Saturday, March 16, 2024

Mail-In Ballots And Moms For Liberty Candidates - Anchorage Elections

This was going to be a quick post just showing that we got our mail-in ballots for the Anchorage election coming up April 2, 2024.  

But then it got more complicated when I started writing about the School Board candidates challenging the three incumbents.  Two of them are Moms for Liberty candidates.  I had indications and an allegation of this in yesterday's draft.  But I got a bit more evidence today.  So keep scrolling down and do check the Moms for Liberty link which takes you to the Southern Poverty Law Offices listing of Moms for Liberty.  

These candidates have won elections because they hide their real objectives until they get elected.  Instead they spout generalities that we're all in favor of.  That's why I decided to make this more than simply a post on the ways to get your mail-in ballot in to election central to be counted.  



The Municipality of Anchorage moved to mail-in elections several years ago.  Basically that means that ballots are mailed to all registered voters about three weeks before the election and that on election day there aren't 100 or more polling places all over the Municipality where people can vote.

BUT, if you don't want to figure out and pay for postage, there are lots of drop boxes around town where you can take your ballot.  


And if you want to actually vote in a voting booth, there are places for that too - at City Hall, Loussac Library, or the Eagle River Town Center.


If you want more information, go to the Municipal Election website.  



School Board Alert

I'm trying to think back to how often I've actually recommended candidates on this blog.  My sense is that it's not normal, but that in times when I felt strongly, I probably have.  Or maybe I just did blog posts about candidates which gave factual information that made clear my preferences. 

We are in extremely perilous times in 2024.  Nationally, the Republican candidate for president has done so many things to signal that he will use the office of president to further his personal interests and abandon the Constitution.  He already tried, ineptly, the first time round, but he'll be better prepared the second time.  If you haven't looked at Project 2025  (you can start with the policy agenda, but every item is a blueprint for an authoritarian dictatorship), then you should, and share it with everyone you know.

But this is a Municipal election, so I won't dwell on national issues yet.  Except to say that the Republicans not only had a 30 year plan to take over the Supreme Court - which they have now accomplished - but also to take over state and local legislative bodies, including school boards.  

Are they doing that in Anchorage?  It appears so.


These candidates are not making it easy for people to see what they stand for.  
While I can't verify [actually, while writing this I did get verification, see below] that the candidates opposing the three incumbents are from Moms for Liberty, there are indications that one or more are.  But that's how they get elected - by speaking in generalities at forums and then when they get elected they push book banning and LGBTQ+ bashing, and erasing Blacks from history lessons.

There are three incumbents running for school board.  They all showed up for the Alaska Black Caucus candidate forum.  Only one of the challengers - Angela Frank - was there.  Frank answered a number of questions with "I don't know" and expressions of cluelessness on her face.  But I admire her for showing up and putting herself through this.  

The other two challengers - Chelsea Pohland and Kay Schuster - didn't show up before this audience at all.  You can also see, in the video below, that the three incumbents didn't answer in platitudes and generalities.  They answered in detailed specifics about programs, with numbers, and with programs they want to keep improving.  




Are the three challengers MAGA and Moms for Liberty?  It does appear that Chelsea Pohland and Kay Schuster are, at least, in agreement with Moms for Liberty ideas.

In terms of what they say about themselves, it's hard to tell.  Chelsea Pohland has a Facebook page for her campaign.  It doesn't really tell us what she's for, but it does have 
  • pictures of her with Mayor Dave Bronson and fellow candidate challenger Kay Schuster
  • fundraiser announcements which include Jamie Allard and Dave Stieren among the sponsors

The FB page also had a link to a campaign website (which I couldn't find via Google) which offers general platitudes that tell us nothing about her actual values or the programs she'd push for:
"My vision for the Anchorage School Board is built on a commitment to excellence, inclusivity, innovation, and transparency. I aim to bring my experience as a business owner and a community leader to bring together a collaborative approach to decision making, ensuring that our schools are equipped to offer every child a chance to thrive in an ever changing world. 
As we look to the future, my message and drive is clear, to be a champion to the cause of education in Anchorage with passion, integrity, and a solid foundation built on transparency. I am here to serve as a voice for our children, our families, and our community, advocating for a brighter, more inclusive future for all."
Inclusivity, transparency, and collaboration are NOT how Jamie Allard (a Pohland supporter) has operated as a State legislator.  

And here it is from an Anchorage Daily News story that was posted online a few hours ago:
"Two of the challengers — Pohland and Schuster — are supported by some prominent local conservatives, and Pohland said she is a member of Moms for Liberty, a national nonprofit focused on “parental rights” that has vowed to get more candidates onto school boards nationwide."

