Attribution: Everyone is distracted from famine in Gaza by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Ontario, Canada
Cuisine du jour: red meat or gruel.
38 thoughts on “Feeding the Hungry”
Attribution: Bon appétit. by Becs, CagleCartoons.com
[Alejandro Becares (aka “Becs”) is from Argentina, he publishes in magazines and newspapers as well as foreign digital graphic media. He’s won international awards.]
meanwhile our attention has been on shinier objects of distraction rather than doing something about this
Jul 24, 2025
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a “deadly surge” in malnutrition-related deaths and man-made “mass starvation” as aid is blocked from getting into Gaza.
The UN health agency said 21 children under the age of five had died from malnutrition in Gaza so far this year and that more than 30,000 children the same age were currently suffering from acute malnutrition.
Sir Keir Starmer has suggested that the UK will play a role in dropping aid into Gaza by air after more than a third of MPs signed a letter calling on the government to recognise a Palestinian state.
On Friday, Israel said it would allow foreign countries to deliver air supplies in the coming days amid mounting international concern about humanitarian conditions in the territory.
“News that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late – but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route,” the prime minister wrote in The Mirror.
Sir Keir also said the UK was “urgently accelerating efforts” to evacuate children who need critical medical assistance to the UK for treatment.
Amid starvation scenes in Gaza, Trump administration hardens tone on Hamas
Militants “didn’t want to make” a deal, Trump said, after U.S., Israeli ceasefire negotiators pulled back from talks.
[…]
Trump, who softened his policy on Ukraine in part because he said he was disturbed at civilian suffering caused by Russian attacks earlier this year, has not dwelled on the images of starvation in Gaza and has not spoken at length about them publicly in recent days. But officials say that he is aware of the humanitarian situation and it is influencing his decisions.
Trump “has seen the images and he does not like them,” one senior White House official wrote in a message, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president’s private assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“That’s why he directed Witkoff to come up with a creative aid/food program solution. He believes it’s a terrible situation and needs to end,” the senior official wrote.
The creative solution referred to the GHF, the Israeli- and U.S.-backed effort to replace the U.N.-coordinated system for aid that had operated in Gaza for decades, the senior official said. Israel charges that the U.N. is corrupted by Hamas.
[…]
U.S. officials have repeatedly spoken of the success of the GHF, pointing to figures that show it has delivered more than 80 million meals in boxes calibrated to feed 5.5 people for 3.5 days since late May. But its operations have also led to chaos and violence, with crowds of civilians desperately and dangerously rushing toward distribution points. Hundreds have been killed, shot at by Israeli troops who allege they pose a threat, or trampled in the surge toward food.
The U.N., as well as many other aid groups, have refused to join the GHF on grounds that it violates their principles of neutrality, while endangering civilians.
[continues]
in the meantime
Trump’s new Scottish golf course ad takes a wild turn—escape your past, change your name, and never return!
Forty years ago when I moved from CA to DC, one of the cultural differences that surprised me at first was the large number of well educated black women who held most of the administrative office jobs throughout the city. Today, I saw this blurb about what Trump’s policies is doing to them.
Fit For The Litter box
Lotus the world’s most judgmental cat has a few choice hisses for Marjorie Taylor Green
Humans, I’ve held my tongue (and my tail) through some outrageous things. I’ve watched you elect crooks, eat gas station sushi, and put pineapple on pizza. But this week, even I had to stop mid-groom and hiss. … more
Lotus the world’s most judgmental cat has a few choice hisses for Marjorie Taylor Green
Humans, I’ve held my tongue (and my tail) through some outrageous things. I’ve watched you elect crooks, eat gas station sushi, and put pineapple on pizza. But this week, even I had to stop mid-groom and hiss. … more https://substack.com/home/post/p-169298492
Forget the pardon rumors — Trump’s DOJ already cut a deal.
Cranking up the studio in a bit for some editing work, anybody just want to chat on or off cam? let me know.
