02/03/2024
On January 26th, the International Court of Justice announced its initial decisions in the genocide case brought against the state of Israel by the state of South Africa. The court explicitly ordered the Israeli government to take action to prevent genocide in Gaza. They also refused to dismiss the case against Israel, ruling that South Africa does have standing to bring charges against the state of Israel. Most importantly, in my opinion, the court firmly stated that South Africa has made a plausible case that a genocide is being committed in Gaza. It’s important to understand the people denying that a genocide is happening are now rejecting the very international law they try to cite in defense of Israeli actions, the ICJ has ruled the evidence a genocide is being committed warrants investigation.
Because I was streaming live on January 28th with Renee Johnston, Dr. Renee Levant, and Paul Catafago my show ended up being about the ICJ ruling. I’m extremely happy that show scheduling worked out so well the last week in January! It ended up being the kind of conversation longtime fans might appreciate! Renee and I spoke with Dr. Levant for about an hour, I spoke with Dr. Levant for about an hour alone, and then her comrade Paul joined us and we spoke for about an hour and a half.
If three and a half hours is a big chunk for you, I would recommend either watching the first hour or fast forwarding to the last hour and a half. I do think the whole thing is worth watching if you have the stamin and time!
Joe Rogan just signed another $250M deal with Spotify. In addition to making Rogan a megamillionaire by yet another quarter of a billion dollars, Spotify is also giving up its exclusive right to Rogan’s show and the podcast will now be available on other platforms. Corporate media drones like Joe Rogan, disguised as “independent media figures” speaking for ordinary Americans have done a lot to mainstream the Nazi attack on our rights and liberties and the struggle for economic and social equity for working people, racialized people, queer people, and disabled people. Joe Rogan has become obscenely wealthy doing it. This is another example of how the dictatorship of capital works.
Sadly, Spotify is not on the phone offering me $250M to further my own political education and help other people further theirs. Which means that I need to try to find patrons to keep my show going. I made less than $50 this month. The very best way for you to support my work is to share my YouTube, Substack, and Patreon content all over social media. If you would like to help supports the costs of improving the show with things like editing and production, please consider becoming a patron!
The 02/04 livestream will be about the messy Democratic Party primary centered around Bob Menendez’s attempt to be re-elected to the Senate despite facing federal corruption charges. I will be joined by co-host Bess Goden and guest Christina Khalil (a Green Party candidate for the same Senate seat) to discuss this ongoing debacle and why Democrats just can’t divest themselves from Joe Biden and the Military Industrial Complex.
I am working on putting together the 02/11 show. We will be talking about the West Virginia Democratic Party’s state assembly delegation’s decision to stand in solidarity with Greg Abbott’s fascist grandstanding attempt to usurp the duties of border enforcement from the federal government. I feel like we’re entering a crisis of political legitimacy in this country, as the ruling class continues to attack the formally democratic elements of the liberal state in order to quiet demands for economic democracy. I need to talk about those contradictions.