(I'd note that Governor Dunleavy has cited Parental Rights at least since 2015. See this post I wrote about his attempt to sabotage Erin's Law (a bill to require kids get taught how to avoid being victims of child abusers).  Dunleavy constantly cited parental rights as his reasons and that's when I discovered there was a national organization with that name whose goal is to move public money to spend on private schools. Knowing that helps one understand his continued cuts to public schools and his strong support of charter schools.) 

 I did have other such indicators that I had already in this post:

And here's Blue Alaskan's post about Pohland supporter Jamie Allard.

So, I'm posting this information while people are just getting their mail-in ballots so that they know that:
  • one of the challengers (Chelsea Pohland) has said she was a member of Moms for Liberty
  • another's campaign (Kay Schuster) is closely aligned with Pohland's campaign 
  • the third challenger (Angela Frank) really knows nothing about the school board based on her answers at the Black Caucus candidate forum (see video above), and she's supported by someone who supports the other two challengers

I thought I could add the Mayor's race in here too, but this got much longer than I expected.  (That happens often enough that probably I should start expecting it.)


Other Links about Moms for Liberty

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Coming Home On Part 1: Leaving Bainbridge

Time had come to bid our daughter's family goodbye for now.  I was taken aback by the price of Seattle-Anchorage tickets when I was booking our flight home.  I don't remember the details, but I just remember the 10 am flight was higher than normal and the later flights were even worse. 

Problem is we start off from Bainbridge Island.  That means you have a 35 minute ferry ride to downtown Seattle.  Then either a walk to the light rail and to the airport, or get a cab.  Cabs are $40 plus tip.  Light rail, for seniors, is $1 each.  So if there's time and it's not raining hard, we go light rail.  

This winter my daughter warned me about delays with the ferries and some ferries getting cancelled meaning you have to wait 50 minutes or more for the next one.  There were some problems with the ferries themselves, but mostly it's a staffing issue.  Lots of retirees recently and new people need special training and aren't as experienced. 

I even signed up for notifications when there was a delay or cancellation on the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry.  This was helpful to get a sense of how often there were delays and cancellations. I got fewer alerts as time went by and there were far fewer cancellations.

But that makes planning a trip to the airport a real pain. Especially when I think of the 10 minutes it takes to get to the Anchorage airport from our house. An 8am flight means getting up really early and hoping your ferry is close to on time.

On the Bainbridge Ferry page there's a link to get text message alerts on the left.  And a cool link is a real time map of where the ferries are - usually there are two ferries going between Bainbridge and Seattle.  


You can see the Tacoma is coming from Bainbridge to Seattle and the Chimacum is in the opposite direction.  There's also one coming toward Seattle from Bremerton.  



So rather than mess with the ferry early in the morning, we got a hotel room at the airport.  It was much cheaper than booking a later flight. An old high school friend who lives in Seattle, picked us up at the ferry Thursday afternoon and we had a great Ethiopian dinner (the special veggie combo at Delish) before he dropped us off at the hotel.  

One other tip I'll mention for people catching a flight from SEATAC (the Seattle Tacoma airport) is SPOTSAVER.   You can go on line and reserve a spot in the TSA line.  You tell them a time and you've got 15 minutes before and after and that gets you into a much shorter line.  I didn't think it would be necessary for an 8am flight but I signed up anyway.  Problem was they only offered appointments at 4:30am and 7am.  We wanted to arrive around 6:30 am.  So I booked 7am.  Good thing I did.  There was a long line.  I explained my 7am reservation and he let us go through.  SPOTSAVER was even shorter than the TSA precheck line.  

When we got to the gate, I was a little tempted to go to Gate 18 instead of 17, but I resisted.  


Sorry, it's out of focus, but you can read the destinations.  


This was originally going to be about how beautiful it was in Anchorage when we arrived, but it seemed like a better idea to make two posts.  Part II will be soon.  

Monday, March 04, 2024

On The Colorado Ballot Supreme Court Decision [UPDATED]

After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Colorado case and then the immunity case, I mused that the justices made an agreement to let Trump on the ballot in Colorado, but to not grant him immunity. 

It just seemed to me they were getting enough heat about losing the public's trust  - something Chief Justice Roberts has on occasion paid attention to - that maybe they decided to go in Trump's favor in one case and that they would decide against him in the other case.  This would make them look more 'objective.'

Today, they decided for Trump.  Not only did they decide for Trump, but they did so unanimously, sort of.  I haven't read the decision carefully enough, but I've read a few articles on the decision.  

Basically the five male justices not only decided the key point - whether Trump should stay on the ballot - but they went on to reach a few other conclusions.  

The women, starting with Amy Comey Barrett who wrote:

"I join Parts I and II–B of the Court’s opinion. I agree that States lack the power to enforce Section 3 against Presidential candidates. That principle is sufficient to resolve this case, and I would decide no more than that."

Sotomayor wrote what some legal scholars characterized as a dissenting opinion disguised as a concurring opinion.  

