Around the country, around the world

 

After unusual winter precipitation, flowers are now blooming in California’s Death Valley.

The other evening after dinner, after I turned off the light to go upstairs, a flickering firefly lit my way.   

Local artists are featured at the entrance to DC’s Union Station.

A warning to local residents:   

NBC, Police search for suspects who placed skimmers around DC

This refers to credit card skimmers, one found recently on M St. SE, not far from where I live. I lost $5000 from someone who managed to steal from my debit account last year, so am super vigilant now regarding all banking activity.

Hispanic Heritage Cities: This list caught my eye as a fluent Spanish-speaker, though I have no actual Hispanic heritage myself. The following cities, in order of population, have majority Hispanic populations:  San Antonio, Tex.; El Paso, Tex.; Fresno, Calif.; Miami, Fl.; and Bakersfield, Calif. I know Fresno and Bakersfield well because I used to travel up and down California as a state licensing worker and many years before, as a child, I lived in El Paso. More recently, Miami has often served as the starting-point for my travels to Latin America and is where I’ve been interviewed in Spanish on public television regarding my books and volunteer human rights’ work. Those living in US cities with majority Hispanic populations, especially over generations, may no longer speak Spanish, although a sort of amalgam called Spanglish is popular in many locales.

This blog posting today has confronted a number of very resistant quirks, some impervious to correction. It looks easy, but it is not!! As mentioned before, this blogspot platform is free but offers users no guidance. We bloggers are completely on our own. I've been  posting here and on its predecessor blog for 15 years, ever since 2009, so really cannot complain to anyone, except to you, my readers, so I do appreciate your understanding 

My granddaughter, her stepsisters, and a Puerto Rican best friend all visited San Juan together to celebrate a stepsister's milestone 50^th birthday.

                                                                    

My dear friend Sonam in Bhutan has just sent an email asking: “Hi aunty, how r you. Have not heard of you for quite long.” 

After inquiring about her family, I sent her my blog link. The internet is pretty amazing, allowing us such instant communication with friends all over the world, even those in remote mountainous Bhutan.                                                                                                                 

But the internet also has its downsides. Last time, I mentioned a very annoying and persistent Google Chrome pop-up blocking the whole right side of my computer screen from top to bottom. Even after shutting down the computer overnight, the next morning there was that !@#$%^&* pop-up, still staring me right in the face. An invader like that seeks a ransom, which, if actually paid, would only inflict more damage. Thankfully, a computer specialist brought in remotely managed to vanquish the intruder in just minutes. Whew!

Working on the computer later that same night, I was assailed by a persistent ad from Christian Mingle, a dating site catering to self-identified Christian singles seeking “a faith-based love today that God will thank you for.” That ad seemed very creepy, featuring a young couple sitting together in a car while the man repeatedly rubbed the woman’s apparently pregnant belly.

Wash. Post, Massive Indonesia eruption sends plumes nearly 70,000 feet high

Volcanos can be pretty scary and unpredictable.

Years ago, on Hawaii’s Big Island, I hiked with a friend (since deceased) over dry lava to the edge of Kilauea, a live volcano, on a dark moonless night illumined only by hot glowing lava flowing down to the ocean below in a continuous cloud of steam. It was an unforgettable experience.

AP, Takeaways from this week's reports on the deadly 2023 Maui fire that destroyed Lahaina

Now there is a reckoning regarding the wildfires that ravaged Maui, a Hawaiian island where my biologist son-in-law often works.

CBC, Multiple arrests, 19 charges laid in $22.5M Pearson gold heist Daring theft, the single-largest gold heist in Canadian history, police investigator says

This happened a year ago, but the law apparently has only just now caught up with the perpetrators. 

Wash. Post, Arrests made in $14.5 million gold heist, the largest ever in Canada

AP, FBI opens criminal investigation into Baltimore bridge collapse

Let’s see what this criminal investigation reveals. Maybe the bridge collapse was not just a freak accident after all?  

