
It is systematic genocide
But whatever they try
Palestine will never die
Falastine
They're not prepared to face the pain
So they′re scared to say your name
Falastine
They're not prepared to face the pain
So they're scared to say your name
Falastine
They′re not prepared to face the pain
So they′re scared to say your name
Falastine
They're not prepared to face the pain
So they′re scared to say your name
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
They bomb churches and paramedics
It's hurting, the panics spreading
Hospitals where the doctors
Do C-sections, no anaesthetics
The pressure is manifesting
Humanity stands connected
Masses seem apathetic
And actually just accept it
When our grandchildren ask us
What did we do to stop it?
I′m determined to say
I did more than make music on it
That's why we shut down arms factories
You can try stopping us
Palestine Action′s
The opposite of white phosphorus
We tell them on the television
But they never listen
Tell Piers Morgan that
Resistance isn't terrorism
They want them fled or missing
Dead or prison, endless killing
I seen a father hold
His baby up, the head was missing
Imagine demolition
Of home where your parents' living
Kings won′t say a thing
But at least we know that Yemen′s with them
Ethnic cleansing, it ain't hard
To see the stages but
Gaza, graveyard of the invaders
Ears close to the savagery
Clear though and there′s clarity
The journalists and doctors are
Heroes of humanity
As sordid and as gory as
This story is for now
Are they depopulating Gaza
For Ben Gurion's canal?
Israel is a terror state
Terrorists that terrorise
I testify my television
Televised them telling lies
This is not a war
It is systematic genocide
But whatever they try
Palestine will never die
I call out to you, and I clasp onto your hands
I kiss the earth beneath your soles and say
I call out to you, and I clask onto your hands
I kiss the earth beneath your soles and say
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
Writers: Kareem Dennis, Mai Khalil, Scott Parsons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox4iUMYewvw
Waqafa ạlṭĩf̊lu waḥ̊dahu wāllãyālī
Waraṣāṣuⁿ min̊ ḥaẘlihi wajunūdiⁿ
Waqafa ạlṭĩf̊lu wāl̊ḥijāraẗu ạảk̊wāmuⁿ
Waʿaẙnāhu ʿaz̊maẗuⁿ waṣumūduⁿ
Waʿaẙnāhu ʿaz̊maẗuⁿ waṣumūduⁿ
Falastine
Falastine
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sеa
Free, free, free, free
How can I start?
Can′t get the image out of my hеart
When we've seen the bodies found
In a mountain of parts
Netanyahu told you
Just another child of the dark
Clear it′s gonna take much more
Than thousands to march
More than a speech
More than a poem
More than a track of music
Gonna take more
Than a sit-down with Bassem Youssef
Even bringing back ambassadors
Is an act that's useless
As long as you pump oil for Apaches
And the tanks they're using
Freedom just beyond reach
For people you cannot see
He′s wheezing and cannot breathe
And screaming through the concrete
Looking for his four children
The bombs leave structures
That I wouldn′t wanna call buildings
My finger's pointed at this government
You all killed them
Tell me that you wouldn't take up arms
If those were your children
Let me make the factor clear
Those bombs were manufactured here
And they want the lands that′s theirs
Because of natural gas in there
It's all death in the atmosphere
While we hapless, stand and stare
And a little boy
Begs for his brothers strand of hair
Truth is, I don′t know
How anyone can live
After digging for their dead kids
Buried under bricks
Israel is a terror state
Terrorists that terrorise
I testify my television
Televised them telling lies
This is not a war
It is systematic genocide
But whatever they try
Palestine will never die
Falastine
They're not prepared to face the pain
So they′re scared to say your name
Falastine
They're not prepared to face the pain
So they're scared to say your name
Falastine
They′re not prepared to face the pain
So they′re scared to say your name
Falastine
They're not prepared to face the pain
So they′re scared to say your name
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
They bomb churches and paramedics
It's hurting, the panics spreading
Hospitals where the doctors
Do C-sections, no anaesthetics
The pressure is manifesting
Humanity stands connected
Masses seem apathetic
And actually just accept it
When our grandchildren ask us
What did we do to stop it?
