Welcome to The Now

 So it started with this: Sadly for Mr. Amos Schocken, calling for sanctions, advocating for a Palestinian state (or even being perceived as doing so) and using words like "apartheid" when referring to Israel is a big "no-no." Within hours , Israeli minsters announce that they will sever ties with Haaretz, and even a boycott is being discussed . Schocken must have gotten the message because Haaretz came back with revised statements like "Hamas are not freedom fighters."

 

 

 Link here .

Via CNN : With just days until Election Day, hundreds of ballots were destroyed by fires this week at two ballot drop boxes in the Pacific Northwest, and investigators are searching for a culprit they say is responsible for both. Many of the ballots in a drop box in Portland were unaffected, but hundreds of ballots were destroyed in a second ballot box fire in nearby Vancouver, Washington, election officials said. The incidents are believed to be related to a third incident earlier this month in Vancouver. The incidents come as a US Department of Homeland Security bulletin from September obtained by the watchdog group Property of the People warned, “Some social media users are discussing and encouraging various methods of sabotaging ballot drop boxes and avoiding detection, likely heightening the potential for targeting of this election infrastructure through the 2024 election cycle. “Election infrastructure remains an attractive target for some domestic violent extremists and other th...

 The "Israeli Genocide Tracker" which basically collects the information that IDF soldier have made public about themselves, has made some of the soldiers a bit nervous:

We can at least say that an attempt was made: Sadly, "Trump is worse" is not sufficient enough when the alternative to "opening supporting genocide" is, "passively endorsing genocide." And on the issue of Gaza, the West Bank and the Palestinian people that's the difference between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.  Never mind that Harris's latest response to American voters who are concerned about genocide is basically: " You should worry more about being able to afford groceries ." Here's Sanders' "plan" for dealing with PM Benjamin Netanyahu (either by coercing him or replacing him): An immediate ceasefire;  The return of all hostages;  A surge of massive humanitarian aid;  The stopping of settler attacks on the West Bank;  The rebuilding of Gaza for the Palestinian people. So let's address these points, shall we? Neither Netanyahu nor his political party wish for a ceasefire . The return of hostages is not as impo...

 

 

 

Via Black Agenda Report : All eyes have quite rightly been on Palestine for the past year. Joe Biden’s maniacal pact with Israel has killed an estimated 200,000 people, and Israel is poised to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza and Lebanon. Their war crimes range from starvation, destruction of hospitals, shooting children in the head, rape and torture, attacking United Nations peacekeeping forces, assassinating Palestinian leaders, and burning hospital patients to death. All the atrocities have been documented, often by the perpetrators themselves, and have been defended vociferously. The genocide is a joint project with the U.S. and has more bipartisan support than any initiative which directly impacts people in this country. The horror makes it easy to forget that U.S. crimes continue unabated around the world even when we don’t have to look very far to find them. Just 90 miles away from Florida, the people of Cuba are suffering in darkness, denied the ability to access electricity, a...

 

 From CNN : Nearly 50 locations of TGI Fridays abruptly closed within the past week, an ominous sign for the chain as a reported bankruptcy looms. According to TGI Fridays’ store locator, the chain has 164 restaurants remaining as of Monday — a sharp decline from the 213 that were open last week. It’s the largest number of closures since January, when 36 “underperforming” locations were closed. TGI Fridays didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the closures, and a list of the affected locations was not released. However, reports from local media reveals that restaurants across several US states were affected, including California, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Missouri. Some closures even marked a complete exit from a city, notably in Columbus, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York. At the beginning of the year, TGI Fridays had 270 US locations. The closures come amid reports that TGI Fridays is about to file for bankruptcy. A few weeks ago, Bloomberg reported th...

 

 

Story here . They call it the "Mosquito Protocol."   

Know any ex-Russian or ex-Chinese intelligence agents working for mainstream American news or Google? How about from a country who's conveniently getting billions of dollars in military aid?

Was he hiding in tunnels, dressed as a woman, amongst children? Did the Israelis seek him out or find him by luck? 

 

  From CNN : Everybody knows it’s not Halloween without candy, but trick-or-treaters might find less chocolate filling their buckets this year. That’s because cocoa prices have more than doubled since the start of the year and have remained at record highs, according to Wells Fargo data shared with CNN. The surging prices have caused grief for confectioners during prime chocolate sales seasons like Valentine’s Day and Easter. And with Halloween as the next major candy-centric holiday, companies are getting creative with their ways of coping with the lack of cocoa. This means consumers might see smaller chocolate bars in different flavors and more non-chocolate treats on grocery aisle shelves. “Cocoa is not like a normal agriculture crop where you have it grown everywhere, like other commodities. It takes a very specific site and temperature range to grow,” said David Branch, sector manager at Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute. But for the past three years, a series of adverse weath...