Reuters, Copenhagen stock exchange fire: Spire collapses as historic Borsen engulfed in flames

The fire that engulfed Denmark’s historic 400-year-old stock exchange, like one that had severely damaged a revered Paris cathedral not long ago, was also probably more than a mere random event. Fire broke out at each place only when renovations and repairs had just begun. This timing is no coincidence, as in both Paris and Copenhagen, an incautious workman might well have triggered a flare-up that suddenly spread. That’s just my guess, as the responsible party would never be likely to come forward. Such a structure, having endured for hundreds of years, isn’t apt to suddenly burst into flames without some triggering action, occurring coincidentally just at the beginning of renovations and thus probably attributable to a human actor. Before renovations of historic buildings are undertaken, strict and reliable around-the-clock surveillance needs to be put in place first.  

There may be a way for scammers/skimmers to get everything they need to know wherever a card is inserted to withdraw money, maybe even inside a bank. There is apparently no foolproof way to safeguard money. Nothing can be guaranteed or predicted 100% in advance, only probabilities, except for the 100% certainty of our own individual final death.   

Reuters, Haiti's PM called for security support. Who answered?

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry had asked for outside assistance back in Oct. 2022. Since then, nothing good has happened to his country. Henry had gone to Kenya to recruit help but was unable to return to Haiti after his flight stopped in Puerto Rico and he was prevented from returning. He then resigned and Haiti has remained at a standstill ever since mostly under gang control. 

Before the advent of birth control, women with male partners often had many children, sometimes with not all surviving. My own paternal great-grandmother, living out on a wheat farm in rural Alberta, gave birth to 12 children who all lived to adulthood. The boys worked outdoors with their father, tending to crops and animals, while the girls, including my grandmother, helped their mother inside the house with cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes. The work was largely physical and time-consuming. As a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Honduras from 2000 to 2003, I found myself sharing many aspects of such a rigorous country life, as described in my book Triumph & Hope: Golden Years with the Peace Corps in Honduras.

Now most people in the developed world gravitate toward towns and cities, living and working there together in close proximity. Women in those towns and cities are having fewer children and housework has become less demanding, allowing many women to engage in paid work outside the home. Much of that work can now be done by phone and computer, sometimes even from home. (How convenient that would have been for me back when I was a commuting single working mother with 4 kids!) Women in the developed world, if they have any children, now often stop at 2, enough to provide their first child with a sibling. Two kids have become a de facto ideal family limit here in the US, allowing more mothers to engage in paid employment, but resulting in the population shortfall previously mentioned. At the same time, US immigration has largely been blocked for illogical reasons, although most immigrants are already adults, ready and willing to go right to work. California especially has been suffering from a serious labor shortfall. Our country would not even have existed without immigrants.  

Canada has taken advantage of our country’s immigration myopia by welcoming refugees and immigrants, many already acclimated after having lived and worked in the US, but whose visas here expired. By staying on, those immigrants could have helped support an ever-growing number of older folks like me. Instead, many very capable would-be citizens have given up, uprooting their families to go on to Canada, our bordering neighbor with a similar culture but with a more challenging climate and costlier housing. Several of those who have ventured north have actually lived right here in my very own home and would gladly have stayed. All were very talented and personable, already contributing here but then were still expelled, so went on to Canada. I even helped a woman from Africa fill out the required paperwork to go there. We had a hard time finding Canadian currency to be submitted with her immigration application, so the Canadian Embassy helped out. She now lives in Toronto. 

What can be done to dispel the notion that immigrants to the US, especially those who have already been living and working here successfully, must then leave when their time is up? We really do still need them and they have already proved their worth. It makes no sense at all.

We commonly ascribe our personal actions and decisions to our own individual minds, yet all of us are constantly influenced by those around us, including by the particular language we commonly speak, even by the very words used in formulating our thoughts. We all influence each other continually every day in creating our shared culture.

Some rather subtle and gradual social changes might actually be occurring right now, influencing each person’s willingness to become a parent, a status that had fallen out favor in recent decades when DINK (dual income, no kids) became a popular slogan. Since our country actually needs additional children are more people reconsidering that choice? Incentives are falling into place to influence them to become parents.