I′m determined to say
I did more than make music on it
That's why we shut down arms factories
You can try stopping us
Palestine Action′s
The opposite of white phosphorus
We tell them on the television
But they never listen
Tell Piers Morgan that
Resistance isn't terrorism
They want them fled or missing
Dead or prison, endless killing
I seen a father hold
His baby up, the head was missing
Imagine demolition
Of home where your parents' living
Kings won′t say a thing
But at least we know that Yemen′s with them
Ethnic cleansing, it ain't hard
To see the stages but
Gaza, graveyard of the invaders
Ears close to the savagery
Clear though and there′s clarity
The journalists and doctors are
Heroes of humanity
As sordid and as gory as
This story is for now
Are they depopulating Gaza
For Ben Gurion's canal?
Israel is a terror state
Terrorists that terrorise
I testify my television
Televised them telling lies
This is not a war
It is systematic genocide
But whatever they try
Palestine will never die
I call out to you, and I clasp onto your hands
I kiss the earth beneath your soles and say
I call out to you, and I clask onto your hands
I kiss the earth beneath your soles and say
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free
From the river to the sea
Free, free, free, free
Writers: Kareem Dennis, Mai Khalil, Scott Parsons
Living And Dying In The West Bank
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.thisamericanlife.org/86.....ther-territory
This episode of the always excellent and thoughtful This American Life gives an intimate look into what Israel is doing to Palestinians, and is really important. I would strongly encourage everybody to listen to it.
This episode of the always excellent and thoughtful This American Life gives an intimate look into what Israel is doing to Palestinians, and is really important. I would strongly encourage everybody to listen to it.
Trump Ends Construction Of Almost Finished Wind Farm
Posted 2 months agohttps://www.npr.org/2025/08/23/nx-s.....newable-energy
In a prime example of just how darkly malevolent this piece of shit is, his administration has halted construction on an almost finished Wind farm near Rhode Island.
In a prime example of just how darkly malevolent this piece of shit is, his administration has halted construction on an almost finished Wind farm near Rhode Island.
Loser
Posted 2 months agoTrump contiues to lose.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0720p0x5o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3lwze2njo
*Edit of 8/23:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewyppww09jo
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0720p0x5o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y3lwze2njo
*Edit of 8/23:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewyppww09jo
Such Beauty And Samud From The Rubble Of Gaza
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DNOmSRft3JX/
Samud (صمود) is a Palestinian Arabic term that translates to "steadfastness" or "perseverance".
Conjuring flowers from the scorched and barren ground, the Palestinian spirit lives on.
Samud (صمود) is a Palestinian Arabic term that translates to "steadfastness" or "perseverance".
Conjuring flowers from the scorched and barren ground, the Palestinian spirit lives on.
A Song For Gaza: The Ballad Of Rivka And Mohammed
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9wJBmsR5mw
This song was written by Leon Rosselson in 2014, during one of Israel's periodic episodes of brutality which they refer to as "Mowing the lawn".
During this particular instance of "Mowing the lawn", *Only* around 2300 Palestinians were murdered by the IOF.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Rosselson
I was watching the news from Gaza
And I fell asleep on my chair
And when I awoke from my slumber
A young girl was standing there.
She said, My name is Rivka
They killed me because I’m a Jew
I died in the ghetto of Vilna
In nineteen forty two.
The ghetto was like a prison
They wouldn’t allow us to leave
Some said they were going to kill us all
We didn’t know what to believe.
That day I wore my new red dress
My bubbe had made for me
And in that crowded ghetto
It made me feel proud and free.
I looked up at the soldier
I looked him in the eye
I forgot to bow my head down
And so I had to die.
He smashed my head with his rifle
Because I was too bold
I was killed in the Vilna ghetto
When I was seven years old.
And then out of the darkness
A young boy’s gaze met mine
He said, My name is Mohammed
My country is Palestine.
I’ve lived all my life in Gaza
And the only time I feel free
Is when I go down to the harbour
And feel the wind from the sea.
That day I went with my cousins
We ran down to the beach to play
Then the soldier fired a shell at me
And blew my life away.
