Have you heard of FISA? That’s the ‘Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.’ It’s a clandestine program in which our government monitors potential foreign bad actors. Donny HATES it. He hates it because it was through FISA surveillance of Russians that the trump campaign was found to be communicating with those same Russians before the 2016 election. (HE claimed the US Government was spying on him. They weren’t. They were spying on the Russians and caught him. That’s different.) Donny sent out the order: “Kill FISA!”

The Freedumb Caucus tried. They wouldn’t let MAGA Mike bring the bill to the floor, at first, likely STILL bitching they don’t have border legislation because they killed it themselves. But then? Unexpected compromise in the ranks. The original authorization was for 5 years. They agreed to lower the number to 2 years. That made it okay in the MAGA mind because it means Donny gets to mess with the law if he gets back into the White House. Yet another reason to vote against Trump – and ALL Republicans, for that matter…

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Well, this is getting bigger, this “conflict” in the Middle East, but the news in America keeps presenting it as Israel defending itself. I keep seeing Israel as the antagonist. Iran dropped some missiles into Israel yesterday. The press talks about the “attack on Israel,” but it was a response. I even think Iran showed great restraint in their response. They limited their attack to a military target in a less populated area. Even Israel acknowledged, Iran didn’t do a great deal of damage. To me, that means they sent a message.

Yes, it’s ‘diplomacy-by-bomb’ but that happens all over this brutal world these days and it’s seen as acceptable. There’s some magical formula. Send a few bombs targeted to do only a little damage, and to a legitimate military target, it’s a “message.” It’s what HAMAS should have done in October, 2023.

Iran wasn’t just sitting around, bored, looking for some evil to perpetuate in the world. Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing several Iranians. Iran responded with a “measured attack.” Iran is not the aggressor, here, as nearly as I can tell. They dropped their missiles onto the base, then said they were done. Message sent. They won’t do any more unless they’re provoked again. (At this point, I would bet Netanyahu won’t stand down, though.)

Israel attacked. Iran responded. The papers are full of “What will Israel’s ‘response’ be?” Israel won’t be “responding.” Israel will be “escalating. This is all happening because of the extent of Israel’s “response” to the October 7, 2023 HAMAS response to Israeli antagonism in the region. But Israel’s “response” has not been “measured” by any means. Netanyahu has seized this opportunity to eliminate Palestinians in Gaza once and for all. No, they say otherwise. Words. I stand by the idea that actions speak louder than words and herding 2 million people into a single city and then attacking that city? When there is no place left to run to? I have a difficult time coming up with an accurate description other than ‘genocide.’

“Hey,” Israeli apologists will say, “Israel didn’t attack the city, they only threatened to.” They DID attack. No, they ARE attacking. Granted, not with bullets and bombs. THIS attack is being made, currently, with famine and disease, two VERY effective weapons. Israel even went so far as to murder a group of humanitarian aid workers trying to provide aid to the population, warning off, with their actions, other do-gooders who might want to help. I guess well-coordinated, carefully planned “accidents” happen in war. Words.

I feel like we’ve seen this before in history, where human beings are concentrated together and then allowed to starve to death or die of the conditions but I just can’t quite…

I try to see this from other points of view but no matter how I look at it, I see Israel as the aggressor, both in Gaza AND with Iran. American corporate media will continue to pound the message that Israel is the victim because they see the effectiveness of a heavily repeated lie in MAGA media. Maybe they can do that to ALL of us. But I don’t think they’ll succeed.

I’ll tell you this: The only people who will see Israel as the victim, here, are people who WANT to see Israel as the victim. The rest of us are going to follow the evidence and allow it to take us where it will. Meanwhile, our tax dollars continue to rain death and destruction on human beings the world over. I can’t TELL you how much I wish it was otherwise…