The right wing element of our country is as close to power as it has ever been. We have have survived racists like Woodrow Wilson. We have suffered under absolute liars like Tricky Dick Nixon. Our worst military defeat, the invasion of Vietnam, was built on false war propaganda. Through all of this, we have persevered, and so has our Constitutional democracy. That era looks to be over.
The current gap between the rich and the poor is at a level that is historically unprecedented. The billionaires have captured our government, forcing cuts for the working class and tax breaks for the already filthy rich. The nation's president has become unglued; he is a completely self absorbed narcissist presiding over the most corrupt administration we have ever experienced.
Like most tyrants, Trump wants to control everything that we the people think. He has opened the door to junk science, attacked free speech on campuses, and created his own fascist organization that shoots first and asks questions later. His billionaire supporters have purchased most of the mainstream media, from the newspapers to the TV programming. That way we can't listen to Stewart, Fallon, or Colbert. We can't watch "60 Minutes," which often revealed governmental wrongdoing.
If that were not threatening enough, Trump is pushing for endless wars. We had our chance to stop this madman when he conspired to overthrow the 2020 election. But like the Germans after the Beer Hall Putsch, we didn't stop the tyrant when we could have.
Fred Nagel
Overthrowing the Tyrant
Guts? Or Opportunism?
After two years and ten months of Israeli genocide, Pat Ryan--who repeatedly said nothing would ever stop him from supporting Israel--voted to block sending $3.3 billion to Israel as part of a military authorization package. But don't get too excited. His constituents have been calling and pressuring him to find a way to break with the Israel lobby, and its money, for nearly three years, while he refused to meet with us, refused to acknowledge that Israel was carrying out a genocide against Palestinians, refused to speak or vote against a single bomb or dollar going to aid that genocide.
Only now, when pro-Israel Democrats are being unseated everywhere did Pat Ryan suddenly see the light.
I'm glad for every vote against U.S. funding of the Israeli military. But I have to ask myself: Guts? Or opportunism?
Naomi
Ceasing To Be a State
People have a right to exist, but the countries they live in do not. Should a country betray all measures of law or humanity, why their leaders should be arrested and all its institutional structures erased.
We have the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials as a template. At the end of the Second World War, the victors decided to remake Germany and Japan by locking up their former leaders and shredding their social structures. These weren't perfect trials, but they did create an expectation that such horrendous war crimes would never be allowed again.
Two million people are being starved to death in Gaza. There are no hospitals, schools, or residential buildings left. There is no water that is fit to drink, nor sewage systems to keep the population safe. There is nothing left but the bombs, missiles and drones that eat up everyone's families. And the killing goes on, night and day. At least the Nazis tried to keep their mass slaughter secret, something that doesn't seem to worry the Israeli Defense Force. The pro Israel Lobby has spent tens of millions bribing Congress and the president to look the other way.
So when Israel falls because the rest of the world finally cuts it off, we know who should go to jail and what societal structures should be destroyed. Racial apartheid must come to an end, as should all the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian land. Israel, that failed colony of Western imperialism and racism, must cease to be a state.
Fred Nagel
Israel Bonds: A bad investment for N.Y.
Ancram, N.Y.: I was shocked to read Tom DiNapoli (photo) call himself a progressive in his bid to win reelection as state comptroller (“Earning a new term as N.Y. comptroller,” op-ed, June 7). Progressives don’t support genocide, and New York State employees shouldn’t want their pensions invested in it. Aside from the obvious moral objections to his investing in Israel Bonds, it doesn’t make fiscal sense.
From Drew Warshaw’s research (to whose candidacy I’m not committed): “It turns out, the government of Israel actually issues two types of bonds. The first are traditional sovereign bonds and can be freely traded between investors on ‘secondary’ markets. These bonds comprise 10% of our pension fund’s holdings. The second type, which represents 90% of our pension fund’s holdings, cannot be traded without the express permission of Israel’s government and thus must be held to maturity. This second type of sovereign bond is nearly unheard of in capital markets because the credit risk an investor takes on is total. If Israel’s finances begin to erode, if its credit rating falls, or if New York’s pension fund simply needs to raise cash to pay beneficiaries, unlike similarly-rated bonds from Ireland, Japan, Spain and the like, there is no getting out of this position. New York is stuck.
“Is it possible that New York taxpayers are compensated for this unique risk? Is the return on this special class of bonds so enticing that it is worth owning such a disproportionate amount? Not even close.”
Dave Hall
Reclaiming our basic humanity
There we go again. Slaughtering civilians in a country that presents absolutely no danger to our ourselves, our military bases, or our international hegemony. It is hard not to think about what a bully our nation has become. We obey no international rules about killing women and children, or destroying any number of hospitals and colleges. We are the Death Star home of Darth Vader, that ominous murderer of peace on earth.
For people like me who always cheer for the underdog, disliking one's own country has become inescapable. I think about those 20,000 children killed by US bombs and drones. Or about the hundreds of reporters assassinated. I think about how racist and criminally insane our one true friend in the world really is. The people of the earth understand what we have become. In fact we have been coming to that conclusion ourselves.
Can we disarm Israel, and end its 75 years of Palestinian extermination? Would that be enough to regain our basic humanity? Would our grandchildren forgive us when pictures of starving children came up in their Social Studies books? Will their beloved nation ultimately do the right thing? Or will we as a people join the dark side, and take our place with the monsters of the Death Star?
We can start with shaming any member of Congress who takes Israeli bribes. How about Pat Ryan, who talks about human rights but received a quarter of a million in Death Star funds last year?
Fred Nagel
The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians
To the NYT Editor:
Thank you so much for publishing Nicholas Kristof's piece The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians. The sexual violence Palestinians who fall into the hands of the Israeli military and/or the prison system is almost never discussed, but is deeply felt in Palestinian society. I shared your article with a friend who was subject to 14 months of administrative detention and ultimately released with no charges. He shared with me some of his experiences which included sexual abuse with pictures taken by his abusers (as well as his losing 1/3 of his body weight from starvation). His wise comment to me, "The shame is not mine, it is theirs."
The Israeli prison authorities' immediate and furious denials responding to the article are just par for the course for a government that rarely investigates abuses of power and never actually holds anyone accountable.
And thank you for pointing out that our tax dollars support these abuses so we are complicit. I would add that state treasurers and controllers like NYS' Tom DiNapoli who have purchased large amounts of Israel Bonds are also complicit.
Again, Thank you. It won't be easy to stand up to the response but if you can, it will be an important demonstration of what journalistic integrity looks like.
Sincerely,
Felice