politics – from the bog

Last minute vote in arizona

Posted on November 6, 2024 by boggmann

Today is Election Day and I Have Not Yet Voted…

But I will. Really I will. I am one of the disparaged “undecided” voters, but I still have a few hours to get my ballot in. You, dear reader, have probably already voted, so it is too late for me to try to influence your decisions. So this issue of BogNews are election day reflections. Here is my dilemma: the candidates for two main political parties — one of whom will surely win — are a choice between, on one side, a pseudo-fascist/racist/sexist/moron, and on the other side someone comfortably complicit in a genocidal mass murder. What’s an old boy in the belly of the beast to do?

Not that the big orangeman does not share a willingness to support the billions in US death subsidies comparable to our national treasures being provided by the Biden/Harris funding. Indeed, Trump has enthusiastically encouraged Netanyahu to “finish the job” of the murderous ethnic cleansing current in Palestine. After all, Bibi’s god-son, Jared Kushner, has a burning desire for the re-development of Gaza in his own gaudy self-image. River to the Sea Condos on beachfront property anyone? (Apparently the billions the little bastard has received from his buddies in the House of Saud is not enough for him).

No, my choice is not between Trump or Harris, but between Harris and Jill Stein, the Green Party Presidential candidate who much more closely reflects my own political perspectives. Secondly, I am very much opposed to the two party duopoly I often support third party efforts (including Libertarian) to help democratize our shitty political system. But this year is a tough one. Trump is always a tough one.

Mae West once remarked that when she is forced to choose between the lessor of evils she likes to pick the ones she hasn’t done in a while. The last time I voted third party in national elections was for Ralph Nader, and never regretted it, especially after the Hawaiian filled his cabinet with Wall Street grifters and bailed out all the crooks who profited from the 2008 economic scam. During Obama’s reign I used to wear a baseball cap that said: “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Nader.” I actually had some Democrat come up to me in a public place and demand that I take “that damn hat off!” My response was to stand up and say: “why don’t you come over here and try to take it off my head.” He didn’t. He is very lucky.

I have been thinking of all the arrogant self-righteous Democrats like my hat-hater challenger especially if, god forbid, Trump wins today. I suspect one reason for such an outcome is exactly that superior attitude the D’s often display to those they consider the “deplorable’s.” Of course, like when Hillary lost, the D’s will blame any loss not on their own deficiencies but on “the others.” They will blame their failures on the Green Party, or Arabs, or men, or the left in general, or our county’s perennial favorite enemies: the Russians. They won’t blame their own lack of transparency in the ordination of Harris without a single D vote, or her eye-popping flip-flops on fracking or medicare for all. No, it will be the fault of the others. Lenny Bruce would so perceptively mimic the phony liberals of his time: “I’m so liberal, and tolerant , and understanding, I just can’t understand or tolerate anyone who is not as liberal and tolerant and understanding as I am.”

Soon after the October 7th “prison break” by the occupied I had an encounter with a local Democratic Party operative on the issue of Gaza who was basically claiming that anything Israel did was justified because of the “beheading of babies in ovens” and the “systematic rapes” that Hamas supposedly committed on October 7th. I just suggested to this person that some of those claims are being questioned and offered to send info on the subject which was rejected and instead I was accused of being a “holocaust denier”! Since those early days the stories of beheading and bodies in ovens and mass rapes have all been proven to be lies or lacking in evidence, but their intention — to stoke the crazy hatred for revenge against all Palestinians — was a very successful manufacture of consent for genocide by Israel against a virtually defenseless people. In the meantime REAL mass rape is going on in Israel prisons against Palestinians while the Israeli’s actually protest against charging any crimes of the rapist jailers! While we send billions more over…

On the other hand, I had a friend who was a Trump supporter who I really loved to debate with. He is basically an intelligent man, well educated, and an immigrant to this country that has treated him well. Now he hates immigrants coming to this country, but that is the least of his contradictions. I went to his house after Trump had made his famous remarks about injecting bleach and lights to fight covid and my friends response was to insist that Trump was only “kidding.” As his computer was right in front of us and I asked him to access the Youtube snippet of the press conference. I wanted to know that we had watched the same thing and, if so, after viewing it together to have him then look at me and still say, with a straight face, he Trump was just joking. He refused to let me access the video or and refused to watch it at all. I continued to push for us to observe it together and he would not budge. It was then I knew that I was not dealing with a rational or objective mind, but a mindless cult. I told him that, unfortunately, I was not qualified to de-program people trapped in a cult and we have not talked since.

A good example of the “group-think” that has infected the two parties is to look at the reaction by both D’s and R’s when the Israeli Prime Minister (and established international war criminal) spoke to the U.S. Congress. Netanyahu got more standing ovations than anyone in U.S. history, including our own presidents and even Winston Churchill after WWII. With the exception of one Democratic representative (Rashida Tlaib) and one anti-war Republican (Thomas Massie) the bulk of them seem all paid off by Raytheon or AIPAC. Democrats and Republicans, same shit, different piles.

The problem with not voting for Harris is obvious: the Green Party is not going to win, so voting for Stein could tip the balance to a Trump victory. Voting for the lessor of two evils is still voting for evil. Yet the Democrats offer a smidgen more hope in possibly restoring reproductive rights for woman (to codify the law, which they never did before). Then again, some feel the Republicans might withdraw us sooner from our (losing) proxy war with Russia in Ukraine in which we are currently playing with (nuclear) fire. Trump might pull NATO back, cut a deal with Putin by giving him a buffer zone on his border, and end some bloodshed there. Maybe.

But neither party will stop the U.S. war against the Palestinians. Without a ceasefire, there will not be any restrictions to the continued Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Neither side is likely to stop the bombing Yemen or Syria or Iraq (why do we still have troops there?). And the Iranians? Who can forget John McCains rendition of “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran…” I mean, Israel has a right to defend itself, right?

Neither party wants to rescind the sanctions against Venezuela or Cuba, throwing them further into poverty, which will only heighten our border “crisis” — a humanitarian crisis that we have fostered on ourselves and others. Further proof of the vested R & D collaboration was the recent immigration plan, endorsed by both “sides” and considered a throwback to Trumps own policies. The only thing that prevented from implementation because Trump told the GOP to oppose it so he, rather than the D’s, could use the issue in the election and claiming, somewhat correctly, that they were stealing his ideas. Does it get any more cynical than this?

However, some smart people came up with a scheme for people like me who live in a swing state and who support the Green Party but don’t want to see Trump win. It is being supported by some Palestine solidarity folk, and Ruwa Romman, the state representative from Georgia who was denied an opportunity to address the Democratic National Convention (even though she was endorsing Harris).

It is called “Swap Your Vote” and it works purely on trust: I pledge to vote for Harris in Arizona (which can “swing” either way) and a person in a solid blue state (like California) votes for whatever third party I prefer (in my case it would be Stein). They point to the 2000 election as an example: Gore lost to Bush by a few hundred votes in Florida to a much smaller number than was cast for Green Party candidate Nader. If enough people had “swapped” for the Florida votes we may have avoided the disaster of the Bush administration. This deal also helps keep the Green Party viable and on the ballot.

At this point I have a few more hours to make the decision, but its time. No matter who wins in this fiasco, I think we are in for some interesting times ahead. And remember the words of the great Emma Goldman:

“IF ELECTIONS REALLY MATTERED, THEY WOULD MAKE THEM ILLEGAL.”

Bog

Although probably too late, Info on Vote Swap (hurry you may have time!):

Swing-State Voters Disillusioned With Kamala Harris Can Swap for Two Non-Swing-State Votes

—————————————————————————————

Following is the third (and final) installment of my exchange with a BogNews reader regarding Israel and Palestine. The discussion has inspired others to write me, which I hope to share with readers in the near future.

————————————————————————————————————

11. Wed, May 8, 2024

Hi Scott,

Well. We both have a lot to be angry about, don’t we?

It does amaze me that, here we are in 2024, and human beings really haven’t evolved much from the days of cave people and clubs, except that our clubs have become more powerful and deadly. And, as regards our social interactions with one another, we have more in common with ants than any other species.

I do keep thinking about Ireland. How did the people of Ireland overcome their hatred for one another and work together to find solutions?

How might the experience in Ireland inform how Israelis and Palestinians could work together going forward? Certainly there are both Israelis and Palestinians who are working towards peace, its just that their voices have been overwhelmed by the voices of anger and war.

Best of luck to them and to everyone else,

———————-

12. May 8,2024

I accept your concession!

Thanks for helping clarify things.

13. May 11, 2024
To R

Is that it? I thought we were going to continue to dialog. (I was only kidding about your “concession”). Anyway, although you did not answer many of my questions, I would like to follow up on a few important points you made.

You said that my writings “reinforces centuries old Anti Jewish stereotypes, troupes an caricatures” but you site no specific examples, other than that the language I use supposedly describes “the only Jewish nation in the world that paints a false and damaging picture, or portrait of Israel as a monolithic entity, that is ‘violent, colonist, unjust, racist, apartheid, illegally stole land.”

To begin with, I am sure we are both in agreement that Israel is not a “monolithic nation.” The remaining Palestinians of those who survived Israel’s expulsion of 750,000 native inhabitants at its creation in 1948 currently makes up about 2 million people, or 21% of the Israeli population. Secondly, the massive demonstrations by Israel citizens against the ultra-right Netanyahu government before October 7th clearly shows a diversity of opinion by the Israeli people (although, unfortunately, the vast majority support the war against the Palestinians). This war has not only killed tens of thousands of innocent people, but it has unfortunately kept Bibi out of jail (for now).

However, even though I did not specifically describe Israel as a “violent, colonist, unjust, racist, apartheid, illegally stole land” I believe those descriptions are certainly accurate. In fact, the stealing of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements is still going on today including in the West Bank (where hundreds have been killed, on top of almost 40,000 in Gaza). I believe Israel is in violation of international law and is committing war crimes on a regular basis. So does practically every other country in the world outside of Israel and the government of the United States.

You state that “Israel is a pluralistic democracy, the majority of its citizens originate from the Middle East and North African nations.” According to the Jewish Virtual Library, 3.3 million have immigrated to the country — almost half since 1990 — out of a population of 8 million. Over 70% of those born in Israel are “mostly from the second or third generation” and “nearly half of all Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants from the European Jewish diaspora.” Most Israeli’s are first or second generation immigrants, just as most Palestinians in Gaza are refugees from the very land Israeli settlers now dominate.

As for a “pluralistic democracy” many residents in Israel and the occupied territories would disagree — as would the many thousands of indigenous Arabs who were either killed or forcibly expelled from this “democracy” and are prohibited from returning to their land where they lived for generations. But anyone with a Jewish mother can leave their birthplace in Hoboken and become a citizen of Israel even if they have never been there before. This is why many people believe Israel is an ethno-nationalist state — “a Jewish state for a Jewish people… from the river to the sea.”

There are numerous investigations and reports that would also disagree with you assessment regarding so-called “Israeli democracy. Here are a few:

In a 2007 report, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine John Dugard wrote, “elements of the Israeli occupation constitute forms of colonialism and of apartheid, which are contrary to international law.”

March 2022, Michael Lynk, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, stating that Israel’s control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip amounts to apartheid, an “institutionalized regime of systematic racial oppression and discrimination.”

October 2022, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories: “The violations described in the present report expose the nature of the Israeli occupation, that of an intentionally acquisitive, segregationist and repressive regime designed to prevent the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”

2017 ESCWA Report, Rima Khalaf, then UN Under-Secretary General and ESCWA Executive Secretary, said the report “clearly and frankly concludes that Israel is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people.”

July 2022,The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People stated, “By design, Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestine has been used as a vehicle to serve and protect the interest of a Jewish State and its Jewish people, while subjugating Palestinians” to what “many stakeholders consider that this practice amounts to apartheid.”