Some extra legal considerations:

I've checked the difference between a concurrent and dissenting opinion.  Basically, a concurrent opinion agrees with the decision, but not the reasoning.  A dissenting opinion disagrees with the decision and the reasoning.  I haven't tracked down what happens if there are more than one 'decisions' and someone agrees with one, but not the others.  Does that have to be a concurrent decision?  Or a dissenting decision?  Or could it be both?

A retired attorney friend told me to look up 'dicta.'  From

"Dicta in law refers to a comment, suggestion, or observation made by a judge in an opinion that is not necessary to resolve the case, and as such, it is not legally binding on other courts but may still be cited as persuasive authority in future litigation. Also referred to as dictum and judicial dicta.  A dissenting opinion is also generally considered obiter dictum."

Were the majority conclusions that Barrett criticized then dicta, because they weren't necessary to resolve the case?  Or are they legally binding?   

UNANIMOUS DECISION

SO, this was a unanimous decision.  It's important, and increasingly rare, for the Supreme Court to rule unanimously on such politically charged cases.  It's important to do so to show the court is in agreement to thwart backlash from the public.  

Chief Justice Earl Warren worked hard to get all the justices to agree on the controversial Brown v Board of Education, the landmark ruling that racially segregated public schools were not Constitutional.  From Wikipedia:

"By the early 1950s, Warren had become personally convinced that segregation was morally wrong and legally indefensible. Warren sought not only to overturn Plessy but also to have a unanimous verdict. Warren, Black, Douglas, Burton, and Minton supported overturning the precedent, but for different reasons, Robert H. Jackson, Felix Frankfurter, Tom C. Clark, and Stanley Forman Reed were reluctant to overturn Plessy.[112] Nonetheless, Warren won over Jackson, Frankfurter, and Clark, in part by allowing states and federal courts the flexibility to pursue desegregation of schools at different speeds. Warren extensively courted the last holdout, Reed, who finally agreed to join a unanimous verdict because he feared that a dissent would encourage resistance to the Court's holding. After the Supreme Court formally voted to hold that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, Warren drafted an eight-page outline from which his law clerks drafted an opinion, and the Court handed down its decision in May 1954.[113] In the Deep South at the time, people could view signs claiming "Impeach Earl Warren."[114]"

Why was today's decision unanimous?  Why didn't Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissent instead of concurring?  The obvious answer is that they agreed with the basic decision that Colorado didn't have the power to keep Trump off the ballot.  And that may well be true.  

But my hope is, as I said at the beginning, that Roberts got the Court to vote unanimously on this one in exchange for a unanimous decision on the immunity case.  Because Roberts sees two cases are so potentially explosive (though that didn't bother him with Dobbs), he wanted them to both be unanimous - one for Trump, one against him - to make the Court look less partisan at this time when the Court is under so much pressure because of precedent breaking cases like Dobbs and because of the corruption scandals surround Justice Thomas and others.  

But I also have some reservations.  

  • I'm not sure Roberts could get such a commitment from the more conservative judges
  • Even if he could, I'm not sure they will honor any such commitment, just as Mike Johnson didn't honor the commitment to pass the Ukrainian assistance if there was a border bill.
However, to grant a past president, even a sitting president, immunity is ludicrous.  "No man is above the law" is the "Treat your neighbor as you would have him treat you" of the US legal system.  It doesn't always happen, but it's the standard.   

Even if Roberts can't get a unanimous decision, he should minimally be able to pull Kavanaugh into such a decision along with the liberal justices and himself.  

I think the arguments for keeping Trump off the ballot in Colorado were compelling.  But Colorado has been voting Democratic presidential candidates since 2008.  So keeping him on the ballot is probably not going to change the election.  But the implications of the majority decision do seem to have long term effects.  But let's just hope we don't have any other presidential candidates who have plotted insurrection of the United States.

That's my thinking.  It's not a prediction, because in these perilous times, predictions are like throwing paper into the wind.  Treat this as wishful speculation.  

You can read the 20 page decision yourself below.  


[March 5, 2024 UPDATE:  This podcast by three attorneys - Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray - takes a pretty dim view of the decision and probably makes my hypothesis seem like desperate wishful thinking.  It's worth listening to.  Just click on the link.]

Monday, February 26, 2024

Destroying Cities And Killing Civilians - Post-War Berlin Photos By Roman Vishniac

We met long time friends in Berkeley Wednesday at the Magnes Collection.  While looking at the pictures in the current exhibit, I couldn't help but think about Gaza and Ukraine.  

