The peanuts are too crunchy for me at this late age, but I wonder if I can persuade M.P. to come up with a softer version. I have to tell you all that he made a chocolate pie for dessert last Sunday, and it is out-of-this-world delicious! Like going to chocolate heaven. You never had anything better in your mouth. Trust me.
-----
 |
| Click to enlarge. |
-----
My friends, do you recall this horrific, nauseating balcony scene from Schindler's List?
That is what I immediately thought of that when I read this in the Guardian the other day:
[D]ozens of American doctors and nurses who served in Gaza . . . last year testified they had received the bodies of Palestinian children shot in the head or chest by Israeli snipers. Israeli soldiers have confessed that they are deliberately targeting children. Nick Maynard – a British doctor working in Gaza’s Nasser hospital – says that he is seeing clusters of young teenagers who have been shot in different body parts: on one day, it’s the abdomen, on another, the head or neck, on another, the testicles. “So there’s a very clear pattern and it’s almost as if a game is being played,” he says.
What is the difference between the movie scene and what is happening in Gaza now? The answer is, none: it is murder for sport. Just like the filthy Nazi in the film. If that is not an abomination in the eyes of God and all mankind, what is?
This devil's work has nothing to do with religion. It would be the same whether the perpetrators were Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or Martian. Murder is murder. And the word for murder of a whole nation or people is genocide. If you need to see it with your own eyes, here are some videos that are very hard to watch - but the world is watching. So is God. And God is not partial.
A report from Turkish state television:
An American veteran describes the war crimes against civilians he saw perpetrated by other Americans working for the Israelis:
Dr. Nick Maynard, quoted above, describes the mass starvation and horrific target practice the Israeli Defence Force has been using on Gaza children:
A final comment from an editorial in the Guardian, emphasis mine:
Faced with the systematic destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, other states must together produce a systematic, comprehensive and concrete response. If not now, when? What more would it take to convince them? This is first and foremost a catastrophe for Palestinians. But if states continue to allow international humanitarian law to be shredded, the repercussions will be felt by many more around the world in years to come. History will not ask whether these governments did anything to stop genocide by an ally, but whether they did all they could.
-----
If you're pressed for time, just pause the video and arrow ahead through the pics.
-----
-----
-----
It's almost as if Amos and Jesus were responding to today's headlines, isn't it?
-----
An old favorite song of mine:
-----
-----
-----
BTW, don't miss the light show in the last eight minutes.
-----
-----
In their second video, they give a mini-tour of the chateau:
(Mais je ne comprends pas pourquoi les gars ne parlent pas le francais dans leur videos. Pour le convenence de leurs telespectateurs anglophones, je me suppose.)
For a full tour of Chateau Poseidon from top to bottom, and a bit of the grounds, see the video they made for So Chateau here.
-----
Pete Buttigieg is rocking the beard and stache, with a message of hope for all Americans:
-----
Bonus: Jane Pauley interviews Jeanne and Jules Manford, founders of PFLAG, on the Today show, July 6, 1978:
This was about the time I came out to my own mom, while I was in college. Mama was great, she was immediately supportive, but it took her a while to process it all. I brought her to a meeting of the gay rap group at school, where a lady who had started a chapter of PFLAG gave a talk, and that helped my mom a lot.
Times were changing, but in 1978 it was still quite a scary thing to come out to anyone. There were as yet no openly gay celebrities on TV or in public life, certainly not in the Deep South. Only Anita Bryant running her mouth about the "homosexual threat" . . .
-----
-----
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign nation of many sovereign states; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it; to support its Constitution, to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend it against all enemies.
Bonus: Adam Kinzinger's Fourth of July message "Still Worth Believing In":
-----
-----