In 2020, the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din found that Israeli treatment of the West Bank’s Palestinian population meets the definition of the crime of apartheid under Article 7 of the 2002 Rome Statute.

In January 2021, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem issued a report outlining that led to the conclusion that “the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met.” In presenting the report, B’Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad said, “Israel is not a democracy that has a temporary occupation attached to it: it is one regime between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and we must look at the full picture and see it for what it is: apartheid.”

In April 2021, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Israeli officials of the crimes of apartheid and persecution under international law and calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate “systematic discrimination” against Palestinians. Its report said that Israeli authorities “have dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity” and that “in certain areas … these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”

February 2022, Amnesty International published a report, Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity, which stated that Israeli practices in Israel and the occupied territories amount to apartheid and that territorial fragmentation of the Palestinians “serves as a foundational element of the regime of oppression and domination.”

September 2022, representatives of Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch in Ramallah in referring to Israel’s outlawing of Palestinian NGOs, Amnesty International’s France director of campaigns Nathalie Godard said: “The repression of Palestinian civic space is part of the system of apartheid.”

In March 2022, the International Commission of Jurists said it “strongly condemns Israel’s laws, policies and practices of racial segregation, persecution and apartheid against the indigenous Palestinian population in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

Many others have also spoken out about the lack of democracy in Israel, including:

In August 2023, more than 1,500 U.S., Israeli, Jewish, and Palestinian academics and public figures signed an open letter stating that Israel operates “a regime of apartheid” and calling on U.S. Jewish groups to speak out against the occupation in Palestine.

June 2022 the Catalan Parliament passed a resolution that “Israel commits the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

February 2023, the mayor of Barcelona cut ties with Israeli institutions “due to its ‘apartheid policy towards Palestinians.”

2022, the Assembly of the African Union passed a resolution calling for the dismantlement of Israeli apartheid in the State of Palestine and recommended boycotting “the Israeli colonial system and illegal settlements to end apartheid.”

July 2022, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that Israel should be considered “an apartheid state.”

June 2022, the U.S. Presbyterian Church passed a resolution stating that “Israel’s laws, policies and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid.”

July 2023, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) adopted a resolution stating “that many of the laws, policies and practices of the State of Israel meet the definition of apartheid as defined in international law.”

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa passed a resolution on 27 September 2023 declaring Israel an apartheid state.

August 2023 open letter signed by more than 2,000 U.S., Israeli, Jewish and Palestinian academics and public figures stated that Israel operates “a regime of apartheid.” Signatories included Israeli historian Benny Morris, former Jewish Agency head Avraham Burg, and Israeli American Holocaust expert Omer Bartov,

There are more, (like the South African or Nicaraguan cases brought before the International Court of Justice) but I think you get the picture:

Do you believe that all of these organizations, countries, churches, and individuals “reinforcing centuries old anti-Jewish stereotypes” and “fostering anti-Jewish attitudes” as you accused me?

Except for the American and Israeli government, nobody in the world seems to accept your contention that “more than 2 million Arab people in Israel share all the same rights as everyone else.” Just the opposite.

As for your criticism that I did not mention the atrocities of October 7th, you are correct. However, I totally disagree with your contention that “Hamas started this war.” This war against Palestinians did not start on October 7th — it started in 1948 and will continue until Palestinians have their own state they have been promised since. The only ones who seem to be opposed to a two-state solution seems to be Bibi and his neo-fascist chorts who keep promoting illegal settlements making it impossible to even define Israeli boundaries.

You stated “Hamas has rejected a cease fire proposal that as a starting point, that would stop the war for six weeks.” I realize your statement was made before Hamas accepted a peace proposal recently. But let me be clear here: I am certainly not a supporter of Hamas, but what insurgent group in this situation would agree to only a six week or temporary ceasefire? So Israel can get the hostages back before they resume their mass killing the rest of the civilian population? What a joke. Hamas may be evil, but they are not stupid. The hostages will be released when there is a permanent negotiated ceasefire — that is if the Israeli’s don’t kill them all first (see: “The Hannibal Directive” for more details).

Likewise your statement that “Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2005” is totally incorrect. That was the last time an election was held which Hamas won (no more elections after that!) but Israel has controlled the air, land, and sea in the area of Gaza. Israel has controlled how much food was allowed in, how much water was provided, what medical items can enter, and who can go where, with repressive restrictions on all travel by Palestinians. How had Hamas, which has actually been financed and propped up by Bibi, been in charge?

You asked me to imagine “living in a country were October 7th occurred, and seeing your relatives, friends, and neighbors killed, tortured, and taken hostage. What would be your response?” I guess I would first try to understand why such things would happen. (Maybe forcibly occupying someone else’s land might give me a hint?). If I emigrated there, I might want to consider going back home. I don’t think my reaction would be to obliterate every woman and child who happen to be of the same nationality as the perpetrators.

So I would ask you the same question: if your relatives, friends, and neighbors were killed, tortured, exiled, and taken hostage for 75 years or confined to what is described as an “open-air concentration camp” my entire life by an occupying force who thought they were “the chosen people from God” in justification — what would your reaction be?

I will await your response, that is, if you have not actually given up and conceded to my positions! (Don’t let the force of my arguments discourage you!).

Sincerely,
Scott Egan

There were not further responses from R.

————————————————————————————————————

IMPORTANT EVENT!

Please help support Casa Maria soup kitchen and all the work they do for those most in need in our community — while also enjoying some of the best music in Tucson! Performances include Rich Hopkins & the Luminarios, Oscar Fuentes and Salvador Duran & the Senators, Liz & Pete’s Sparrows & the Last Train.

Casa Maria Thanksgiving Benefit Show

Hotel Congress Plaza

Sat, Nov 9, 5:30 PM

Only $20

============================================================

BogNews October 2024

Posted on September 27, 2024 by boggmann

“The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.”

— Noam Chomsky

The Continued War on The Poor:

The City of Tucson’s Sales Tax Proposal

Tucson voters will get to decide next March on how much more they will allow the city to tax our purchasing power with a proposed vote on a new sales tax. We urge all of you to VOTE NO on this new tax on the poor and working class.

Arizona lawmakers in Phoenix made one of the sharpest moves toward heightened tax on the poor when they overrode a public vote in favor of higher taxes on top earners and enacted tax cuts for the rich instead. This reversal moves Arizona from roughly the middle of the pack (27th) to one of the most regressive tax codes (13th) in the nation.

Sales and excise taxes are very regressive: Poor families pay almost seven times more as a share of their incomes in these taxes than the best-off families, and middle-income families pay almost five times the rate of the wealthy. Low income families pay 7 percent of their incomes in sales and excise taxes, middle-income families pay 4.8 percent, and the top 1 percent pay only 1 percent.

In terms of total taxation (sales, property, and income taxes) those who make less than $22,200 (the lowest 20% of the population) pay 11.8% in total taxes while the richest — those who make over $596,600 pay only 5%. The lowest earners also pay more in property taxes (3.7% compared to 1.6% for the richest). This war on the poor goes unabated.

Sales tax: from the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy:

Who Pays? 7th Edition

On top of an already exacerbated war on the poor being inflicted on us by our state lawmakers in over-riding a vote of the people while implementing a disastrous flat income tax that drains hundreds of millions of tax dollars from our coffers (thanks to the f’in’ Koch Brothers), now our own city council wants to do the same by promoting another sales tax proposition. This new tax will be on top of the newly proposed RTA sales tax for transportation coming our way. It is also on top of the existing taxes that go to Rio Nuevo, whose proposed budget this year is over $16 million as indicated on their website:

Click to access FY25-Budget-Approved.pdf

While the Mayor and Council plan for this latest attack against the poor, they continue to give tax subsidies to the rich, mostly through their GPLET (Gov’t Lease Excise Tax): government property exemptions given to their chosen ones, allowing rich developers to avoid paying property taxes for a period of time. While the excuse given for this give-away initially started as a way to supposedly “revitalize” downtown Tucson — (that is, to drive poor and working people out of the area through gentrification) — who now really believes that downtown Tucson still needs taxpayer subsidies to survive? Rio Nuevo alone proudly lists how they have “successfully” utilized GPLETs for these projects:

1 S. Church

44 Broadway

117 N. 6th Avenue

AC Hotel

Bautista

Brings

Bungalow Block

Cadence

Caterpillar Headquarters

City Park

Congress Street Block

Corbett

DoubleTree Hotel at the TCC

Greyhound

Hilton Hotel at Cathedral Square

Indian Trading Post

Julian Drew Lofts

La Buhardilla Block

MSA Annex

Solot Block

Toole Avenue Restaurant

Zemam’s

Some of these businesses you might support, but why should any of them be exempt from property taxes? Do the Hilton or the DoubleTree really need taxpayer help to survive? And I won’t even get into Caterpillar except to suggest to look up what one of their machines did to Rachel Corrie, here: https://rachelcorriefoundation.org

And of course, no affordable housing was demanded for any of these projects in exchange for these taxpayer funded subsidies. And when these companies don’t pay any property taxes, guess who does? (Hint: check your mirror). When was the last time any resident had a reduction, much less an exemption, on their property tax? Yet the Mayor and Council keep giving away subsidies.

Recently the reporter Natalie Robbins writing for the Tucson Sentinel posted a surprisingly good article on the proposed sales tax entitled “Trojan horse for police funding” which can be found here:

https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/091624_sales_tax_opposition/trojan-horse-police-funding-some-tucsonans-blast-half-cent-sales-tax-measure/

As the Sentinel article articulated, while the city is promoting spo-called“community services” for this new $80 million dollar sales tax, only 17% will be allocated for affordable housing while over 65% of the revenue will go to law enforcement. Yet a recent survey conducted by the city showed that most people ranked first responders only sixth out of ten priorities, while affordable housing and decreasing poverty and more mental health services had much higher priorities for the voters than cops. But why should they start to listen to us now?

The Sentinel noted that median rent has gone up 40% in Tucson since 2017 while incomes have only gone up 4%. The number of unsheltered homeless has increase over 250% since 2018 (!) So no, you are not imagining things are getting worse: they are, drastically.

Clearly, our Mayor and Council believe that the best way to deal with the homeless is not to build more homes, but hire more cops to bust or harass the homeless and drug-addicted. They’re even going to purchase a “fixed wing aircraft” for TPD — as if the city can never over-militarize the police force enough. The armored tanks, tear gas and plastic bullets are apparently not sufficient to control us.

It will be interesting to see how council member Lane Santa Cruz votes on this, as she campaigned with a “Defund The Police” leader from Phoenix in her last election when she confronted the cops at a demonstration with the famous “Do you know who the fuck I am?” quote. There may not be a dumber left-wing slogan ever devised than “defund the police” (although maybe Earl Browder’s “Communism is 20th Century Americanism” would top it?) The cops need to be de-militarized, not de-funded. We need more cops doing community policing and less being trained, as they are, by the Israeli military on “crowd” control.

As a side note, the next Mayor and Council agenda includes money coming in from Indian gaming proceeds for community causes. One item for the Tucson Police Department includes $278,350 for “combatting Violent Crime.” The total amount going to the city from the tribes is $941,760 — which prompted one BogNews observer to ask “so why do we need another sales tax?”

The question is: do you trust this Mayor and Council with more money? The last significant voter approved boost in cash for them has been the tiny margin of support they received for their 300% salary boost. The vote was so close that any other political body would have done a recount, but not this group. They took the money and one of the first thing some of them did was to drastically cut back on their office hours. For example, Westside Ward 1 office hours are now 9am – 1 pm Tuesday through Friday, and noon – 7 pm on Mondays. That’s a cut back from the normal 40 hours a week to 22 hours a week. If we paid them more would they all just stay home all the time?

Lesson here: give them more money, and they work less. Don’t reward this behavior.

If you are a working class person struggling economically, as opposed to a developer or banker, the city wants to take more out of your pockets while giving more and more tax breaks to their rich friends. So if you want to pay more to the bureaucracy while the super rich will be paying less, vote yes on the city sales tax. You deserve it.

