Citizens United

 

Money and lobbies had always been a bad influence on democracy. But then came #CitizensUnited :(

New York Lies

 

Decolonizing ChatGPT is Far Easier than Dezionizing the Congress!

Congress Conflates the State of Israel with Patriarch Israel/Jacob!

I am always amazed to see congress members conflating the State of Israel with biblical Israel/Jacob. Watch this video!

“Washington DC isn't the center of the universe, Jerusalem is”. 

RepRickAllen asks @Columbia President:  

Do you know Genesis 12:3 “If you bless Israel, I will bless you. If you curse Israel, I will curse you”.   He then asks: “Do you want Columbia (University) to be CURSED by God, of the Bible?!”

To me, the State of Israel is an administrative, political, military and economic structure, among other things. The State of Israel is currently being tried for plausible genocide before the Interntional Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ . So, it can't be biblical. I decided to ask ChatGPT!

Initially, ChatGPT Conflates the 'Nation of Israel' with Israel/Jacob

ME: 
According to the Bible, who was meant by Israel in 'he who blesses Israel will be blessed'?

ChatGPT: 
The phrase “he who blesses Israel will be blessed” is derived from the promises God made to Abraham in the Bible. In Genesis 12:3, God says to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."1 This verse is often interpreted as God’s promise to bless those who bless Abraham’s descendants, the nation of Israel.

In the context of the Bible, “Israel” refers to the Jewish people or the descendants of Jacob, who was later named Israel. The nation of Israel, therefore, is seen as the collective descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The blessing implies that those who show favor and kindness to Israel, both the people and the nation, will themselves be blessed by God.

ME:
This is wrong - because the State of Israel is not a descendant of anyone - it is a State, a political structure, and conflating it with the Jewish people can be harmful and antisemitic.

ChatGPT Admits that the Conflation between Israel and the Jewish People is Wrong and Can be Potentially Harmful

ChatGPT:
Thank you for pointing that out. You’re correct that the modern State of Israel is a sovereign nation established in the 20th century and is not a descendant in the biological sense. The term “Israel” in the Bible originally referred to the individual Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and by extension, his descendants, known as the Israelites.

The interpretation of biblical references to Israel can vary widely, and it’s important to distinguish between the ancient biblical context and the modern political entity. The conflation of the two can indeed lead to misunderstandings and potentially harmful rhetoric. It’s essential to approach such topics with sensitivity and awareness of the historical and contemporary implications.

Decolonization of AI

Conclusion: When ChatGPT gives an answer which is based on Hasbara, CORRECT it. This is how it can learn.

This is one of the ways to decolonize AI. 

But apparently decolonization of ChatGPT is nowhere as difficult as getting the memo to the US Congress.

The End of the Line

 When Armageddon is the only Way Forward, Israel Needs to Stop or be Stopped

Israel's Paradox

I look at Israel's path and see it inevitable for the kind of impossible and contradictory goals it has being trying to achieve. 

It wants peace with its neighbors but covets and steals their land and resources.

It wants to appear as a democratic state to fit with the Western Club of its benefactors, yet it insists on maintaining racial supremacy of one sect of its citizens over all others. 

It wants a State with a Jewish majority, yet refuses a Two-State solution, which leaves it with a majority of Palestinians in its de facto One State reality between "the River and the Sea".

It claims it wants peace with the Palestinians, the indigenous rightful owners of the land, yet continues to place them under occupation, in open air prisons, surrounded by an apartheid wall and humiliating check points, under siege, erects new settlements, demolishes their homes and steals more of what remains of Palestinian land while slaughtering their children and ethnically cleansing their shrinking territory.

Apartheid is Like a Runaway Train Going Downhill

And as occupation, humiliation, dispossession and violence, creates its own resistance and counter violence, Israeli people continuously shift to more extremism. Extremist settlers commit more atrocities against Palestinians, creating more resistance and more violence. And with impunity provided by the US and the EU, the lack of an external legitimate force or legal apparatus that will stop this madness encourages more extremism and violence. It is like a runaway train that is going downhill. 

Nothing More or Worse to be Done?

To simultaneously achieve these contradictory goals and maintain these untenable conditions, the only way for Israel - up until this moment - to continue its path of land theft and apartheid has been to kill, arrest, demolish, fire, threaten and bomb. Arnon Soffer said it best in 2004: 

We have to kill, and kill, and kill. All day, everyday.

But despite the mass-killing, Palestinians have nowhere else to go, so they stay in their land and make a life for themselves. This in itself aggravates leader like Netanyahu who blamed it all on UNRWA for failing to ship the Palestinians to other destinations. 

Israel arrived at the Genocide Station but didn't stop. It can't stop. It's a runaway train.