They’re letting all this Epsteinity build up so that when they finally show the files which have by then been thoroughly Bill Barred, the Dems will all say, “Wha Happen?”
today’s meme…
Still in my bathrobe but can chat.
If the Republicans aren’t embarrassed about Epstein, then Trump is safe. Even if Democrats take over the house and senate. Trump has proved he can make up his own law and is independent of any control. It is only the Republicans who have the power to stop him and they are too scared to do so.
As to Gaza, Biden owns as much of the blame for the starving children as Trump. He had the power to stop it at the beginning. Israel couldn’t have done this without our unconditional support. They couldn’t continue it either. We are the key to stopping the famine. We have it in our power or we can just let Israel kill off a people. There is a term for that, but nobody wants to use it.
Jack
According to reports, the US vice-president, JD Vance, will be holidaying in the Cotswolds with his family next month, and protesters are determined to let him know just how warm the welcome will not be in England’s chocolate box countryside.
“JD Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the UK as Donald Trump,” said the Stop Trump Coalition, which mobilises British opposition to the US president. “We are sure that, even in the Cotswolds, he will find the resistance waiting.”
Perhaps happily for the village, rumours now suggest the Vances may end up not in this idyllic part of Gloucestershire so favoured by Americans, but across the Oxfordshire border, closer to Chipping Norton. The Spectator, quoting “almost impeccable sources”, reported that “a filthy rich Anglo” could be lending his own home to the second family to spare them the deprivations of Airbnb.
“Apparently some senior British political figures, who have knowledge of Cotswolds social scene, are helping the Vance family plan their trip,” the magazine said. Whoever could they mean?
*JDV Just Does Vacations? Like, WTF?
Studio is open but not recording so this is a good time to try this out, with or without a camera. Eager to share my next denture adventure.
Trump spent the night at his family-owned Turnberry golf resort on a private visit, but took time to criticise European leaders over wind turbines and immigration, claiming there won’t be a Europe unless they “get their act together”.
“I say two things to Europe. Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries. I really mean it, it’s so sad. You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds,” he said.
“On immigration, you better get your act together,” he said. “You’re not going to have Europe any more.
*It’s not really about the windmills.
Billed as a four-day family visit to Scotland, Trump is meeting European leaders and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, raising hopes of new and refined trade deals with the EU and the UK.
On the prospects of an EU trade deal, the US president has said there were “20 sticking points”. When asked what they were, he said: “Well, I don’t want to tell you what the sticking points are.”
*Allow me to translate: “Well, I don’t want to tell you…” means he has zero idea how many sticking points there are not what they are.
He described von der Leyen as a “highly respected woman” and said the meeting on Sunday with the EU chief would be “good”, rating the chances of a deal as “a good 50-50”.
*As good as 50-50. Wow.
It is expected the deal will centre on an outline agreement in principle over 15% tariff rates for exports including cars, but with a 50% tariff continuing on steel. There may also be a breakthrough deal on pharmaceuticals, setting a rate of 15% for exports.
Although this would breach a longstanding World Trade Organization agreement that medicines are rated at a zero tariff, it would be a far cry from the 200% tariff Trump threatened to impose on pharmaceuticals earlier this month.
This would have triggered a highly damaging trade war not just with Ireland, where many US multinationals are based, but Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France and Spain.
Trump’s arrival in Scotland has required the biggest security operation since Elizabeth II died in 2022. More than 5,000 police and security personnel are involved in the four-day visit with no risks taken after the assassination attempt on the president a year ago.
*There was no assassination attempt in Butler, PA.
High perimeter fences have been erected around the coastal golf course with naval vessels patrolling the shore while security drones overhead and dozens of security detail staked out the resort early on Saturday.
The heavy security presence may be a foretaste of events to come later in August when the US vice-president, JD Vance, and his family arrive for a holiday in the Cotswolds, reportedly in the village of Charlbury.
