News & Articles

Remembering the Nakba,
 
The Nakba, which means catastrophe, is the Palestinian term for the events surrounding the killings and expulsions of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes by Israeli forces in 1947-48.
The Nakba continues today. Just the day before this writing 80 to 100 more Palestinians, including dozens of children, were killed by Israeli bombings of Gaza. The number is dependent on how deep one wants to dig into the rubble.

It has now been 10 weeks since Isreal shut Gaza off from supplies of food, medical supplies, and tents. Despite Isreal’s denials, international agencies agree that starvation is rampant.

Why does this situation persist with US support from both wings or the ruling duopoly—Democrats and Republicans, Biden and Trump? The so-called Israel lobby is surely a factor but more basically it is because Isreal is very useful to the US empire. Israel will bomb and destroy in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, etc. and commit outranges that even the US will not do.

Meanwhile the Donald is being wined and dined in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as he peddles US weaponry and corporate interests as well as his personal business ventures. His policy is the typical US method--buy them off or bomb them out.

The Palestinian struggle is an irritant, an obvious reminder of what the US permits if not actively encourages. Hence the talk of shipping Palestinians off to Libya and turning their land into a seaside resort. Hence the need to label as antisemitism any campus activism in support of Palestinian rights.

What to do?

Reject US party politics as a means to systemic change of the US policy.

Reject Trump not just because of his personal dishonestly and arrogance but rather because he’s the epitome of the US political culture of ignorance, aggression, greed, militarism, and violence.
Reject nationalism and its appeal to China bashing and its proxy war with Russia at the expense of countless Ukrainian and Russian lives.

Realize that Trump is a symptom of a much deeper US disease.

Embrace the Palestinian cause, which is symbolic of justified resistance to oppression and power.
Remember Jan Conley, whom we lost recently, as a tireless activist for peace and the environment—peace on earth and peace with the earth.

Free Palestine by freeing ourselves from nationalism, ignorance, and complicity with the powerful.
Every day that the resistance continues, it becomes stronger. Resistance brings hope, and hope creates resistance.

Free Palestine!
Robert Kosuth
Duluth, Minnesota

Future uncertain with Trump in charge

Many are dismayed by the rapid displacement of American democracy by the authoritarian administration of Donald Trump.  One cannot help but wonder where this is all headed.

The personality-driven dictatorships of the 20th century – Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro – loom large in the imagination, but fears of such tyrannies may be misplaced.  We appear to be more susceptible to – and to be on the road toward – an ideologically-driven despotism.  In a word, not fascism but theocracy.  In a word, not 1930s Germany but 2025 Iran.

Modern Iran has a Parliament; we will continue to have a Congress.  However, the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Iran, effectively their Parliament, operates under the strict supervision of unelected religious authorities (the Guardian Council).  This Council is comprised of 12 members – all are appointed by the Supreme (Islamic) Leader.  The Guardian Council can veto any law that it finds is inconsistent with Islamic law.

Modern Iran holds elections; we will continue to hold elections.  However, the Guardian Council plays a pivotal role in supervising elections, vetting candidates, and assuring alignment with Iran’s ideological framework.

The rapidity and breadth of the Trump administration’s deconstruction of our federal government would not have been possible without the theologically-based blueprint Project 2025.  This detailed plan was concocted by the Heritage Foundation, with the assistance of many other groups, to impose a revolution on the American government and people.  That revolution is Christian Nationalism.

Christian Nationalism is not a Christian movement.  Christian Nationalism is a hard-right political ideology that has found it convenient and efficacious to align itself with hard-right Evangelical Christians.  Make no mistake: nationalism is the driver; Christianity is the passenger.

Today, we are moving toward the full implementation of Project 2025.  When fully in place, our Congress and elections may be as insignificant as those in Iran.
Charles Gessert
Duluth, Minnesota

Tiffany shows ignorance in newsletter 

Dear Congressman Tiffany,

In the segment of the May 9th Tiffany Telegram titled “Ending the Green New Scam” you state that the Inflation Reduction Act “was simply a Trojan horse for the Left’s radical climate crusade, packed with Green New Scam handouts.” I’m wondering what the scam is.

I’ve read recently that the last ten years have been the hottest on record; that ocean heat content is at a record high; that polar sea ice is at near record lows; and that atmospheric CO2 levels soared to a record high in 2024.  Are climate scientists fabricating these reports?  Is that the scam?  Or, is it just easier to claim that there’s a scam rather than face up to an inconvenient truth: that to leave our grandchildren and their children with a planet that’s still reasonably habitable, we need to make significant changes in how we live our lives?

Also, is it really wise for us to let China completely dominate the global transition to clean energy?
What say you?  I’m hoping that the next issue of the Tiffany Telegram will provide an answer.
Bill Bussey
Bayfield, Wisconsin