They want to crush our spirits
They want us to be afraid
Locked up in the prison of Gaza
The prison that they have made.
To them our lives don’t matter
They force us to live in a cage
I was killed on the beach in Gaza
At eleven years of age.
They don’t think that we deserve freedom
Or belong to the human race.
Mohammed, my brother, said Rivka,
This world is a cold, cold place.
Mohammed, my friend, my brother,
Let us leave this world of war.
Then each took the hand of the other
And then they were seen no more.
But I saw spokesmen and politicians
Lining up to speechify
And every word was a hypocrite
And every word was a lie.
I saw children still being slaughtered
The monster must have its fill
While the people with power sat on their hands
And supplied the weapons that kill.
I weep for the people of Gaza
And they are weeping still
And I curse the ones who did nothing
And enable the monster to kill.
This song was written by Leon Rosselson in 2014, during one of Israel's periodic episodes of brutality which they refer to as "Mowing the lawn".
During this particular instance of "Mowing the lawn", *Only* around 2300 Palestinians were murdered by the IOF.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Rosselson
I was watching the news from Gaza
And I fell asleep on my chair
And when I awoke from my slumber
A young girl was standing there.
She said, My name is Rivka
They killed me because I’m a Jew
I died in the ghetto of Vilna
In nineteen forty two.
The ghetto was like a prison
They wouldn’t allow us to leave
Some said they were going to kill us all
We didn’t know what to believe.
That day I wore my new red dress
My bubbe had made for me
And in that crowded ghetto
It made me feel proud and free.
I looked up at the soldier
I looked him in the eye
I forgot to bow my head down
And so I had to die.
He smashed my head with his rifle
Because I was too bold
I was killed in the Vilna ghetto
When I was seven years old.
And then out of the darkness
A young boy’s gaze met mine
He said, My name is Mohammed
My country is Palestine.
I’ve lived all my life in Gaza
And the only time I feel free
Is when I go down to the harbour
And feel the wind from the sea.
That day I went with my cousins
We ran down to the beach to play
Then the soldier fired a shell at me
And blew my life away.
They want to crush our spirits
They want us to be afraid
Locked up in the prison of Gaza
The prison that they have made.
To them our lives don’t matter
They force us to live in a cage
I was killed on the beach in Gaza
At eleven years of age.
They don’t think that we deserve freedom
Or belong to the human race.
Mohammed, my brother, said Rivka,
This world is a cold, cold place.
Mohammed, my friend, my brother,
Let us leave this world of war.
Then each took the hand of the other
And then they were seen no more.
But I saw spokesmen and politicians
Lining up to speechify
And every word was a hypocrite
And every word was a lie.
I saw children still being slaughtered
The monster must have its fill
While the people with power sat on their hands
And supplied the weapons that kill.
I weep for the people of Gaza
And they are weeping still
And I curse the ones who did nothing
And enable the monster to kill.
A Message From DC
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82O.....sYQo&t=11s
The government has taken a billion dollars away from DC, so just whose fault is all of this crap?
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....hief_of_police
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....gration_agents
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8....._and_jail_time
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....mp_dc_takeover
The government has taken a billion dollars away from DC, so just whose fault is all of this crap?
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....hief_of_police
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....gration_agents
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8....._and_jail_time
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....mp_dc_takeover
Ms. Rachel
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/13/ms_rachel
Warning: This episode is a real tear-jerker.
In an unusual move, the whole episode of Democracy Now! today is dedicated to Ms. Rachel, who is probably well known to anyone who has little kids. She has over 16 million subscribers on YouTube, and over ten BILLION views.
She has a video with Rahaf, a three year old Palestinian girl whose legs were blown off in an Israeli airstrike but managed, with the help of the Palestinian Children's Relief fund, to be able to come to the US for treatment and to get prosthetic legs fitted. That video of her and Rahaf has been liked over a million times on Instagram.
Gaza has the largest number of child amputees of any war in history.
Coincidentally, I first heard of her on an episode of the Bad Hasbara podcast, which I only recently discovered:
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11190789/
She was mentioned there because of the way that she's been accused of antisemitism for talking about and advocating for the children of Gaza on her show and on social media by Zionists. Apparently they find her threatening.