Locals who resisted the expansion of Trump’s golf course in the past have asked who would be footing the bill for the security arrangements.
We own it. All the children, dead from starvation in Gaza, are a stain on our souls. From Wiki
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is an American organization, based in Delaware, established in February 2025 to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis.[2] Backed by the Israeli and American governments
Well, Pogacar is set to cruise into Paris and win the Tour and King of the Mountains, to boot, taking home yellow and polka dot jerseys unless catastrophe strikes tomorrow. No position or time changes among the GC contenders today. Good for him.
Craig – I went in on the link to do a check on my newly built Linux on an old HP laptop. I could see myself but do not know if the voice worked. Nice to be able to do things with an old computer, used to be one of my favorites until a cup of coffee washed it. Machine is fine, the display is weird but functional for screwing around purposes.
We saw famine in Biafra and Ethiopia. In the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s ‘aid distribution system’ we see an attempt to destroy a whole society
Turn to the statements of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – the US and Israel-backed organisation that began operating in May – and you enter a different world. The GHF presents itself as a professional, compassionate operation designed for the 21st century. You will see images of order and efficiency, and a proud announcement that it delivered more than 2m meals yesterday from its four “secure distribution sites”.
And alongside the pictures of those starving children, of women collapsing from hunger, there are also pictures of healthy young men.
In contrast to the footage, filmed by Palestinian journalists, of the desperate scramble for the little aid still provided through the UN, the GHF has images of orderly distributions, of its own workers holding the hands of Palestinian children.
Israeli spokespeople insist that the United Nations has hundreds of trucks of food inside the Gaza perimeter that it refuses to distribute.
Israeli spokespeople insist that the United Nations has hundreds of trucks of food inside the Gaza perimeter that it refuses to distribute.
But that rosy picture doesn’t stand even the simplest scrutiny. There are four reasons why it’s at best an improvisation by amateurs and at worst a cover for the crime of ongoing mass starvation.
First, the numbers just don’t add up. In April, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN calculated the food stocks remaining in Gaza, after 18 months of siege and war, and two months of total Israeli blockade. It estimated that food availability would fall to only half what’s needed to sustain life at some point between May and July. That means that the aid effort needs to cover the entirety of Gaza’s food needs. Two million meals a day is less than half of what’s needed. The GHF rations may have slowed the march of starvation, but not by much.
Second, you can’t relieve famine by numbers alone. The GHF system is like standing at the edge of a big pond and feeding the fish by throwing breadcrumbs. Who gets to eat its rations?
Starvation strikes the vulnerable minority.
The GHF runs four ration stations. Three are in the far south of Gaza in the ruins of Rafah, one in central Gaza. They’re all in military zones. They open for short periods and short notice. To get these rations, people must camp out in the rubble – ready to rush to the gates at a moment’s notice, and running the gauntlet of the Israel Defense Forces’ military posts. They know that the only means IDF soldiers have for crowd control is firing live ammunition – even when they’re not shooting to kill.
When the GHF speaks of “secure distribution sites”, it’s referring to how it controls its packages up to the point of handing them over, not to how it safely delivers them to the neediest. Dozens of aid seekers are killed each day trying to reach these sites.
The GHF ration box typically contains flour, pasta, tahini, cooking oil, rice and chickpeas or lentils. No baby food. No Plumpy’Nut. And it has no trained nurses or nutritionists in the community to actually provide therapeutic care to starving children.
Consider the desperate mother who’s literally at the end of the food chain: how will she cook the rations she gets? How does she find clean water? Israel has reduced water availability to a small fraction of need, and is bombing the remaining desalination plants. What can she use to make a fire? Without electricity or cooking gas, she may burn garbage to heat food.
