J4 Potpourri: Electoral Games, Palestine, More

Today may be a holiday, followed by a Friday, but you can bet that the campaign lawyers are working this long weekend. Larry Johnson has done a Youtube video with Danny Davis that I highly recommend. The title is misleading because the first segment (up to 20:15) is entirely devoted to the Dem meltdown. LJ makes a lot of pithy observations that I believe readers will appreciate. I was very pleased that he puts to rest the notion la Michelle would ever be the Dem candidate: 1) She’s not willing to put in the work, and 2) based on ratings numbers she is not and never has been very popular. That last is the point I made yesterday in a comment. I will add, as well, that if she ever ended up in any sort of debate setting I believe she would reveal a temper that would shock most to the viewers. LJ also makes a similar point regarding Barry’s popular, echoing also what I wrote yesterday. Throughout his 8 years he exhibited no coattails. That won’t change if he goes on the campaign trail for Kama Sutra, but anyone who expects Barry to go barnstorming should probably reassess. I don’t believe he has the appetite for that sort of work any longer.

LJ also has a lot to say about Kama Sutra—she is NOT going to follow any script that involves giving up her “right” to run for president with that big stash that belongs to the campaign. Somebody didn’t think this one through, starting with picking her to be VP to begin with. He also has a lot to say about Zhou’s current state. One part that sticks in my mind starts off with a very telling anecdote:

Yesterday I did a podcast with a Chinese professor who's actually the director of China's cyber security institute, so you know he's he's fairly far up there. Initially in talking to him [he came across as] what I'd call a stereotypical Chinese professor--reserved, very well spoken, not overtly emotional. [He did part of his studies at Georgetown University, so he lived in Washington DC, knows the area, and we talked a little bit.] But then I asked him, 'What did you think about the debate?' and Danny, as God is my judge, his exact response was, he started laughing and he goes, and I'm quoting, 'I laughed my ass off!' Now when you're hearing a Chinese professor at a senior level that's involved with cyber security--which gets into Chinese national defense--and then he followed up by saying, 'We don't know what to think about you guys! This is crazy! How can you allow this to go on?'

That's the question world leaders are asking: What is wrong with the United States that you could allow somebody in the condition of Joe Biden not just to walk on stage but to actually sit there in the White House and be taken seriously? The bigger question is not whether he should run for reelection. I think that's already done, it's already over. The debate performance and all of these senior Democratic conversations since that time have made it irreversible. He he can't go back on and have any chance to win. It'll only get worse. The bigger question to me, the one that's more important, is: Can he even stay in office until January of next year? I don't know that he can.

This is not going to get better and this is all taking place against the backdrop in Ukraine, man, the Russian offensive is accelerating. They started off in low gear, boy, they're shifting now into high gear.

Watch/Listen to it here:

What Ukraine Will Look Like if Trump Wins w/fmr CIA Intel analyst Larry Johnson

Next, shifting to Palestine. Some readers may be aware that during the past week the Israeli army and security service released the al Shifa Hospital director with no charges. Remember, the Israelis perpetrated a massive massacre at al Shifa, shooting patients and doctors alike, claiming this was the epicenter for Hamas resistance. This release of the doctor was done without consulting Netanyahu. Obviously, there is increasing disarray within the Israeli government. This, in fact, looks like the army and security services attempting to reach out on their own to Hamas.

Ori Goldberg @ori_goldberg

Jul 1 • 9 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X

1/ The IDF and Shin Bet have released Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya after months of detention back to the Gaza strip. Israel's government is in an uproar. This state of affairs demonstrates the depths of Israel's unhinged mendacity. --->

2/ IDF and Shin Bet don't release a-n-y-o-n-e unless they absolutely have to because not even the most trumped up charges will stick. The director's release proves conclusively that the entire campaign around the destruction of Shifa was a barefaced lie. --->

3/ Israel classifies pretty much any behavior remotely related to Palestinian politics as "aiding and abetting terrorism". Israel presented its destruction of Shifa first as a campaign against the biggedt terrorist HQ in the strip. That was proven to be a lie. --->

4/ Then Israel claimed that the hospital was a hideout for terrorists and that the entire staff was complicit. The director's release (he was presented as high-ranking office in Hamas) reveals the opposite. Israel would have stuck to its guns if it could. It can't. --->

5/ The release has caused a stir in government and among unabashed supporters of the genocide. Netanyahu has helped establish a "forum" of hostage relatives who support a "total victory" (an extremely small minority among hostage relatives). They are protesting. --->

6/ Government ministers are protesting, some demanding the dismissal of the head of Shin Bet who has become "welfare officer for the terrorists". What can we learn from this?

*First, that Israel operates a broad, effective apparatus for the dissemination of lies. --->

7/ The PR campaign about Shifa was one of the largest, most extravagant propaganda productions of this genocidal campaign. Director Abu Salmiya's release certifies this fact.

*Second, that for the leaders of Israel's government there are "no bystanders in Gaza". --->

8/ It began as revenge. Now it is an ideologically driven campaign of "elimination", particularly when it comes to any and all infrastructure in the strip. Israel's government wants to make Gaza unlivable by any means necessary.

*Third, Israel's institutions are collapsing. --->

9/ The military and other security organizations speak with a voice different from the government's. No one is even pretending to define "military goals", the fictitious justification for the genocide. It is a free for all. Even the lies are collapsing.

And this is the government and military that’s going to go to war against Hezbollah? Here’s a twitter transcript about that from MSNBC.

Also recommended for background on Yemeni history and politics:

The Houthis Turn the Red Sea Redder, Stymieing Israel and the US

Let’s finish with some quick tweet hits:

Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai

After today's #Hezbollah bombing of the Israeli army, are you still wondering if #Israel will start an all-out war against #Lebanon?

A non-state actor worried about a surprise all-out war would not defy and humiliate Israel as it has done today and over the past 9 months.

What does this tell you about the desperate US attempts to draw Lebanon’s government into a war on Hezbollah?

COMBATE | @upholdreality 

 China Foreign Ministry: "Once a wheat exporter, Syria now finds 55% of its population facing food insecurity. The United States is UNDENIABLY responsible for this. The US says it's there to fight terrorism, but in reality it's there to PLUNDER."

It just makes me wince—to put it mildly—when Trump brags about this. And says he would have done the same to Venezuela if he could have.

DaiWW @BeijingDai 

I don't know what China had done, but the United States annouced to withdraw its medium range missiles deployed in the Philippines, even though these missiles were only four subsonic Tomahawk missile launchers and would not pose a real threat to China.

Perhaps China has exchanged something with the United States, or perhaps China has exerted some pressure on the Philippines, but obviously it is not because of the goodwill of the United States or Philippines. China achieved its goal anyway.