Nations cut ties with genocidal Israel

BreakThrough News, streamed live on 11/2/23; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Israel’s brutal rampage: Shock at latest Gaza massacre, nations cut ties

(BreakThrough News) Streamed live on Nov. 2, 2023: The Freedom Side LIVE. On The Freedom Side LIVE, Thursday, 11/2/23 at 3:00 pm ET/12:00 pm PT, hosts Rania Khalek and Eugene Puryear are joined by special guests to discuss the situation.

Since October 7th, Israel doubled the number of Palestinians it was holding hostage in Israeli jails to 10,000, including 170 children.

Amanda Yee, an editor of LiberationNews.org and host of Radio Free Amanda, discusses the corporate owned media’s double standard around Palestinian political prisoners and Israel’s extensive history of mass incarceration, repeated arrests, and poor treatment of Palestinians in Israel's jails.

Professor As'ad AbuKhalil of California State University and a survivor of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 breaks down the latest developments in Gaza as Israel continues its US-backed genocidal campaign against Palestine.

Sean Blackmon, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition, explains the rich history of Black and Palestinian solidarity and how this solidarity continues today amid Israel’s genocidal siege on Gaza.

On October 28, London held its biggest ever pro-Palestine march, with over a half a million people taking to the streets in London in solidarity with Palestine.

Ismail Patel, chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa, discusses how despite increased repression, support for Palestine is rapidly growing across Europe.

Since October 7th, various cities in Morocco have witnessed mass vigils and marches condemning the Israeli occupation’s ethnic genocide against Gaza and demanding an end to Morocco’s normalization agreement with Israel.

Kawtar Dazine, a member of BDS [Boycott, Divest, Sanction Israel] Morocco, discusses the significance of Morrocan-Palestinian solidarity. https://www.youtube.com/@BreakThroughNews

Free Palestine Nat'l March on DC (11/4)

ANSWER Coalition; Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Beloved ancient yoga symbol, yantra

Some feel that NOW is the time to stand with the besieged people of Palestine (reduced to two occupied territories or reservations inside the State of Israel (just a name, not a state).

Tiny Gaza is being bombed 24/7 because Jews are oppressed victims (with the power to bomb and annihilate any army in the world with US Department of War, Pentagon, and CIA backing).

Many Jews agree, Israel is criminally wrong

Its Palestinian people are denied food, water, and electricity by Israeli forces who have laid siege to more than 2 million Gazans, who have nowhere to escape or avoid being shot, bombed, sniped, or stressed, or starved as collective punishment, refusing to distinguish combatants from noncombatants, and other international war crimes by Israel.

Tens of thousands more Palestinians are likely to murdered wholesale by heavily armed IDF (Israeli Army conscripts) militants.

"Israelis and Palestinians must stop dehumanizing each other" - Mideast scholar

Israel's ethnic cleaning map of shrinking "Occupied Territories," West Bank and Gaza

Celtic fans wave dozens of Free Palestine flags (The Telegraph, 10/22/23)

Americans must ACT because it is our government who is providing the bombs, arms, munitions, secret weapons, spying, ships, intel, and roadmap to genocide (as tested on Native Americans, Blacks, and other outcastes in the USA).

Palestinians (Muslims, Christians, atheists) are in the streets every day in their local cities and towns. Now American citizens must UNITE. Join tens of thousands of people from every corner of the United States, who are converging for a truly massive National March on Washington D.C. on Saturday, November 4 at 2:00 pm at Freedom Plaza.

• Endorse the march here

Israel -- with the full military, monetary, political, and UN backing of the U.S. government -- is carrying out an unprecedented massacre in Gaza, while agitating the whole geopolitical "Middle East."

Thousands of Palestinians are being targeted and killed with bombs, bullets, and precision missiles paid for by U.S. tax dollars.

This is the latest bloody chapter in the illegal occupation and settler colonial project of Israel, founded with the objective of dispossessing Palestinians from their land.

• National March for Palestine: Saturday, Nov. 4 at the White House - ANSWER Coalition

Join the demonstration at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, November 4 at 2:00 pm to demand:

• End the Siege of Gaza
• End all U.S. military "aid" to Israel
• Free Palestine!

