Weekend Open Thread: Dems > Reeps in CA-39, Gaza Raids, Rashida, RAGE RE-UNITES!

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Oh, the things that come “across our transom” in such historic times as these! First, in the best OC music news in quite a long time, we’ll share the recent announcement that Irvine’s Rage Against the Machine is finally re-uniting!  This is a great time for that, we’ve really needed them.  And gives us an excuse to post a few more good videos of them in this post:

Also in our inbox today, the ADC (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) condemns the recent Israeli raids on Gaza. I know huh? Something we don’t see on American news…

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 14, 2019

Over the past three days, Israel has been indiscriminately bombarding and murdering Palestinians in Gaza. As of today, the Israeli military aerial attacks have killed 34 and injured more than 100 Palestinians; eight of the victims came from one family. ADC calls on the U.S. and international community to hold Israel accountable for its repeated gross human rights violations against the Palestinian people. The international community must take action to immediately stop Israel from its military air campaign against the Gaza Strip, and to halt targeting and killing Palestinians.

Israel continues to commit human rights violations against the Palestinian people with impunity. The Trump administration, and current U.S. policy towards the Palestinians, is also to blame for the ongoing siege and bloodshed in Gaza. Furthermore, the responses Democratic candidates for President, such as Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg have been tone deaf and reiterating the failed U.S. policy which has plagued the region for decades.

In 2018, Israel killed over 200 Palestinians in Gaza, including children, humanitarian aid workers, and marked members of the press. In 2018 alone, Israel has killed 46 children in Gaza and 52 children throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Though a ceasefire was reached early this morning, Israel’s grip on Gaza continues to suffocate the population. Israel’s eleven-year illegal siege of Gaza has created what the UN defines as “one of the world’s largest open-air prisons.” For the Two Million Palestinians confined in the Gaza Strip, over 95% of the water is deemed undrinkable, electricity is limited to only 3-6 hours per day, and the deteriorating health care system operates in a constant crisis mode. The U.N. reports that the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is so severe that Gaza will be unlivable by the year 2020. ADC support the UN’s repeated calls on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza.

ADC calls on the U.S. administration to uphold its domestic laws that stipulate the U.S. must immediately halt financial aid and training to foreign military units that commit gross violations of human rights, as it is stated in the U.S. Leahy law. Israel’s aggression is in clear violation of the Leahy Law. The U.S. has a responsibility to uphold the values of human rights, peace, and dignity for all people. The Palestinian people are not an exception.

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Also this morning, Congressman Gil Cisneros‘ people sent out an e-mail celebrating this new LA Times piece, entitled “California Democrats Who Won House Battlegrounds Might Be Even Stronger For 2020.”  Yeah, that’s kind of what I suspected all along, despite the Party’s tendencies toward timidity and nailbiting – this monstrous excuse for a Republican leading us now has not worn well for the average American. 

Democrats made history two years ago by knocking off seven Republican congressional incumbents, a key component of the party’s takeover of the House of Representatives. GOP candidates are already lining up in hopes of taking back some of those seats.  But brand-new voter registration data suggest that won’t be so easy…

Gil’s peeps especially liked the part about THEIR district 39:  “For Cisneros, the numbers are especially good. His seat representing Orange County as well as parts of Los Angeles and San Bernardino has flipped from a Republican plurality to now having Democrats as top dogs.”

Not that all (or even most) Democrats are any better than the Republicans on certain issues, like the Middle East.  We’ve been trying for a couple months to get Congressman Lou Correa just to sign onto Betty McCollum’s HR 2407, “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act” – our Anaheim Democratic Club sent him a letter urging this support, and Gil is equally unconcerned.

But OC’s gradual shift from Republican to Democrat DOES represent a sort of slow progress.  If America were a sane, normal, benevolent country, Gil, Lou and Harley would be Republicans looking out responsibly for business interests and the environment (with probably Biden and Buttegieg vying for that Party’s nomination) and the rest of us Democrats would be Democrats, faced with a choice between Bernie and Elizabeth.  And Trump supporters would be muttering to each other about the Deep State in some faroff rural shacks.

Because we need Democrats who are gonna TESTIFY!

Democrats like RASHIDA TLAIB, who don’t forget is coming to Fullerton next Saturday, November 23 from 3-5 PM.  Check the ad on the side of the blog for more info for this (at least $100) fundraiser.  Or just click here.  But I had mentioned a while back that there MIGHT be a free event beforehand for folks who can’t afford the fundraiser.  Well…

…lowkey there is.  But we don’t want it to get too crowded, so I’m not going to publicize it here.  But I’ll tell you where and when if you e-mail me at vernpnelson@gmail.com.

Well that’ll do for now, talk about any of this or the impeachment hearings – hey how about that Ambassador Yovanovich, eh?

 


About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.