Tag: Wall Street Journal

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It + Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It

Rafah has been at the center of a growing rift between Israeli and U.S. political leaders. Those tensions boiled over on Monday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit to Washington by top aides to discuss U.S. concerns over the planned offensive on Rafah, where Hamas fighters are making a final stand. The tit-for-tat move was in response to the U.S. abstaining from a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire while also demanding the release of hostages.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, however, proceeded with his meetings at the White House and Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday, which had been previously scheduled. Gallant is part of Israel’s three-member war cabinet that includes Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the prime minister’s chief political rival.

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Both sides also agreed that the Hamas battalions in Rafah must be dislodged so that the militants cannot attempt a comeback or continue to smuggle weapons into the enclave, which are prerequisites for ending the war and paving the way for a new political authority in Gaza. And that means trying to find ways to work with Israel on its Rafah strategy, for lack of better options.

Related:

Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

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China’s economy is still far out growing the U.S. – contrary to Western media “fake news”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

GDP data for China, the U.S., and the other G7 countries for the year 2023 has now been published. This makes possible an accurate assessment of China’s, the U.S., and major economies performance—both in terms of China’s domestic goals and international comparisons. There are two key reasons this is important.

China’s economy is still far out growing the U.S. – contrary to Western media “fake news”

U.S. to Invest Billions to Replace China-Made Cranes at Nation’s Ports

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. to Invest Billions to Replace China-Made Cranes at Nation’s Ports

Administration officials said more than $20 billion would be invested in port security, including domestic cargo-crane production, over the next five years. The money, tapped from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2021, would support a U.S. subsidiary of Mitsui, a Japanese company, to produce the cranes, which officials said would be the first time in 30 years that they would be built domestically.

Related:

How Much Would It Cost To End Homelessness In America?

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the United States. 

RFK Jr.’s ‘Unconditional’ Support for Israel Is Costing His Campaign for President

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s staffers keep resigning

Many antiwar Americans were thrilled when Kennedy announced last spring that he’d be running against Joe Biden in this year’s primaries and that he’d hired former Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich to be his campaign manager. But Kucinich quit in the middle of October.

RFK Jr.’s ‘Unconditional’ Support for Israel Is Costing His Campaign for President

Boots on the ground in the Middle East make Americans less safe, not more

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Boots on the ground in the Middle East make Americans less safe, not more

This sound logic has been ignored in Iraq and Syria, where small numbers of American troops stationed on remote and exposed bases are under fire from Iranian-backed militias. As of this writing, at least 60 American service members have sustained injuries in more than 73 attacks over the past few weeks.

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All of this brings to mind a solemn and recently observed milestone. On Oct. 23, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks bombing, when a suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb killing 241 U.S. service members. Their mission was never clearly defined, they were bound by peacetime rules of engagement to maintain “neutral status,” and they took sniper and mortar fire from the moment their boots touched ground.

Daniel Davis said, in his interview with Jason Beardsley (author), that the attacks are up to 118. Beardsley is with Koch-funded Concerned Veterans for America.

Smashing the Iran Myth (Hasbara)

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

In the early morning of December 31, 2023, the commercial freighter Maersk Hangzhou came under attack by Houthi fighters from Yemen who were attempting to board it. US Navy helicopters responding to its distress calls were fired upon by the small Houthi boats, according to the US Central Command, and “returned fire in self-defence,” sinking three of the four boats and killing their crews

Smashing the Iran Myth: From Houthi to Hezbollah

Previously:

Hasbara Industry: Deconstructing Israel’s Propaganda Machine

Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Thursday attempting to end the state’s near-total ban on collective bargaining for most public employees.

Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others

Related:

Wisconsin’s Act 10 Is in Jeopardy (WSJ)

The law, signed by former Gov. Scott Walker, has saved the Badger State from turning into Illinois or New York, where public unions essentially run the state government for their own benefit. According to the MacIver Institute, Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers $16.8 billion since it was passed in 2011, making public finances more manageable at every level of government.

Progressive mayors who publicly rail against the law know that repealing it would wreak havoc on municipal budgets. According to Wisconsin Right Now, Milwaukee’s budget says it has saved about $345.4 million in health insurance since 2012 because of Act 10’s requirement that public employees contribute to their health plans.

The lawsuit by teachers and other public unions focuses on a narrow part of the law that exempts public-safety employees. The unions say this creates a “favored” class of workers and imposes “severe burdens on employees in the disfavored group.” Act 10’s “anti-democratic regime,” the unions continue, subjects “general” employees “to a panoply of burdens and deprives them of important rights,” while exempting police officers and firefighters from “all its injurious provisions.”

Attacks on Public-Sector Unions Harm States: How Act 10 Has Affected Education in Wisconsin

A Decade After Act 10, It’s A Different World For Wisconsin Unions

WSJ quotes MacIver Institute, from the Atlas Network via State Policy Network, Bradley Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity (Kochtopus). Former WI Governor Scott Walker, another Atlas/Koch tool, does not rule out intervening.

WSJ conceals Saudi funding of pro-Saudi nuke deal source

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that “Israeli officials are quietly working with the Biden administration on a polarizing proposal to set up a U.S.-run uranium-enrichment operation in Saudi Arabia as part of a complex three-way deal to establish official diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern countries,” according to U.S. and Israeli officials.

WSJ conceals Saudi funding of pro-Saudi nuke deal source