The photographer was: 

"Roman Vishniac (1897–1990), a Russian-Jewish modernist photographer, [who] lived and worked in Berlin from 1920 to 1939. On the eve of the Second World War, he extensively documented Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe. After fleeing Nazi Germany, he found safety in New York City and became a US citizen in 1946. The Roman Vishniac Archive, which The Magnes acquired in 2018, also includes thousands of photographs taken after World War II in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East." [From the Exhibit and also the Magnes Collection website]

Some of the pre-war pictures were up, but the main exhibit was of pictures Vishniac took in Berlin in 1947.  That's two years after the war in Germany ended.  Much of the debris has been swept up and carted away, though some still likes in piles.  People walk, seemingly calmly, in front of bombed out buildings.  





 Berlin and Dresden were both bombed heavily in WWII by the US and British air forces.


On the 1943-44 Berlin bombing raids from Wikipedia:
"On February 15–16, important war industries were hit, including the large Siemensstadt area, with the centre and south-western districts sustaining most of the damage. This was the largest raid by the RAF on Berlin. Raids continued until March 1944.[25][26][27]
These raids caused immense devastation and loss of life in Berlin. The November 22, 1943 raid killed 2,000 Berliners and rendered 175,000 homeless. The following night, 1,000 were killed and 100,000 made homeless. During December and January regular raids killed hundreds of people each night and rendered between 20,000 and 80,000 homeless each time.[28] Overall nearly 4,000 were killed, 10,000 injured and 450,000 made homeless.[29]"

"The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city.[3] The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of the city centre.[4] Up to 25,000 people were killed.[1][2][a] Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the city's railway marshalling yard and one smaller raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas."


We could add to this the atomic bomb in Japan, and stories about Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.  There were/are battles and massacres in the former Yugoslavia, in various parts of Africa, in South America.  

The United Nations was supposed to help end such wars, but it's structured so that the large powers have veto power over crucial decisions.  Certainly the arms dealers play a huge role in all these wars, though there were wars before capitalist corporations took over the technology of killing.  

We also have to figure out how and why psychopaths find their way to power and control of militaries and the budgets to arm them.  Is there a way to overcome this?  

Is all this simply embedded in our DNA?  


[This post fits into the series I'm doing on the Israeli-Gaza war, though it's not part of 'plan' I had for those posts.  You can link to those posts at the Israel-Gaza war tab just below the orange header above.  Here's the same link.]

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Subbing In San Francisco- USS Pampanito

The grandkids had contradictory ideas about  where they wanted to go yesterday.  She was more willing, but he adamantly didn't want to go to the Children's Creativity Museum.  

I googled 'San Francisco for kids' and pointed out that we could go visit a submarine.  Immediate mood change.  

So we got the 28 bus and rode it to Fisherman's Wharf.  



The USS Pampanito SS-383 is a WWII Balao Class Fleet Submarine.





There were something like 80 men aboard, and a sign outside said they were gone for long periods of time without a shower.  But on the tour we saw two showers.  One for the crew and one for the officers.  My granddaughter asked about that after the tour.  The lady said that the men who worked in the engine room and got oily and the cooks got to take showers, as well as the officers.  But water had to be rationed.  

Q:  Couldn't they use saltwater?

A:  When they surfaced, and it was safe, the men could just jump into the water.




Sleeping quarters for the crew.  There was one bed for three crew members since two were always on duty.  


















This was the kitchen for the crew!








I saved this image below at higher resolution, but I still don't think you can read it.  So here's a link to a site on How Submarines Work.  It has a better animated version of how it takes on water to dive.



From the lower part of the sign below: 

"The United States submarines and the men who served on them represented less than 1.6% of America's al naval force during WWII, yet was responsible for sinking 55% of Japanese naval and merchant marine flees.  This extraordinary record was nt without cost.  Almost 23% of the submarine force was lost, comprising more than 3.500 men and 52 submarines."

Two subs were lost on October 24, 1944 and another on October 25.  The last one was lost on August 6, 1945 - the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, three days before the Japanese surrendered.  


The kids enjoyed the visit to the sub a lot.  And we kept them occupied on and around Fisherman's Wharf for several hours before getting the bus back home.  

A benefit of the 28 bus is that it stops, along the way, at the Golden Gate Bridge visitor center. 



Friday, February 16, 2024

Philanthropy, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Defoe

 I'm reading Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet by Michael Meyer.  Since my bookclub discusses Ike's Gamble Monday, this title seemed like a possible follow-up.  

Basically, in his will Franklin left 1000 £ to his two cities - Boston where he was born, and Philadelphia where he moved after leaving Boston.    The money was to be used to make loans to men starting up in the trades.  (Franklin himself had been helped by people when setting up his print shop.)  They had ten years to pay the money back at 5% interest.  He calculated that this money would grow over two hundred years to a much larger sum.  I haven't gotten far enough into the book to know how successful this was.  I do know that after 100 years, the Boston fund had a value closer to what Franklin had calculated than the Philadelphia fund.  But the Boston fund had made fewer and fewer loans. The author also tells us that Franklin hadn't figured on mechanization and industrialization replacing small tradesman with factories.

