One of the many anti-democratic ploys unleashed by the Likud in the last dying days of its control over current Israeli politics, was the end-around Bibi Netanyahu did circumventing the Knesset to employ a secret database of all Israeli citizens and monitor them for Covid-19. The NY Times reports that a 2002 directive permitted the Shin Bet secret police to … [Read more...]
Elections: Where Hope Goes to DIe
Developments today in Israeli and U.S. elections combined to make me absolutely miserable. On top of that Seattle, where I live, is one of America's premier Coronavirus hot spots. It is spreading like wildfire, but there is a preternatural calm in the city: road traffic is down, restaurants and stores are half-full. It's as if the town was waiting for the o … [Read more...]
Israeli Election: the Day After Offers Hope Netanyahu May Be Toppled
NOTE: Middle East Eye published a new post-election piece warning that the so-called Likud victory was nothing of the sort. What a difference a day (or two) makes! In the hours following the Israeli election, journalists in Israel and around the world saw the Likud had picked up five new seats and celebrated a major right-wing electoral victory. But … [Read more...]
Super Tuesday as 2020 Watershed Moment
Today was a watershed in the road to the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. It was, of course, the day that two of the four centrist candidates dropped out of the race and announced their endorsement of Joe Biden. But no matter how critical today was, tomorrow will be even more important. Because if Bernie Sanders does well tomorrow, all the po … [Read more...]