Some recent articles on the Tucson sales tax proposal:

The Arizona Republic revealed that “the top priority for Tucson residents was expanding mental health services, followed by investing in a mobile health and wellness unit.” That doesn’t sound like more cops to me.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2024/09/14/residents-push-back-against-tucson-sales-tax-proposal/75213017007/

The Arizona Daily Star: “The next steps are for the council to adopt a final spending plan to send to voters and a “Truth in Taxation” resolution to establish a citizen oversight commission to help “guide the program” over the next decade.” (Can you imagine the cronies they plan to put on that commission?)

https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/elections/tucson-city-council-sales-tax-election/article_1fda6b42-6fcf-11ef-8e0c-5b3002c4f211.html

————————

Dialog with a BogNews Reader: Part 2

The last issue of BogNews featured the first part of a dialogue with a concerned reader “R” over our coverage of the Israeli-U.S.war against the Palestinian people. If you missed it, you can find the issue at:

https://boggmann.com or

https://scottdegan.substack.com/p/bognews-sept-24.

I should note here that these conversations happened several months ago, and a few substantial things have changed. This includes Biden getting the boot and the Kamala Harris coronation. As I said to my anonymous pen-pal back then, I would not be voting for Biden, but Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Now, with Kamala, I am now a non-committed voter unless this administration establishes a permanent ceasefire before the November election and then, and only then would I could consider a vote for Harris, but that looks outlook seems doubtful. And the genocide continues in Gaza, plus hundreds have been killed in the West Bank, and Israel has since bombed Iran and Syria with U.S. backing, and it looks like there will probably be an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with an ever increasing possibility of a regional war with Iran, Turkey, and even Russia. Meanwhile, the U.S. media and politicians keep promoting the lie that Hamas committed systematic rape on October 7th without any evidence, while Palestinian men are raped by Israeli guards while riots against any persecution of these torturers is led by Israeli citizens. And it all goes almost unmentioned in our media.

Anyway, our dialogue has attracted some interest in our readers, as I also hope the second round of our discussion which took place last April and May will as well. The Bog reader “R” is in blue, and my comments are in green.

——————————————————————————————————————————

April 29, 2024

Hi Scott,

I have to disagree with much of what you said today

Statement:

“The founders of Israel who set up “a Jewish state for the Jewish people” had the exact same sentiment that the pro-British “Loyalists” of northern Ireland.”

Rebuttal: Jewish people have 3,000 years of continuous history in Israel. You are parroting Hamas talking points to call Israel colonialist and settler. Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, for 3,000 years.

Statement:

“They too thought of themselves as “the chosen ones.”

Rebuttal: Every people think of themselves as the chosen ones, because we are all chosen to play a role. Every person and every people is here for a reason, including Jewish people.

Statement:

“The 2,000 pound (American) bombs dropped indiscriminately by the Israeli forces on one of the highest population density regions earth seems like, well, GENOCIDE to most of the world.”

Rebuttal: Instead of investing in Gaza infrastructure, Hamas built tunnels and rockets, and created Hamas billionaires living in Qatar, disconnected from their own people. Genocide is what Hamas aims at Israel: witness the torture, killing, and kidnapping of innocents on October 7. Hamas could have released the hostages and surrendered on October 8, and Gaza would have been saved from war. But, that wouldn’t have been good for the Hamas image in Iran.

Ukraine: 500,000 people have died in Ukraine from Russia’s unproved war.

Syria: More than 600,000 people have died in Syria since Bashar Al-Assad started his war on his own people.

Statement:

“The Irish, like the Palestinians, like George Washington, like Nelson Mandela, also felt the need to use armed struggle against an occupying force.”

Rebuttal: Nelson Mandela was a non-violent lawyer for much of his opposition to apartheid. He attempted to blow up a power plant when he was arrested. This has nothing to do with suicide bombings of innocent people. Nelson Mandela worked with his white captors to craft a plan that worked for both blacks and whites. Hamas aims to wipe out Jewish people from the river to the sea, it’s in their Charter, they acted it out on October 7, and they refuse to renounce it.

Statement:

“You asked “who is providing financial support to the pro-Palestinian protesters, since it was observed that may [sic] of the tents at the Columbia University protest were purchased from the same supplier?”

Rebuttal: Take a look at this article: https://nypost.com/2024/04/26/us-news/nyc-anti-israel-protests-at-columbia-and-nyu-show-signs-of-foreign-assistance/

Statement:

“Anti-Semitism is real and is scary. But there is a world of difference between being anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish.”

Rebuttal: I disagree. This is a line from the Hamas playbook. Anti-Zionism is at its core Anti-Semitism. Read this: https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/anti-zionism

“When all the Jews in the Middle East were kicked out of the Arab countries after 1948, did Israel place them into refugee camps and forbid them to integrate into society, and tell them to wait for their return to their former countries? No, Israel welcomed them as full citizens.”

“I find all of this factually inaccurate, but perhaps you have information I that don’t and would really appreciate anything you could send to back up these statements.”

Rebuttal: You can start here: https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/the-expulsion-of-jews-from-arab-countries-and-iran–an-untold-history

Statement:

“Why should any of these countries be forced to accommodate a problem created by Israel?”

Rebuttal:

Two million Arab people live in Israel proper – they did not leave. Palestinians who left Israel are the only emigrant group never to be eventually allowed to live in their new countries as free citizens. For example, when the United States takes in Syrians, Afghanis, Vietnamese, etc., we did not put them into refugee camps, refuse them work permits, refuse them the right to obtain a job, vote, etc., and told them to wait for the day that they could be repatriated to be able to resume their lives. On the contrary, most of these refugees are now American citizens.

“Yasser Arafat rejected the plan for a two state solution in 2000.”

Rebuttal: Watch the Frontline special here: https://www.pbs.org/video/shattered-dreams-of-peace-the-road-to-oslo-spoc9i/

I see that you say nothing about my statements that Egypt should retake control of Gaza and Jordan should take control of the West Bank to protect the Palestinians militarily and provide them with economic opportunities. Gaza is about the size of Philadelphia. The West Bank is about the size of Delaware. Much better for the Palestinians to be aligned with Egypt and Jordan, two larger countries with more military and economic wherewithal.

Your turn.

Cheers,

————————-

May 5, 2024

It is been an overly busy time for me, so I apologize for the delay in response to your latest communication. You have given me much to read and think about, which is good as I (usually) like thinking (!) so I appreciate the exchange, but I think we hit a tough spot. You contested eight of my statements, and while I would like to address each, I think it perhaps it would be better to take them one at a time. The big philosophical questions we have both touched on regarding Zionism and Judaism and the historical relations with the Arab world is perhaps better left for our future exchanges which I certainly hope continue even as we disagree. Perhaps since we don’t know each other our disagreements will stay non-personal and keep on the issues.

I thank you for providing your references to back up your numerous contentions because I believe (and hope) that we both have an interest in not only on what our positions are on these matters, but WHY we believe as we do. In that regard it really helps to know where we each get our information in order to form our opinions.

Of the eight rebuttals on my positions you list, seven of your references are from the World Jewish Congress and one was from the N.Y. Post which was published in regards to the current student protests sweeping our country. Because of the explosive situation we are witnessing in campuses throughout the country (I am sure we are both acutely watching the horror that is going on at the U of A — and elsewhere) perhaps we could address this point first.

I had asked you to back up your questioning about “who is providing financial support to the pro-Palestinian protesters, since it was observed that may [sic] of the tents at the Columbia University protest were purchased from the same supplier?” In your rebuttal you cited this article:

https://nypost.com/2024/04/26/us-news/nyc-anti-israel-protests-at-columbia-and-nyu-show-signs-of-foreign-assistance/

This is from an April 26th article from the New York Post headlined:

“Signs of foreign assistance emerge in Columbia, NYU unrest: Anti-Israel agitators.”

Before analyzing the article, I must admit that I am a bit surprised that someone like you who identifies himself as a liberal Democrat would use Rupert Murdoch’s rag to justify anything. The N.Y. Post, the preferred paper of Donald Trump (it endorsed him), has been described as “no longer merely a journalistic problem. It is a social problem — a force for evil.” (according to the Columbia Journalism Review). Furthermore:

“The Post has been accused of contorting its news coverage to suit Murdoch’s business needs, in particular avoiding subjects which could be unflattering to the government of the People’s Republic of China, where Murdoch has invested heavily in satellite television.”

“In a 2004 survey conducted by Pace University, the Post was rated the least-credible major news outlet in New York, and the only news outlet to receive more responses calling it “not credible” than credible (44% not credible to 39% credible).”

{sources: Columbia Journalism Review, volume 18, number 5 (Jan/Feb 1980), pp. 22–23. James Barron and Campbell Robertson (May 19, 2007). “Page Six, Staple of Gossip, Reports on Its Own Tale”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2007. Jonathan Trichter (June 16, 2004). “Tabloids, Broadsheets, and Broadcast News” (PDF). Pace Poll Survey Research Study. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2007.}

It should be no surprise then (it certainly wasn’t for me) to find their journalism pitifully wanting on the student protest issue. Yet even the N.Y. Post gets it right on occasion (they revealed that the Hunter Biden computer scandal was real and not a Russian disinformation campaign) so let us look at their article about foreign instigation.

The article was written by Danielle Wallace for Fox News (how could they ever be biased?) starts lying in the first sentence by saying the protests are “broiling with antisemitism.” Like the rest of the piece, this accusation is resolutely proclaimed without a shred of evidence to back up this obvious falsehood. All they would have to do is interview any of the numerous Jewish student protestors to know the truth, or contact Jewish Voices for Peace or If Not Now, or watch a YouTube of Aaron Mate or Katie Harper or Max Blumenthal or Naomi Klein, or a host of other anti-zionist Jews to see the fallacy of the anti-semitism accusations. There are Muslims, Jews, Christians and others who are together conducting Jewish religious services during the protests like the “street seders.”

This anti-semitism smear is a purposeful weaponization of the term and intentionally inflating opposition to Israeli policies as being synonymous with anti-Jewish bigotry. Thankfully, this nonsense is not working anymore either with American youth or with hardly anyone else in the world outside of the U.S. and some countries in Europe.

The N.Y. Post article does not only blur the distinction between the political ideology of Zionism and the religious principles of the Jewish religion, it also perpetuates the slander that some foreign power is directing all of these protests. Again, it provides absolutely no proof of these dangerous and despicable lies — falsehoods that could provoke violence in itself. The article goes on:

“I think there is good reason to suspect that there is foreign assistance and coordination that’s fueling the campus protests,” says Dr. Jay Greene, a senior research fellow at the Center for Education Policy at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.

Well, if the Heritage Foundation “thinks” (?)” that there is “good reason” to believe the Boggyman is on campus, who needs any stinkin’ proof of it? I mean it isn’t like the foundation has done anything objectionable, like spent millions to block voting rights, right?

Oh wait, they have:

“Rightwing group pours millions in ‘dark money’ into US voter suppression bid”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/13/heritage-foundation-voter-suppression-lobbying-election-action-plan

Yes, while Fox and the N.Y. Post admit that don’t have any “hard evidence to prove this” and acknowledging the truth is “still fuzzy” — still we should be scared, very scared! Why? Because they claim that there are “signs…” ooooohhh… SIGNS!

What are these ominous signs of foreign interference? Why many of these protestors have “common tents!” Yes! The tents all look similar! And, even though there is no proof, they “suspect” that all the tents were all purchased — together! A coordinated attack on our higher educational institutions grass lawns. I mean it is bad enough that the Russians could be hiding under our beds — but now we have to fret over terrorists under our tents!!! Of course, since receiving your response I have been looking at all the student protests from Columbia to UCLA and have not seen any similar tents. Just the opposite.