But that's not what this post is directly about. Rather it's about Franklin's devotion to the idea of charity.  

Inspirations:  Mather and Defoe

"There was also a Book of Defoe's," Franklin remembered in his memoir, "called An Essay on Projects,  and another of Dr. Mather's, call'd Essays to do Good which perhaps gave me a Turn of Thnking that had an Influence on some of the principal future Events of m Life. . . .

"A bankrupt Daniel Defoe wrote An Essay upon Projects while hiding in Bristol from a London creditor empowered to imprison him.  Published in 1697, two decades before Robinosn Crusoe  brought him fame, Projects laid out Defoe's ideas for social improvement.  These included the education of women, the creation of unemployment benefits, a lottery to benefit charity, fire insurance,  proportional taxation based on income, mortgage interest capped at 4 percent, and a public assistance scheme called the Friendly Society for Widows."  (pp. 124-125)


Franklin Fund Raising Tips

"'I therefore put my self as much as I could out of sight,'  he related in his  autobiography, 'and stated it as a Scheme of a number of Friends, who had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought Lovers of Reading. [He was collecting money to build a library.] In this way my Affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after practis'd it on such Occasions and from frequent Successes can heartily recommend it.  The present little Sacrifice of your Vanity will afterwards by amply repaid.'"

"As much as he downplayed his own philanthropy, Franklin came to realize that sometimes the best way to get people to donate to your cause was to publish the names of those who had already contributed."

"By convincing the state assembly to match any amount raised up to £2,000, Franklin secured 'an additional motive to give, since every man's donation would be doubled . . .'"

I guess folks who study philanthropy know this, but I didn't realize such practices went back to Franklin.  I suspect some aspects might be even older than Franklin.  


There are a lot of fascinating tidbits about Franklin, about the beginnings of the nation, and other random ideas.  Here's one quote from the book that made me pause and think:

"In 1800, ten years after Benjamin Franklin's death, only one American in twenty lived in a town of more than 2.500 people.  Four out of five Americans farmed land." (p.107)

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Rachel Epstein Book on John Haines - May the Owl Call Again

 Someone left a link to this book in a comment on a totally unrelated post - at least I didn't see any connection.  


But Rachel worked in the University of Alaska Anchorage bookstore for many years and put together many (100?  200?) forums in the bookstore.  Usually there was an author (or two) speaking, but sometimes it was on a topic of current interest.  

They were small intimate affairs where the audience had lots of opportunity to interact with the speakers.  

These soirees were exactly what should be happening on a University campus.  

I'm sure this is a noteworthy book so I'm delighted to let people know about it.  


From the Amazon page.

"Alaskan poet John Haines has been gone for more than a decade now, but his singular voice stays with me—the deep quiet of it and its enchantment, the spareness of his lines—Li Po transposed to the far north. Much else is here to muse on and admire—his charming letters to Rachel Epstein, photos of his homestead in Richardson, transcripts of talks given, memoirs of a vanished Alaska, selected essays, notes on the imagination’s relationship with the natural world, even recollections of his service on a destroyer in the Pacific toward the end of WW II. May the Owl Call Again is a moving and memorable collection, and at its heart is Haines’ haunting poetry.

—Marc Hudson, poet, translator, and an emeritus professor at Wabash College.

His most recent book of poems is East Of Sorrow.


May the Owl Call Again bears witness to the last years of Haines' life—his thoughts, humor, melancholy, a profound awareness of Alaska’s rhythms, and his struggles with engagement in a broken world. But, above all, it is a meditation on friendship and the solace of intimacy that can be found in the handwritten page. It’s a testament to care, the aches of connection and solitude, and the consolation of finding kinship with another. I found myself reading it all at once and walking away with a profound sense of gratitude for Epstein sharing this Haines with all of us. 

—Freya Rohn, poet and founder of Ariadne Archive"

For Anchorage folks I'd recommend calling Writers' Block bookstore ((907) 929-2665to order it if it's not in.  Buy Alaskan authors writing about Alaskan people from local Alaskan bookstores.  

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Why Making Real Time Sense Of Israeli-Gaza War Is So Difficult - Part IV Hamas

This is Part IV on this topic.  Previously:

Preview:  GUERRILLA WARFARE - A brief discussion of guerrilla warfare, then you can watch the classic film on the Algerian war for independence from France:  The Battle Of Algiers.

Part I of this series is here.  It identifies and briefly discusses the following topics I think important to be aware of when confronting the Israeli-Gaza war.