Juan Gonzalez mentions a social media post of hers which quoted James Baldwin “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
Edit of 8/18:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....t_medical_care
I'd also like to bring this headline to everybody's attention:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8....._trumps_allies
More disgusting fascistic shit from Trump.
Warning: This episode is a real tear-jerker.
In an unusual move, the whole episode of Democracy Now! today is dedicated to Ms. Rachel, who is probably well known to anyone who has little kids. She has over 16 million subscribers on YouTube, and over ten BILLION views.
She has a video with Rahaf, a three year old Palestinian girl whose legs were blown off in an Israeli airstrike but managed, with the help of the Palestinian Children's Relief fund, to be able to come to the US for treatment and to get prosthetic legs fitted. That video of her and Rahaf has been liked over a million times on Instagram.
Gaza has the largest number of child amputees of any war in history.
Coincidentally, I first heard of her on an episode of the Bad Hasbara podcast, which I only recently discovered:
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11190789/
She was mentioned there because of the way that she's been accused of antisemitism for talking about and advocating for the children of Gaza on her show and on social media by Zionists. Apparently they find her threatening.
Juan Gonzalez mentions a social media post of hers which quoted James Baldwin “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
Edit of 8/18:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....t_medical_care
I'd also like to bring this headline to everybody's attention:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8....._trumps_allies
More disgusting fascistic shit from Trump.
Trump's Fascist Takeover Of Washington
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....mp_dc_takeover
First, I'll say that it's long past time to make DC a state.
Next, I'll say that this is yet another move from Trump straight out of the fascist playbook, but ultimately it's just a stupid and cowardly attempt at a show of power and grandstanding. Utilizing the military to enforce domestic laws is a clear violation of the Posse Commitatus Act. It's also dangerous. And Trump continues to weaponize the use of emergency declarations.
Trump said "This issue directly impacts the functioning of the federal government and is a threat to America, really. It’s a threat to our country. We have other cities also that are bad, very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t even mention that anymore. They’re so — they’re so far gone. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to lose our cities over this. And this will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C., and we’re going to clean it up real quick. Very quickly, as they say."
-No Donny, they don't say.
Notice that these are all cities with black Democratic mayors and large black and brown populations. No matter all of the cities with Republican mayors and far worse crime records, such as Memphis, St. Louis and New Orleans. And speaking of Oakland, which I live near, I can confidently call his claim Bullshit.
Keya Chatterjee, at a protest at the White House yesterday said "Nothing Trump is doing right now is about our safety. If Trump cared about safety, he would stop mass firings of federal workers. Taking away our jobs, our families’ jobs, that isn’t safety. If Trump cared about safety, he would stop kidnapping immigrant neighbors, because terrorizing people, terrorizing families, is not safety. If Trump cared about our safety, he would fund Medicaid. He would fund schools. He would fund SNAP, because people being sick, out of school and hungry is not safety. If Trump cared about D.C.'s safety, he would make D.C.'s prosecutor accountable to the people of D.C., so that they were listening to local leaders. These are the leaders, our local leaders. Our communities are the one who — the ones who have reduced crime to a 30-year low." Fucking bingo, Keya.
He says he wants to move all of the houseless people far away from DC. -Out of sight, out of mind, right? This is just blaming the victims and dehumanizes and criminalizes them, and ends up solving absolutely nothing.
Trump also said "Entire neighborhoods are now under emergency curfews. Just this past weekend, gunfire through — went through. And you saw that, the Navy Yard. I saw it this morning. I saw that they fought back against law — see, they fight back, until you knock the hell out of them, because it’s the only language they understand. But they fought back against law enforcement last night. And they’re not going to be fighting back long, because I’ve instructed them and told them, whatever happens — you know, they love to spit in the face of the police as the police are standing up there in uniform. They’re standing, and they’re screaming at them an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face. And I said, “You tell them, 'You spit, and we hit.'” And they can hit real hard." -What a complete load of crap. This will acheive absolutely nothing.
And perhaps he's forgotten about his buddies who beat up and abused cops in DC on January Sixth...