This is just the 76th year of its bloody life, yet Israel has arrived at a place which no nation before has reached without signing its death certificate, the station of genocide. You would think, there's nothing more or worse that can be done on this path.

But you would be mistaken.

Armageddon

There is one more abyss that the runaway train seems to be heading to. To continue as an apartheid state, after being exposed to the whole world, and after failing to "destroy Hamas", Israel thinks that it has no option but to drag the US, and the EU to a regional war with Iran, which could possibly turn into an apocalyptic nuclear exchange at a global scale.

The problem with a prophecy like Armageddon, is that it is self-fulfilling. Extremists believe in it and as a result they take actions which will enact it.

When Israel hit the Iranian consulate in Damascus, it was trying to nudge Iran to join its war. Iran did just that. Probably because some extremists in Iran also believe in Armageddon. All the stories come from the same pot. And as Iran retaliated, Israel decided to also retaliate to the retaliation, although Iran has made clear that it will in turn retaliate to the retaliation on the retaliation.

And this is what a vicious circle of violence looks like.

Except that this time, the train is actually coming to the apocalyptic end of the track.

The question now is: 

When Armageddon is the only way forward, who will stop this runaway train before it hits the terminal?

We have Democratically Voted to Annex your House

 In this video, the show host suggests that because the majority of Israelis don't support a Palestinian State, and since Israel is a 'democracy', then there shouldn't be a Palestinian state. 

So, basically, if the majority of my household democratically voted that we should annex our neighbor's house, then this is what should rightfully happen!

Now, if Israelis don't want a two-state solution, and since Apartheid, continued occupation and ethnic cleansing are all against international law, what does the future of Israel look like?

Sunak: A Reasonable Supporter of a Plausible Genocide

 

David Miliband is head of International Rescue Committee and a former Secretary of State of the UK (Cameron is currently 'filling' that role). He is clearly laying out the legal responsibility of Israel for causing this man-made famine in Gaza and the obstacles Israel uses to impede aid delivery.

His testimony is based on reports from organizations with presence on the ground. He quotes Cameron observing that the number of food trucks in Feb were half the number in January. So, instead of heeding ICJ ruling, Israel is yielding to extremist settlers and Ben Gvir in stopping aid. Daniela Weiss said it: "If we stop giving food to Arabs [sic], they will leave."

So, the former and current Secretaries of State know all of this, and Britain continues to:

• Send more arms to Israel.
• Oppose or abstain ceasefire resolutions.
• Supports the genocide and opposes South Africa's ICJ case, normalizes the occupation, and Apartheid.

This leaves the UK fully exposed to domestic and international legal action as knowingly an active participant to genocide and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Let's not forget that the UK was one of the last countries to discontinue supporting the Apartheid regime in South Africa.

Always on the right side of ... white supremacy.

Britain's sordid and antisemitic role in creating the conflict in Palestine since 1917 and slaughtering Palestinian leaders 1936-1939 escapes no one.

Yet, Sunak tells us that these are reasonable positions.

You judge for yourself what's reasonable.

David Miliband is head of International Rescue Committee and a former Secretary of State of the UK (Cameron is currently 'filling' that role). He is clearly laying out the legal responsibility of Israel for causing this man-made famine in Gaza and the obstacles Israel uses to… https://t.co/eetXvYtu2b

— Wael Nawara (@WaelNawara) March 21, 2024

 

"We don't give them food. We don't give the Arabs anything, they will have to leave. The world will accept them."

Daniela Weiss, former mayor of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and prominent settler leader was interviewed at the "Return to Gaza" conference

No genocidal… pic.twitter.com/4V0AJutP4F

— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) January 30, 2024

Dante's Inferno was the Work of an Amateur and Lacked Imagination

The Inferno

In the traditional hell, 'sinners' were assumed to burn and suffer in punishment for some bad deeds. But everyone also assumed that children and babies will go straight to heaven.

Now we come to this hell:

Babies and children, innocent by definition, are shelled, buried under the rubble, burned by phosphorous bombs and blown into pieces. They are also starved and operated upon without anesthetics.

Meanwhile, we are forced to watch these horror scenes but not change them. Those who protest and chant against the massacres are accused of committing genocide. As residential blocks, mosques and universities are blown up and demolished in the background, the killers take selfies of themselves with female victims' undergarments and as they sign bombs.

A final artistic touch:

In this hell, the mass-killers also get to say that they are the victims and condemn the ones being massacred. They describe themselves as 'civilized' and their victims as 'savage'.

...

The verdict:

After careful literature review, I would say without a shred of a doubt, that Dante was an amateur and his Inferno lacks imagination. 

It doesn't come even close.