It’s not Biden’s fault that the Netanyahu regime overreached after October 7
The Biden administration went to great lengths to deliver aid which were all blocked except that innovative aid-delivery jetty that unfortunately washed away in high seas, and the only reason that wasn’t blocked by the Israelis is because it was in open water not adjacent to Israel
Biden can’t compel the actions of foreign heads of state more than Trump can
as I’ve said before, the greatest threat to Israel’s existence is Netanyahu because the entire global community is tired of his bullshit and Israel keeps him in power regardless
they’re gonna bring him to justice after this war, right?
The Department of Homeland Security said following the arrest that Narciso Barranco is in the country illegally and that he tried to evade law enforcement, “swung a weed whacker directly at an agent’s face” and resisted commands.
we need to clean our own house first, we are ruled by Nazi thugs
“DHS said the 60-year-old doing professional lawn maintenance in the heat swung a weedwhacker at the masked, skulking, steroid-abusing, armored, armed terror squad”
Without Biden’s blank check, no strings, support, Netanyahu couldn’t overreach. He didn’t back off until political pressure made him do it. At the time I assumed it was because Biden was stuck in the nineties and assumed that his over-the-top support was politically smart. In retrospect, it may well be one of the first signs that Biden couldn’t do the job. anymore. It certainly helped get Trump re-elected.
Jack
if you’re using the name “Biden” as a placeholder for unconditional allies of Israel within the Democrat elite, that’s fine, Biden was having the screws turned on him from every angle, at that time
blaming Biden exclusively disregards 80 years or so of nefarity from all sides
you should be blaming Netanyahu for exploiting American goodwill and American zionist billionaires for turning the screws
if your fundamental premise is that Biden was a weak non-transformative leader, that’s why I voted for Liz
it was actually you, Jack, and Pogo, who convinced me to stifle my criticisms of him and support his candidacy
most palatable white male always! 😭
and hey, you guys were right! we did win! them’s were the days
and I still think that jetty was brilliant and appreciate the innovation, and remember the reason US-led aid efforts even needed to be innovative is because Israel blocked all aid deliveries by any other route
I got all my fall crops planted!
Now it is hotter than a hairdryer. They are all dead. I can’t water three times a day.
don’t cry for me l, everything that had a root system before June 1 is doing fantastic 🥳
i usually trailmix from my hammock in the garden, is why it’s always on mind, pardon me
and by the way, i occasionally laugh quietly to myself for believing someone like Liz Warren could ever be elected president by this electorate, such a silly fantasy i had
Thanks Jamie and Jack for stopping by.
Trump’s DOJ granted immunity to Ghislaine Maxwell — a convicted sex trafficker.
We asked our AI legal team: Can a president use a pardon to silence the truth?
Short answer: Not legally. But proving it? That’s the trick.
I have a lap top out of the closet which uses Chrome. I’m thinking that might work
The “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.
The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those which it deems to be no longer required by law.
Civil society and opposition groups in Eswatini have expressed outrage after the US deported five men to the country, with the largest opposition party calling it “human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal”.
The men, from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, were flown to the small southern African country, an absolute monarchy, last week as the US stepped up deportations to “third countries” after the supreme court cleared them last month.
Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique and has a population of about 1.2 million. It is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.
The government estimated the five men would be held for about 12 months, a spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said, adding: “It could be slightly less or slightly more.”
She said Eswatini was ready to receive more deportees, depending on the availability of facilities and negotiations with the US, which has also deported eight people to South Sudan after holding them for weeks in a shipping container in Djibouti, and more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador.
Officials have said the men, who were put in solitary confinement, were safely imprisoned in Eswatini. However, they have refused to disclose the terms of the deal, other than to say the US was footing the costs of keeping the men locked up and that they would work with international organisations to deport them to their home countries.
retailers dumping all their lawn and garden inventories if you need anything
Now here’s why i do this. Occasionally a gem like this comes along… any of you with youtube accounts please give this person a nudge to come visit us
An 80-year-old woman arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally has said she is deeply traumatised after she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it.