Another piece of “proof” they submit in “suspecting” of foreign assistance is that some of the protesters use “the same talking points that Hamas and Hezbollah leaders make.” These actual common talking points are never revealed of course, so we can assume that anyone who chants “Free Palestine” or “Ceasefire Now” is a foreign agent or terrorist. As is anyone who chants “from the river to the sea” unless they are members of the Likud Party and talking about greater Israel. I guess it’s ok to call for a single ethno-nationalist state for the whole region if it is your side exclaiming it.

OH NO, there is more — also something else that smacks of foreign intervention! Apparently there is a YouTube video in circulation of a seminar put on by some Columbia students that featured a representative of Palestinian prisoner support group who “the Israeli government” links to a terrorist organization. Foreign interference!

That’s it. That is all the evidence presented of this ominous foreign infiltration of all the student protests sweeping the country. Thousands of U.S. students are risking expulsion, suspensions, and — in the case of the University of Arizona being hit and potentially killed by a lethal rubber bullet — because they are being controlled by a foreign power inducing them to risk losing everything: their education and their present and future employment. And they are doing it all for a free tent. Sure, that must be it.

It couldn’t possibly be because these kids just don’t like to see poor people mass murdered and starved to death with our own tax money. No, it’s gotta be the tents!

Yes, it must be a foreign power that causes these protests as Fox News and Bibi proclaims. But which foreign adversary is behind these ominous developments like this Terrible Tricky Terrorist Tent conspiracy? Well, we can always blame it on the hated Russians, since they aren’t very preoccupied with anything else lately, right? Maybe it is the big evil China, who will want to occupy our campuses — perhaps to keep them hostage in exchange for Taiwan? (They can take ASU but never the U.A. ya bastards!) Or it could probably be Iran or some Arabs somewhere: who probably have an inside deal on some good tents.

So before we go into all the deeper issues — we need to have a baseline check of reality. If articles like this are what we are going to argue over I wonder how serious we are going to be. I see no point in spending time trying to refute the lies of Fox News and Rupert Murdoch and Bibi Netanyahu. Surely we can rise above the nonsense?

What do you think about the use of rubber bullets against student protests? What do you think about the violence used by pro-Israeli mobs in attacking peaceful protesters at UCLA? What do you think about many of these police being trained by the Israeli Defense Forces?

What do you think about the new “anti-semitism” law passed by the U.S. Congress, soon to be introduced in the Senate and signed by Genocide Joe, that would make it illegal to chant “from the river to the sea” if it is done in support of Palestinian rights, but legal if said by a Likud supporter?

I look forward to your thoughts.

Scott

—————————————

May 5, 2024

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your email. You are absolutely right, a lot has happened in the past week. You bring up interesting information about the New York Post, that I wasn’t aware of.

And, you are right, there wasn’t that much in the article, was there? I concede your point about it, how about that! We are back to agreeing about something.

And, I agree with you that the use of pepper spray and rubber bullets by the police at the U of A was insane. See, I’m not that extreme!

I appreciate you being willing to continue our dialog. How many of us are actually having this dialog right now?

I really don’t know who started the violence at UCLA, its hard for me to tell.

I don’t know that much about the antisemitism bill in Congress. I will say one thing: I think that chanting “From the River to the Sea” is a call for Jewish genocide. What else would it be? Don’t you agree with that? Don’t you agree that a reasonable partner for peace would not attempt to kill, kidnap, or sexually abuse every single Jewish person they could find, including women and children, such as Hamas displayed on October 7? Don’t you consider it a mistaken tactic? After all, wouldn’t Hamas have a much better chance for obtaining peace if Israelis didn’t find that Hamas was intending on killing, raping, and/or kidnapping every single one of them if they were given the chance?

Sinwar supposedly has 15 hostages surrounding him in a tunnel. Do you really think that Hamas will ever agree to give up the hostages peacefully, even if it were to start the process towards peace? Or is it simply a delaying tactic, and the hostages will never be released?

I hope you will watch the Frontline documentary about how close the Israelis and Palestinians were to creating peace at one time, that I included in my last email. It’s certainly not a pro-Israel documentary, but it has a lot of information that people have forgotten.

Beyond all of that, I think we are living in precarious times in our country. In six months, voters could decide to elect a person who attempted to convince a mob to overthrow the government of the United States, in a word, committed treason in the most heinous sense, imperiling the lives of the Vice President and all of Congress, to support a lie. And, this possible vote to elect Trump is not theoretical, but a very real possibility. And, if he wins, this could be the last real election held in this country, with in any event, substantial effects on attempts to avert climate change, the privacy rights of women and everyone, the use of the police and the military to go after protesters and immigrants, the rights and prospects of minorities, and the list goes on. Trump, like Nixon in 1968, is presenting himself as a law and order candidate. Disrupting speeches by Democratic candidates, and especially, disrupting the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, could play into the scenario that America is in chaos and needs a strong leader (Trump), don’t you agree? Or, is electing Trump really the aim of the protesters? Since Russia supports Trump, is trying to militarily overrun an independent Ukraine, supports Iran, supports Hezbollah, supports Hamas, it all could make a very nice package, don’t you think? Well, they do say that politics makes strange bedfellows, and I’m sorry if you don’t like those words, so mainly, I’m curious if you agree that electing Trump in November might be a bad idea for our country. Thoughts?

Cheers,

—————————————————————————————————

May 6, 2024

Well it is good to know that we can agree on some important things! While the terrorist tent conspiracy is just farcical, the media narrative still talks of scary “outside agitators” to disparage the sincere motivations of the students. I am glad that we agree it was “insane” for the police to use pepper spray and rubber bullets against the UA students — but it might be worse than that. It may have been crazy but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t intentional. With all the recent scandal at the UA you would think they would be more circumspect and avoid inflicting violence on their own students, but the university leadership seems both dumb and corrupt.

But we again basically agree on the basics, so I am glad for that.

OK, we now have some points of significant difference, which I have solidified into three points from your last communique.

Question 1. You claim that “that chanting ‘From the River to the Sea’ is a call for Jewish genocide. What else would it be?”

I hate to answer your question with a question, but is it also a call for genocide when Israelis use the very same phrase but apply it to themselves?

The 1977 manifesto of the Israeli Likud Party says:

”Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”

Doesn’t this also then constitute a call for genocide in your mind? If not, what is your definition of a double standard?

Similar wording is used by Benjamin Netanyahu: he even went to the U.N. and showed it on a map to the world, no Palestinian territory only “Greater Israel” from the river to the sea. Yet some countries —LIKE OURS — are trying to criminalize Palestinian use of the phrase, but not if the Israelis say the same thing. Do you think the phrase should be criminalized based on who uses it, where it is prohibited by one nationality to use but not another? What other “hate” words or slogans are to be banned by our government? Has the 1st Amendment been abolished without notice?

My question to you is: If someone thinks the Israel state is somehow illegitimate, does that person not have the right to say that? Where does the banning of words we don’t like actually lead? “Hate” speech is still supposed to be protected speech. Remember when the ACLU defended the rights of Nazis to publicly march on our streets? Will we now be creating the Thought Control Police to decide what “hate” is to be criminalized based on who uses it?

Question 2: You ask: “Don’t you agree that a reasonable partner for peace would not attempt to kill, kidnap, or sexually abuse every single Jewish person they could find, including women and children, such as Hamas displayed on October 7?”

Another question in response to your question again! What do you think the I.D.F. is doing but attempting to kill every single Palestinian person that they can to starve, shoot, or bomb, whether they be in hospitals, universities, neighborhoods or even waiting on bread lines? We are approaching 40,000 dead Palestinians, most of whom are women and children. Does this seem like a “reasonable” reaction to the atrocity of October 7th to you? How many more innocent civilians must be annihilated to satisfy this blood lust? Or must every Palestinian be wiped off the face of the earth? Or do you, like the Israeli Defense Minister believe that “there are no innocents in Gaza”?

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/there-are-no-innocents-in-gaza-says-israeli-defense-minister-549173

In regard to your question, I also need to mention here that there are thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons without trial or even formal charges against them: isn’t that a form of state sponsored “kidnaping”? And while we often hear of sexual abuse of Israeli woman (often exaggerated, like on October 7th) our media never highlights the numerous instances of sexual abuse inflicted on Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers and settlers. What of the men arrested by the IDF and stripped to their underwear and paraded in front of cameras (in violation of international law). Where is the outrage for all of these people — that is, if they are actually considered people (or “animals” as another Israeli official proclaimed:

As for “reasonable partners for peace” I note today’s news headline:

“Hamas accepts Gaza cease-fire … Israel launches strikes in Rafah”

As reported: “Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its ‘core demands’ and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.”

Who looks more reasonable here?

Similarly you ask “wouldn’t Hamas have a much better chance for obtaining peace if Israelis didn’t find that Hamas was intending on killing, raping, and/or kidnapping every single one of them if they were given the chance?” to which I would ask you to replace “Hamas” with “IDF” and ask you the same question.

Question 2: You ask: “Do you really think that Hamas will ever agree to give up the hostages peacefully, even if it were to start the process towards peace?”

Hamas has just agreed to freeing the hostages if Israel agrees to a permanent cease-fire. But it is Netanyahu and his band of right-wing lunatics who fear any resolution to the conflict. For Bibi “peace” will see him thrown out of office and probably into jail (on corruption charges and his primary responsibility for security failures on the 7th). Did you see the massive rally against him yesterday by thousands of Israelis who claim he doesn’t care about peace or the hostages? Why are we propping up this tyrant when even the Israelis want to get rid of him? As for the safety of hostages, did you not see when the IDF killed three Jewish hostages as they were trying to surrender, even holding white flags?

There is also a question about the implementation of the IDF “Hannibal Protocol.” Israeli newspapers have reported that the IDF was issued the directive during the Hamas-led attack to prevent “at all costs” the abduction of Israeli civilians or soldiers, which some believe lead to the death of a large number of Israeli hostages on that fateful day.

Peace is not what is being advocated by the Israeli government, only the unconditional surrender of Hamas. That is not going to happen, so the total obliteration of Hamas seems to be Israel’s “final solution.” But it is not a solution and it won’t be final.

Again I turn the question back to you: why would Hamas agree to any temporary ceasefire when Israel’s genocidal bombardment will likely resume right after Hamas releases the hostages? Any ceasefire needs to be permanent with guarantees insured through international authority. The U.N. created this situation, they should take some responsibility to correcting it by enforcing a peace deal. Unfortunately, the U.S. would probably veto any peace deal. We have Raytheon stock to protect after all.

I again compare this to the British vs Irish struggle: until both sides acknowledge that they cannot totally wipe out the other there can be no peace. And after six months of saturation bombing in an attempt to totally destroy Hamas it is clear that the Israelis have failed. Hamas is still operational as their recent missile attacks attest. And every single person in Gaza and the West Bank who survives this vicious onslaught will join whatever resistance exists (after they bury their blown-up or starved family members).

Question 3 (finally): you state:

“Trump, like Nixon in 1968, is presenting himself as a law and order candidate. Disrupting speeches by Democratic candidates, and especially, disrupting the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, could play into the scenario that America is in chaos and needs a strong leader (Trump), don’t you agree? Or, is electing Trump really the aim of the protesters?”

I do see many similarities to 1968. I see the Democratic Party making the same mistakes that Hubert Humphrey made in supporting Johnson’s war in Vietnam. If you are a Palestinian who is currently starving to death or watching your child die from U.S. bombs it doesn’t make any difference to them who wins our election. Biden has lost the youth vote, the Arab vote, and most of the progressive votes. I think he blew it, but we will know in six months. But blaming peace protesters for their failure is ludicrous.

I will again turn the question back to you: could the Democratic Party have picked anyone worse than Joe Biden to run for President? I voted for him last time because Trump made me sick to my stomach, but I will not be voting for Genocide Joe now. If the choice is between an orange wanna-be neo-fascist or a mass murderer, I am going to refuse to take that choice.

