Three Months of Madness: What a Fully Right-wing Government Has Done to Israel

[Daily Kos Morning Roundup]( A morning roundup of worthy pundit and news reads, brought to you by Daily Kos. [Click here to read the full web version.]( - [Three Months of Madness: What a Fully Right-wing Government Has Done to Israel]( Three Months of Madness: What a Fully Right-wing Government Has Done to Israel, B. Michael, Haaretz ...Once upon a time, many years ago, there were ragtag traveling circuses, with melancholy animals, dejected clowns, paunchy acrobats and Indian snake charmers with Polish accents. And they often had a special carriage or tent with them with a variety of bizarre acts to amaze the children. And you, Lord, wandered among all these circuses and collected all the special exhibits from them – the bearded lady, the biggest dwarf, the two-headed calf, the stuttering ventriloquist, the elderly mermaid, the boy who was raised by wolves, and the fakir who lies on a bed of nails and then eats the nails. You gathered all of these together, and you brought them to us, to be our fully-fully right-wing government. [...] Zero in foreign policy. Two zeros in domestic policy. Three zeroes in addressing any civil issue whatsoever. Driving down the currency, rattling the stock market, a lifeless parliament, a zombie party, criminal coalition partners. Legislation of two despicable bills for the sole purpose of saving one criminal defendant and one convict. And, of course, a stubborn attempt to crush the justice system and erect a genuine dictatorship on its ruins. An attempt that is still ongoing. All of this in just three short months of a fully-fully right-wing government. Three months of mounting insanity, boundless arrogance, incredible clumsiness and blatant racism. - [Nashville school shooting leaves 3 more kids dead. Don't you tell me it's too soon to talk guns.]( Nashville school shooting leaves 3 more kids dead. Don't you tell me it's too soon to talk guns., Rex Huppke, USA Today “But, but, but … the Second Amendment,” some will scream, like a myopic, zombified Greek chorus. Hang your Second Amendment. It’s Monday in America, there has been yet another school shooting. Children are dead. The students who weren’t shot are forever changed by the trauma, and plenty more people across the country will be killed by gunfire in the days to come because, as I wrote a few words earlier, it’s Monday in America, and we have a whole damn week to go. “Thoughts and prayers! Don’t politicize this!” the people will crow. Nuts to that. The thoughts-and-prayers, it’s-too-soon-to-talk-about-it ship sailed several hundred mass shootings ago. I’m mad now. And I’m not waiting for permission to tweet or write or holler about how reckless, how ridiculous, how bloody twisted it is that we inhabit a country where people treat the tool used to murder other people in schools, in churches, in malls, at concerts, in movie theaters, on street corners and in their homes as a sacred possession that must not be regulated, that should be protected as an icon of America, like a bald eagle that spits lead. - [2023 has gotten off to a rough financial start for Daily Kos. Can you help by donating $3 a month starting now?]( - [That jarring new poll on ‘patriotism’]( That jarring new poll on ‘patriotism’, Aaron Blake, The Washington Post While 70 percent of Americans in 1998 said patriotism was “very important” to them, that number dropped to 60 percent in 2019 and to just 38 percent today — about half of where it was a quarter-century ago. We’ve also seen sharp drops on views about religion, having children and community involvement. [...] The Journal’s write-up features only polls from...three years — 1998, 2019 and 2023. But when the newspaper has highlighted this data in the past, it has mentioned another poll, asking the same question, in 1976 and 1977. The results then? Not too far afield from today’s. At the time, just 43 percent said patriotism was “very important” to them. [...] That history reinforces the idea that this dip isn’t simply a matter of Americans always having been quite patriotic until just now. It’s difficult to know for sure what people have in mind when they answer such a question — and these surveys don’t define or invite people to define patriotism for themselves — but the evidence suggests that answers tend to be responsive to real-world events. And the contrast between 1998 and today is likely more stark because the late-1990s were boom times; in fact, rarely have Americans been as happy with the state of affairs as they were back then. - [Hundreds of thousands to continue strikes and protests in France]( Hundreds of thousands to continue strikes and protests in France, Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian The protest movement against raising the age from 62 to 64 is the biggest domestic crisis of Macron’s second term, with the strikes on Tuesday expected to affect refineries, bin collections, rail transport, air travel and schools. Authorities in Paris and several cities are braced for clashes between police and protesters. The crisis has intensified because of controversy over policing tactics, with lawyers complaining of arbitrary arrests, injuries and heavy-handedness during crowd control. A 30-year-old man was fighting for his life in a coma on Monday after anti-government feeling spread beyond the issue of pensions to environmental demonstrations at the weekend in the west of France – spurred by the impact of new water storage facilities for crop irrigation. The man suffered head trauma during clashes between protesters and police. An investigation is under way to determine the circumstances. - [Want to show your support for progressive, independent media? Click here to get your Daily Kos t-shirt now]( - [Donald Trump went to Waco, Texas, to wage unholy war, not a campaign rally]( Donald Trump went to Waco, Texas, to wage unholy war, not a campaign rally, EJ Montini, The Arizona Republic It was a pilgrimage. It was a clear message sent to the worst of his supporters. Trump’s rally in Waco, Texas, over the weekend occurred as the city marks the 30th anniversary of the 51-day siege that resulted in the deaths of four federal agents and 82 Branch Davidians. In an editorial, The Houston Chronicle called Trump’s visit a dog-whistle to supporters that was being held in a place now considered “a shrine for the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers and other anti-government extremists and conspiracists.” Trump isn’t even trying to run a political campaign this time around. [...] You’d think that a guy who seems to relish urging on others might have been in an actual fist fight or two. But I’ve never seen an account of Trump being in a physical altercation. I’m not sure why that is. Bone spurs, perhaps. - [Kamala Harris Africa trip: Can US charm offensive woo continent from China?]( Kamala Harris Africa trip: Can US charm offensive woo continent from China?, Anne Soy, The BBC This flurry of visits by top figures in the US administration reflects a growing awareness that the US needs to deepen its engagement with the continent. This all comes in the face of growing competition from other global powers, especially China and Russia. [...] Ghana, with its focus on strengthening ties with the African diaspora as well as a record of several peaceful democratic transfers of power, provides an ideal launchpad for Ms Harris. Her trip, according to an official statement, is intended to "build on" December's US-Africa summit in Washington where President Joe Biden said the US was "all in on Africa's future". But it is that future, boosted by a youthful and growing population as well as the continent's immense natural resources, that have attracted a lot of other powerful nations vying for influence. ICYMI: Popular stories from the past week you won't want to miss: - [Is Ukraine developing a 100,000-strong drone swarm attack?]( - [100-year-old woman slams Florida book bans and brings the house down at school board meeting]( - [Ron DeSantis glitches out when asked where he was on 9/11]( Want even more Daily Kos? 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