1/13/24

 Saturday, January 13, 2024

In bed at 8 and up at 3 with electric power restored.  Let Lilly out.  24°, high of 31°, low of 10°.  SEVERE WEATHER Advisory: from 3 a.m. until noon today, blowing, drifting snow, and wind chills of 20 to 25° below zero.  Wind NW at 24 mph, 16-24/38.  Sunrise at 7:21 at 119°, sunset at 4:39 at 241°, 9+17.  Solar noon at 12:00 p.m., altitude 25°

Treadmill; pain.  Woke up with a very sore left shoulder and even more painful right wrist and to a lesser extent, right hand.     32:29 & 0.75 at 12:45 watching the first day of the hearing before the International Court of Justice (World Court) on South Africa's complaint for genocide against Israel.   A devastating attack by South Africa on Israel's treatment of Palestinians.  Why is it South Africa that is bringing this case, rather than some other country?  If South Africa is right that Israel is guilty of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, what is the culpability of the United States as Israel's funder, supplier of lethal weapons, and protector in the Security Council?  South Africa's presentation was essentially a series of speeches by its lawyers.  The Court asked no questions.  The oral speeches appeared to be simply a repetition of the assertions made in its 64-page complaint.  Back on the treadmill at 4:30 for 25:02 & 0.65,  for Daily totals of 57:31 & 1.4.

I'm grateful for electricity and grateful to those who bring it to our homes and other important places.  I envy the Pandls across the street and Shirley and Tom Mara with their generators.  Geri noticed a succession of cars leaving our cul-de-sac street shortly after we lost power. I thought of Kitty and her oxygen equipment, wondering whether any of our neighbors required electricity for health or safety reasons.  Although Geri wisely reminded me early in the day yesterday to make sure my phone, computer, and watch batteries were charged, somehow (scatterbrained😧) I forgot to charge my phone.  When the power failed, my phone was down to an 18% charge so I turned it off to preserve its charge.  That act however deprived me of a 'hotspot' internet connection for my trusty laptop.  We had a fire in the fireplace when the lights went out and we lit our hurricane lamp and a votive candle to provide some extra light.  Geri retrieved our camping battery-powered lantern but we kept it turned off, at least temporarily, to preserve battery 'juice.'  I opened the venetian blinds to let in the small amount of light that was somehow coming from the snow-covered ground.  Then I had a startling realization: I couldn't get my BarcaLounger recliner to recline because it is electrically powered, unlike the recliners in the sunroom, bedroom, and basement!  Egad!  I knew then that I would be in bed by 8 p.m. and so I was.  Milwaukee had an official reading of only 6.1 inches of snow(compared to as much as 14 inches inland) and I suppose we received something similar or perhaps more.  The photo is Mr. Pandl manhandling his snowblower and reminding me that we need to ask Rustin to plow in front of our mailbox as well as the driveways.

Another tree bites the dust, er, snow.

LTMW I finally see a hardy chickadee filling up on sunflower seeds. Will other birds show up today???  I also see our neighbors in the Blutstein house, father and young daughter, out walking their dog in the cold, windy weather.  Hardy Midwestern souls, like Mr. Pandl.  Our Lilly was just outside for all of 5 minutes.  I'm dreading the bitterly cold weather on its way here tonight and all next week, for us but mostly for Lilly.

Israel, genocide, and the World Court.  In a 64-page complaint, South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in its war against Hamas (or is it a war against Gaza civilians?).  If Israel is guilty, so is the United States as a party to the crime.  We fund the war and provide the arms used both to kill the Gazans and to defend the Israelis and we protect Israel from sanctions in the UN Security Council.  We are partners in crime, if there is a crime.  Is there?  I don't know enough about the legal dimensions of the 1951 Genocide Convention to form any legal opinion.  I think it is fair to say that we, i.e., the US, have never been a big fan of the Genocide Convention.  We signed the treaty in 1948 when Harry Truman was president but didn't ratify the Convention/treaty until 40 years later in 1988, at the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency.  Israel, not surprisingly, signed the Convention in 1949 and ratified it less than a year later.

In any event, what are we to think of Israel, whose very existence is in some significant measure the result of the Nazi-led but Europe-wide genocide against European Jews, being itself accused of genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza?  Secretary of State Tony Blinken calls South Africa's case "meritless" as does NSC spokesman John Kirby.  We know they speak for Joe Biden.  Kirby has added that the case is "without any basis in fact whatsoever."  Is it?  I suppose it's easy enough, if facile, to take the position that statements from Israel's government are mere 'rhetoric' or do not represent 'official positions,' or as referring only to Hamas and not to Gazans generally, even statements like

- Netanyahu's reminding Israelis to remember the biblical carnage of Amalek ("“Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings.”)

- Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowing that “Gaza won’t return to what it was before — we will eliminate everything.”

- the minister of energy and infrastructure pledging, “They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave this world. 

 - National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said the war in Gaza presented an "opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza.

-  Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said in an interview with Israeli media that Israel should take steps to encourage the emigration of the majority of the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza to other countries. 

Within hours of the October 7th slaughter and hostage-taking of Israelis by Hamas, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza cutting off all electricity, fuel, food, and water to a population of 2,200,000 people, about half of whom are children.  Food?  Water?  The siege has essentially continued for more than three months, leading to near-universal hunger, if not starvation, and disease among the population.  What would Tony Blinken and John Kirby and Joe Biden say if Russia were to do, or try, something similar in Ukraine?  We know the answer to that and we know why so many in the world consider the United States a hypocrite.

Israel has killed over 23,000 people in Gaza, according to the Gazan health ministry. More than 9,000 of the dead are children. More than 1,000 children had undergone amputations, sometimes with no anesthesia available, by late November, UNICEF says. Women giving birth have also been forced to undergo cesarean sections without anesthesia, according to doctors in Gaza. Entire neighborhoods are crushed, and more than 85 percent of the population has been displaced.  What would Tony Blinken and John Kirby and Joe Biden say if Russia were to do, or try, something similar in Ukraine?

Is what has been going on in Gaza since October 7th a legal genocide?  Others will answer that question.  But I am reminded of Chicago in 1968 and the chanting outside the Conrad Hilton hotel: "The whole world is watching."  We've all seen the photos and the videos.  We've all read and heard the media reports.  And we've all been sickened and horrified, or many of us in any case.  Lawyers and judges can deal with the legal questions under the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions regarding group punishment and the rights of civilians in warfare.  We know what we have seen and our moral judgments are in, on Hamas, on Israel, and on the United States.

Noteworthy lines in Maureen Dowd's NYT column today:  "Obama’s triumph in Iowa was about having faith in humanity. If Trump wins here, it will be about tearing down faith in humanity.  That it’s happening in a blizzard is fitting. Trump’s whole life has been a snow job."

Also in the NYT: On the Ballot in Iowa: Fear. Anxiety. Hopelessness.  "Across Iowa, as the first nominating contest approaches on Monday, voters plow through snowy streets to hear from candidates, mingle at campaign events and casually talk of the prospect of World War III, civil unrest and a nation coming apart at the seams."  And 'civil unrest' is a euphemism for political violence, insurrection, and civil war - "2nd Amendment remedies."  

I have roots in Iowa; my father was born in Fort Dodge in Webster County as was his mother and probably his father, who hailed from the little farm town of Duncombe, down the road.  My great-grandfather Jacob Clausen ran the grain silo there and was mayor for some time.  There are many Clausens in the cemetery there.  I was taken there as a child by my father when he returned from WW II and  I drove my father and grandfather there as a teenager for a relative's funeral.  For a few years, I handled a lawsuit against one of my clients in Sioux City on the northwest corner of the state.  I became friends with my co-counsel, Jim Sayre, in Des Moines and stayed at his home as a guest of his family. My friend Tom St. John also had roots in Iowa, as does my friend Mike Hogan whose father was also from Fort Dodge..  I have warm feelings for the state and its people but I am dismayed by its modern politics, i.e., deep red Republican.  I can't believe these people are all stupid, racist, or naturally fascistic, but they are clearly fed up with big D Democratic politics (especially identity politics catering to minorities) and with the government's chronic inability to address serious problems.  They've given up on traditional American democracy because that's what has gotten us to where we are and they don't like where we are or where they think we are heading.  Neither do we Lefties.  Their best answer to the problem is Trump?  Our is Biden?  Doesn't it prove that our traditional American democracy doesn't work well anymore for anyone, or either the Right or the Left?  Who is winning - the oligarchs and plutocrats, as always.  There's nothing surer, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Secretary of Defense Austin is still in the hospital.  Not a good situation,  bad for him & Biden both.

Rustin & his plow didn't show up until about 4 p.m.  I'm not pleased.  Thankfully though he shovels the walks.  A day like this makes me think of snowbirding.😎