She said officers removed 19 items from her house, including iPads, a Palestine flag, books on Palestine, material related to Extinction Rebellion and the climate crisis, as well as drumsticks for – and a belt that holds – her samba drum. A friend who went to feed the cats and walked in on the police searching the house said there appeared to be a geiger counter – which measures radiation – on the table.
Sorrell was arrested with her friend Trisha Fine, 75, also from Wells and a retired teacher, who was held for the same period of time.
The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes. Fine said: “This restriction about staying at home is an issue because my husband is recovering from cancer treatment and we planned a couple of treats which we’ve already booked and paid for: a trip to Madrid in late August, and a trip driving around Europe for September. I can’t do those so that is pretty onerous. He’s had a tough time and he deserves a break.
*Sounds like the UK is on the Netanyahu train, too.
NEW THREAD by trail friend Jack
Comments are closed.
Join the Trail Mix
Get an alert when Craig goes live, and the link when our Open Thread heats up.
Attribution: Bon appétit. by Becs, CagleCartoons.com
[Alejandro Becares (aka “Becs”) is from Argentina, he publishes in magazines and newspapers as well as foreign digital graphic media. He’s won international awards.]
meanwhile our attention has been on shinier objects of distraction rather than doing something about this
Jul 24, 2025
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a “deadly surge” in malnutrition-related deaths and man-made “mass starvation” as aid is blocked from getting into Gaza.
The UN health agency said 21 children under the age of five had died from malnutrition in Gaza so far this year and that more than 30,000 children the same age were currently suffering from acute malnutrition.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/starmer-suggests-uk-will-play-role-in-new-gaza-aid-air-drops/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/07/25/gaza-hunger-trump-hamas-ceasefire/
in the meantime
Trump’s new Scottish golf course ad takes a wild turn—escape your past, change your name, and never return!
Forty years ago when I moved from CA to DC, one of the cultural differences that surprised me at first was the large number of well educated black women who held most of the administrative office jobs throughout the city. Today, I saw this blurb about what Trump’s policies is doing to them.
Fit For The Litter box
Lotus the world’s most judgmental cat has a few choice hisses for Marjorie Taylor Green
3f3f4bf5-416b-4c5c-8aad-1c90ac3392b5_1536x1024
Lotus the world’s most judgmental cat has a few choice hisses for Marjorie Taylor Green
Humans, I’ve held my tongue (and my tail) through some outrageous things. I’ve watched you elect crooks, eat gas station sushi, and put pineapple on pizza. But this week, even I had to stop mid-groom and hiss. … more https://substack.com/home/post/p-169298492
Forget the pardon rumors — Trump’s DOJ already cut a deal.
Cranking up the studio in a bit for some editing work, anybody just want to chat on or off cam? let me know.
They’re letting all this Epsteinity build up so that when they finally show the files which have by then been thoroughly Bill Barred, the Dems will all say, “Wha Happen?”
today’s meme…
Still in my bathrobe but can chat.
If the Republicans aren’t embarrassed about Epstein, then Trump is safe. Even if Democrats take over the house and senate. Trump has proved he can make up his own law and is independent of any control. It is only the Republicans who have the power to stop him and they are too scared to do so.
As to Gaza, Biden owns as much of the blame for the starving children as Trump. He had the power to stop it at the beginning. Israel couldn’t have done this without our unconditional support. They couldn’t continue it either. We are the key to stopping the famine. We have it in our power or we can just let Israel kill off a people. There is a term for that, but nobody wants to use it.
Jack
meme #2…
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/26/cotswolds-jd-vance-summer-holiday
According to reports, the US vice-president, JD Vance, will be holidaying in the Cotswolds with his family next month, and protesters are determined to let him know just how warm the welcome will not be in England’s chocolate box countryside.
“JD Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the UK as Donald Trump,” said the Stop Trump Coalition, which mobilises British opposition to the US president. “We are sure that, even in the Cotswolds, he will find the resistance waiting.”
