Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, September 03, 2024

Jewish Voice for Peace Holds Massive Rally at Capitol for Israel-Gaza Ceasefire

A massive protest is being held on Wednesday at noon in front of the Capitol building in Washington D.C., organized jointly by Jewish-led anti-occupation groups Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow, in which participants are demanding that lawmakers pass a resolution calling for the U.S. to facilitate a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

According to a press release from JVP, the event is part of a broader effort to have “ten thousand American Jews…lead a week of massive protests” in the nation’s capital in reaction to the violence that has been perpetrated by the Israeli military in Gaza.

Israel’s Violence Will Never Bring “Safety” to Anyone, Including Jews

The horror and heartbreak in Gaza reaches new proportions each minute: Israel’s siege has killed at least 3,400 people and injured more than 12,000 in the past week and a half, and a possible ground invasion threatens unspeakable levels of new violence. The Israeli forces and settlers have also killed 61 and injured 1,250 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The death tolls climb even as Palestinians and those in solidarity with them are marching and rallying worldwide in powerful and urgent protests.

For us, as anti-Zionist Jewish journalists, the past week and a half has been a flood of many griefs.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is Destroying Donald Trump’s Election Chances, Poll Says


Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy is on track to push President Joe Biden to an easy victory over Donald Trump in a potential 2024 showdown, according to a new poll.

Since Kennedy announced he was leaving the Democratic race to run as an independent earlier this month, the debate has swirled over whom he would hurt more, the four-times-indicted ex-president or the incumbent.

The GOP’s Secret to Protecting Gerrymandered Electoral Maps? Claim Privilege.

Eva Bonilla grows furious when she thinks about how Latino voters are treated by the Republican power structure in Texas. At 74, the small business owner watched the GOP Legislature pass a series of measures like a voter ID law that she felt would make it harder for Latinos to cast ballots or run for public office.

Two years ago, serving as the leader of a Hispanic women’s group in Fort Worth, she decided to strike back. The Republican Legislature had just pushed through new election maps that carved up Latino communities and made it even harder for them to elect candidates of their choice. So Bonilla joined other minority voters as plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit alleging intentional discrimination in the 2021 redistricting plan.

“I wanted to see the right thing done, and this is just not right,” she said.

Then Bonilla waited.

Trump Can’t Contain His Vile Eruptions

Donald Trump has always perfumed his personal word cloud with sulfurous vitriol and dank insults. At an early point in the mid-1970s, as the on-the-make developer from Queens crashed the Manhattan scene, he learned that if he directed enough volume at his opponents, he could intimidate, embarrass and shock them into collapse.

Trump’s fountain of bile — calling people “disgusting,” “moron,” “dummies,” “disgraceful,” “horseface,” “lowlife,” ‘dogs,” “low I.Q.,” or branding them with degrading nicknames — flowed then and flows now like an impure stream. In recent weeks, he’s topped even himself by calling obliquely for the execution of Gen. Mark A. Milley, urging shoplifters to be “shot,” accusing NBC News of “treason,” which is punishable with prison or death, and repeatedly calling the special counsel putting him on trial a “thug.”