1.  PROPAGANDA, MISINFORMATION, OBLITERATION OF TRUTH

2.  THE PROBLEM OF NETANYAHU 

3A.  HISTORIC ANTI-SEMITISM

3B.  THE HOLOCAUST


Part II is here.  It looks at:

4. GENOCIDE

5. ZIONISM

6. ISRAELI MISTREATMENT OF PALESTINIANS 

7.  TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL - PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI EDUCATION

Part III is here.  It covers

8.  RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS AND ISRAEL'S RIGHT WING TILT 

9.  IGNORANCE

10.  GUERRILLA WARFARE]

11.  FACTORING IN WHAT'S HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES


Part IV, in the end focuses on Hamas, mostly on the 1988 Hamas Charter and the 2017 update.   It has been the most difficult one for me.  I had never read the Hamas Charter of 1988 or the revised charter of 2017.  

And to be clear, I'm just scratching the surface.  My point in these posts is NOT to teach anyone about this subject, but rather to reinforce the idea that few people know the many issues, the complicated histories, the religious nuances, the political machinations to have a strong basis to form anything but the most tentative opinions on the Israel-Gaza war.  Including me.  

But what I've found preparing this post is that Hamas appears to be an extreme Islamic organization not that different from ISIS and the other organizations that want to set up states that adopt laws directly from their interpretation of Islam.  

Doing this research in English is a handicap though. It's relatively easy to find information online about Hamas from Western sources, but finding English reports from Arab or Islamic sources takes a little more work.  Then comparing translations to make sure that what you have is relatively authentic takes longer.  


11.  HAMAS

I've been stuck on this one for several weeks.  I looked up Hamas.  I couldn't find a Hamas website.  I found other sites that posted Hamas' 1988 Charter.  Most are from Western institutions.  Here are two:

Yale University Law Library

Wilson Center 

But I did find one by what ostensibly is an Muslim/Palestinian site:

The Journal of Islamic Studies (I got access to this journal through JSTOR, "a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994" that is not directly open to the public.  I have access through the University of Alaska Anchorage library.  If you don't have a university access, you might also try your local library to get access through them.)

The first 'Topic' in Part I of this series of posts is called  Propaganda, Misinformation, and Disinformation.  It's there to remind readers that there are nations out there trying to  misinform the world, even to obliterate any sense of verifiable truth, to create opportunities to change the world to their advantage.  

So, with that in mind, I wanted to make sure what I was reading was real, that it was not propaganda intended to make Hamas look bad.  I've reviewed the various versions of the key document - The Hamas Charter.  They basically say the same things, though different translations use different wording.  For example, it's called a Covenant in one translation, a Charter in another, and a Manifesto in yet another.

I went to all that trouble because I found the Charter (the Islamic Studies version's word) to be alarming.  It's in the same mold as ISIS documents - an Islamic extremist document that weaves Islamic justifications for everything it says. Its tone is:  "We know the Truth and anyone who differs from us is wrong." [See, for example Article 11.]  It calls for the Israeli government to be destroyed and for an Islamic state of Palestine to take over all the land that is now Israeli, Gaza, and the West Bank.  

So I wanted an Arab, Muslim, or Palestinian version to compare to the Western translations.  As I said, while the translators used different words and phrasing, the basic tone and content is the pretty close in the three I looked at.  

It's the kind of document that gives Right Wing Israelis like Netanyahu easy justification for their need to wipe out Hamas.  Because Hamas' goal is to wipe out Israel.  That doesn't give Netanyahu justification to kill tens of thousands of Palestinians who are not Hamas supporters.  But I suspect that Netanyahu feels Palestinians are all Hamas or Hamas sympathizers.  And, again, the Charter gives ammunition for that sort of interpretation.  It tells us that every Muslim is obligated to join the fight to throw out the Jews - including women and children.  [Note:  the 2017 revision distinguishes between Jews and Zionists.]

"When an enemy occupies some of the Muslim lands,   Jihad becomes obligatory for every Muslim. In the struggle against the Jewish occupation of Palestine  the banner of jihad must be raised. (Article 15) (emphasis added)

The Muslim woman has a role in the battle for the liberation which is no less than the role of the man, for she is the factory of men. (Article 17)"

And, presumably, because the Charter seems to justify Netanyahu's stated goal to wipe out Hamas, there's even an Israeli Missions Around the World website which has a page of quotes from the Hamas charter.  

These would appear to be parts of the Charter that Israel would like to share with the world to make their point that Hamas is a terrorist organization whose goal is to wipe out Israel and Israeli Jews and that Hamas will never give up that goal. And thus Israel feels justified in taking extreme action against Hamas.  

Presumably, these are some of the worst things Israel thinks are in the Charter.  But are they accurately portraying the charter?  I'm going to offer you, in the charts below, on the left the Israeli wording and on the right the wording from the Institute of Palestinian Studies.  In some cases I added a little more from the Palestinian translation in [brackets] to give the citation a bit more context.  Again, you can read the whole Charter at the links above to the Yale Library version, The Wilson Center version, and the Islamic Studies Journal. (You'll probably need to get access through a library for the last one.)