            Basketball star Brittany Griner and her female partner recently announced their pregnancy, while her wife, who seems to have assumed a female role in their relationship, is the one who is now actually pregnant with some outside help. It’s doubtful that Grimes, who seems to have adopted a masculine persona and style of dress, while a parent of twins in her previous marriage, has ever actually been pregnant herself. In both marriages, there has been assistance from an unidentified male. 

AP, US vetoes widely supported resolution backing full UN membership for Palestine

Why? Apparently, Mr. Biden thinks he must still publicly support Israeli leaders 100% in this election year, despite their seemingly excessive—even terroristic?—actions. We might have hoped that his administration would manage to deter an attack on Iran, but that didn't happen, although apparently the damage to Iran was marginal, so the US may have had an impact after all. Israel had actually started this particular round of attacks with a high-profile Iranian assassination. 

So I won’t be voting for Biden myself next time, despite perhaps the greater threat from Trump. But if Biden is reelected, let’s hope he will become more even-handed as a Palestinian state is way overdue, though Israel can still do considerable damage meanwhile, damage both to Palestine and to Israel itself and to its international reputation, as well as to the US, which has lost considerable support and standing in the world.

Independent, Rep. Ilhan Omar's Daughter, Isra Hirsi, Suspended From Barnard

This is really going too far.

Wash.  Post, Google just fired 28 employees who protested its contract with Israel

Wash.  Post, More than 100 arrested at Columbia as police clear pro-Palestinian protest

Americans may continue to be fired or arrested, but that won’t stop support for Palestine or criticism of Israel, perhaps only inflame it.

CNN, Thousands of Palestinians attempt to return home to northern Gaza, but face Israeli fire

After weary civilians had begun the arduous trek back to their homes in northern Gaza, Israeli forces inexplicably started firing on them. So then many, some now with serious injuries, turned around to head south again, back to a place that Netanyahu has threatened to imminently attack. As Israel’s main and perhaps only remaining supporter left in the world, providing a continuous flow of money and ammunition to Israel for the last 6 months, doesn’t the US have any leverage now? President Biden himself needs to speak up and to actually halt aid to Israel to stop still further escalation.

As for Iran, Israel should have considered resting on its laurels by declaring victory after successfully resisting Iran’s latest bombardment, thus avoiding gratuitously risking prolonging the fight ad infinitum by retaliating. Israeli forces already face enough problems. And now the US has even announced more sanctions being levied on Iran as a result. Beforehand, President Biden had urged Netanyahu to just “take the win”—good advice. But Netanyahu decided to publicly defy Biden and go forward with the attack, though perhaps not at full strength. War is obviously a matter of will and appearances as well as of actual fighting and weapons. Netanyahu strives to display independence in the face of actual dependence on the US. And he is becoming too much of a Hitler-like figure, using a star of David instead of a swastika as his emblem. 

        

Wars have sometimes gone on for generations, even after combatants may have forgotten why they or their forebears ever first started fighting.

 

There was the “hundred years war,” 1337-1453, in what is now France, whose aims had become murky. 

A war fought between invading Moors and local residents in the territory that later became Spain lasted a full 781 years. It was estimated to have led to 7 million deaths over nearly 8 centuries, with the original impetus for the war probably long forgotten.

 

As said before, the best way to stop the current Mideast war is for Israel just to declare victory and simply to stop. Israel has already done excessive damage to Gaza and its suffering people while also tarnishing its own standing in the world. 

Of course, I am just one person whose opinions may make little difference all by themselves. Only if others agree can we accrue enough critical mass to influence actual policy changes.

Sun or moon? Red state or blue? War or peace?

 

Life offers so many choices! And what about deciding whether to jump or not? Let’s start this posting right there.

 

USA Today, 'I can't believe that': Watch hundreds of baby emperor penguins jump off huge ice cliff 

Whew!!

