Israeli A Problem Here, Con't

We've now reached the inevitable "Israeli airstrikes destroy international press offices" stage of the 2021 iteration of Middle-East Peace™ and I'm wondering how President Biden will choose to respond.

An Israeli airstrike targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, on Saturday.

The strike on the high-rise came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the 12-story building, which also housed Al-Jazeera, other offices and residential apartments. The strike brought down the entire structure, which collapsed in a gigantic cloud of dust. There was no immediate explanation for why it was attacked.

The earlier Israeli airstrike on the Gaza City refugee camp was the deadliest single strike of the current conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. Both sides are pressing for an advantage as cease-fire efforts gather strength.

The latest outburst of violence started in Jerusalem and spread across the region over the past week, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.

The spiraling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian “intifada,” or uprising, when peace talks have not taken place in years. Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what was now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest.

U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived Friday as part of Washington’s efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the U.N. Security Council was set to meet Sunday. But Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official said Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

The strike on the building housing media offices came in the afternoon, after the owner received a call from the Israeli military warning that the building would be hit. AP’s staff and others in the building evacuated immediately, and were reported safe.

 

It was nice of the IDF to warn the AP to evacuate before their Gaza office was deliberately targeted and bombed to hell so that they can no longer report on what the IDF will be bombing next.  

 

See, the IDF is friendly and full of the good guys!

The Big Lie, Con't

Well what do you know, we actually found voter fraud in the 2020 election, well this changes everything! I mean it's all over for Biden and the Democrats now, nobody...

...wait, I'm being told that this was Republican voter fraud to illegally help Donald Trump in Colorado, by a man accused of not just voting his estranged wife's ballot, but killing her as well.

Barry Morphew, who is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife who remains missing, is now accused of submitting a ballot for her in the November presidential election.

Suzanne Morphew was last seen in May 2020, and while she has not been found, the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) announced earlier this month the arrest of her husband Barry and said they believe Suzanne is no longer alive.

He was previously facing charges of:

• First-degree murder after deliberation
• Tampering with physical evidence
• Attempting to influence a public servant

New charges were announced this week and include:

• Forgery of public record
• Election mail ballot offense

Back in October 2020, the Chaffee County Clerk reported to the sheriff's office that she had received a mail-in ballot for Suzanne Morphew, a person she knew was missing since May 2020, an arrest affidavit from CCSO for Barry Morphew's arrest says.

The ballot was provided to the sheriff's office and seized as evidence.

It did not have the signature of the voter as required and instead, the affidavit says, the name Barry Lee Morphew was handwritten on the line for the witness's legal name.

In April, Barry Morphew was interviewed about the ballot and asked why he submitted it.

He replied, "Just because I wanted Trump to win," the affidavit says. He further stated, according to the affidavit that "I just thought give him [Trump] another vote."

He went on to say, according to the affidavit, "all these other guys are cheating," and I know she [referring to his wife] was going to vote for Trump anyway."

When asked if knew submitting the ballot was illegal, he responded, "I didn't know you couldn't do that for your spouse," the affidavit says.

 

I have to say, if this guy killed his wife and then stole her identity to cast two ballots for Joe Biden, this would have been the leading news story on FOX for six goddamn months. It would have taken on BENGHAZI status. The trial would be covered daily, with Democrats constantly asked to disavow Biden's "obvious cheating" and for him to do everything up to and including resign.

But this asshole voted for Trump, so nobody cares.

Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

I've said this before and I will say it again: there is no greater example of systemic racism in America than the housing market.

Carlette Duffy felt both vindicated and excited. Both relieved and angry.

For months, she suspected she had been low-balled on two home appraisals because she's Black. She decided to put that suspicion to the test and asked a white family friend to stand in for her during an appraisal.

Her home's value suddenly shot up. A lot.

During the early months of the coronavirus pandemic last year, the first two appraisers who visited her home just west of downtown Indianapolis, valued it at $125,000 and $110,000, respectively.

But that third appraisal went differently.

To get that one, Duffy, who is African American, communicated with the appraiser strictly via email, stripped her home of all signs of her racial and cultural identity and had the white husband of a friend stand in for her during the appraiser's visit.

The home's new value: $259,000.

"I had to go through all of that just to say that I was right and that this is what's happening," she said. "This is real."

Now she wants justice. Along with the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, Duffy has filed fair housing complaints against the mortgage lenders and appraisers she accuses of undervaluing her home because of her race.

Housing experts and historians say residential real estate has been historically marred by discrimination. Across the nation, homes owned by Black Americans are significantly undervalued next to homes in comparable white neighborhoods, according to a study by Brookings.

 

Being Black in America costs you so much. There is a deliberate tax on everything we do, at every stage, at every turn, in every way, that white people do not have to pay or even think about.

In Indianapolis and cities around this country, being Black costs you more than half the value of your home.

That's just for starters.

 

It costs you wealth, opportunity, and security. It hurts your family, your ability to remain middle class, your ability to stay afloat.

 

It costs you status, peace of mind, and if the wrong person decides it, it costs you your life.

Every waking moment. The Black middle class has all been erased from existence. Every time we make progress, that progress is halted and reversed, and we are blamed for being too lazy to care about it.

Black Lives Still Matter.