Here's a log of extreme and violent, anti-Palestinian rhetoric from Israeli officials, assigning collective punishment to civilians in Gaza.

Almost all of these were never condemned by the White House or Democratic Party leadership, if you want to understand how we got here. Netanyahu: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.”

In 1980, the Rabbi Israel Hess wrote an article that used the story of Amalek to justify wiping out Palestinians.

motherjones.com/politics/2023/…

WHY CEASEFIRE? A ceasefire is necessary to save lives and address the humanitarian catastrophe that is underway in Gaza. Israel’s pursuit of aerial bombardment, siege, and forced population movement policies that many experts say constitute war crimes, and preparing a full-scale ground invasion that will lead to an apocalyptic loss of life. There is no military solution to the security threat that Hamas poses to Israel. While Hamas must be held accountable, Israel has tried a military solution every four years in Gaza; it always fails to protect Israel or Palestinians.

Even if Israel is narrowly successful in killing or capturing all 30,000 - 40,000 Hamas fighters (a task that will entail unspeakable destruction and casualties), the anger of the Palestinian civilians over their treatment that is the wellspring of Hamas’s support will only deepen, and Israel will be no safer.

An ad being run in Georgia by Stephen Miller’s group: America First Legal.

Ads like these will likely become more common in the coming years.

I emailed @matthewkassel asking why his recent piece refers to @ninaturner as "controversial" and a "source of concern" but is neutral in describing DMFI, a SuperPAC running ads against Nina Turner that takes GOP money and whose board member called for burning all of Gaza. For context, the piece includes six quotes from people backing @ninaturner's opponent, Shontel Brown, and zero quotes from people backing Nina Turner.

jewishinsider.com/2021/06/shonte…

During a study abroad program, I took a bus from Jordan to Jerusalem alongside 7 (white American) students. When we got to the Israeli border, Israeli border agents told me I was in the wrong line (which was all white people) and pointed to a separate line that had only Arabs. I told the Israeli border agents that I was with an American study abroad group and that I was an American citizen -- and that I wasn't Arab. My friends affirmed this. The border agents shouted "Wrong line!" and pointed to the Arab line.

Powerful words from @AyannaPressley: "We cannot remain silent when our government sends $3.8 billion of military aid to Israel that is used to demolish Palestinian homes, imprison Palestinian children, and displace Palestinian families. A budget is a reflection of our values." "The President and many other figures stated that Israel has a right to self-defense...but do Palestinians have a right to survive? Do we believe that? And if so, we have a responsibility to that as well." -@AOC

Reading Frederick Douglass's response to President Lincoln's first inaugural address in 1861.

"Threats of riot, rebellion, violence and assassination had been freely, though darkly circulated, as among the probable events to occur on that memorable day." "The life of Mr. LINCOLN was believed, even by his least timid friends, to be in most imminent danger...he reached the Capital as the poor, hunted fugitive slave reaches the North...it is hard to think of anything more humiliating."

Lots of people say: "American parties haven't been this polarized since the Civil War."

What happened then? Eric Foner faults a political system and democratic institutions designed by the Founding Fathers to compromise with slavery over multiracial democracy. "As North and South increasingly took different paths...antagonistic value systems and ideologies could not be defused by the normal processes of political compromise, nor could they be contained."

[Eric Foner, Politics and Ideology in The Age of the Civil War]

Pete Buttigieg was for single-payer, Medicare for All before he was against it. Here we go:

02/17/2018: Buttigieg is befuddled as to why anyone would ever question his support for Medicare for All.

https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/status/964863858849574913

https://twitter.com/Lis_Smith/status/1194370238843936772

02/18/2018: Buttigieg literally says "[I] do henceforth and forthwith declare, most affirmatively and indubitably, unto the ages, that I do favor Medicare for All" pointing to an op-ed to demonstrate he's supported it since 2004.

The op-ed explicitly mentions single-payer.

