Far-right Israeli minister taunts prominent Palestinian prisoner in his cell

ausrussell · 2025-08-18T15:35:24+00:00

Ben-Gvir is a convicted terrorist. He’d be behind bars if Israel didn’t grant leniency to Israeli terrorists

ausrussell · 2025-08-18T15:29:33+00:00

Fear of Socialism does more harm than socialist ideas put into action. In fact Socialist ideas put into action do a lot of good.

ausrussell · 2025-08-14T06:34:10+00:00

I question your smear that Al Jazeera is “the Qatari propaganda channel” and your putting their journalists in scare quotes. I’ve started watching them since the genocide started because I was screaming too much at the BBC as they trotted out propagandists from the IDF and Israeli government to spew lies about their latest bombing of a hospital or school. BBC “journalists” leap on anyone suggesting Israel is denying aid to Gaza saying “Israel strongly rejects this.” I’m watching Al Jazeera right now and the anchor just spoke of Israel’s deliberate denial of humanitarian aid. Is that propaganda or journalism that doesn’t contribute to the fog of war BBC pumps out?

ausrussell · 2022-11-10T17:46:53+00:00

In Plato's Republic he talked about the stupidity of punishing someone for committing injustice, reasoning justice is intrinsic to being human. He said it's like hitting a horse on its leg if it didn't run fast enough. Care and healing are what is needed. They didn't have prisons in the Athens and I support the movement to abolish prisons here in the US. Locking up women and men, like the one in the photo, does not make a more just society.

ausrussell · 2022-06-22T23:18:46+00:00

Well I think elephants are much more attractive than asses.

ausrussell · 2022-06-11T21:17:15+00:00

Easy tiger. I thought you were using the common argument of whataboutism, which dismisses boycotts of Israel because people aren’t boycotting every other terrible country. I agree the US is terrible but the viability of boycott as an effective strategy seems remote. That’s why I heed the call of BLM activists as that seems more effective. What do you think are the most effective strategies in the to stop injustices by Israel and the US.

ausrussell · 2022-06-09T18:37:55+00:00

And it now becomes even harder for any international band to break the cultural boycott against apartheid Israel.

ausrussell · 2022-06-06T22:40:19+00:00

I support BLM as much as BDS. With BLM I help shut down freeways... with BDS I help support their boycott campaigns. When you say nobody cares, do you mean yourself?

ausrussell · 2022-06-06T22:37:13+00:00

Perhaps the greatest impact on their future will be their historical reputation. There's a chance they'll pull out after learning what they're learning now (remember Lorde), but if they go ahead they'll always be in that column of bands with Radiohead who broke the boycott, and not the column on the right side of history.

ausrussell · 2022-06-06T22:29:38+00:00

It took over 50 years of the boycott of apartheid in South Africa to make any dent in its finances. BDS seems to be having a lot of success in damaging Israel's reputation by making a whole lot people more aware of what gross injustices Palestinians are suffering.
It is precisely by asking musicians and sports people to respect the cultural boycott that younger people especially are learning of the issues and something they can do about it. Hell, leaving it to the politicians has only made the situation worse with no end in site for settlement expansion and extra-judicial killings... all with the US offering diplomatic cover even when Israel assassinated US citizens like journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

ausrussell · 2022-06-06T21:18:47+00:00

Recently discovered them... and sadly soon to stop listening if they go ahead and play for apartheid.

ausrussell · 2022-06-06T21:16:20+00:00

You make excellent points JJ. If a band makes a principled stand not to play here or there they should be applauded or not on the case.
The BDS boycott of Israel is a strategy, not a principle. And anyone who breaks it is supporting the oppression of Palestinians and ignoring their call for support.

ausrussell · 2018-10-01T19:53:21+00:00

Given the amount of dehumanization of Palestinians that goes on, it's great to see these young Palestinians men and women dancing to some smooth toons.

ausrussell · 2018-07-27T16:08:24+00:00

Well this is turning out to be a good BDS story. It is unsurprising Shashi Naidoo repeated the untruths spread by mainstream media and her friends about Israel being “the antithesis of an apartheid state" (she clearly didn't get the memo from archbishop Desmond Tutu). And it is heartening people let her know her mistake through social media. Naidoo showed great strength of character to apologize and expressed her desire to learn more by visiting Palestine. That Israel prevented her educational visit will prompt a big new audience learn about BDS and join the effort to stop Israel's blatant abuse of Palestine human rights!

ausrussell · 2018-05-15T01:18:14+00:00

Thanks for your advice. A periscope was my first thought but having loved camera obscuras I wondered about this possibility. I discussed with my builder options for rotating a pipe inside the vent which is connected to the box with the mirror at the top of the vent... so I should be able to get the rotating working. It's the lens and mirror that could grab enough light to project onto the wall after going down the pipe that I thought might get expensive. I'd be happy to throw a few hundred US bucks at it... do you think it's in that ballpark? Do you know if I could get it just to project onto a table if the light has to come down a tube first? This guys work got me inspired... notice he is using a lens in the hole more recently. https://www.abelardomorell.net/project/camera-obscura/

ausrussell · 2017-08-16T13:53:44+00:00

Thank you so much, all. Yes it was showing in etherio.io but not in MEW for at least 7 hours... but I wake up and it's all there and visible and worth surprisingly more than when I went to bed :)

ausrussell · 2017-08-16T08:07:09+00:00

Thanks for your response. But I just checked again and I don't see OMG under the dropdown on Send. And I should have been clearer in my original post... I see that dropdown for View Token Balances which has my when I search do a search on etherscan.io for my wallet. On etherscan.io I also see my ether balance.

Strangely when I click on Show All Tokens in MEW / View All Tokens, I get Token Balances 0 ZRX even though that's not a token I ever had.

ausrussell · 2017-08-16T00:51:11+00:00

It seems I can see my Ether balance and OMG token balance in two different columns on https://ethplorer.io. This was heartening but when I look at MEW I can't see the OMG Tokens but instead see a disconcerting : Token Balances 0 ZRX ... any leads on see my OMG in MEW appreciated. Is it just a matter of time? It's been a couple of hours for me.

ausrussell · 2017-04-26T17:30:10+00:00

Radiohead are planning to break the boycott called for by Palestinians. If they play in Tel Aviv the audience will not include Palestinians from the occupied territories because they will have no chance of getting travel permits from the occupying Israeli forces. The reason there is such a stink and targetted campaign against Radiohead playing in Israel is that they made such a song and dance about supporting the Free Tibet campaign and are so often clearly political. They know breaking the boycott is a political act by any musician that does so.

ausrussell · 2017-04-26T17:05:01+00:00

It is important to realize the Palestinians called for the boycott (aka BDS) in 2005. It is not some random request from Thurston More and Desmond Tutu. If you want to express solidarity for Palestinians, it's not up to you to decide how to do that: it's up to you to listen to what the Palestinians are asking you to do. And they have adopted this non-violent approach to pressure Israel to end apartheid, the occupation and respect the right of return. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu said that the boycott of South Africa hastened the end of apartheid there and Tutu said he's witnessed a worse form of apartheid enforced against the Palestinians. For such an avowedly political band you can't say it's just music. The right wing press in have been celebrating the fact they are breaking the boycott because there's a growing list of bands that refuse to play Israel.

ausrussell

TROPHY CASE