Opinion
Since 1952, the German government has paid over $80 billion (€71 billion) in compensations and social welfare payments to Jews who suffered under the Nazi regime. Why should Palestinian not be entitled for same right to address their grievances? We all know the saying,"what is good for the goose is good for the gander.”
In that spirit, I am here seeking the names of United States citizens who lost loved ones in the latest genocide in Gaza and Palestine and/or have members of their families injured as a result of the Israeli use of US manufactured weapons. For example, Lockheed Martin and Google are two top US companies that currently provide weapon technology to the state of Israel. Those companies should be held accountable under US laws.
I love Bernie Sanders. By most measures, he’s the greatest senator in the last 50 years. I was very glad to be a Sanders delegate to the 2016 and 2020 Democratic National Conventions. But when Bernie screws up, his progressive base should say so.
Rulings by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court favor Trump and right-wing, anti-democratic interests and values, threatening to upend an already weakened American democracy. The right-wing bias of the court goes back to Trump’s successful nominations of three reactionary justices to the court while he was president. As it stands now, there are six right-wing justices on the court and 3 “liberals.”
In one of its most disturbing recent rulings on June 2022 the court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 law that gave women the right to an abortion. The story of this ruling is told in masterful detail by Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer in their book, “The Fall of Roe, The Rise of a New America” (publ. 2024).
In this post, the contention about the court’s right-wing bias is exemplified by three recent Supreme Court rulings dealing with expanding gun ownership rights, deregulation, and presidential immunity.
-------------
Bump Stocks
Supreme Court Rejects Ban on Gun Bump Stocks
Ahmir Questlove Thompson wrote a book detailing the first 50 Years of Hip Hop. Questlove’s book: Hip Hop Is History.
Ahmir Questlove’s Thompson is the drummer for the Roots. Do you have a favorite Roots song? I’m biased towards the Roots song, The Next Movement. I find some of the lyrics empowering.
The Roots are headlining the Essence Festival at the superdome in New Orleans as I type this review….
Questlove is the bandleader during the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Excuse me, Questlove is the music director for everyone’s dream late night show. Every time I look at this……I’m still impressed.
Questlove directed the Summer of Soul. Summer of Soul won an Academy Award in 2022 for Best Documentary, won a Grammy for Best Music Film and won Sundances Top Jury Prize in 2021.
Ahmir Thompson is a best-selling author for Mo Meta Blues, Music is History, Creative Quest, and The Rhythm of Time. He was nominated for A James Beard Award for somethingaboutfood.
The United States tax code allows exemptions from federal taxes for certain categories of nonprofit organizations or groups that frequently serve either an educational or charitable purpose. Such organizations are categorized as 501(c)(3) and exempt from Federal income taxes while the donors who contribute to their support can deduct the total donations up to the limits imposed by their own overall tax liability. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognizes more than 30 types of nonprofit organizations but only those that qualify for 501(c)(3) status can say that donations made to them are tax deductible.
When Joe Biden’s ABC News interview aired on Friday night, it made clear that he should not be running for re-election. Rather than reduce the concerns sparked by his abysmal debate performance eight days earlier, the interview underscored that the president is in denial about his current political standing and unable to offer reassurance that his mental capacities are unimpaired.
Notably, Biden kept dodging and refusing to reply in the affirmative when journalist George Stephanopoulos asked whether he has had “a full neurological and cognitive evaluation” and if he would “be willing to have the independent medical evaluation.”
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand is allowing 5,000 impoverished Thais to fly to Israel to work for better-paying jobs in desert "safe areas," and wants to send 40,000 more, despite the deaths of 41 Thais and 31 kidnapped during the October attack by Hamas and other Palestinian fighters.
Six Thais remain among the hostages in Gaza.
“Thai nationals must be only employed in safe areas, or green areas, confirmed by Israeli authorities and the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv,” Thai Labor Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said.
Mr. Phiphat traveled on May 26 to Tel Aviv to lobby for an increase in their quota for how many Thai men and women, aged 25-41, can go to Israel for work, mostly at agriculture and construction sites.
"Even though it is their choice to return to Israel, it can't be denied that Thailand's economy is not appealing enough to keep these workers here," Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in April.
