JOHNSTONE

"Hacks" costar Hannah Einbinder said "Free Palestine" during her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress at the Emmys on Sunday. Questioned by the press afterward, Einbinder said she has friends in Gaza, adding, "I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and longstanding institution that is really separate to this sort of ethnonationalist state." I've followed Einbinder on Instagram for a long time because she's been one of the few people in Hollywood consistently using their influential voice to oppose this genocide, and it is very good that she said these things. Hopefully we see much more of this. But right now I can't help thinking about how unforgivable it is that all the other Hollywood celebrities haven't been using their platforms at these events to call for an end to the Gaza holocaust this entire time. For two years this nightmare has been normalized in the eyes of the public with the assistance of the vast conspiracy of silence between all the people with the largest and most influential voices in our society. Reading by Tim Foley.

It's probably worth flagging the fact that the president of the United States is promoting the establishment of a Ministry of Truth to restrict information in a suggested law called the "Charlie Kirk Act". Reading by Tim Foley.

The McDonald's flag at Guantanamo Bay was lowered to half-mast in honor of the GOP swamp creature who was assassinated by a sniper the day before 9/11, which I think we can all agree is the most American thing that has ever happened. Reading by Tim Foley.

You cannot become a high-level pundit, politician or political operative in either mainstream party without being an evil piece of shit. It's part of the job description, because the job requires you to make excuses for the abuses of a globe-spanning empire which is fueled by human blood. Reading by Tim Foley.

The assassin appears to have been able to successfully escape after the killing, so nothing is known about what their motives were. Rightists are braying for civil war and demanding sweeping new authoritarian measures to crush what passes for the political "left" in the United States these days, based on nothing but vibes and feelings. Reading by Tim Foley.

Recent hours have seen too much Israeli depravity to write about, including an assassination strike in Qatar to sabotage peace talks, a second drone attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and a Guardian article featuring an IDF sniper who discussed killing civilians like a trophy hunter talking about game animals. Reading by Tim Foley.

A drone appears to have struck a boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla while it was docked at a Tunisian port on its way to bring aid into Gaza, temporarily starting a fire. Nobody on board was harmed. The boat was reportedly crewed by the same activists who had attempted to sail to Gaza on the Madleen this past July, including Greta Thunberg. And it is here worth noting that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently said that Global Sumud Flotilla activists must be designated as terrorists and treated accordingly, in order to "create a clear deterrent" against foreign parties attempting to bring aid into Gaza by sea. It is no mystery who the prime suspect is in this attack. Reading by Tim Foley.

In a sense all I'm ever really pointing at here is the importance of taking responsibility. Taking responsibility as westerners for the suffering and destruction inflicted upon the world by the western power structure that we live under. Reading by Tim Foley.

In the UK a terrorist is someone with a cardboard sign saying "I support Palestine Action". In the US a terrorist is a Venezuelan suspected of drug trafficking. In Israel a terrorist is someone resisting occupation. Reading by Tim Foley.

He hung up a sign that said Secretary of War, snapped a picture for the socials, shut the door, took a swig of Jameson straight from the bottle, then sat down and fondled the revolver in his desk drawer like a little boy playing with his penis. Visions of cruise missiles danced through his head, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines and tiny middle eastern bodies blown to bits by glorious inventory. Mushroom clouds flashed in his eyes as he caressed the trigger with an index finger. "They call me the Secretary of War," he said. "They call me the Secretary of War." He did not feel the robins in his chest or hear the red-winged blackbirds trilling in his hair. The electricity of the flesh was a stranger to him. Exuberance was a deadbeat dad who never called. Outside the Pentagon walls a cicada roared unnoticed and the grass sang ancient hymns to the sun god. People bustled in and bustled out, their minds buzzing with Palantir porn, their lips casting spells of Raytheon and ruin. Under the rubble of a far away building a child reached out a hand in the darkness. Her cries were silenced by gulps of whiskey in the office of the Secretary of War. Reading by Tim Foley.