Integrity Matters! A Lot!

Since a few days after the October 7th. incident on the Israel/Gaza border I stopped watching CNN and MSNBC, and I am so happy with myself for this decision. Why the hell have I waited this long, because as I have said often enough they are Bought-and-Paid-for; they get their screwed, biased, racist talking points every morning and they parrot them all day and all night long; they indulge in Lies, Deceit and Propaganda; they are smug, arrogant and self-aggrandizing. Yes, they have made minimum progress in their coverage lately, but historically, they have rarely, if ever, given us, Palestinians, a fair shake! While they get all tied up like a pretzel over Bosnia, Uyghurs, Rohingya et al, they have given Israel every excuse for its Heartless, Merciless Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide. They did not stop lamenting Kashoogshi, but almost 100+ Palestinian Journalists targeted and assassinated hardly deserve getting their knickers twisted over! So what for? I also used to watch Ali and Ayman who have been muzzled and ordered to tone it down, so I cancelled them from my DVR! Integrity Matters! A Lot! But I guess that a gig on MSNBC is more important than that attribute! Sad! I watched Mehdi’s last show, and it made me madder at MSNBC for letting him go. Schmucks! The BBC are better than our US Corporate Media, but most of them can’t help that Tacit Racism from creeping in and from casting aspersions on everything regarding Gaza, or Anything we Palestinians say by claiming that they need to “verify,” and to “investigate,” while not applying the same standard of Authentication to Israel’s Lies, Deceit and Propaganda. Moreover, there are Countless – Countless! – News Sources, Podcasts and Blogs that are Balanced and Truthful and that do Not Obey the Agendas of the Powers That Be. Bookmark The Intercept on your Favorites and read their Super Excellent Investigative Journalism articles (https://theintercept.com/world/), because Integrity Matters! A Lot! I also stopped watching the local news – except for once in a while ABC’s Dave Lucas who is terrific! – and I am ecstatic for not having to subject myself to their catering to the Lowest Common Denominator of our population with Inane News and Frivolous Morning Shows. Their Only redeeming programs are the Evening Serials such as Law & Order and FBI which are Super Terrific Shows. Can’t wait to have them resume!

So what do I watch? Democracy Now with the One and Only Terrific and Honest Amy Goodman, and her terrific cohosts: Juan Gonzalez and Nermeen Sheikh. Important to note, especially on her coverage of Gaza, that Amy’s maternal grandfather was a Jewish Rabbi! Yes! Integrity Matters! A Lot! The program’s coverage of the Belmarsh Tribunal which was about Julian Assange was excellent journalism and tear-jerking! You will not see such issues discussed on the Bought-and-Paid for Corporate Media! I also watch C-Span. No Sound-bites! No Gotcha Moments! Their Book Discussions, Panels and Interviews are truly fantastic and informative. My favorite program, though, is their Washington Journal, with Incredibly Wonderful Show Hosts and their unbiased presentations that cover all current news topics with Real, Ordinary, Normal People calling in, opining, most of them polite though passionate about their issues, and who are from all persuasions and walks of life. How refreshing is that rather than listening to the biased opinions of the stuffed shirts as they brainwash us?

As for Social Media and their consumerist Algorithms they have become too boring and manipulative. I still go on my Facebook page, though, but only to keep up with some of my contacts there.