Initial co-sponsoring organizations:

• Palestinian Youth Movement
• ANSWER Coalition
• American Muslim Association
• The People’s Forum National
• Students for Justice in Palestine
• Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
• U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
• U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
• Maryland2Palestine

Endorsers

1. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
2. Palestinian American Council American University Students for Justice in Palestine
3. Georgetown University Students for Justice in Palestine
4. Egyptian Student Association at the University of Maryland
5. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland
6. Students for Justice in Palestine at George Mason University
7. CODEPINK BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group of the DSA
8. United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
9. Nodutdol
10. CUNY for Palestine
11. BAYAN USA
12. Palestinian Feminist Collective
13. Palestinian American Community Center
14. Veterans for Peace
15. Anakbayan USA
16. Students for Justice in Palestine at NYU
17. Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine
18. Organizing Neighborhood Equity (ONE DC)
19. Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice
20. Diáspora Pa’lante Collective
21. Honor the Earth
22. Ohio Peace Council
23. Party for Socialism and Liberation Project ANAR
24. The Key
25. DC Metro Coalition in Solidarity with Cuba
26. Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee
27. Hampton Institute Iskra Books
28. FAHRA-USA Alliance Philippines (AJLPP)
29. Maine Natural Guard Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
30. Mekong NYC Rising Together
31. March and Rally Los Angeles
32. Students for an Inclusive Campus
33. Law Office of Sara B. Kohgadai
34. Mass Artists for Change
35. Anakbayan DC
36. Home Sovereignty Studio
37. Anti-Imperialist Action Committee
38. Socialist Unity Party
39. Peoples Power Assembly Struggle/La Lucha Newspaper
40. Malaya Movement USA
41. Women Against Military Madness
42. Anti-Imperialist Action UMBC
43. Women in Struggle-Mujeres en Lucha
44. Shiima koh
45. Americans of Pakistani Heritage Inc
46. Veterans For Peace - Pittsburgh Chapter
47. Needlepoint Sanctuary of Maine
48. NoMuNoMu
49. Colectivo Kawsay
50. Katarungan DC
51. Southwest Coalition for Palestine
52. Malcolm X Center for Self Determination MN
53. Anti War Committee
54. Defend Democracy in Brazil Committee- New York
55. Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality
56. Muslim Delegates & Allies
57. Coalition Bans
58. Off Our Bodies
59. Wayne County Revolutionary Study Group
60. Rabab Abdulhadi, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies at San Francisco State University
61. Sandra Drake, Professor Emerita at Stanford University's Program in African and African-American Studies and Department of English
62. Michael Wong, Veterans for Peace
63. Luci Murphy, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
64. Natalia de Campos, Defend Democracy in Brazil Committee - New York
65. Adrian Bonifacio, BAYAN USA
66. Jim Lafferty, National Lawyers Guild

• *Individuals' affiliations listed for identification purposes only endorse the march here
• National March for Palestine: Saturday, Nov. 4 at the White House - ANSWER Coalition

What about my $600 a week? (audio)

Libby Denkmann (AirTalk® | July 21, 2020); Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

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The latest on California unemployment as extra $600 in federal benefits ends

Mmm, $600 a week is pretty good for no work.

A major source of income for roughly 30 million unemployed people is set to end, threatening their ability to meet rent and pay bills and potentially undercutting the fragile economic recovery.

In March, Congress approved an extra $600 in weekly unemployment [PUA or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance] benefits as part of its $2 trillion [actually much, much bigger according to The Jimmy Dore Show] relief package aimed at offsetting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. That additional payment expires next week unless it gets renewed.

Cure (lockdown) is not worse than disease (C19)

The unemployment insurance program has emerged as a crucial source of support at a time when the jobless rate is at Depression-era levels.

In May, unemployment benefits made up 6% of all U.S. income, ahead of even Social Security, and up dramatically from February, when it amounted to just 0.1% of national income. Congress enacted the extra payment for just four months, largely on the assumption that the viral outbreak would subside by late July and the economy would be well on the way to recovery.

But confirmed case counts are rising in 40 states and 22 states are either reversing or pausing their reopening efforts, threatening to slow rehiring. The number of people seeking weekly jobless aid has leveled off at roughly 1.3 million, after falling steadily in May and early June.

Today [July 21, 2020] on AirTalk, we get the latest plus check in on the barriers still in place for those trying to receive benefits. Do you have questions? Join the conversation by calling (866) 893-5722. 