It’s an obvious truism that the internet has both pluses and minuses, just like anything else. As for myself, I greatly appreciate having communication with friends and family and many others all around the world, but I’ve also suffered grievous uncompensated financial losses after the theft from my bank account last year, made possible only via the internet.

A balloon and flowers, delivered last Sunday for my 86th birthday, are still up almost a week later. 

Monday, April 8, was solar eclipse day here in Washington, DC, though our eclipse did not completely block out the sun. The new moon began crossing the face of the sun right after 2:00 pm., with the sun obscured at almost 90% by 3:20 pm. The entire eclipse ended at 4:32. It was worth watching in our area, but not really spectacular, rather like a big cloud passing over. Our last partial eclipse occurred in Aug. 2017 and the next one won’t come to North America for almost 9 years, mostly visible in northern Alaska, so even if I’m still around then, I won’t be traveling there to see it. 

A friend in Vermont just reported: Barbara, we experienced the total eclipse. A few friends/a cousin joined us for the event from our home’s deck. I especially loved the beautiful sunset that came in the last stages just before the eclipse.

Women’s college basketball has certainly been having a moment. Now South Carolina's NCAA basketball phenom, Kamilla Cardoso, is giving Iowa’s 6 ft. Kaitlin Clark, a serious run for her money. At age 22 and 6’7”, Kamilla started out playing soccer in her native Brazil. 

                      

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, I’ve started wearing one of the t-shirts we used to sell to support orphans living all year-round there in boarding schools. 

Countries and jurisdictions currently losing population and with a growing proportion of aging residents might consider following Sweden’s lead by offering families with children more financial and social support. No one wants to return to the bad old days of Malthus, but media and entertainment can help spread the message about the importance and rewarding challenges of parenthood. Adults also need to keep in mind that they themselves once were children, undergoing a necessary formative stage of life under the care of other adults who were not “child-free.” And they might also set out to do a better job than their own parents. Parent-child is a lifelong relationship. No one lives forever, so what better legacy to leave behind than the next generation?

California especially has lost population as folks have begun moving out because of the high cost of living while birthrates there have also plummeted. With our southern border now closed, new immigrants can no longer make up that state’s shortfall. Who would have predicted that in just a generation, population decline could replace population growth as a serious concern for so many developed countries? Human heterosexual relations and those of most mammals have produced offspring ever since time immemorial, a totally natural, completely logical, and fully expected occurrence. It might even be said that reproduction is the intended purpose of male-female sex. So to view a developing human fetus as an interloper, an anomaly, an unwanted incursion subject to eradication under the guise of a “right” doesn’t seem logical to me, so I’ve never supported “reproductive rights.” Nor do I support Biden’s now vociferous support for “the right to choose,” a position not advocated earlier in his political career. 

Is engaging in heterosexual relations without unwanted consequences really a “human right,” worthy of being enshrined in law and in the Constitution under the rubric of “reproductive rights,” as some have advocated? Is even having sex a right? Is having an abortion a right? All that seems a stretch.

Our country and many other nations actually need even more babies. I’ve mentioned this before, but since the issue has surged again during this election year, it’s time to reiterate it.

Donald Trump, in an appeal to both red and blue state voters, has advocated for “states’ rights” on abortion policy while Joe Biden’s perceived efforts to impose “prochoice” across the nation ends up alienating those voters who are opposed.

Where is the a transition point when a living human entity is considered worthy of protection? Once a newborn takes a first breath, those in the Biden camp instantly regard him or her to no longer be a non-entity or an invader whose destruction is considered a “right” to suddenly becoming a fully human person deserving of full protection, nourishment, and care. Parents have been found guilty of actions by minor children even when those children have been away from immediate parental control, such at school or out playing.

As birthrates, here in the US and some other countries plummet, is a societal correction already underway? The anti-abortion movement in the US and the implementation of family support measures in Scandinavia may represent such a corrective trend. Subsequently, as more women actually become mothers, social approval and support may grow apace. Awkward pejorative terminology such as “anti-choice supporters” and “abortion-rights opponents” may then turn once again to the simple term “prolife advocates.” 