Perhaps happily for the village, rumours now suggest the Vances may end up not in this idyllic part of Gloucestershire so favoured by Americans, but across the Oxfordshire border, closer to Chipping Norton. The Spectator, quoting “almost impeccable sources”, reported that “a filthy rich Anglo” could be lending his own home to the second family to spare them the deprivations of Airbnb.
“Apparently some senior British political figures, who have knowledge of Cotswolds social scene, are helping the Vance family plan their trip,” the magazine said. Whoever could they mean?
*JDV Just Does Vacations? Like, WTF?
Studio is open but not recording so this is a good time to try this out, with or without a camera. Eager to share my next denture adventure.
Just click this with any browser except Safari..
https://streamyard.com/b8nxseibuj
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/26/trump-tells-europe-to-get-your-act-together-on-immigration-before-us-eu-trade-talks
Trump spent the night at his family-owned Turnberry golf resort on a private visit, but took time to criticise European leaders over wind turbines and immigration, claiming there won’t be a Europe unless they “get their act together”.
“I say two things to Europe. Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries. I really mean it, it’s so sad. You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds,” he said.
“On immigration, you better get your act together,” he said. “You’re not going to have Europe any more.
*It’s not really about the windmills.
Billed as a four-day family visit to Scotland, Trump is meeting European leaders and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, raising hopes of new and refined trade deals with the EU and the UK.
On the prospects of an EU trade deal, the US president has said there were “20 sticking points”. When asked what they were, he said: “Well, I don’t want to tell you what the sticking points are.”
*Allow me to translate: “Well, I don’t want to tell you…” means he has zero idea how many sticking points there are not what they are.
He described von der Leyen as a “highly respected woman” and said the meeting on Sunday with the EU chief would be “good”, rating the chances of a deal as “a good 50-50”.
*As good as 50-50. Wow.
It is expected the deal will centre on an outline agreement in principle over 15% tariff rates for exports including cars, but with a 50% tariff continuing on steel. There may also be a breakthrough deal on pharmaceuticals, setting a rate of 15% for exports.
Although this would breach a longstanding World Trade Organization agreement that medicines are rated at a zero tariff, it would be a far cry from the 200% tariff Trump threatened to impose on pharmaceuticals earlier this month.
This would have triggered a highly damaging trade war not just with Ireland, where many US multinationals are based, but Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France and Spain.
Trump’s arrival in Scotland has required the biggest security operation since Elizabeth II died in 2022. More than 5,000 police and security personnel are involved in the four-day visit with no risks taken after the assassination attempt on the president a year ago.
*There was no assassination attempt in Butler, PA.
High perimeter fences have been erected around the coastal golf course with naval vessels patrolling the shore while security drones overhead and dozens of security detail staked out the resort early on Saturday.
The heavy security presence may be a foretaste of events to come later in August when the US vice-president, JD Vance, and his family arrive for a holiday in the Cotswolds, reportedly in the village of Charlbury.
Locals who resisted the expansion of Trump’s golf course in the past have asked who would be footing the bill for the security arrangements.
We own it. All the children, dead from starvation in Gaza, are a stain on our souls.
From Wiki
But yeah, lets talk about Epstein instead.
me and jamie chatting about nothing in particular, off cam, not recording:
https://streamyard.com/b8nxseibuj
Wjack has joined us. Hop in
https://streamyard.com/b8nxseibuj
Well, Pogacar is set to cruise into Paris and win the Tour and King of the Mountains, to boot, taking home yellow and polka dot jerseys unless catastrophe strikes tomorrow. No position or time changes among the GC contenders today. Good for him.