The great May West once said that when she picks the lessor of two evils she will pick the one she hasn’t tried before! I think that works for me, so I am going with the only Jewish person running for President: Jill Stein of the Green Party (not because she is Jewish of course). Watching her get arrested and roughed up at a campus peace rally by cops sealed it for me. As George Orwell said, when he sees someone getting beat up on the street by cops he instinctively knows whose side he is on. Now I’m on hers.

When Trump beat the feckless Hillary Clinton (after rigging the Primary against Bernie Sanders — another Jewish candidate I supported!) the Democrats blamed the left for their failure to convince the American people to vote for their widely disliked candidate. They will do the same if they lose this time, blaming others if Trump wins again, and they will be wrong again. Everyone else is to blame — this should be the motto for the Democratic Party.

There’s me two cents. Your turn.

Scott

PS: By the way, Putin says he supports Biden over Trump. Just sayin….

The third & final installment of this exchange will be in next month’s BogNews.

————————————————-

CITY CACA: A reminder from our friends at T.R.R.G.:

Corridor Redevelopment. The city continues to move forward with plans to dramatically increase the density along Tucson’s corridors. This would impact every road that surrounds your neighborhoods, from arterials like Speedway, to collectors, like Columbus Boulevard. While this has been represented as facilitating affordable housing, NO affordable housing REQUIREMENTS will be part of these code changes, as the state prohibits cities from requiring affordable units. Instead, it is part of a “trickle-down” concept, hoping that more luxury units will flood the market and drive down the value of surrounding properties. You can get more information about the project at https://corridors.tucsonaz.gov/

This process continues to be rushed through and needs scrutiny by all residents, as the impact to our neighborhoods will be lasting and possibly irreversible. Current plans are for staff to have a draft of the proposed code changes available for public viewing sometime in October.

Plan Tucson. Plan Tucson is now officially in Phase 3. Planning and Development Services Department (PDSD) staff are in the process of writing the draft of the 2025 Plan. Despite numerous meetings and surveys, it appears that many of our concerns have not been incorporated into the new plan. Most recently, we expressed concerns that the draft did not appear to comply with Arizona’s statutory requirements, and we suggested the city review the draft to ensure that proposed policies are clear, concise and deliverable.

Even though state statutes require a Neighborhood Preservation and Revitalization element, our concern is that neighborhoods and neighborhood issues are almost entirely lacking in any of the Goals and Policies that we have reviewed to date. To read about the update, you can go to the City’s website at https://www.plantucson.org/.

If you want to see the state statues that pertain to General Plans, you can find that here.

https://www.azleg.gov/ars/9/00461-05.htm

If you want to see an example of a General Plan that meets the statutory requirements, Tempe’s 2050 plan is a good model. You can access that at

https://www.tempe.gov/government/community-development/planning/tempe-tomorrow-general-plan-2050

We received notice that all of the Plan Tucson meetings, which were scheduled to begin this month, have been postponed. We will notify you once we receive a new meeting schedule.

——————————————————————————————————

BARRIO HOLLYWOOD 1st FRIDAY LOCAL OPEN MIC SHOWCASE

Come and enjoy yourself at the monthly Barrio Hollywood musician showcase where you can eat, drink, and be merrily entertained by a diverse group of creative musicians, AND ALWAYS FREE ADMISSION. The next event will be:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4TH at the El Rio Golf Course CORBETT’S CANTINA, located at 1400 W. Speedway. Music starts at 6 pm, and there is a full bar and a hot grill! First round on me, to whomever first mentions this to me at the bar!

“May the winds of fortune sail you, may you sail a gentle sea,

may it always be the other guy who says this drink’s on me.”

============================================================

BogNews is the “soul’ responsibility of Scott D. Egan (The Bogman). If you do not wish to receive any more issues of BogNews please respond with an “unsubscribe” to sejonesegan@aol.com

EL RIO BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE!

BOGNEWS for May ’24

Posted on May 25, 2024May 25, 2024 by boggmann

“People that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims…but accomplices.” — George Orwell

Greetings Bog Readers! We wanted to be sure that you are aware of our June 7th Barrio Hollywood Open Mic, (there will not be music in July). We will have a special commemoration for our dear friend, musician, artist, and Barrio Hollywood organizer Ray Armstrong, who initiated these Open Mics and whose spirit fills all our endeavors in providing musical opportunities by and for our community.

As always, we hold these free events at El Rio Golf Course’s “Corbett’s Cantina” starting at 6pm. We hope you can make it…(see last page of Bog News for info.).

DEMOCRATS SELL US OUT AGAIN

Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs with the support of local Democrats (and Republicans) has signed legislation for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) without any of the protections pushed by neighborhood activists to forbid absentee landlord owners using the “casitas” for vacation rentals, allowing real estate grifters to have virtually limitless options to turn whole neighborhoods into vacation rental zones. (Bog News has previously reported on this in the town of Bisbee, where practically no locals now reside in downtown.) ADUs can be done right, but neither local or state-wide politicians seem to listen to anyone but the Airbnb and other lobbyists.

This latest sell-out doesn’t really affect the City of Tucson, where our own local sell-out Democrats already allow their business lackeys free reign to destroy our neighborhoods for private profiteering. As Scottsdale Mayor Ortega commented: “the stated intent behind this measure is to address the affordable housing crisis, but this will not make a dent in the problem.”

Scottsdale obviously has a more progressive pro-neighborhood Mayor than Tucson under la Reina de Regina. Of course, that doesn’t take much.

Of particular note is Arizona State Senator Anna Hernandez who was quoted as saying that “ADUs have wide support across political spectrum and support across all kinds of communities.” No it doesn’t, and certainly not the way these laws are designed. Who the hell is she talking to?

As one Bog reader noted:

“The bills are as bad as ever. One allows 2 casitas; one attached to
the structure and the other free-standing. There are no requirements
that the new addition match the original construction. The other measure will allow townhouses, duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes in all single-family zoned areas. The only compromise they made was that it was only within a mile of the central business district. Given how Tucson just expanded its Central Business District, this will definitely impact Menlo Park and will push into the Barrios toward the south.”

This is exactly what the Barrio Neighborhood Coalition fought against (unsuccessfully) with our Mayor and Council, and now it looks like it will become a statewide disaster. Remember this at election time folks.

—————————————-

ARE THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL PULLING ANOTHER FAST ONE?

As observers of city shenanigans know, there has been much discussion about the City of Tucson pulling out of the NEXT RTA boondoggle (probably for May 2025) and since it looks like Tucson cannot achieve any agreement with the rest of Pima County jurisdictions, it is surmised that they will likely go it alone for a new sales tax for transportation. Considering the dismally dangerous conditions of our streets any improvements cannot come soon enough. But based on the most recent council meeting, it looks like they want the new tax to prop up the General Fund instead of being earmarked for transportation. This means our money — an estimated 40 million — will be flowing down a black hole for them to use as they choose.

It may be putting the cart before the horse, but they have already to the budget

“added capacity for a potential voter approved sales tax increase of $40 million.” Page 2

This is based on their assumption that the Tucson voters will approve a new sales tax. This fight has not even begun, but it is something we all need to keep an eye on. To get ready, look up how sales taxes disproportionally hurt the poor.

The council has approved a “tentative” budget of a whopping $2.4 BILLION which is a $140 million increase from last year, although actual spending could jump an extra $300 million more when they are done goosing the hell out of it. The final budget adoption will be next month. Pima County also has major budget problems. Stay tuned…

———————————

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN

In April of 1968 I was a 15-year-old “runaway” living wherever I could find a place for me and my trusty sleeping bag in my home town of New Hyde Park, Long Island, a comfortable middle-class suburb only a few blocks from the New Your City border in Queens. Living mostly on the street, I was often welcomed to stay over at friend’s houses when the parents approved, and this was often in Great Neck, where I went to High School and where those permissive parents (as I recall) were always Jewish and liberal (and very generous and welcoming). The school’s overwhelming majority of students were Jewish and staying in their homes opened up a beautiful culture to a rather cloistered Irish-American Catholic boy. I have stayed in touch with a number of those friends all through the years, and still treasure their friendships. The recent student demonstrations that started with the occupation at Columbia University had me flashing back to those times and my own participation in the Columbia occupation back then.

As I recall, I was camping out in one of my hidden camp sites right on the soupy shore of the very aptly named “Lake Success,” as I often did with a few friends, all of whom had homes to go to but preferred the adventure of illegal camping with “the Egan kid.” I certainly welcomed their company, as poverty tends to be very lonely. It was such friendships that kept me sane and often fed (i.e., alive). One night as we “hung out” by a small campfire, we had the transistor radio tuned to the only station young rebels would listen to back then: WBAI — 99.5 FM. And it was then we heard the call of the comrades at Columbia University who had taken over campus buildings and were calling on others to help with the barricades. We doused the campfire, grabbed our back packs, and headed for “the City.”

The strike at Columbia back then started as opposition to the University’s plans to intrude into into the mostly African-American community without consulting those most affected, and evolved into a large Anti-Vietnam War protest.

Five buildings were occupied for a week. All I remember is the building we barricaded ourselves in had a new computer system that took up the top floor (computers were HUGE back then) that we threatened to blow it up if the police attacked.

I don’t remember how long we stayed, but I know I left before the police stormed the place. The organizers asked everyone to make a choice to voluntarily get arrested or leave before the caca hit the fan. I knew if I stayed and was arrested I would be sent home — which I was running from and was the last place I wanted to be. When we left the building, we took boxes full of computer cards and showered them like confetti on the cops who lined our exit. The police attack then commenced and hundreds of students were beaten and around 700 were arrested. It was my first dangerous political protest.

I cannot think of the hundreds of campuses in protest today without thinking about Columbia in 1968. But there is a big difference: we were protesting (among other things) the U.S. war of aggression against Vietnam not only because we thought it was wrong, but because our own asses could be shipped over there to be killed, maimed, imprisoned, tortured, or psychologically damaged for life. The kids these days are confronting injustice for OTHERS: specifically, the tragically oppressed Palestinian people. It is a much more selfless struggle, and they face much more sophisticated and dangerous adversaries.

But the students are sophisticated as well. In 1968 we had Pacifica radio at WBAI to give us alternative news. Now there are scores of social media sites to draw from and utilize, which is the main reason why the U.S. government wants to ban Tik-Tok. They want to control the info we get. In the meantime, it does this old radical heart well to see hundreds of college campuses throughout the country rise up in support of a permanent ceasefire against the barbarism unleashed by the U.S. and Israeli governments against Palestinians. Kudos.

Importantly, today’s students wisely call for a full disclosure of university financial dealings in support of divestment from Israel. Follow the money brothers and sisters! These rightful demands for transparency have lead to full- scale violent attacks against peaceful protesters by police and security forces, along with what can only be described as ultra-Zionist vigilante squads operating with the complicity of university and metro police departments. In one organized and extremely violent attack against peaceful students at UCLA, the cops looked on for over three hours as students were beaten to the ground with metal pipes and assaulted with chemical sprays. As reporter Max Blumenthal noted, at least in the old days the Pinkerton thugs were hired by the bosses to beat the workers, now it is our own tax money that pays for this abuse. And even though a number of these hoodlums have been identified (by CNN and others), there have been no arrests of them — only peaceful protesters.

Besides the violent attacks, there has been a purposeful and contrived ideological effort to portray peaceful demonstrators as terrorist sympathizers, just as past striking students or workers were labeled commies The slanders are always used for the same reason: to justify the use of violence and repression against the people exercising their rights. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, believing — with some good reason — that he is in charge in the U.S., has called all U.S. protesters “anti-Semitic” and supports the repression of Americans (just as he does his own Israeli citizens). Can you imagine any other world leader telling the U.S. government to repress protesting Americans? And still get away with it? So far he has, because there is no limit to U.S. support.