I'd note that a revised Charter was publicized in 2017 which I'll address below.  But first let me offer you what Israel says is most offensive along with the same sections as translated by the Institute of Palestinian Studies in the Islamic Studies Journal.  


Israeli Translation  Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation
Goals of the HAMAS: "The Islamic Resistance
 Movement is a distinguished Palestinian 
movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and 
whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the 
banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine." 
(Article 6)
Differentiation and Independence Article 6:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is an 
outstanding type of Palestinian movement. 
It gives its loyalty to Allah, adopts Islam as a

system of life, and works toward raising the 
banner of Allah on every inch of Palestine. 
[Therefore, in the shadow of Islam, it is 
possible for all followers of different religions 
to live in peace and with security over their 
person, property, and rights. In the absence 
of Islam, discord takes form, oppression and
destruction are rampant, and wars and battles 
take place.]
On the Palestinian side I've added a little more of what they wrote in [brackets] to give more context. 


Israeli Translation  Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation
On the destruction of Israel: 

"Israel will exist and will continue 
to exist until Islam will obliterate it,
just as it obliterated others before it." 
(Preamble) 
Israel will be established and will stay 
established until Islam nullifies it as 
it nullified what was before it. The 
Martyred Imam Hasan  al-Banna 
(may Allah have mercy upon him)



Israeli Translation  Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation
"Ranks will close, fighters joining other 
fighters, and masses everywhere in the
Islamic world will come forward in
response to the call of duty, loudly
proclaiming: 'Hail to Jihad!'. This 
cry will reach the heavens and will 
go on being resounded until liberation
is achieved, the invaders vanquished
 and Allah's victory comes about." 
(Article 33) 


The ranks join the ranks and the Mujahids join

Mujahids and other groups which come forth 

from everywhere in the Muslim world answering

the call of obligation, repeating “come to Jihad” "

-a call bursting forth into the heights of the Heavens,

reverberating until the liberation is completed and 

the invaders are rolled back and the victory of Allah 

descends.




Israeli TranslationInstitute for Palestinian Studies Translation
The exclusive Moslem nature of the 
area: "The land of Palestine is an
Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession]
consecrated for future Moslem
generations until Judgment Day. 
No one can renounce it or any part, or
abandon it or any part of it." (Article 11)
The Islamic Resistance Movement [firmly] believes 
that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Trust] 
upon all Muslim generations till the day of Resurrection.  
It is not right to give it up nor any part of it.  (Article 11)
 
[Neither a single Arab state nor all the Arab states, 
neither a King  nor a leader, nor all the kings
or leaders, nor any organization -Palestinian or Arab- 
have such authority because the land of Palestine is an 
Islamic Trust upon Muslim generations until the day
of Resurrection. And who has the true spokesmanship
for all the Muslim generations till the day of Resurrection?] 



Israeli Translation  Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation
The call to jihad: 
"The day the enemies
 usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad
 becomes the individual duty of every
 Moslem. In the face of the Jews' 
usurpation, it is compulsory that the 
banner of Jihad be raised." (Article 15) 
Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine is Obligatory 
When an enemy occupies some of  the Muslim 
lands, Jihad becomes obligatory for every Muslim. 
In the struggle against the Jewish occupation of 
Palestine, the banner of Jihad must be raised.


Israeli Translation Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation
Rejection of a negotiated peace settlement:
"[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful 
solutions and international conferences are 
in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic 
Resistance Movement... Those conferences 
are no more than a means to appoint the 
infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam... 
There is no solution for the Palestinian 
problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, 
proposals and international conferences 
are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility." (Article 13) 

Initiatives, Peace Solutions and International Conferences

The initiatives conflict, what are called "Peaceful 

Solutions" and "International Conferences" to solve 

the Palestinian problem.As far as the ideology 

of the Islamic Resistance Movement is 

concerned, giving up any part of Palestine

is like giving up part of its religion.There is no 

solution to the Palestinian Problem 

except by Jihad. The initiatives, options, and 

international conferences are a waste of time 

and a kind of child's play. 

The Palestinian people are nobler than to be 

fiddling with their future, rights, and destiny.



Israeli Translation  Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation

Condemnation of the Israel-Egypt 

Peace Treaty:
"Egypt was, to a great extent, removed 

from the circle of struggle [against Zionism] 

through the treacherous Camp David 

Agreement. The Zionists are trying to 

draw other Arab countries into similar 

agreements in order to bring them 

outside the circle of struggle. ...

Leaving the circle of struggle against

 Zionism is high treason, and cursed be 

he who perpetrates such an act." 

(Article 32) 

[World Zionism and Imperialist powers try with 

audacious maneuvers and well formulated plans 

to extract the Arab nations one by one from the 

struggle with Zionism, so in the end they can deal

 singularly with the Palestinian people.] It already

 has removed Egypt faraway from the circle of 

struggle with the treason of “Camp David," 

and it is trying to extract other countries by 

using similar treaties in order to remove them from 

the circle of struggle.”


