(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Hope from the least likely place: Saturday's GNR [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-04 This week it has been tough for me to look away from what is happening in Israel, where I have a lot of family. We tend to see countries as if their government IS the people. But Israel is no more its awful government than America is Trump. Yes, there are people who support the awfulness but so, so many people who do not. I have been so moved and inspired by the people there fighting for their democracy and for decency and hope as they feel it slide through their fingers like sand. I have to believe that if enough of them fight, if enough of them hope, if enough of them protest, then some good will come. From Noa Landau in the newspaper Haaretz: The first cracks in the coalition wall prove that the protest is working - and it must continue. . The resignation of member of parliament Avi Maoz from his position as deputy minister is a first crack and a hope-giving crack in the coalition wall. In the resignation letter sent to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Maoz claimed that he is resigning because "there is no serious intention" to keep the coalition agreements with him. Apart from the good news that there is no intention to sustain the collection of homophobic and misogynistic demands of Noam Party, this is also proof that the broad civil protest against the extremist government is working - and it must continue. . The only reason that Netanyahu was forced to publicly renounce his outrageous promises to the stronghold, is the strong resistance of masses of citizens and civilians, and in the head of the authorities, who made it clear and clear that they will not stand against the world of distorted values that Maoz asked to promote in the education system and in general. This steady stand, across the camps, has slowed down the stronghold and can also stop other dangers. The frictions in the coalition on the background of the security tensions, the economic crisis and the international pressure are already apparent and are made to be broken down one day from the inside. . As the editor of "Haaretz" Colonel Ben wrote: The government already looks much shaky, so the action strategy of the protest should be "buy time until the government collapses under the pressure of disagreements between its constituents, or Netanyahu will cut into a plea deal and retire... The opposition cannot beat the government in votes in the Knesset, at least until more bricks fall from the wall. Therefore the protest must continue and even overcome. The resignation of Maoz does not change Netanyahu's coalition base in the meantime, but it opens a first crack in it, and encourages the hope that more will come after him. . Last January we revealed in the "Haaretz" supplement the recordings in which Avi Maoz describes his plan to turn israel into a Halacha state. "LGBT families will not get recognition and women will not serve in the army," he said there among other things. It's good that the Israeli public declared it explicitly no pasarán. It's important that this happens in other areas as well, that tend to be marginalized in the Israeli public, such as the protection of the rights of non-Jewish minorities and Palestinian citizens. Hundreds of demonstrators and protesters the day before yesterday against disturbances in Havara proved that there are those who are also being recruited for this important cause. From my cousin, who lives in Israel and has spent his life protesting and fighting for peace and justice for Palestinians and for a better Israel It must be said that the greatest achievement of this government, the one achievement that no one can take away from them, is the creation of an unprecedented political awakening in Israel since its establishment until today. Hundreds of thousands, many of them who never dreamed of going to demonstrations, go out every day to meet and fight for the most fundamental component in their eyes of the Israeli society "democracy". . In the current protest we will win, I have no doubt about it. Both because we are fighting and right and also because the current government is so arrogant, violent and irresponsible and all that is needed to overthrow it is that we will continue and continue to press on. . But the power of this awakening is not beautiful only for this hour and only for this struggle. People wake up politically, look around them and begin to understand the connection between our terrible situation now and the occupation and the evils that we have been generating for decades around us. From such an awakening it's not easy to just come back. I also got hope from a fundraised in which they raised half a million dollars from Israelis to help the Palestinians whose village was so horribly destroyed giveback.co.il/… Another cousin wrote about this: The heart is torn and refuses to believe. Indeed there are no words left actions are required. Glad to be part of the many many who light a small light to banish great darkness. More than 7400 beautiful Israelis donated over a million shekels. There's also another israel , my israel There is another Israel. His Israel. Just like there is another America — our America. People may spew hate and lies and antidemocratic principles, but America will only belong to them if we let it. And we won’t. Now on to the good news Biden is Great Joe Biden is pretty good at being president. He should run again. x NBC News confirms: At President Biden's direction, federal agencies have been going around door to door in East Palestine to check in on each family personally. @MSNBC — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 27, 2023 On Ukraine, Biden Outshines Macron, Scholz — and DeSantis as the war in Ukraine enters its second year, I feel grateful for Joe Biden. Fault him all you want on many issues, particularly his gradualist approach to arming Ukraine, but on the most consequential question of our time he has the big thing right. “Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased,” he said last week in Warsaw. “They must be opposed.” That’s not a voice of fusty morality. It’s one of experience, foresight, military realism and political prudence. Experience, because the world has come to know Vladimir Putin very well over his 23 years in power. We know he does not honor the terms of any agreements to which Russia is bound, from the Cold War-era I.N.F. Treaty to the more