I have attended four demonstrations in Tucson since October 7th and I have not seen or heard any anti-semitic remarks being chanted or anti-Jewish sentiments expressed by anyone, just the opposite. In fact, the last protest I attended (May 18th at Armory Park), I listened to an articulate anti-Zionist Jewish youth speak affectionately about Palestinian rights and he then shared a Kaddish prayer. This is the case in many — if not all — of the demonstrations, where multi- religious youth, including those of the Jewish and Muslim faith, join in solidarity, even celebrating Sabbath together (and being beaten and arrested together).

There is, of course, much clamor about the dangerously serious problem of “anti-semitism” in this country. The term itself has been used to weaponize attacks against those who are pro-Palestinian, suggesting an anti-Jewish bias to the peace activists. But the term itself can be problematic. For example, a dictionary definition of “Semitic” is a “family of languages that includes Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic… constituting the main subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic family.” This obviously includes Palestinians, but as was recently pointed out to me, “semitic” does not always include all Jews.

The Ashkenazi, who make up way over half of all Jewish people, are genetically considered European as opposed to Jewish people whose ancestry originated from the Middle East. This is a problem for some Zionists who claim the land is theirs based on living in the region 2,000 years ago (not that this assertion is any justification for massive indigenous displacement since 1948). This is what makes the accusation of “anti-semitism” against the protesters very problematic, as Palestinians are a semitic people, whereas technically, many Jews are not. Besides that inconvenient truth, here is another: MANY of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including many organizers, are Jewish: are they all supposed to be anti-semitic Jews? Absurd. These Jewish students just don’t want ethnic cleansing to be done in their name (or with their tax dollars).

As reported recently in The Guardian:

“Hundreds of Jewish anti-war demonstrators have been arrested during a Passover seder that doubled as a protest in New York, as they shut down a major thoroughfare to pray for a ceasefire…The 300 or so arrests took place … where thousands of mostly Jewish New Yorkers gathered for the seder, a ritual that marked the second night of the holiday celebrated as a festival of freedom by Jews worldwide… just before the US Senate resoundingly passed a military package that includes $26b for Israel.”

As the organizer pronounced: “We as American Jews will not be used, we will not be complicit and we will not be silent. Judaism is a beautiful, thousands- year-old tradition, and Israel is a 76-year-old colonial apartheid state… this is the Passover that we take our exodus from Zionism. Not in our name. Let Gaza live.”
 
In an interesting article this month, Peter Singer takes issue with Netanyahu’s vicious contention that the anti-genocide protests are “anti-Semitic,” stating:

“Israel’s Law of Return gives me the right to become a citizen of Israel, even though I am an atheist, have never observed Jewish religious laws, learned Hebrew, or had a bar mitzvah. But the fact that my maternal grandmother was Jewish is enough for me to have the right to “return” to Israel. That does seem uncomfortably close to a racist criterion for deciding who has the right to become a citizen of Israel.”

YES, there IS a real problem with Anti-semitism in our country: a serious threat to those “Semitic” peoples — Arab and Jew alike — who oppose apartheid and genocide. They are under severe threat by the U.S. Government and university administrators who want to repress their free speech, even if it means the use of rubber bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas. These protesters are the people who need protection from the use of all the weapons of the state being fired at them, who face expulsion from the educational institutions they have invested in, and evictions from the dormitories for which they have already paid. They even risk being blacklisted from future employment. They are under extreme threat from this “nuevo” McCarthyism: “Red” then now = “Hamas.”

The ones who DON’T need protection are the snowflakes who feel “intimidated” by a slogan they hear or a flag they don’t like to look at. As George Orwell said: freedom is the right to say what people don’t want to hear. These “sensitive” people — whether Jewish or Ultra Christian Evangelical — don’t need special laws or protection. They need a good course on the 1st Amendment. Instead, our country is going in the opposite direction, with a new law being proposed by Congress that will make it illegal to utter words deemed inappropriate by Big Brother.

The bill, already passed by the House and expected to be approved by the Senate and ratified by Genocide Joe, would codify (i.e. weaponize) a specific definition of “antisemitism” to use in order to inflict even more repression against peace activists. The wording is nothing short of ominous. For example, it defines anti-semitism as anyone who is caught “accusing Jews as a people being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing…” Yes, even REAL wrongdoing! So if someone says they think it is wrong for the Jewish state to indiscriminately carpet bomb civilians, that constitutes anti-semitism? Yup.

The new legally binding definition also includes “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.” How about denying the Palestinians that right? Since they are “semites,” is denying their rights anti-semitic too? Likewise, American citizens are to be prosecuted if any of us opine that “Israel’s existence is a racist endeavor.” If someone thinks that a “Jewish state only for a Jewish people” is wrong, they could be convicted of a felony. Also banned from public speech will be any comparison between current Israeli policy and the Nazis. I can think of a half dozen comparisons off the top of my head. I am clearly already guilty, (but often feel like I was born that way)..

The bill would also instruct the Department of Education to investigate anything that might be considered “hate speech” occurring on campuses under the threat of having their federal funds withheld. Talk about trashing the First Amendment rights! Remember people: “hate” speech (whatever the hell that is and defined by whom-ever-the-fug will determine this) is still supposed to be protected speech (as long as it doesn’t incite violence). Will such laws someday ban, say, hatred of Anglo-Saxons? We don’t need Trump to institute an authoritarian hell-hole, the duopoly-Party honchos are doing it right now.

The sponsor of the bill claims: “We cannot stand idly by as protesters call for the death of Jews on college campuses and across the country.” Yet the only known case of anyone shouting “Kill the Jews” was a pro-Israeli provocateur who infiltrated the protesters at Boston’s Northeastern University, and which was used as an excuse by security forces to repress peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In response to the provocateur (who was never charged with inciting violence, of course), it was the 100 peaceful protesters who actually booed the man’s racist rant who were the ones arrested! Yeah, students are being busted because of the “antisemitic slurs” used by an anti-Palestinian provocateur against them! In fact, the entire encampment was removed because “of the presence of hate speech at the site,” according to the university’s administration, done without them identifying who used such speech, but clear on who they wanted to prosecute.

In the meantime, our local politicians in both the City of Tucson and Pima County are looking at very troubling budgets, while refusing to condemn genocide or speak to the transfer of billions of our national treasure for war.
The city is looking at a shortfall this year of about $26 million. Pima County is looking at a shortfall of $43 million. Homeless encampments are being dismantled, yet affordable housing is non-existent. The drug crisis worsens day by day, especially affecting our working class barrios, but there is never proper funding to deal with it. Our streets, full of cracks and craters everywhere, are like driving on an obstacle course. Our increasingly polluted water availability is under threat, but there are no funds for the needed infrastructure projects. There are never enough cops to deal with anything and we are told “community policing” costs too much. The border — whether you think we need bigger walls or more resources to process asylum seekers — needs millions more to fix, but our leaders are more concerned with other nations’ borders (like the Russian/Ukrainian one).

But never fear: there is always more money for war: either against the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the Afghans, or whoever else can be used to scare us in order to fill the insatiable appetite of Raytheon and their ilk. After watching our nation treasures diverted away from our own needs at home, is it really any wonder why our youth rebel? The real question is, why doesn’t everyone?

PHOENIX: NO IDF POLICE TRAINING

In Phoenix: people have called for the immediate halt to any partnerships with the Israel because “high ranking American officers train with the very same Israeli agencies who carry out the country’s policies of occupation and apartheid via control, shoot to kill policies, surveillance, racial discrimination, restrictions of movement, repression of social movements, torture, excessive force, child kidnappings, and more.”

We should be banning the same here in Tucson/Pima County. Why are we not?

Similarly, the US-Mexico border has an “eerie parallel” to Israel-Gaza as “US officers are learning from a regime accused of using iron-fisted security tactics to enforce a system of racial oppression.”

In fact, “hacked police files show US law enforcement agencies for decades received analysis of incidents in the Israel-Palestine conflict directly from the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli think tanks, training on domestic ‘Muslim extremists’ from pro-Israel non-profits, and surveilled social media accounts of pro-Palestine activists in the US.” [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/ dec/08/us-police-agencies-idf-files-blueleaks]

The report “Deadly Exchange; The Dangerous Consequences of US-Israel Law Enforcement Exchanges” (see References at end) documents thousands of American officials who have been trained by the Israeli police and military (including from Tucson). As Stefanie Fox with Jewish Voices for Peace stated:

“American police already have a terrible track record on civil rights and racism – and then they go to Israel and train with Israeli police and security agencies that are documented human rights violators. We should be investing in our communities, not militarizing our police.”

So our solidarity with the people of Palestine may be more than just ideological. We may be facing a repressive police force here in Tucson trained by the very murderers who have killed over 35,000 people including 14,500 children and 9,500 women, with another 10,000 missing and probably dead. Feel secure?

——————

“The state of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, not by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values.”

— David Ben-Gurion (Israel’s first Prime Minister)

LOOKING FOR A NICE VACATION?

“Nuseirat by the Sea Resort and Casino

Welcome to Nuseirat by the Sea, a luxurious resort and casino nestled along the picturesque coastline of the Gaza Strip. Our resort combines the tranquility of the Mediterranean Sea with the excitement of world-class entertainment and gaming. Whether you’re seeking relaxation, adventure, or both, there is something for everyone.

Resort Features
1. Oceanfront Accommodations
Enjoy breathtaking views from our elegantly appointed rooms and suites. Wake up to the sound of waves crashing against the shore and savor your morning coffee on your private balcony overlooking the sea.
2. Private Beach
Step directly onto our pristine sandy beach and soak up the sun. Our beach attendants will ensure you have everything you need for a perfect day by the water.
3. Infinity Pool
Relax in our infinity pool, where the water seems to blend seamlessly with the horizon. Lounge on comfortable sun-beds and sip refreshing cocktails from the poolside bar.
4. Spa and Wellness
Indulge in rejuvenating spa treatments, including massages, facials, and hydrotherapy. Our skilled therapists will pamper you, leaving you feeling refreshed and renewed.
5. Gourmet Dining
Savor exquisite cuisine at our oceanfront restaurants. From fresh seafood to international flavors, our culinary team creates memorable dining experiences. 6. Nightlife and Entertainment
As the sun sets, the energy rises. Visit our casino for thrilling games of chance, or dance the night away at our beachfront nightclub. Live music and entertainment await you.

Casino Highlights
1. Gaming Excitement
Our state-of-the-art casino features slot machines, table games, and poker tournaments. Try your luck and experience the thrill of winning.
2. High Rollers Lounge For our VIP guests, the High Rollers Lounge offers exclusive gaming tables, personalized service, and private areas for relaxation.
3. Sports Betting
Place your bets on your favorite teams and sporting events. Watch the games on large screens while enjoying drinks and snacks.

Explore Beyond the Resort
1. Historical Tours
Discover the rich history of Nuseirat and the surrounding region. Visit ancient sites, archaeological excavations, and learn about the local culture.
2. Day Trips
Explore nearby attractions, such as the Grand Nuseirat Mosque (before its destruction) [actually destroyed since October 7th], local markets, and traditional Palestinian villages.

Book Your Stay
Escape to Nuseirat by the Sea Resort and Casino for an unforgettable experience…”

Yes, this is a real advertisement sent to a Jewish friend of mine to encourage more occupation and settler colonization. Nuseirat is not only a resort and casino, it is also the location of a Palestinian refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip which had a refugee population of over 50,000 which has been greatly reduced as the Nuseirat refugee camp has been bombed repeatedly since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The Grand Nuseirat Mosque settlers were encouraged to visit “before its destruction” was bombed destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in October.

But hey, that shouldn’t discourage anyone from enjoying themselves at the casino, no? Maybe Jared Kushner — who has advocated plans to turn Gaza into a resort for the rich — may be there to greet you himself. After the rubble and dead babies are removed, of course.