Due perhaps to faulty radio reception, my poor hearing, or just my lack of support for him, President Biden doesn’t seem to always enunciate words clearly, often sounding rather mushy-mouthed. 

On another topic, self-driving vehicles lacking human drivers subject to fatigue, distraction, or aggressive driving, usually means fewer accidents, but their systems might also be vulnerable to hacking. Self-driving vehicles probably do best on major highways and not as well on busy streets with children outside playing and pedestrians often crossing.

Off-shore call centers have been mentioned before on these pages. I do know some English-speakers in Honduras working for them, staying on the phone all day, every day, fielding calls. Now there is another wrinkle: Mexican scammers speaking fluent English have infiltrated some call centers, tricking some American callers into losing lots of cash.

Water is obviously essential to life. I have often not found potable water and never hot water coming from a faucet in many parts of the world, something taken for granted in this country. I’ve taken many a cold shower or poured water from an outdoor pila over my body.

When traveling outside the US, I take dollar bills of various denominations in a money belt worn next to my body. I even sleep with it.  

Moving on to quite another issue, I feel that Mr. Biden could and should be doing more to curb Israel’s war actions and to educate Americans on that conflict. Do I therefore plan to vote for Donald Trump? Of course not! I may simply decide to sit out the presidential vote altogether. The Gaza war is not over yet, but opinions everywhere have begun changing.

Wash. Post, I’m Jewish, and I’ve covered wars. I know war crimes when I see them. Israel, a nation created in the wake of the Holocaust, has no right to commit war crimes in self-defense.

Wash. Post, Leaders of Jordan, France and Egypt: Cease fire now in Gaza

There is some logic behind Israel’s apparent attempt to wipe out the entire Gaza population, as no clear dividing line exists between civilians and militants. Fighters emerge from the very civilian population now supporting and relying on them for protection, just as Americans here rely on and support our own military in times of war and conflict.  Yet the longer the Gaza war continues, the more people will be killed and injured on both sides, with grievances mounting. Consider Europe’s more than 100-year war, 1337-1453.  

Israel has recently begun attacking Gaza at a somewhat lower intensity, perhaps because of a combination of US pressure, world opinion, perceived victory, and sheer fatigue. The best way to stop a war is simply to stop fighting and to declare that the war is over. An acceptable reason to stop or to declare victory can then be articulated afterward. Otherwise, a war can keep on going, as each side retaliates against the other. It’s high time to take the next step in Gaza: to stop the destructive fighting and senseless losses and sit down at the bargaining table. This war has been going nowhere, resulting in just more deaths, injury, suffering, destruction, and grievances. Over 33,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed at last count, according to authorities there, mostly non-combatant women and children. 

AP, An Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills 3 sons and 4 grandchildren of Hamas' top leader

His name is Ismail Haniyeh and he received that news via a phone call. Any human being hit with such a grievous loss might understandably seek retaliation and revenge or he may now be finally ready to talk about implementing a ceasefire.

Making this posting here today has been 

tremendously--even excruciatingly--difficult because of a Google Chrome incursion that I've been unable to eradicate.

Moving beyond victory and defeat

Whatever happened to spring? After a recent cold snap, I found these forlorn flowers drooping on my front steps. (I'm trying a smaller font now on this posting, so please tell me what you think,)

Returning from W Va. after celebrating our joint birthdays there with my son, I received a commemorative bouquet of lovely red roses from a friend in Florida. Here it is on the staircase with one of my Haitian artifacts looking on. 

Friends and family just sent me this image from Puerto Rico, where they are traveling together right now.

How long would you really want to live? 

CBS News, Oldest man in the world dies weeks before 115th birthday

CBS News, Oldest man in the world dies weeks before 115th birthday
He was Juan Vicente Pérez, a rural Venezuelan father of 11. Bravo to him for his long and humble life. But would most of us really want to live that long? How long is too long? Health, mental acuity, and mobility do contribute to the enjoyment and continuing purpose of a human life. At age 86, especially after Covid, I’ve already lost considerable ground, but admit to not being ready to throw in the towel just yet.  