recent Minsk agreements. We know that he has launched unprovoked invasions in the past and will, if not checked, launch them again in the future. Foresight, because a negotiated settlement would create more problems than it would solve. Iran would see that nuclear blackmail works. China would draw the lesson that, if there are limits to what America and our allies are prepared to do for Ukraine (which fights for itself and shares a land border with NATO), there will be much sharper limits to what we are prepared to do for Taiwan. Russia would conclude that, fumbled though its invasion was, it nonetheless gained territory, froze the conflict in place, and could still have another go at Ukraine in a few years. Military realism, because the lesson of the first year of war is that Moscow can be defeated. The Russian Army was beaten in the battle for Kyiv, the counteroffensive near Kharkiv, and the fight for Kherson. The Ukrainians did all this without the benefit of Western tanks, Predator drones or fighter jets. Imagine how swiftly they could win if they had all three in adequate quantities. Eli Lilly Says It Will Cut the Price of Insulin The drugmaker Eli Lilly and Company said on Wednesday that it would significantly reduce the sticker prices of several of its lifesaving insulin products that are used by diabetes patients and whose prices Lilly has repeatedly increased in the past. The announcement comes at a time of mounting political pressure on drug companies to rein in what lawmakers and other critics view as the industry’s pattern of abusive profiteering. In his State of the Union address last month, President Biden blasted drug companies for increasing the prices for insulin. “Big Pharma has been unfairly charging people hundreds of dollars, $400 to $500 a month, making record profits,” he said. x This is what leaders do, rise above finger pointing & partisan bickering and GET STUFF DONE! #SaferWithBiden #BidenBringsIt https://t.co/m6mC5uJQ5h — DrDinD 🌊🇺🇲🇺🇦 He/Him (@DrDinD) March 2, 2023 Bad News for Bad Guys Feds Inadvertently Reveal They’re Looking Into Trump’s Shady ‘Recount’ Campaign When the Federal Elections Commission rejected a recent Freedom of Information Act request related to Donald Trump’s “recount” expenses after the 2020 election, the campaign watchdog had a conspicuous reason for turning down the petition: Trump’s political spending after he left the White House is currently the subject of an FEC enforcement matter. Weiner joined other campaign finance experts in noting that the news comes with critical context, as suspicious fundraising and spending for so-called “recount” accounts has begun drawing greater scrutiny to what Weiner described as a “culture of impunity.” “Recount fundraising is a particularly wild west area of campaign finance, where the absence of any visible guidelines has led to some fairly abusive behavior,” Weiner said, pointing to Trump’s recount spending as a glaring example. Donald Trump’s support in the city’s wealthy political circles is waning New York City’s heavy-hitting Republican-leaning donors in recent years were frozen in place at the presidential level by a fellow New Yorker, Donald J. Trump. But that was before Mr. Trump’s decampment to Florida, his plethora of legal entanglements, and his fall from grace after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. “No way does Trump have New York locked up,” Mr. D’Amato said. “The more people see him, the worse he looks.” Trump Loses It Over Murdoch’s Admission About Fox Hosts Endorsing Big Lie Donald Trump is furious with his former ally Rupert Murdoch after the media mogul made astonishing admissions that some of his Fox News hosts “endorsed” lies that the 2020 election had been “stolen.” Murdoch, 91, also said in a deposition unsealed on Monday that he wished his organization had been “stronger in denouncing” the false narrative that the election was rigged by corrupt voting machines. Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News for $1.6 billion over the issue—but the network denies defamation. “Why is Rupert Murdoch throwing his anchors under the table, which also happens to be killing his case and infuriating his viewers, who will again be leaving in droves—they already are,” Trump fumed on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. Trump can be sued by police over Jan. 6 riot, Justice Department says Former president Donald Trump can be held liable in court for the actions of the mob that overtook the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department said Thursday. “Speaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the Presidency, and the outer perimeter of the President’s Office includes a vast realm of such speech,” attorneys for the Justice Department’s Civil Division wrote. “But that traditional function is one of public communication. It does not include incitement of imminent private violence.” Two officers with the U.S. Capitol Police, joined by 11 Democratic House members, are seeking to hold Trump liable for physical and psychological injuries they suffered during the riot. Trump has argued he is protected from the lawsuit by the absolute immunity conferred on a president performing his official duties. Georgia Poll Workers Pick Up Where Jan. 6 Committee Left Off Two Georgia poll workers who were attacked by 2020 election conspiracy theorists are picking up where the Jan. 6 congressional investigation left off—by trying to independently examine the private communications between two of the men behind the firestorm: Rudy Giuliani and former President Donald Trump. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss of Fulton County, Georgia, are turning their defamation lawsuit against Giuliani into a no-limits, fact-finding mission, according to an undisclosed letter from their attorneys reviewed exclusively by The Daily Beast. x When John Bolton says on Newsmax that we are safer under Biden then we would have been under Trump, the host loses his mind and they have an epic battle. I know people hate Bolton, but this is fantastic - he debunks every fake narrative they created about his foreign policy. pic.twitter.com/GdSr6pcfdv — Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) August 12, 2022 Other good news Obama launches leadership network focused on local civic engagement [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/4/2155626/-Hope-from-the-least-likely-place-Saturday-s-GNR Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/