I'll be following this story to see where the houseless people end up getting put, (I suspect that this will be the beginning of an attempt to intern houseless people in remote camps, though apparently for now they're just throwing them in jail) and to see if he takes this shit on tour, particularly to Oakland.
In a related story, there's this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati.....-civil-unrest/
Trump has proposed the creation of a military force to put down protests called the "Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force”, at the potential expense of who knows how many hundreds of millios of dollars. This plan was put together by Eldridge Colby from the Department of "Defense".
First, I'll say that it's long past time to make DC a state.
Next, I'll say that this is yet another move from Trump straight out of the fascist playbook, but ultimately it's just a stupid and cowardly attempt at a show of power and grandstanding. Utilizing the military to enforce domestic laws is a clear violation of the Posse Commitatus Act. It's also dangerous. And Trump continues to weaponize the use of emergency declarations.
Trump said "This issue directly impacts the functioning of the federal government and is a threat to America, really. It’s a threat to our country. We have other cities also that are bad, very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t even mention that anymore. They’re so — they’re so far gone. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to lose our cities over this. And this will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C., and we’re going to clean it up real quick. Very quickly, as they say."
-No Donny, they don't say.
Notice that these are all cities with black Democratic mayors and large black and brown populations. No matter all of the cities with Republican mayors and far worse crime records, such as Memphis, St. Louis and New Orleans. And speaking of Oakland, which I live near, I can confidently call his claim Bullshit.
Keya Chatterjee, at a protest at the White House yesterday said "Nothing Trump is doing right now is about our safety. If Trump cared about safety, he would stop mass firings of federal workers. Taking away our jobs, our families’ jobs, that isn’t safety. If Trump cared about safety, he would stop kidnapping immigrant neighbors, because terrorizing people, terrorizing families, is not safety. If Trump cared about our safety, he would fund Medicaid. He would fund schools. He would fund SNAP, because people being sick, out of school and hungry is not safety. If Trump cared about D.C.'s safety, he would make D.C.'s prosecutor accountable to the people of D.C., so that they were listening to local leaders. These are the leaders, our local leaders. Our communities are the one who — the ones who have reduced crime to a 30-year low." Fucking bingo, Keya.
He says he wants to move all of the houseless people far away from DC. -Out of sight, out of mind, right? This is just blaming the victims and dehumanizes and criminalizes them, and ends up solving absolutely nothing.
Trump also said "Entire neighborhoods are now under emergency curfews. Just this past weekend, gunfire through — went through. And you saw that, the Navy Yard. I saw it this morning. I saw that they fought back against law — see, they fight back, until you knock the hell out of them, because it’s the only language they understand. But they fought back against law enforcement last night. And they’re not going to be fighting back long, because I’ve instructed them and told them, whatever happens — you know, they love to spit in the face of the police as the police are standing up there in uniform. They’re standing, and they’re screaming at them an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face. And I said, “You tell them, 'You spit, and we hit.'” And they can hit real hard." -What a complete load of crap. This will acheive absolutely nothing.
And perhaps he's forgotten about his buddies who beat up and abused cops in DC on January Sixth...
I'll be following this story to see where the houseless people end up getting put, (I suspect that this will be the beginning of an attempt to intern houseless people in remote camps, though apparently for now they're just throwing them in jail) and to see if he takes this shit on tour, particularly to Oakland.
In a related story, there's this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati.....-civil-unrest/
Trump has proposed the creation of a military force to put down protests called the "Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force”, at the potential expense of who knows how many hundreds of millios of dollars. This plan was put together by Eldridge Colby from the Department of "Defense".
You Only Target Journalists When Your Enemy Is The Truth
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/11/al_jazeera
Just a few hours after Netanyahu saying that they'd let some journalists into Gaza, Israel Targeted and assassinated six journalists in their press tent in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital with a drone fired rocket. Five of them were from Al Jazeera. They were specifically targeting Anas al-Sharif, who they claimed without proof was a member of Hamas. The strike also killed Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal, as well as freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khaldi.
Israel took the rare step of accepting responsibility for the assassinations, but ended up claiming that al-Sharif works for Hamas, which is typical of their usual lies and smear campaigns. At least 238 Journalists have been killed in this war so far. At least 26-30 of them were specifically targeted.