You are all aware that here, in the US, and other than the chaos in our Legislature and the threats coming from Climate, Cyber and AI dangers, we are embarking on an Election Year. That makes me ask: when have Any Aspiring Candidates stopped Campaigning whether they are planning to run, running, or in office already, because of the Lobbyists and Special Interests who Bribe them and fill their coffers? And, no matter who ends up being the Frontrunner for either one of the Parties – Unfortunately, Third Parties aren’t even given a chance, because we have a disgusting Two-Party Monopoly – this Election Season promises to be highly charged, nerve-wracking and another nauseating high drama spectacle! Also, there are Presidential Elections happening in multiple other places across the world. Will it be Ominous Authoritarians who will prevail, or Promising Progressive Leaders? President Joe Biden started his campaign for the coming Presidential Election on January 5th. with a line that asked whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause? On a domestic level, I believe that the aspirational pursuit of democracy is serious and that we have certainly made strides since the inception of this Constitutional Republic, which is promising. Biden also alluded to the fact that our democracy is a work in progress. It is! However, I don’t know about “sacred,” because what is apparent is that the only “sacred” we espouse is the Colonist Enterprise with its support for any War; its Greed; its Arrogance and its Hypocrisy, because the Same Old Politicians and Players on the Planet’s Chessboard with their damn Passé Mindsets haven’t Evolved, or Adjusted. Most of them still believe that devastating Military Power is the only way to Acquire Domination and Wealth, and they would like us to continue believing that and being Brainwashed Slaves accepting their sordid and bloody agendas! This does not bode well! I have predominantly been ranting and raving about this for as long as I have had this blog. I was certainly not the first, or the only one to believe that.

This being another Merciless, Heartless, Criminal and Cruel War on Gaza, I believe that more than any other Tragic Event for us, Palestinians, it was the Most Hurtful, Painful and Sorrowful, especially so for those of us who have been alive since the establishment of Israel and who have witnessed one more war, one more assassination, one more catastrophe after the other. It is so dismaying to witness Pathetic Biden and Worthless Blinken, the UK, EU and NATO’s (North Atlantic Terrorist Organization, as some activists call it) support of the Extremist Thugs in the Israeli Government while paying lip-service to Innocent Palestinian Civilians; showing their hypocritical empathy while signing a Blank Check for Israel! Nor am I less angry at our Arab Leaders most of whom are just as hypocritical, embarrassing and ineffective! I do not know what goes on behind closed doors, but I truly wonder whether Biden and Blinken are Complicit with Netanyahu and his obvious efforts at aspiring to pull Iran into a regional war, especially with this latest attack on the Houthis which gave Rishi a chance to flex his artificial muscles, and get his jollies? And Biden to preserve the Colonist Enterprise’s corporate greed? Or, whether Netanyahu while thumbing his nose at them again and again is proceeding to immerse the region in more bloodshed irrelevant of Anyone, or Anything, especially with the ICJ trial that is revealing to the whole world the extent of the Israeli Government’s Lies, Deceit and Propaganda? Since I opened my eyes when the British Colonists ceded parts of Palestine for a “Jewish Homeland” without asking us, and since trained and armed European Jews descended on Palestine killing, terrorizing, stealing our properties, demolishing our villages and uprooting almost 800,000 of us who had Nothing – Nothing! – to do with their Holocaust, we have been suffering the aggression, vindictiveness and hatred of the Israeli Government that made us out to be the Aggressors and they the Victims! It is unbelievable! How will it all unfold? Who has the Moral Authority to effect a change to this perilous course? Integrity Matters! A Lot! Unfortunately, it seems to have fled the Planet together with Humanity and all those other Important, forgotten Values!

Lastly, if Ordinary Israeli People, or the thousands of Biased and either Ignorant, or Willfully Blind Politicians, in the West especially, or the schmucks in the Western Corporate Media would only listen and see the numerous Palestinian Specialists, Professionals and Experts on Every Subject available to Humans, they will realize how grossly Israel has indulged, and continues to do so, in portraying All of us as Backwards, Terrorists, Uneducated, Animals, Cockroaches and on and on with their Lies, Deceit and Propaganda! This war on Gaza has highlighted just what Impressive, Amazing and Resilient Humans we Palestinians are despite the Extremely Exorbitant Price we are paying! Maybe that might give us the opportunity for Equal Treatment, Dignity and Respect that we certainly deserve??!! Nevertheless, we Know who we are, and what we are capable of, and their endorsement should it ever come will be “too little, too late” for me to ever forget the harm that their bigotry and racism over eight decades have caused us!