Now here’s someone below at the peak of physical fitness. Phenom Caitlin Clarke has put women‘s college basketball on the map. Not having a TV at home, I enjoyed watching her and women’s basketball for the first time on a big screen at the CoolFont Hotel where my son works. 

NY  Times, 30 Years After a Genocide in Rwanda, Painful Memories Run Deep   In interviews with a dozen survivors ahead of today’s commemorative events, many spoke about the paroxysm of violence that gripped the nation

Observance of the 30^th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide recalls my own efforts after that terrible bloodbath, back when I served as a Rwanda Children’s Fund board member. I still have a commemorative plaque and some t-shirts we sold to raise money. We dedicated our limited donations to support young Tutsi orphans living all year in boarding schools, their de-facto homes after their families had been killed. We avoided expressing public favor for either Tutsis or Hutus, although because of the effects of the ethnic clash, our recipients were all Tutsis. Fortunately, those ethnic tensions have abated, but I am still no fan of the current Rwandan government.

On an issue related to my own family, readers already know that despite being a life-long Democrat, as both an adoptive and a birth mother, I am more pro-life than pro-choice. That said, more financial and social support for new mothers and for both parents is urgently needed. For the US and other countries facing a dearth of births, there is the example of Scandinavian countries’ successful efforts to prevent abortions and incentivize steady population maintenance. Having and raising children needs both more financial support and greater social validation to reverse a population decline in our own country and many others. After the dire warnings of Malthus, the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction. Now a course correction is needed before it’s too late. Changes in food production and distribution and many other factors have allowed our earth to provide for more people than ever before.

The gratuitous killing of humans in war also needs to be reduced. The excess deaths attributable to the use of outdated World War II tactics is no longer acceptable.

As for the Gaza war, all around the world and even among US allies, ceasefire advocacy has been growing exponentially. Initial support for Israel had surged worldwide after the surprise Hamas attack but has since given way to growing opposition to what is now regarded as excessive retaliation by Israeli forces. And what exactly is Israel’s end game? To inflict genocide on another ethnic group? The aim remains unclear. Wiping out an aid convoy is not the only mistake the Israeli military has made. Or maybe that was not actually a mistake?

Here was a ceasefire rally in London back in Feb. Now even more ceasefire supporters have been rallying there and everywhere. 

According to the Palestinian Authority, 137 of the 193 UN members already recognize a Palestinian state.  

Reuters, Spain to recognise Palestinian statehood by July, leader says -reports

The US may lag behind world opinion on the question of Palestinian statehood, though a growing number of Americans now support that idea. Because of my own history of assisting Palestinian refugees going back to 1948, I have long favored the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israel’s threatened invasion of Rafah has not yet occurred, so maybe world pressure is finally influencing both Israel’s war conduct and US support. Additionally, some donors are withholding funds over Biden’s Israel stance which may be making an impact during this crucial US election year. US policy spokespersons have finally called for a pause in the fighting or even a ceasefire, better late than never.

AP, Biden faces protest over his support for Israel during White House meeting

 

USA Today, Exclusive: Concern over Biden's stance on Israel-Hamas war rattles high-profile campaign donors

CNN, Israeli doctor says detained Palestinians are undergoing ‘routine’ amputations for handcuff injuries, Haaretz reports

Rolling Stone, Nancy Pelosi Among 40 House Democrats Demanding Biden Halt Weapon Transfers to Israel

 Fox, Biden warns Netanyahu that US will change policy on Gaza unless Israel protects civilians

 Recount, Antony Blinken on Israel: If we don't see the changes we need to see in Gaza, “there'll be changes in our own policy.”

Is the Biden administration now starting to become concerned that its unqualified political and economic support of Israel and of Netanyahu might affect the president’s own reelection chances? A growing number of Americans have completely lost confidence in Israel’s war conduct in Gaza.