Al-Sharif left a last message to be released if he was killed:
https://www.theguardian.com/comment.....aeli-airstrike
I have no doubt that if Israel lets press into Gaza that it will be under their usual conditions of being embedded with or ushered by the IOF and having to be approved by IOF censors. That's not journalism, it's propaganda.
*Edit of 8/12:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....alist_killings
Israel has released some documents and photos that supposedly prove al-Sharif was working on behalf of Hamas.
They're certainly not above faking documents or photos or distorting the meaning of photos. I still call BS. There is no independent confirmation of their veracity.
Just a few hours after Netanyahu saying that they'd let some journalists into Gaza, Israel Targeted and assassinated six journalists in their press tent in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital with a drone fired rocket. Five of them were from Al Jazeera. They were specifically targeting Anas al-Sharif, who they claimed without proof was a member of Hamas. The strike also killed Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal, as well as freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khaldi.
Israel took the rare step of accepting responsibility for the assassinations, but ended up claiming that al-Sharif works for Hamas, which is typical of their usual lies and smear campaigns. At least 238 Journalists have been killed in this war so far. At least 26-30 of them were specifically targeted.
Al-Sharif left a last message to be released if he was killed:
https://www.theguardian.com/comment.....aeli-airstrike
I have no doubt that if Israel lets press into Gaza that it will be under their usual conditions of being embedded with or ushered by the IOF and having to be approved by IOF censors. That's not journalism, it's propaganda.
*Edit of 8/12:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....alist_killings
Israel has released some documents and photos that supposedly prove al-Sharif was working on behalf of Hamas.
They're certainly not above faking documents or photos or distorting the meaning of photos. I still call BS. There is no independent confirmation of their veracity.
Hegseth Agrees Women Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Vote
Posted 3 months agohttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news.....s-women-voting
Wilson said "Women are the kind of people people come out of".
He also said that slavery "Promoted affection between the races" in the South.
Not particularly surprising, considering how Hegseth is a Christian nationalist and a Christian Zionist.
Wilson said "Women are the kind of people people come out of".
He also said that slavery "Promoted affection between the races" in the South.
Not particularly surprising, considering how Hegseth is a Christian nationalist and a Christian Zionist.
Meet Your Justice Department
Posted 3 months agoThe 80th Anniversary Of Hiroshima
Posted 3 months agoToday is the 80th anniversary of the US dropping a Uranium bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later we dropped a Plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. There was no military infrastructure in Nagasaki. All of the casualties were civilians.
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/6/hiroshima
I believe Howard Zinn in his saying that Japan was about to surrender and it wasn't necessary or ethical for us to use these weapons. It was the USSR entering the war against Japan that convinced them to surrender. Saying that countless lives were saved by the dropping of these bombs is a disengenuous lie. While some military lives may have been saved, there certainly weren't any civilian lives saved. -But then, who cared about a few Japs?
I believe the bombings were done partly as an experiment to see how much damage they'd do, and also to prove that we had them, that they worked, and that we'd use them, as a warning to the world, and particularly the USSR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSKLVseJ9Xo
Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was at Nagasaki about seven weeks after the bomb was dropped there. What he saw made him a pacifist for the rest of his life.
He said "When we went over to Nagasaki, it was total devastation. It was like a landscape in hell. What was left of bodies had all been cleared away by the time we got there, which was about seven weeks after the bomb had been dropped…. It was acres of mud, with bones and hair sticking up out of it.":
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/p.....asaki-bombing/
Shortly before his death a couple of years ago, He had an exhibit at his City Lights bookstore of photos he shot there.
NASA now plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....or_on_the_moon
-Would anyone like to imagine what the result of a rocket with such a payload exploding in our atmosphere might be? This is truly insane.
I think we need to decommission and disassemble all nuclear reactors. Not only are they insanely expensive to build and operate, but every aspect of them, from the mining and transportation of the fuel to the disposal of the waste has effects that last practically forever. We have far cheaper and non dangerous green alternatives. Think of the continued effects to the "Downwinders" in places like New Mexico and Hanford Washington, and to the Navajo where uranium is mined on their land. There are still around 15,000 unremediated uranium mines dotted across the West, mostly on Native land.