Craig – I went in on the link to do a check on my newly built Linux on an old HP laptop. I could see myself but do not know if the voice worked. Nice to be able to do things with an old computer, used to be one of my favorites until a cup of coffee washed it. Machine is fine, the display is weird but functional for screwing around purposes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/26/israel-food-starvation-gaza-famine-aid
We saw famine in Biafra and Ethiopia. In the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s ‘aid distribution system’ we see an attempt to destroy a whole society
Turn to the statements of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – the US and Israel-backed organisation that began operating in May – and you enter a different world. The GHF presents itself as a professional, compassionate operation designed for the 21st century. You will see images of order and efficiency, and a proud announcement that it delivered more than 2m meals yesterday from its four “secure distribution sites”.
And alongside the pictures of those starving children, of women collapsing from hunger, there are also pictures of healthy young men.
In contrast to the footage, filmed by Palestinian journalists, of the desperate scramble for the little aid still provided through the UN, the GHF has images of orderly distributions, of its own workers holding the hands of Palestinian children.
Israeli spokespeople insist that the United Nations has hundreds of trucks of food inside the Gaza perimeter that it refuses to distribute.
Israeli spokespeople insist that the United Nations has hundreds of trucks of food inside the Gaza perimeter that it refuses to distribute.
But that rosy picture doesn’t stand even the simplest scrutiny. There are four reasons why it’s at best an improvisation by amateurs and at worst a cover for the crime of ongoing mass starvation.
First, the numbers just don’t add up. In April, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN calculated the food stocks remaining in Gaza, after 18 months of siege and war, and two months of total Israeli blockade. It estimated that food availability would fall to only half what’s needed to sustain life at some point between May and July. That means that the aid effort needs to cover the entirety of Gaza’s food needs. Two million meals a day is less than half of what’s needed. The GHF rations may have slowed the march of starvation, but not by much.
Second, you can’t relieve famine by numbers alone. The GHF system is like standing at the edge of a big pond and feeding the fish by throwing breadcrumbs. Who gets to eat its rations?
Starvation strikes the vulnerable minority.
The GHF runs four ration stations. Three are in the far south of Gaza in the ruins of Rafah, one in central Gaza. They’re all in military zones. They open for short periods and short notice. To get these rations, people must camp out in the rubble – ready to rush to the gates at a moment’s notice, and running the gauntlet of the Israel Defense Forces’ military posts. They know that the only means IDF soldiers have for crowd control is firing live ammunition – even when they’re not shooting to kill.
When the GHF speaks of “secure distribution sites”, it’s referring to how it controls its packages up to the point of handing them over, not to how it safely delivers them to the neediest. Dozens of aid seekers are killed each day trying to reach these sites.
The GHF ration box typically contains flour, pasta, tahini, cooking oil, rice and chickpeas or lentils. No baby food. No Plumpy’Nut. And it has no trained nurses or nutritionists in the community to actually provide therapeutic care to starving children.
Consider the desperate mother who’s literally at the end of the food chain: how will she cook the rations she gets? How does she find clean water? Israel has reduced water availability to a small fraction of need, and is bombing the remaining desalination plants. What can she use to make a fire? Without electricity or cooking gas, she may burn garbage to heat food.
It’s not Biden’s fault that the Netanyahu regime overreached after October 7
The Biden administration went to great lengths to deliver aid which were all blocked except that innovative aid-delivery jetty that unfortunately washed away in high seas, and the only reason that wasn’t blocked by the Israelis is because it was in open water not adjacent to Israel
Biden can’t compel the actions of foreign heads of state more than Trump can
as I’ve said before, the greatest threat to Israel’s existence is Netanyahu because the entire global community is tired of his bullshit and Israel keeps him in power regardless
they’re gonna bring him to justice after this war, right?
we need to clean our own house first, we are ruled by Nazi thugs
“DHS said the 60-year-old doing professional lawn maintenance in the heat swung a weedwhacker at the masked, skulking, steroid-abusing, armored, armed terror squad”
Without Biden’s blank check, no strings, support, Netanyahu couldn’t overreach. He didn’t back off until political pressure made him do it. At the time I assumed it was because Biden was stuck in the nineties and assumed that his over-the-top support was politically smart. In retrospect, it may well be one of the first signs that Biden couldn’t do the job. anymore. It certainly helped get Trump re-elected.