But Israel is facing more than just a PR problem. Netanyahu is losing ground even within Israel itself and time is also taking a toll on the hostages and their supporters.

Guardian, Bernie Sanders to Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘Stop murdering innocent people’

Wash. Post, Muslim leaders decline White House Ramadan invitation

 

NY Times, Biden Is ‘Outraged.’ But Is He Willing to Use America’s Leverage With Israel? …[I]t left a sour taste among some of Biden’s critics that the president’s most visceral expression of anger at Israel’s military campaign came over the killing of seven foreign humanitarian workers rather than over the deaths of the many thousands of Palestinian civilians that preceded them.

Biden needs to put his [our] money where his mouth is when confronting Israeli
leaders. He has been eroding trust in America worldwide, affecting our national reputation as well as making our country complicit in harming unarmed civilians. Those of us who voted for him feel responsible now. 

Israel has also been squandering all the good will accorded that nation after the Holocaust, reawakening antisemitism around the world.  

CNN, Israel attacked aid workers ‘systematically, car by car,’ charity founder says, as fury builds over deadly strike

World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore slammed the attack on the aid workers as “unforgivable,” saying that “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war.”

AP, Rights group says Israeli strike on Gaza building killed 106 in apparent war crime A Human Rights Watch investigation published Thursday said an Israeli attack on a Gaza building in October had no apparent militant target, but killed 106 civilians, including 54 children, making it an “apparent war crime.” International law prohibits attacks on military targets that will likely cause disproportionate harm to civilians. The Oct. 31 attack was one of the deadliest since the start of the war nearly six months ago. Human Rights Watch says four separate strikes collapsed the Engineer’s Building in central Gaza, which was housing some 350 people, around a third of whom had fled their homes elsewhere in the territory.

Those killed included children playing soccer outside and residents charging phones in the first-floor grocery store, it said. Thirty-four women, 18 men and 54 children were killed in the strike, according to the group. 

Wash. Post, U.S. approved more bombs to Israel on day of World Central Kitchen strikes

USA Today, 'Unforgivable': World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres accuses Israel of committing 'war against humanity'

NY Times, Gaza War Turns Spotlight on Long Pipeline of U.S. Weapons to Israel

To what extent is President Biden willing to remain complicit in support of Israel? So far, pretty darn far. For months, he has been slavishly committed to Israel in public while doggedly following Netanyahu’s lead. He has kept on pouring in money to enable gratuitous civilian and humanitarian deaths and injuries and to rain widespread destruction on Gaza. He may have urged moderation with the Israeli leadership in private, but, if so, it was not having any discernible effect. Yes, there was the Holocaust; yes, Israel offered vital refuge to Jews around the world. But that does not give Israel a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card nor justify unlimited American support for what is turning out ironically to be a genocide being perpetrated by Israel itself. Our president is also enabling a resurgence of antisemitism all over the world. Biden could pull the plug on Israel aid tomorrow, even today. So, just STOP all this right now!! Joe Biden, you have the power! Maybe Joe Biden really has become as senile as his critics allege.

Unless  you reverse course, Mr. President, you will be forcing many of us to vote for a 3rd-party candidate, as how can we still possibly continue to support you? What about your legacy? I voted for you once but never again.

Now, at long last after half a year, Biden seems to be hearing the calls for a ceasefire coming from within the US and from all around the world. The Israelis’ long threatened strike on Rafah may finally have been averted. But for Joe Biden to just say “sorry” now will not be enough. He needs to incentivize Netanyahu’s immediate retirement, press for Israel’s prompt withdrawal from the war, and embark on rebuilding Gaza. Most urgent is facilitating the immediate entry of food aid. We are no longer living in a world that tolerates the killing and starving of civilian populations or of wars prolonged not for protection but merely for vengeance. How and when did the Israeli leadership actually plan to conclude this war? No end-game has been in sight. 

The Hill, Democrats fear Israel-Hamas war could cost them in November
 

Yes, Biden may have already lost my vote.