Nuclear plants are also completely vulnerable to attack by drone. Think about that.
Domestic nuclear power reactors also have deep connections with the "Defense" industry.
We now have AI companies trying to reopen Three Mile Island, and advocating the building of compact modular reactors, -none of which have even been built yet- pushing the lie that nuclear power is a green alternative to fossil fuels. Nuclear reactors also use clean water for cooling, and put out hot water, heating the atmosphere and water sources.
Here in California, we have The Diablo Canyon reactors, which were set to be closed permanently starting right about now. Instead, Gavin Newsom has decided to dump a billion bucks into these uninsured forty year old reactors in an effort to to eke a few more years use out of them , while at the same time backing a PG&E program which will largely kill rooftop solar here.
The Diablo Canyon reactors are built right on top of an intersection of about 12 faults and therefore are extremely susceptible to earthquake damage. Because of their age they're also embrittled. If there were a serious accident there, it could mean the permanent contamination of significant parts of Central and Southern California, and possibly wider, and the poisoning of food growing areas critcal to the whole country. It's just not worth the risk to continue using these reactors.
Also, the great Tom Lehrer died on July 29th. Here's his song about the bomb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLON3ddZIw
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/6/hiroshima
I believe Howard Zinn in his saying that Japan was about to surrender and it wasn't necessary or ethical for us to use these weapons. It was the USSR entering the war against Japan that convinced them to surrender. Saying that countless lives were saved by the dropping of these bombs is a disengenuous lie. While some military lives may have been saved, there certainly weren't any civilian lives saved. -But then, who cared about a few Japs?
I believe the bombings were done partly as an experiment to see how much damage they'd do, and also to prove that we had them, that they worked, and that we'd use them, as a warning to the world, and particularly the USSR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSKLVseJ9Xo
Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was at Nagasaki about seven weeks after the bomb was dropped there. What he saw made him a pacifist for the rest of his life.
He said "When we went over to Nagasaki, it was total devastation. It was like a landscape in hell. What was left of bodies had all been cleared away by the time we got there, which was about seven weeks after the bomb had been dropped…. It was acres of mud, with bones and hair sticking up out of it.":
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/p.....asaki-bombing/
Shortly before his death a couple of years ago, He had an exhibit at his City Lights bookstore of photos he shot there.
NASA now plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8.....or_on_the_moon
-Would anyone like to imagine what the result of a rocket with such a payload exploding in our atmosphere might be? This is truly insane.
I think we need to decommission and disassemble all nuclear reactors. Not only are they insanely expensive to build and operate, but every aspect of them, from the mining and transportation of the fuel to the disposal of the waste has effects that last practically forever. We have far cheaper and non dangerous green alternatives. Think of the continued effects to the "Downwinders" in places like New Mexico and Hanford Washington, and to the Navajo where uranium is mined on their land. There are still around 15,000 unremediated uranium mines dotted across the West, mostly on Native land.
Nuclear plants are also completely vulnerable to attack by drone. Think about that.
Domestic nuclear power reactors also have deep connections with the "Defense" industry.
We now have AI companies trying to reopen Three Mile Island, and advocating the building of compact modular reactors, -none of which have even been built yet- pushing the lie that nuclear power is a green alternative to fossil fuels. Nuclear reactors also use clean water for cooling, and put out hot water, heating the atmosphere and water sources.
Here in California, we have The Diablo Canyon reactors, which were set to be closed permanently starting right about now. Instead, Gavin Newsom has decided to dump a billion bucks into these uninsured forty year old reactors in an effort to to eke a few more years use out of them , while at the same time backing a PG&E program which will largely kill rooftop solar here.
The Diablo Canyon reactors are built right on top of an intersection of about 12 faults and therefore are extremely susceptible to earthquake damage. Because of their age they're also embrittled. If there were a serious accident there, it could mean the permanent contamination of significant parts of Central and Southern California, and possibly wider, and the poisoning of food growing areas critcal to the whole country. It's just not worth the risk to continue using these reactors.
