Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Last night, after a dinner of Cobb salad, I slept for an hour between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., when I woke up to move a load of laundry into the dryer and to set up my overnight oatmeal. In bed around 10, up at 3:30 for a PS and to lower the heat in the slow cooker. My usual oatmeal + at 4:45 with 20 mg. of prednisone. At 5:30, as I worked my way down the hallway to my bathroom, I almost bumped into Geri coming out of hers. "How is it possible to have a traffic jam at this hour?." I asked. Yet how often we bump into each other in our big house.😁 I nodded off at some point and was awake and up with the sounds of the Wednesday morning lawn crew at 7:20. We've had so much rain this Spring, especially lately, the ground is soggy, saturated, and the grass is long and lush, the mowers (human and mechanical) working extra hard to cut it.
Prednisone's effect on sleep and appetite has turned me into a multi-breakfast gourmand. At least 2 a day, sometimes 3. Oatmeal & fruit early, CBH & eggs, a bowl of raisin bran or plate of toast later . . . Fatty, fatty, 2 by 4, . . .
Prednisone, day 17. I enjoyed a pretty decent night's sleep in bed, but I still have just a little bit of 'gimpiness' in my shoulders. My biggest physical problem the last few days has been pain and tightness in my lower back. I see Dr. Cheng in the PM&R Clinic this afternoon and will see if he can offer relief.
Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, houses more than a million people — about half of Gaza's population — displaced from other parts of the territory. Since Israel launched its invasion earlier this month, most have once again fled. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city. Israel's bombing of Tal al Sultan camp for internally displaced Palestinians on 26 May killed at least 45 people and wounded more than 250. Al Jazeera’s Sanad Verification Agency has obtained images of fragments believed to be from the weaponry used in the attack. The photos show the tail of a GBU-39/B bomb, manufactured by Boeing. The GBU-39/B includes a jet engine from the M26 unguided missile, the agency confirmed.
The GBU-39 is not an incendiary but rather is packed with about 35 pounds of high-explosive munition. It appears that the Hamas target that the IDF hit set off a secondary explosion that ignited the surrounding tents holding Gazan civilians.
I have a vision of that video image of the Palestinian man holding the headless child blown up and carried by crowds of thousands of Iranians, Arabs, and others, shouting "Death to America! Death to Israel!" Quaere: what interests of the United States are being served by being joined at the hip with Israel and its racist government in its war in and on Gaza?
Sanctions against the ICC? The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions and visa restrictions on personnel of the International Court of Criminal Justice because they investigated violations of international law, i.e., war crimes and crimes against humanity, in Afghanistan and Palestine. Executive Order 13928. The Biden administration revoked the sanction on April 2, 2021. Many Republican lawmakers are calling for the reimposition of the Trump/Pompeo sanctions on the ICC, but yesterday the administration stated it opposed sanctions.
Robin Givhan on the words of war. I have followed Robin Givhan's writings in the WaPo for years. She writes beautifully, wisely, and warmly. Today she wrote of military and political euphemisms, prompted by the IDF killlings in and around Rafah - Hiding behind words after the killings in Rafah: The language is a balm. It’s a way of allowing that certain deaths are unavoidable and therefore part of a cause whose moral standing remains unmarred.
The language of war serves as a camouflage that allows the truth to hide. It aims to make the horror of deadly conflict acceptable, or at least manageable. The language is a balm to the combatants, perhaps. A way of allowing that certain deaths are unavoidable and therefore part of a cause whose moral standing remains unmarred.
But such forgiving words fail to dignify the victims of war with the unforgiving reality of what happened to them. They were not collateral damage. They were more than casualties. They were individuals. And they were slaughtered.
In wars, too often the words that name the unconscionable act can fail miserably in conveying the truth about it. Not just in this war, but every war. It’s a struggle to reconcile the notion of “friendly fire” with the breathtaking reality of being wounded or killed by one’s fellow soldier. How does the shooter carry that staggering burden? And so the awfulness is wrapped in a euphemism that sounds almost neighborly. “Enhanced interrogation” sounds far more banal and bureaucratic than torture. . .
Hamas fighters hide within the general population in Gaza. Israeli leaders tell the world again and again that Hamas uses civilians as “human shields.” It seems that the way around these shields has been to destroy them, whether those humans are in homes, hospitals or tent encampments. It’s far gentler on the soul to hear that a commander has ordered his troops to attack inanimate shields, these tools of battle, rather than unwitting adults and schoolchildren.
She mentions that the Israeli Jews who squat on occupied Arab land in the West Bank are called "settlers." Why not "squatters"? The Israelis like the notion of 'settlements' and 'outposts', but bristle at the term "settler colonialism."
Accomplishment: (1) I walked down to and around the cul de sac. I was 'lapped' by Suzuie Apple! (2) PM&R appointment with Dr. Cheng. (2) I sent message to Dr. Chatt re cancellations. (3) I enjoyed a longish conversation with Peter about my time in Vietnam and afterwards, part of a school assignment. I ran off at the mouth - old age or prednisone?
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