——————————

RECENT LETTERS TO THE ADS

(My letter cut down to fit the Star’s word limit, but most of it got in!):

No matter what side you may fall on with regards to the Israeli vs. Palestinian conflict, the use of chemical weapons and rubber bullets against UA protesters should raise public concern for all Tucson citizens. Someone could get killed.

I have been shot at by wooden bullets and tear gassed years ago when defending the miners strike in Clifton and Morenci, and I have been gassed, beaten and fired at with rubber and plastic bullets by soldiers in Belfast during a peaceful march. At that demonstration, where a large contingent of Americans watched our national flag run over by British army saracens, a once healthy 32 year old man named Sean Downes died when a plastic bullet was fired into his chest. He had only been married a year, leaving his wife and baby girl behind. Here in the U.S. over 115 head injuries were reported across the U.S. by people hit by rubber bullets during peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd. [This was cut due to word limit].

Plastic and rubber bullets, technically called “kinetic impact projectiles” or KIPs, are lethal weapons. They were used extensively by the Brits in occupied Ireland and now by the Israeli Defense Forces in occupied Palestine. To be hit by one can cause blindness, brain damage, or death. Amnesty International reports that police routinely misuse them against peaceful protesters. The ACLU has also condemned their use, clearly stating that they “are not an appropriate weapon for crowd management.” The Physicians for Human Rights has declared that “at close range, level of lethality and patterns of injury of some KIPs become similar to those of live ammunition.”

KIPs were recently used at UCLA and now they are being used here in Tucson against protesters. The use of KIPs by the Tucson Police Department and other law enforcement authorities must be stopped by the Mayor and Council. We should also cease all coordination between local law enforcement and the Israeli Defense Forces as has been done in the City of Durham, North Carolina, Northampton, Massachusetts, and Washington DC. There should be no place in Tucson for the use of lethal force against anyone for simply exercising their 1st Amendment rights.

Sincerely, Scott D. Egan

*** My letter followed up after by Professor Smith (who I don’t know)…

Use of rubber bullets – Israeli training of US police

As an emeritus professor of Middle East history at UA and author of “Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” now in 10th edition, I have viewed with alarm reports of police using rubber bullets to break up student demonstrations nationwide, including here on the UA campus.

A recent letter by Scott Egan (5/12) noted that they are lethal. Aimed at the head they can kill at short distances. At least 1,000 American police departments have sent members to be trained in Israel on Israeli methods to crush Palestinian nonviolent demonstrations.

Local police use of rubber bullets suggests the Tucson PD may have received such training. Such brutal police assaults on nonviolent protests have no place in our society. That they have occurred because of guidance by the military of a foreign country using tactics imposed on Palestinians, not on fellow Israelis, is disturbing and should be strongly challenged, not least because here the methods are used against fellow citizens gathering in support of Palestinians. Is this a coincidence?

Charles Smith

——————————————————-

REFERENCES
City Budget: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Departments/Business-Services-

Department/Budget/Adopted-Budget-Fiscal-Year-2025

ADS on City Budget: https://www.kold.com/2024/05/22/tucson-moves- forward-with-its-2024-2025-tentative-budget/

Mayor and Council meeting on Budget:

http:www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNe6IyypOiM

Democratic Sell-Out on ADUs:

https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/arizona-govkatiehobbs-legislature- housing-affordability-casitas-short-term-vacation-rentals/ article_68ec29ba-1935-11ef-afca-339dc0873ebf.html

Deadly Exchange: https://deadlyexchange.org/deadly-exchange-research- report/

Phoenix says no to IDF: [https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/end-all-phoenix- police-training-programs-with-israel]

Tucson Law Enforcement and Israeli: https://azjewishpost.com/2017/tucson- peace-officers-trip-bolsters-regional-bond-with-israel/

Gaza and Mexican Border: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ americas/us-police-israel-training-hamas-b2454442.html

Provocateurs: https://www.yahoo.com/news/pro-israel-agitator-shouts- kill-163956737.html

Askenazi Jews Are Genetically European “Live Science” https://www.livescience.com/40247-ashkenazi-jews-have-european-genes.html

Jews, Semites, and Antisemitism: https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/ articles/jews-semites-and-antisemitism

Israel Police Arrest U.S. Jews, Trying to Bring Aid Into Gaza:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-27/ty-article/.premium/israel- police-arrest-seven-including-five-u-s-jews-trying-to-bring-aid-into-gaza/ 0000018f-1e6d-dc45-a78f-1e6de0940000

Hate Speech Bill: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/ 2024-05-07/explainer-the-controversy-surrounding-the-antisemitism-bill

Peter Singer on anti-semitism: (https://www.project-syndicate.org/ commentary/are-us-anti-israel-protesters-anti-semitic-by-peter-singer-2024-05)

Not like other Passovers: Jewish Demonstrators arrested at NY seder:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/24/not-like-other-passovers- hundreds-of-jewish-demonstrators-arrested-after-new-york-protest-seder

WBAI Pacifica broadcasts the 1968 Columbia University Student Strike:

https://archive.org/details/ FromTheVault1021968ColumbiaUniversityStudentStrike

Juan Gonzales reflects on Columbia 68:

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/23/antiwar_protests_gaza

College Students threatened: https://www.yahoo.com/news/college- students-across-the-us-have-been-arrested-and-threatened-with-suspension- over-pro-palestinian-protests-but-what-legal-rights-do-they- have-150447931.html

Unmasking counterprotesters who attacked UCLA’s pro-Palestine encampment: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/us/ucla-student-protests- counterprotesters-invs/index.html

U.A. Under attack: the case of Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson: https:// tucson.com/news/local/education/college/university-arizona-jewish-council- faculty-senate-chair-antisemitism-resolution-deferred/ article_abfc051a-0e34-11ef-bc34-ff694d16c7a9.html

page15image23174816

BOG NEWS is the SOUL responsibility of Scott D. Egan and can be used any way anyone see fit! If you no longer wish to receive Bog News please respond back with “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the heading.

If you know anyone who might want to get Bog News let us know: we keep our mailing list confidential.

We also welcome any comments!

page15image8976064

“What do We mean by the American Revolution? Do We mean the American War? The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the Minds and Hearts of the People. This radical Change in the Principles, Opinions, Sentiments, and Affection of the People, was the real American Revolution.”

— John Adams

page15image8976256 page15image9153408 page15image9147072 page15image9135872

EL RIO BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE!

BOG NEWS FOR APRIL ’24

Posted on April 24, 2024 by boggmann

THE DEMOCRATIC CITY COUNCIL REFUSES TO CONSIDER A RESOLUTION CONDEMNING GENOCIDE

In perhaps one of their most shameful moves (and there is a long list of those) the all “Democrat” Mayor and Council of Tucson voted 5-1 to refuse to even consider any resolution — courageously advocated by Ward 1 council member Lane Santa Cruz — for a ceasefire on the relentless bombing of militarily occupied and starving people in Gaza by an Israeli apartheid regime intent on the ethnic “cleansing” of indigenous peoples of the region.

When I heard about the proposed resolution I offered to bet anyone with15-1 odds that the issue would never pass. No one, wisely, took me up on my offer. In fact, it was only due to the consistently strong advocacy of Tucson’s peace community at the council’s call to the audience (at every meeting in the last 5 months) that the item was even placed on the agenda and that was only for discussion of whether to even consider it, showing once again, that our political “leaders” only do the minimum when they are forced to do so by public pressure. The council were forced to face the public pressure and explain why they wouldn’t consider a call for a ceasefire to the ongoing genocide. Each member of the council also revealed much during the discussion (where they try to discuss why they shouldn’t be discussing the topic!).

With true sheep-like acquiescence to the diktats of the two-party duopoly and their Wall Street arms profiteers, the majority mumbled and bumbled their way to try to justify the unjustifiable. Bewailing the “divisiveness” that the issue has caused, the majority did what they do best: they ran and hid. As skimpily articulated in the official City of Tucson official minutes, that after “introductory comments by Mayor Romero…”

“Council Member Lee … outlined her thoughts and beliefs saying the matter was complicated, nuanced and quite divisive for any one statement to capture all of the individual views of the Mayor and Council, as each one of them had the ability to express their position on the issue…” and that “as a Governing Body, they chose not to schedule or move forward with any resolution, and instead leave room for each of them to express and advocate their own positions if and when they see fit.”

“Leave room” to grant them the right to use their First Amendment rights. The official record does not actually reflect the real record on the meeting, as anyone who watches it will see (a link is provided below for access).

As someone who has not supported council member Lane Santa Cruz (LSC) in the past, I must admit I am duly impressed by her very personal account of why she supports a ceasefire resolution in spite of her Evangelical background and the pro-Israeli advocacy of her family, including trips to Israel, where people were taught that Jews were “the chosen people” but Muslims were not. She talked about her spiritual evolution away from the Judeo-Christian beliefs (yes, there too I am with you there sister!) and why the proclamation about “NEVER AGAIN” should apply to all people as opposed to a “fascist manipulation of the holocaust.”

LSC also mentioned that over 70 other cities have passed a ceasefire resolution (including the courageous City of South Tucson) and rightly called it a “disservice” not to take a stand against the “genocidal war that continues without accountability.”

The only self-identified Jewish member of the council, Paul Cunningham, got somewhat emotional when addressing the issue. He said each week his thoughts changed on the issue, how comments about “Zionism being a failure” made him feel that people were denying the Jewish Holocaust (?). He spoke of the emotional trauma he experienced with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and how that derailed the peace process(by an Israeli Zionist who would probably fit right in to the current Netanyahu one). One can see and feel Cunningham’s anguish on the issue, possibly because he was aware that he, as the only Jew on the council, might have influenced enough of the other council members to vote differently if he took a stand closer to his fellow co-religionists like those of “Jewish Voices For Peace” — instead refusing to take a stand in the face of genocide. Interestingly he was also the only one who didn’t believe the issue was now over.

Cunningham, suggesting that this was not the end of the issue, and that much more dialog is needed from the different sides of the community to “find a way to do a resolution together” since “we have to take a stand at some point.” These suggestions were ignored by a Mayor and Council that clearly does not want to ever talk about the issue again. But the man at least seemed to be open to further discussion. If so, he should be taken up on the offer.

Ward 5 member Richard Fimbres — who makes Diane Feinstein seem quaintly coherent — participated electronically, as he has done for several years, clearly to hide his obvious incapacities. While in the past the city staff’s recited transcription of his words duly edited (or liberally interpreted) to make minimal sense, his comments this time couldn’t be converted to anything intelligible, other than the comment “I support Lane…” before some unintelligible blather followed. The official record says he voted against LSC, but that is not what he said, at least not with the few words that could be understood. But Fimbres is little more than an oblivious wall flower, another toady who is there just to provide the majority with an extra vote, even when he doesn’t actually provide it as in this case. It is always amazing what the local press continues to intentionally ignore the obvious about Fimbres. Would they ignore his incapacities if he were a not a Democrat? Or does such a question make me a right-winger???

Mayor Romero took the mic and spewed forth the most inane pontifications that even superseded her usual lame-ass condescending sophistry. The main theme “La Reina de Chukson” employed would be echoed by each council crony: it is all “too divisive” … “too touchy” … “too complex” … “too nuanced” for them to take a stand against genocide. While La Reina talked about “the urgency of the moment” and “the crisis at hand” which “needs to end” because the “innocent are suffering,” she still opposed the resolution. Shouldn’t “thoughts and prayers” be enough? (Ask a starving child in Gaza).

La Reina justified her voting against genocide because supporting the resolution might offend some sensitive people — that by proclaiming her opposition to massive and indiscriminate bombing of civilians and total destruction of their neighborhoods, the forced displacement of over a million poor people, the intentional imposition of famine on a defenseless people, that to oppose all this could “trigger” some “hurt” for some people by taking such a stand! No, she is not talking about the “triggers” of the IDF).

