A Tunisian man holds up a placard protesting Saudi bombing of Yemen during the state visit to Tunisia of Saudi executioner MBS in November 2018.

(Photo by Simon Speakman Cordall)

After confessions extracted through torture, Saudi Arabia beheaded 37 men on Tuesday in different parts of the country for various alleged crimes which according to the official Saudi news agency included: “adoption of terrorist & extremist thinking, forming terrorism cells to sow corruption & disrupt security, spread chaos, incite sectarian discord, harm peace & social security, & attack police centers using explosive bombs.” One of the men’s bodies along with his severed head was publicly displayed on a pole, crucifixion-style. Including these executions, Saudi Arabia has carried out over 104 executions so far in 2019, including 40 people who committed drug offenses. It is presently engaged in rounding up women’s rights advocates for incarceration, kangaroo trial, & execution.

Trump remained dumb as a stump after the Saudi beheading & dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 & has not expressed even a ceremonial protest to these 37 executions. But since the US is engaged in several bombing wars, no one could take any such protest seriously. Cutting people’s heads off with swords for taking drugs, thinking rebellious thoughts, or protesting has not interfered with the cordial reception MBS has received from world leaders, including high-fiving Putin at the G-20 conference last December. After all the criticism the Saudi government is receiving from human rights activists for the executions, one wonders if Code Pink or other US ‘antiwar’ groups will be sending a ‘peace delegation’ to express solidarity with the regime as they did to North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Syria.

This photo is a protest in Tunisia in November 2018 after the beheading of Khashoggi & before MBS was cordially received by government heads at the G-20 conference in Argentina in December. He was paying a state visit to Tunisia but was greeted by hundreds of protesters against the Saudi bombing of Yemen & the execution of political prisoners.

(Photo from Independent)

Netanyahu announced that he’s going to name an illegal Israeli settlement in the illegally occupied Golan Heights after Trump. It’ll be all so appropriate if it’s a rural settlement stinking of horse manure & donkey fart. Just like the White House smells.

Kashmiri Faizan Bashir, then 12-years-old, being arrested in 2012 for ‘waging war against the state’ of India, rioting, & for attempted murder. He was eventually released. That was under the tenure of chief minister Omar Abdullah who introduced pellet guns against unarmed protesters & is now playing champion of the people.

In a secret trial by the theocratic regime, Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 38 years & 148 lashes for defending Iranian womens’ right to remove the hijab. She was charged with seven crimes & given the maximum sentence for all of them. It is considered the harshest sentence documented against a human rights activist in Iran in recent history.

A vigorous defense campaign must be waged on her behalf & we sincerely hope Medea Benjamin & other members of the Code Pink ‘peace delegation’ to Iran will rethink their amicable political relationship to the regime & play a leading role in Sotoudeh’s defense.

(Photo of Nasrin Sotoudeh)

Jennifer Lopez has signed on to perform in Tel Aviv on August 1st, 2019. She is not unaware of the cultural boycott since she was besieged by BDS appeals when she planned on performing in Israel in 2016. You can lodge protests on her Facebook & Twitter walls. A Facebook wall will soon be set up to educate her about respecting Palestinian humanity more than she does the exorbitant fee Israel has offered her.

My Facebook archives remind me that Jeff Mackler, the cult leader of Socialist Action, actually did call for self-determination for the Assad regime & support for Syrian & Russian carpet bombing of Syrian civilians. He only objects to US-coalition bombing of civilians as part of a “regime change operation” scenario. Now he’s off kissing Maduro’s ass. Color him lost.

Not to be a pain in the ass, but I am extremely censorious about the use of the word “retard” or any of its derivatives. The human rights movement of those with learning disabilities actively campaigns against the term ‘retarded’ because it has become an insulting epithet that demeans them & treats them as slugs rather than complete human beings, perfect just as they are. Please don’t use it, in any of its forms, on my wall. Those with learning disabilities suffer immensely from its use. My younger beloved brother Paul committed suicide from humiliation. So I take its use very personally.