Also, the great Tom Lehrer died on July 29th. Here's his song about the bomb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLON3ddZIw
The Snake
Posted 3 months agoBy Martin Espada
At the Save America rallies, after the damnation of the criminal aliens breaking across our borders and 1,900 percent more murders, he would ask the crowds if he could read a poem. This has to do with immigration, he’d say. The crowds would whoop and yip. He’d read “The Snake,” words stolen from a song, from the hand of a dead Black singer who could not snatch it back, a jazz fable spun on vinyl, a tale from the fabulist of Greece centuries before Christ.
The crowds would listen to the poem: Bikers for Trump, Cops for Trump, Uncle Sam in his beard, the Statue of Liberty in her crown, the millionaire who sells pillows on TV. They would testify in T-shirts that said Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president. They would hoist the Stars and Bars or signs that rhymed: Trump 24 or before. They would see the movie of the poem in their heads:
The snake frozen on the road, the woman scooping him up tight to nurse him with milk and honey by the fire, the incandescence of his skin brought back to life, the woman’s kiss and the viper’s venomous bite, her question why, then the words oozing from his tongue: You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in. The crowds would howl at the moral, at the punch line, at the tender woman who would die of tenderness. Like a preacher spelling out the lesson of a parable, their president would repeat: Immigration.
As they slept—the bikers and the cops, Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, the millionaire on his magic pillow—adolescents from Guatemala scalded the killing floors at the slaughterhouse in Grand Island, Nebraska, their hoses like snakes spewing rivers that bubbled in the steam. Around them, the blades of skull splitters and bone saws waited for their fingers to slip, fangs lurking in the murk of early morning, in the daze behind the goggles on the faces of adolescents from Guatemala, sleeping the next day at Walnut Middle School, shaken awake by teachers who spotted the acid burns on their hands.
The fable that Martin Espada refers to here comes from Aesop, and is called The Farmer and the Snake.
The song that Espada mentions was written by Al Wilson, and taken from an album called Tells it like it is! from 1963 by the brilliant Oscar Brown Jr. Everything he does is great, and I'd strongly suggest seeking it out. My personal favorite album from him is Between Heaven and Hell.
At the Save America rallies, after the damnation of the criminal aliens breaking across our borders and 1,900 percent more murders, he would ask the crowds if he could read a poem. This has to do with immigration, he’d say. The crowds would whoop and yip. He’d read “The Snake,” words stolen from a song, from the hand of a dead Black singer who could not snatch it back, a jazz fable spun on vinyl, a tale from the fabulist of Greece centuries before Christ.
The crowds would listen to the poem: Bikers for Trump, Cops for Trump, Uncle Sam in his beard, the Statue of Liberty in her crown, the millionaire who sells pillows on TV. They would testify in T-shirts that said Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president. They would hoist the Stars and Bars or signs that rhymed: Trump 24 or before. They would see the movie of the poem in their heads:
The snake frozen on the road, the woman scooping him up tight to nurse him with milk and honey by the fire, the incandescence of his skin brought back to life, the woman’s kiss and the viper’s venomous bite, her question why, then the words oozing from his tongue: You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in. The crowds would howl at the moral, at the punch line, at the tender woman who would die of tenderness. Like a preacher spelling out the lesson of a parable, their president would repeat: Immigration.
As they slept—the bikers and the cops, Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, the millionaire on his magic pillow—adolescents from Guatemala scalded the killing floors at the slaughterhouse in Grand Island, Nebraska, their hoses like snakes spewing rivers that bubbled in the steam. Around them, the blades of skull splitters and bone saws waited for their fingers to slip, fangs lurking in the murk of early morning, in the daze behind the goggles on the faces of adolescents from Guatemala, sleeping the next day at Walnut Middle School, shaken awake by teachers who spotted the acid burns on their hands.
The fable that Martin Espada refers to here comes from Aesop, and is called The Farmer and the Snake.
The song that Espada mentions was written by Al Wilson, and taken from an album called Tells it like it is! from 1963 by the brilliant Oscar Brown Jr. Everything he does is great, and I'd strongly suggest seeking it out. My personal favorite album from him is Between Heaven and Hell.
