Opinion

It would be an interesting exercise if one might view and consider in retrospect the week that began with the United Nations General Assembly speech in New York on September 23rd that included the “Your countries are going to hell” performance by President Donald Trump followed on the 26th by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu experiencing the boycotting UN Delegate walk-out before moving on to Netanyahu subsequently at the White House revising the Trump plan for Gaza. The week concluded with the meeting by Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at Quantico with America’s flag officers. One might, without any particular bias against either Trump or Netanyahu, well come to the conclusion that those days constitute the absolute worst that the United States government now has to offer the American people and to the world in general.

On Tuesday, our newly-dubbed “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth told our military’s top brass that they must restore the “male warrior spirit” to the armed forces.

“Male” spirit, Pete? Excuse me, Pete. My mother, Gladys Palast, was honored by President Bill Clinton as the very first woman who volunteered for the US Coast Guard after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Let me tell you, Little Petie, Mom was a WARRIOR.

How DARE you insult my mother’s courage and initiative and then introduce General Bone Spurs Trump as the guy “who has your back.” Hmmm. Trump got out of the war in Vietnam by claiming he had a bone spur in one foot — but he can’t remember which one.

And let’s not forget, on the day after his second inauguration, Trump fired Adm. Linda Fagan as Commandant of the Coast Guard for no visible reason other than she has a vagina. Trump is lucky that Mom ain’t around anymore, because I know she’d go back to the White House to kick his ass and show him what a woman warrior can do.

Unless the law prevails, and in most situations that involve Donald Trump, it doesn’t, there will be a coin issued by the United States Treasury Department with Donald Trump’s face on it.

What what now (I know there are two whats. Don’t email me about that)?

The Treasury Department is developing a one-dollar commemorative coin featuring Donald Trump's horrid face in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. This is not a joke. This is not a tacky meme coin. This is not a product of the Trump Campaign or the Trump Organization. This is being created by the federal government, despite the fact that Donald Trump is the worst of our presidents (sic) and has even attacked our nation. His face on a coin is almost as outrageous and absurd as him being returned to the White House. What’s wrong with you, America?

When we Ohioans trust a state treasurer with billions of public dollars, we expect integrity, transparency, and independence; what we have in Robert Sprague, however, is a career politician who has blurred the line between stewardship and self-interest. From his financial entanglements with Marathon Petroleum, to his role as a national promoter of Israel Bonds, Sprague has turned Ohio’s treasury into a political slush fund, at our expense.

Since 1993, Ohio treasurers from both major political parties have invested in Israel Bonds, but under Sprague, those investments have ballooned. In 2016, as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, Sprague amended the anti-BDS bill, House Bill 476, to double the amount of funds that state and county treasurers can invest in Israel Bonds. 

Gaza is an occupied territory. Its borders, airspace, imports, exports, and even calories are controlled by Israel and its Western backers. Gaza does not need another flag flown above its ruins; it needs the right to rebuild on its own terms.

The Mirage of “Transition”

Western governments are preparing a plan for Gaza’s postwar administration. The proposal, advanced through quiet coordination between Washington, London, and Jerusalem, would establish a new international body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority to govern the territory for several years following the conflict. The concept, promoted as a stabilization effort, is said to draw inspiration from earlier foreign-led missions in Kosovo and Lebanon.

At the center of this “plan” was the risible suggestion that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair should lead the authority, overseeing Gaza’s reconstruction, policing, and governance on behalf of the self-proclaimed international community.

Gaza Governor Blair. “You What?!”

FIRST HOUR:
As Trump Attacks Portland We Greet A Maga Refugee

We open GREEP Zoom with our poet Laureate MIMI GERMAN.

Mimi reports on the “invasion of the soul snatchers” from the war zone in Portland, Oregon, whose “Kidnapper Cars” are patrolling the streets with ICE using a city-owned building for their command center..

The “heavy presence” of the US Military & its Black Hawk helicopters has manifested with airborne spotlights tracking activists as they walk home.

In support radio host LYNN FEINERMAN wonders aloud about the National Guard troops pouring into our cities.

Lifelong activist DOROTHY REIK comments on the ability of ICE to pick up anyone off the streets.

Legendary journalist DAVID SALTMAN reminds us of the tank in the streets of Berkeley, California, during the fight for People’s Park fifty years ago.

Co-convenor MYLA RESON warns of the rise of fascism.