Jack
if you’re using the name “Biden” as a placeholder for unconditional allies of Israel within the Democrat elite, that’s fine, Biden was having the screws turned on him from every angle, at that time
blaming Biden exclusively disregards 80 years or so of nefarity from all sides
you should be blaming Netanyahu for exploiting American goodwill and American zionist billionaires for turning the screws
if your fundamental premise is that Biden was a weak non-transformative leader, that’s why I voted for Liz
it was actually you, Jack, and Pogo, who convinced me to stifle my criticisms of him and support his candidacy
most palatable white male always! 😭
and hey, you guys were right! we did win! them’s were the days
and I still think that jetty was brilliant and appreciate the innovation, and remember the reason US-led aid efforts even needed to be innovative is because Israel blocked all aid deliveries by any other route
I got all my fall crops planted!
Now it is hotter than a hairdryer. They are all dead. I can’t water three times a day.
don’t cry for me l, everything that had a root system before June 1 is doing fantastic 🥳
i usually trailmix from my hammock in the garden, is why it’s always on mind, pardon me
and by the way, i occasionally laugh quietly to myself for believing someone like Liz Warren could ever be elected president by this electorate, such a silly fantasy i had
Thanks Jamie and Jack for stopping by.
Trump’s DOJ granted immunity to Ghislaine Maxwell — a convicted sex trafficker.
We asked our AI legal team: Can a president use a pardon to silence the truth?
Short answer: Not legally. But proving it? That’s the trick.
I have a lap top out of the closet which uses Chrome. I’m thinking that might work
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/26/doge-ai-tool-delete-list-federal-regulations
The “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.
The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those which it deems to be no longer required by law.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/23/eswatini-petition-us-deportees
Civil society and opposition groups in Eswatini have expressed outrage after the US deported five men to the country, with the largest opposition party calling it “human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal”.
The men, from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, were flown to the small southern African country, an absolute monarchy, last week as the US stepped up deportations to “third countries” after the supreme court cleared them last month.
Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique and has a population of about 1.2 million. It is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.
The government estimated the five men would be held for about 12 months, a spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said, adding: “It could be slightly less or slightly more.”
She said Eswatini was ready to receive more deportees, depending on the availability of facilities and negotiations with the US, which has also deported eight people to South Sudan after holding them for weeks in a shipping container in Djibouti, and more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador.
Officials have said the men, who were put in solitary confinement, were safely imprisoned in Eswatini. However, they have refused to disclose the terms of the deal, other than to say the US was footing the costs of keeping the men locked up and that they would work with international organisations to deport them to their home countries.
retailers dumping all their lawn and garden inventories if you need anything
Now here’s why i do this. Occasionally a gem like this comes along… any of you with youtube accounts please give this person a nudge to come visit us
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/24/uk-police-detain-pro-palestine-protester-80-almost-27-hours-search-house
An 80-year-old woman arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally has said she is deeply traumatised after she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it.
She said officers removed 19 items from her house, including iPads, a Palestine flag, books on Palestine, material related to Extinction Rebellion and the climate crisis, as well as drumsticks for – and a belt that holds – her samba drum. A friend who went to feed the cats and walked in on the police searching the house said there appeared to be a geiger counter – which measures radiation – on the table.
Sorrell was arrested with her friend Trisha Fine, 75, also from Wells and a retired teacher, who was held for the same period of time.
The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes. Fine said: “This restriction about staying at home is an issue because my husband is recovering from cancer treatment and we planned a couple of treats which we’ve already booked and paid for: a trip to Madrid in late August, and a trip driving around Europe for September. I can’t do those so that is pretty onerous. He’s had a tough time and he deserves a break.
*Sounds like the UK is on the Netanyahu train, too.
NEW THREAD by trail friend Jack