Again, above, for the IPS translation I've added with [brackets] the previous sentence that the Israeli translation left out.  

I did the same with the quote below.  


Israeli Translation  Institute for Palestinian Studies Translation

Anti-Semitic incitement:
The Day of Judgment will not come about 

until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. 

Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks 

and trees, and the rocks and trees will 

cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew 

hiding behind me, come and kill him." 

(Article 7) 

[Even though the Islamic Resistance Movement 

looks forward to fulfill the promise of Allah no matter 

how long it takes because the Prophet of Allah 

(saas) says:] The Last Hour would not come until the

 Muslims fight against the Jews and the Muslims 

would kill them, and until the Jews would hide 

themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone 

or a tree would say. Muslim or Servant of Allah 

there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;

 but the tree of Gharqad would not say it, for it is

 the tree of the Jews (Bukhari and Muslim).3




The Israeli site has a few more quotes and then a summary of the Israeli issues with the charter.  You can see that here.

The language of the 1988 Hamas Charter basically calls for an Islamic state - ISIS like - to take control of all the area now occupied by Israel and the Palestinian territories.  It calls for getting rid of all the Jews.  It says attempts at Peace Treaties are useless.  Little, perhaps none, of the Charter is reasonable for Israel to accept as written.  It's essentially a declaration of war.  No country in the world, that has the power to oppose it,  would accept a close neighbor who says similar things about them.  

A revised Covenant was published in 2017. Hamas says that it is merely the consolidation of various changes made by leaders over the years, but which hadn't been codified in a single statement.  

I've read several versions and explanations of the differences between it and the original 1988 Charter.  The Guardian's overview, which came out in 2017, is perhaps the most succinct and direct (though not necessarily the most accurate.)

"Hamas has unveiled a new political programme softening its stance on Israel by accepting the idea of a Palestinian state in territories occupied by Israel in the six-day war of 1967.

The new document states the Islamist movement is not seeking war with the Jewish people – only with Zionism that drives the occupation of Palestine.

The new document also insists that Hamas is a not a revolutionary force that seeks to intervene in other countries, a commitment that is likely to be welcomed by other states such as Egypt."

Here are some other analyses of the changes: (let me warn you - these are not easy reading)




My main takeaway after reading the Hamas Charter is to sadly shake my head about those who have championed Hamas.  You can only support Hamas if all you know about them is that they are fighting to stop Israeli atrocities.  But if you read their Charter, even with the 2017 modifications, you know this is a radical Islamist extremist group that only recognizes their version of Islamic doctrine.  

The idea that Hamas is fighting to give Palestinian culture its land and culture back seems to me to be terribly wrong.  There never was a strict Islamic state ruled by Islamic law in Palestine.  Not under the British and not under the 400 years of control by the Ottoman Empire. 

There are so many trails to follow to understand this.  For instance, how did Hamas come to power in Gaza?  Here are two links to start your research on that question:

Wikipedia's History of Hamas 

Al Jazeera - History Illustrated, The Story of Hamas And Its Fight For Palestine 

Those two citations are not meant to be exhaustive or even adequate.  They just give a sense of the history that led to Hamas' official formation until now.  Just expanding one's awareness of their ignorance.


Everyone knows about the Hamas attack on October 7 so I don't have to discuss that, except to put it into the context of Topic #10 GUERRILLA warfare and terrorism.  The point is often for the militarily weaker side to commit acts of terror to provoke the more powerful enemy to make horrible counter attacks that will make them look bad in public opinion.  Hamas was wildly successful in this objective.  With help, undoubtedly, from Russian and Iranian misinformation campaigns.  

The Israeli response has been a public relations nightmare.  But my sense is that the far right in Israel simply assumes that an anti-Semitic world will disapprove of anything they do.  That logic lets them do terrible things.  

But I'd remind them that much of the world saw Israelis as heroes after the 1967 war and when they made the Entebbe rescue.  


12.  WHY GETTING JEWS OUT OF ISRAEL SEEMS EASIER THAN NATIVE AMERICANS GETTING EUROPEANS OUT OF THE UNITED STATES?

Topic#12 (it was #13) was at the end of the last post as a heading that I postponed to this post - it made more sense after discussing Hamas.  But as I work on this, I don't think the title clearly expresses the issue I'm wrestling with.  And as I try to flesh it out, it seems it really should be part of Part V.  

It will deal, not so much with options from here, but with the question of how should those options be evaluated.  What criteria should be used?  What factors should be considered?

And to be clear, my ignorance of all of this, while perhaps slightly lower than the ignorance of most people, is still vast.  I'll be raising questions more than supplying answers.  

[It's Saturday March 2, 2024.  I just want to let you know I'm still working on PART IV.]