This reminds me of when the great liberal icon, President Franklin Roosevelt, refused to take in exiled Jews escaping Hitler’s Germany because highlighting the attempted extermination might somehow encourage anti-semitism! So many Jewish refugees were sent back to Germany and the death camps.

(See the book: The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust by Rafael Medoff).

But the prize for the most embarrassing revelation was from Ward 3 puff-cake Keven Dahl who opened up with:

“I want to echo what you said Mayor, and just say ‘ditto.’ Which I often do after the Mayor speaks…”

As Chicanos say: “sin vergüenza.” What was Dahl’s main reason to oppose taking a stand against mass murder of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians? Because, he said, making such a statement might “piss off some people.” Ah! What courage and conviction! God forbid he show some leadership instead of fear of criticism. (Perhaps he is angling for some AIPAC money in his next election? He may need it). Anyway, the Ward 3 councilman now has a new name: DITTO DAHL! Whatever the Queen says, he will bow to.

The majority of this council would probably have told John Brown and Frederick Douglass to keep their mouths shut about slavery — you know, so as not to offend any snowflakes out there. After all, slavery (like genocide) is a very “complex” and “nuanced” issue that is difficult to take a clear side on without creating divisiveness, ¿qué no?

Hopefully, the progressives left in Tucson will ditch their rose-colored glasses they have been gazing through with this council — but don’t hold your breath. If massive subsidies to their developer friends (through GPLET tax abatements), along with the utter lack of affordable housing stipulations for new development, the continued Rio Nuevo rip-off (money for everything: but housing), the absurd transportation plans clearly designed by mad men (and women), the continued lack of support for neighborhoods, massive pot-holed roads and crumbling infrastructure, and the council’s blatant disrespect for their city workers (from cops to bus drivers): if all of these things (and more) have not woken up the woke crowd here, their ignoring genocide is probably not going to change these D party sycophants either. From Genocide Joe Biden to Ditto Dahl, the pattern is the same. Obey the masters.

Of course it is not just Democrats who whore themselves out to AIPAC and other lobbyists. Both the national leaders of the Dem/GOP duopoly in the House of Representatives just voted to send another $95 billion to promote our proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine, another $26 billion to promote more genocide in Palestine, and — for good measure — an extra $8 billion to rattle our sabers against China over Taiwan. Because, you know it’s not like we need any money here right? So the Democrats on our city council match the warmongering partners in D.C. — at least all of their priorities are clear and consistent. And they all will all have tons of money from the corporate military industrial complex to run vigorous campaigns against any challengers.

Of course, this cowardly council decision is not the first or even most significant negative influence by the Israeli lobby in Tucson, just the latest. As outlined in the book “They Dare To Speak Out — People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby”by former Congressman Paul Findley, the Ol’ Pueblo gets its own full chapter (8) entitled “Tucson: Case Study in Intimidation.”

Describing in detail how “Tucson’s long ordeal constitutes a noteworthy case study of the unrelenting commitment and resourcefulness of pro-Israel activists at the community level” he highlights a three year attack against the U.A.’s Near Eastern Center “that would culminate in the barring of outreach materials from local public schools and the resignation of the center’s director. The attack, orchestrated by local Jewish community leaders, succeeded despite the finding of a panel of nationally know Middle East scholars that charges of anti-Israel bias in the program were groundless.”

It is an amazingly interesting story, that anyone interested should research. It is clear by the council vote that the Israeli lobby in Tucson is still strong and effective in getting their way: even intimidating supposed liberals against condemning the genocide against a poor and defenseless people.

The Findley book mentions members of the TUSD board played an important part, including then board member Raul Grijalva. As indicated in the book, “it was no surprise when the Tucson Jewish community singled out for recognition several of the people prominent in the school district’s decision: Eva Bacal and Raul Grijalva.” Expenses paid trips to Israel followed.

In fact, if anyone checked (that is, if we had any semblance of a real news service here), a great number of our elected officials have probably gone on “free” junkets to Israel. (Funny how they never come back and talk about settler colonialism). It might be interesting to know how many of the Arizona legislators got trips to Israel also voted to make it illegal for Arizonan’s to support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israeli products. (You can boycott Tucson, or Arizona, or the USA, but American’s are prohibited from boycotting Israel, thanks to our legislature).

So is the “special relationship” that Tucson has with Israel a factor in the appointment of the new city manager? Read on…

———————

THE NEW CITY MANAGER AND THE SHADY DEAL

Interestingly, it looks like the newly-appointed City Manager may already have some experience in dealing with the Israelis…

Before being the newly appointed Tucson City Manager Tim Thomure was one of the members of the Arizona Water Infrastructure Financing Authority (WIFA) who voted to approve Gov. Doug Ducey‘s midnight/backroom deal to issue a NO BID (non-competitive) contract to pay the Israeli-based IDE Technologies $5.5 billion to desalinate and pump water 200 miles from Puerto Peñasco, Mexico to Phoenix.

Quoting from a series of articles by Tony Davis of the ADS (bold and underlined emphasis mine):

“The water board agreed to start discussions with Israeli-based IDE Technologies with the authority serving as a financial backstop, asking the authority to put $750 million of $1 billion the Arizona Legislature appropriated for water augmentation projects into escrow … though the new board lacks criteria for how it will judge such ideas. The plant is proposed by a consortium of companies, including IDE and Goldman Sachs…

WIFA, changed its stance in the face of stinging criticism of its board’s December vote from a wide variety of people and interest groups. Legislators of both parties, environmentalists, Sonoran officials and other “public interest” organizations had decried they felt was a rush to judgment on the IDE proposal.

Board chairman David Beckham said at the time that the board needed to move quickly because the Arizona Commerce Authority Director, Sandra Watson, told him there was “urgency involved” to get the project moving. It turned out that much of the urgency stemmed from a desire by IDE officialsto garner a sign of support from the board the day before company officials were to submit a formal proposal to the Bureau of Land Management for review because the pipeline was to run through some BLM land.

But the board’s speedy action sparked suspicion among legislators and others that the arrangement smacked of a “backroom deal.” That was something legislative leaders had sought to avoid when they agreed in 2021 to spend up to $1 billion on building big water augmentation projects along with $200 million on water conservation projects.

Not only was the board affected by the public sentiment toward its speedy consideration of the IDE proposal last December, some board members agreed with the public’s view that the process was moving too fast, said board member Tim Thomure, who is [was] a deputy Tucson city manager and former Tucson Water director.

“I don’t think that anyone from the board would disagree with the public view that this seems rushed and we don’t know the rules of the game,” Thomure told the Star. “How could the board act on this proposal? We’d barely been seated as a board. We didn’t have an executive director. We had no direct policies or procedures. We responded to what was solicited to us. We put it in on a path that would lead to it getting vetted…The board members were in the same position as the public, with no prior knowledge of this proposal till the week it was submitted.”

Asked why the board would approve a plan to negotiate with IDE if he and other board members felt it was rushed, Thomure replied that the board had crafted what members thought was a path to acknowledge that proposal, “but not commit to anything and also to have the ability to consider it when the time was right… It turns out out now it’s better to put it into a process for establishing all proposals.”

Gee, Tim, do ya really think an open public process might be better than a back room deal? Are you sure now?

The intrepid Tony Davis notes: “Sen. Lisa Otondo, a Yuma Democrat who said the speed at which the project is moving “is completely irresponsible,” and “shows an utter lack of transparency and reeks of backroom deals,” and pointing out that the proposal was “lacking any detailed analysis of the project’s economics or environmental impacts…”

Karl Flessa, a University of Arizona retired geosciences professor who has studied the Colorado River’s ecology for 30 years, said the push for this project “seems to be an effort to get priority for considerationof this proposal without adequate review of the technology… It will scare away competing proposals. At best, this resolution is premature. It commits (the authority) to provide its staff to very substantial effortsto clear enormous hurdles facing this project.”

Thanks to people like Lisa Otondo and Karl Flessa — and the professional journalism of Tony Davis — the public objections have forced the state agency to change course and now seek open bids from all entities interested in building water-augmentation projects. You know, like a fair and competitive open-bid process. Too bad it took public pressure for them to try to do the right thing.

There is an excellent opinion piece on how wrong-headed the whole drive for imported water is by Brooks Keenan who was the head of Pima County’s Transportation Department and has many decades of engineering experience in the private sector as well as in the City of Tucson. He was also the lead individual in the county to blow the whistle on corruption in contract fixing, leading to a major overhaul in procurement procedures (and also costing him his job). Dan Eckstrom was never the same (he retired soon after the corruption was exposed and an F.B.I. investigation was launched). But that’s another story…

Stating that the billions of dollars needed to import water will result in a benefit for “real estate developers who will profit most” while “you and I, dear citizens, will foot the bill,” Keenan references the “$5.5 billion no-bid contract” and how the Arizona Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water voted “to allow WIFA contract negotiations to be conducted in secret and be exempted from Arizona’s Public Records Law.”

Speaking as one who certainly knows, Keenan explains that “typically, the private company negotiates a price with a mid-level bureaucrat who has little to no experience with this type of project and no authority to cancel the deal. Commonly, the private companies make campaign contributions and wine and dine the politicians, to engender favorable treatment in the negotiations.”

WIFA eventually came to the enlightened conclusion (after widespread outrage) that maybe they should retract their unanimous decision for a non-competitive GIFT — er, I mean “contract” — but only after the people started raising hell from the profoundly odorous stench of it all.

For us community activists, it’s important to know the the new city manager actually can be responsive to community pressure if it is strong enough, because it sure doesn’t look like he is into doing the right thing without such pressure. (Which, dear friends, is very good to know).

And here are some final thoughts:

The WIFA group showed they were fine with decision making without adequate review of the economic or environmental impacts.
WIFA members were totally cool with engaging in shady backroom deals to promote no-bid contracts for a favored company.
WIFA showed an utter lack of transparency or accountabilityin a process that could have cost taxpayers many millions of dollars more than necessary.

So maybe these are the very reasons — based on his WIFA history noted above — that Timmy T may have shown that he has the qualifications they are looking for in their new Tucson City Manager: No review of facts or impact in decision making, no transparency or accountability, and a good hankering for backroom deals. The Mayor and Council must have felt he should fit right in at the City of Tucson!

————————————————

Notable recent letters to the editor of ADS on Desalination deal

Water policy in secret

“There you go again,” said Ronald Reagan, deprecating what he saw as dishonest claims of his opponents — but now look who’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes regarding water purchase and importation into Arizona. The AZ Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water, by a 4-3 party line vote, has approved moving forward a bill to shield the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) from public scrutiny of their negotiations to buy water from any and all bidders.

These are the same folks that recommended a couple of years ago we contract with IDE technologies to build an unbelievably expensive desalinization plant on the Sea of Cortez to pipe water to Arizona, a plan which might still be in the works, for all we know. What new boondoggle will they come up with this time? Only transparency can preserve democracy: Write your senators to defeat this bill!

Suzanne Ferguson, Southeast side

Who has excess fresh water?

So, the Republicans want to establish publicly what they tried to do secretly under Republican Governor Doug Ducey: create a fait accompli agreement for Arizona to set up a desalination plant in Mexico and have taxpayers pay to subsidize developers for billions of dollars.

After all, from what state can Arizona import excess fresh water for the next half century (the time needed for the bonds to build such an endeavor)? New Mexico with its drying Rio Grande? Colorado and Utah with their billion-dollar plans to take more Colorado River? Nevada? California? Heck, the northern Great Plains and Missouri River basin just went through a winter without much snow. The Mississippi River is lower than normal. The northern Rockies can’t guarantee they won’t be affected by global warming. Mexico needs all their fresh water.

Nope. The whole plan is to get legislative okay to build a desalination plant in the Gulf of Mexico so Arizona taxpayers one day wake up to multi-generational debt.

It’s guaranteed failure, Republicans.

Matt Somers, Midtown

————————