If your job has been affected by the coronavirus and you need consultation to help determine your employment benefits, call the Center for Workers' Rights at (916) 905-1625 for help.

• Guest Host Libby Denkmann
• Guests: Margot Roosevelt, reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering California economic, labor and workplace issues; she tweets @margotroosevelt
• Daniela Urban, executive director of the Center for Workers' Rights in Sacramento, which advocates for workplace justice, is also special counsel at Legal Aid at Work, a San Francisco based nonprofit law firm that assists low-income working families throughout California

Buddhist Answers to Common Questions

Bhutanese novices playing in the Himalayan Buddhist kingdom (yudruk.com)

"I often suffer with mood swings. Some days I am quite happy, but the next I feel quite irritated or depressed. How can Buddhism help me stabilize my life?"

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Lam Shenphen Zangpo answers basic questions that every Bhutanese man, woman, and child on the street wants to know:

Well, no-thing arises from no-where, and so there must be a reason for your emotional swings. Perhaps they are sparked by a colleague’s insensitive words or maybe you expect too much from life.

Whatever the trigger, the root cause is the same: relying on external references for happiness. This is an underlying reason for our vulnerability.

As we know, all form, emotions, and perceptions are composed of an infinite number of parts, and even a minor change in any of these has far reaching effects. A stock market crash in London causes bankruptcies in Taipei. A politician killed in Lahore causes heightened security in New York. Due to its intricate and dependent nature, our environment is extremely fragile and unstable.

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Therefore, it is natural to feel insecure when our mental wellbeing is contingent on external reference points. It is like leaning on a rickety desk. When it moves, we move. The trick, then, is remove ourselves from these externals and instead develop a genuine and flexible mind.

The great Indian Buddhist scholar Atisha Dipankara identified eight hopes and fears that bind us to external reference points: praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, and fame and disgrace. These are hooks and we are like fish deceived by their appearance. We believe they are a source of happiness, whereas in reality they are a short cut to suffering. More>>

Buddhism: FAQs

By John Bullitt (Frequently Asked Questions About Buddhism)

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Over the years I've received scores of e-mail queries from people seeking answers to basic questions about Buddhism. Here are my answers to some of the most common ones. These answers reflect my own opinions and interpretations and in no way represent a "definitive" Theravada Buddhist point of view. My hope is that these answers, along with the accompanying links and references to suttas and other texts, will serve as useful hints to steer you towards finding answers of your own.

• Buddhist doctrine and terminology:
  What is Theravada Buddhism?
  Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?
  Is Vipassana the same as Theravada?
  If we're all reborn when we die, how does Buddhism explain the world's increasing population?
  If there's no self, then who gets enlightened?/what gets reborn?/why...?
  I hear the word "sangha" used a lot these days in Buddhist circles. What does it really mean?
  What's the difference between a Buddha and an arahant?
  Have there been other Buddhas?
  What's a "Private Buddha" (paccekabuddha)?
  Who is Maitreya (Metteyya)?
  
• Practical Buddhism:
  How can I find other people with whom to study Dhamma and practice meditation?
  There are no meditation centers or other Dhamma students nearby. Can I study Dhamma on my own? How do I find a meditation teacher?
  I want to become a Buddhist. How do I do that?
  I'd like to have a Buddhist wedding. Any suggestions?
  What were the Buddha's views on divorce?
  I'd like to arrange a Buddhist funeral. Any suggestions?
  What were the Buddha's views on homosexuality?
  What were the Buddha's views on abortion?
  How should I teach Buddhism to my children?
  Are Buddhists vegetarian?
  Are there any enlightened people in the world nowadays? How can I tell who's really enlightened?
  What are some good beginning books on Buddhism?
  Where can I find a copy of the complete Pali canon (Tipitaka)?
  
• Miscellaneous:
  What's the relationship between "dana" and "fundraising"?
  Is there anything wrong with selling Dhamma books? What's the big deal about giving them away free of charge?

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Copyright © 2001-2007 John Bullitt. Access to Insight edition © 2007. May also be found on http://www.cambodianbuddhist/ and ebooks. For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and redistributed in any medium. It is the author's wish, however, that any such republication and redistribution be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and that translations and other derivative works be clearly marked as such.