 

George Galloway has much to say about Israel, Russia, BRICS and Hamas leader Sinwar, whose death has been seen as inspirational :  

 They say, "There's only two choices" but always fail to articulate the role they play in creating that environment:

 Glenn Greenwald didn't:

 

 

 

 

  For more about Haiti, Mint Press News has a story on it's richest person (Gilbert Bigio) and how he has used his status "to protect and enable the illegal activities of the armed criminal gangs" there, contributing to the US immigration issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Consider it a companion piece of sorts to a previous post:

Much like African Stream, Richard Medhurst and others who cover geopolitics in a manner that is not mainstream-approved, Rachel Blevins faced the wrath off online censorship. But while African Stream has completely lost their YT channel and Medhurst is trying to keep the British authorities from arresting him (again), Blevins' channel was reinstated. However, is was not without a cost: much like Danny Haiphong, Blevins has stated that she'll be more vigilant in her videos. In other words, she's going to watch what she says and how she says it. This says a lot about the state of censorship in the US considering that Blevins, who is far from a firebrand tonally, was accused of promoting "hate speech." 

 In other words: the duopoly it terrible and third parties need more traction and coverage.

 Via Due Dissidence: It's almost like the United States has more money for war than to help it's own citizens.

I'll say this: while getting that coveted 5% will help keep the Green Party (and their messages) alive for future election cycles, if Stein can win Michigan (or even come in second) that would be a true game-changer. 

Now that a year has passed since Hamas attacked Israel for hostages to, in part, negotiate the release of Palestinian hostages and the Israeli government responded by killing Hamas, Palestinians, and even potential Israeli hostages, we can look at ways the West  has, at best, downplayed the actions of the Israeli government while amplifying the actions of Hamas (aka Palestinians), Hezbollah (aka, Lebanon), the Houthis (aka Yemen), and Iran to fit a simplistic "Good Guys vs Bad Guys" dynamic. "Success" in war/battle is determined by civilian casualties/destruction of non-military property :  Iran's recent (retaliatory) strike on Israeli military targets was called ineffective by many outlets . Meanwhile, Israeli victory has been defined by death and destruction ("[the IDF has] reduced large swaths of Gaza to rubble, made nearly two million Gazans internal refugees, and killed more than 40,000 Palestinians - about a third of them Hamas militants, according ...

Due Dissidence reviews:

 In fact, it's not far-fetched to say that for some, "Israel" means, "A large part of the Middle East." 

 

 Here's one attempt to find out:

Ever sense Covid-19 regulations were deemed as a detriment to capitalism and consequently loosened to maintain (and increase) profits, tracking infections has pretty much become an afterthought. CNN, however, has a story about how the Center of Disease Control and Prevention has adapted to keep an eye on things .  Considering not just the economics, but also how political Covid-19 became in the United States, one would think that high or low viral activity levels would be a reflection on the words and actions of the the two major parties. After all, if it wasn't about Trump or Biden going back and forth over vaccines, it was governors comparing "lockdowns" vs "business as usual." So imagine my surprise to learn where the states that pushed for the most controversial remedies landed: Also it is worth noting that no governor or presidential candidate advocated for "universal health care" or "Medicare for All" as a solution to this health crisis...

 

 

 

 CNN did a " 5 Things to Know " article about the Port Strike, and here's some things shoppers should be aware off so they aren't making panic purchases: UPDATE: Just an FYI that " 100% military " items are not will continue to be shipped.

 

 I'm beginning to think that former Clinton advisor James Carville may not be well: Now there are plenty of news stories acknowledging Trump's germophobic nature , and he's gone on record as saying that he only shakes hands because of political norms . Also, there's this: So we're supposed to believe that a person who's this uptight about germs can't or doesn't clean/wash his own butt? I think much like how Bill Clinton drove Republicans crazy (partially because if you look at Clinton's demographics, in theory he "should" have been one of them), Trump just rubs Democrats the wrong way by existing.  Carville should stick to more legit criticisms, like Trump claiming all of the attempts on his life are being sourced through Iran, when the second guy clearly had ties to Ukraine  (yes, there was apparently a thwarted third attempt ). 

War isn't a video game, as many seem to just be figuring out : The Israeli army has said these are limited, targeted raids and they don’t plan to push that far into Lebanese territory. But this is the first day of face-to-face combat between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli military and there are significant losses by the Israeli army. There was a lot of apprehension within the Israeli security establishment about what Israeli forces were going to face on the ground. While they do have a lot of power in the form of air strikes, drone strikes and surveillance, they do not have that same kind of power on the ground and we’re seeing that play out in real time. Even though the army has said these are just limited raids, it’s still an invasion into Lebanese territory. Now the army is realising what they’re up against.

 

 

 

 

Via CBS : Thousands of dockworkers at ports from New England to Texas went on strike just after midnight on Tuesday as they rally for higher pay and more job security. The work stoppage, the first at East and Gulf Coast ports since 1977, follows a lengthy impasse in labor talks between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), a shipping industry group representing terminal operators and ocean carriers. The strike was expected to involve 25,000 workers, according to USMX, and close 14 ports: Baltimore; Boston; Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Miami; Houston; Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans; New York/New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; Philadelphia; Savannah, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; and Wilmington, Delaware. "USMX brought on this strike when they decided to hold firm to foreign owned Ocean Carriers earning billion-dollar profits at United States ports, but not compensate the American ILA longshore workers who p...