The debate we’ve been having with Jonathan Weisman over the past few weeks has made clear that the people who shape our national conversation can often be ignorant at best and biased at worst regarding some of the most important topics in our country today.

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1161377534921117697

The back-and-forth with Weisman has demonstrated more than ever why we need more diverse newsrooms and why it’s important to have younger and more diverse voices in some of the most powerful rooms in our nation.

Nancy Pelosi led 129 Democrats to join Republicans in passing a McConnell bill that had absolutely no input from House Democrats.

This bill will beef up the militarization of our border and Trump's deportation machine.

95 Democrats voted no.

List:

clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll4… Democrats who voted with Republicans for Mitch McConnell's bill:

Allred
Axne
Beatty
Bera
Bishop (GA)
Blunt Rochester
Brindisi
Brownley (CA)
Bustos
Carbajal
Cartwright
Case
Casten (IL)
Castor (FL)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Cooper
Costa
Courtney
Cox (CA)
Craig
Crist
Crow
Cuellar

Eric Foner's essay here about peak polarization and the breakdown of Congress before the Civil War is worth the read.

"A fundamental necessity of democratic politics -- that each party look upon the other as a legitimate alternative government -- was destroyed." "As North and South increasingly took different paths of economic and social development and as...antagonistic value systems and ideologies grounded in the question of slavery emerged in these sections, the political system inevitably came under severe disruptive pressures."

"The principal tragedy of the Biden amendment...is that it would signal a major crumbling of Federal determination to achieve equal justice...the Biden amendment is thus a real threat not only to the gains of the sixties, but to decency in this society." [NYTimes editorial, 1975] "Biden said his amendment was designed to prevent 'Federal bureaucrats' from ordering busing...civil rights lobbyists began an immediate campaign to overturn the Biden amendment....antibusing Senators led by Helms fought to retain the original Biden restrictions." [NYTimes, 1975]

After the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001, I witnessed two Americas.

One was an America of solidarity and coming together across our differences.

The other was an America of fear, hatred, and division.

Which America will we allow the memory of 9/11 to be used for today? On September 11, 2001 -- a police officer pulled out his gun and pointed it at my mother for absolutely no reason as she drove us home from school. My siblings and I were in the car with her screaming and crying. She turned the car and we drove away.

This is maybe an unpopular opinion but I think the 2008 Democratic primaries might have featured more 'negative attacks' than the 2016 Democratic primaries. For example, here's Obama responding to Clinton's attacks in April 2008.

I wonder where the 2020 primaries will head. Here's Barack Obama's so-called "negative attacks" on Hillary Clinton's ties to Wall Street as early as January 2008 in Nevada.

83 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in California, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada said they would be more likely to support a presidential candidate who runs on @AOC's Green New Deal. 74 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in California, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada respond favorably to a longer description of @AOC's Green New Deal.

Pence says Trump is acting “exactly like” Martin Luther King in demanding a border wall and quotes the “I Have A Dream” speech. ...

Steny Hoyer scoffs at @AOC’s proposed 70% marginal tax rates on millionaires and billionaires.

Hoyer is clearly confused about how to respond and is offering mealy mouthed Republican-lite talking points in place of a vision of Democratic governance. Hoyer and the Democratic Party leadership's instincts were forged under the conservative backlash of the 1970s and subsequent ‘Reagan Revolution.'

For too long, Democrats thought they could win by moving towards the GOP, and giving their voters half-measures approved by donors.

As the Senate votes on Kavanaugh's confirmation, let's remember the same amount of people live in Los Angeles as these 7 rural, mostly white states. They have 14 Senators while LA shares 2 with the rest of California.

We don't live in a democracy where everyone has an equal say. From NYTimes in 2013.

So the good folks at @Demos_Org (@anatosaurus, @hmcghee, @tamaradraut, @IanHaneyLopez) just put out an amazing report (complete with polling and focus groups!) about how to talk about BOTH racial and economic anxiety! demos.org/sites/default/… The polling measured responses on questions related to race and class from Base voters, Persuadable voters, and the Opposition.