Showing posts with label greed. Show all posts

Friday, October 16, 2026

NPR: The skincare scheme that led to consumer complaints, lawsuits and a federal investigation... "Mazal translates to "luck" or "good fortune" in Hebrew. The Weingartens and Odeds are originally from Israel, as are the majority of corporate employees and licensees (store owners), according to former staff members."

Collage by Jackie Lay/NPR

NPR: The skincare scheme that led to consumer complaints, lawsuits and a federal investigation

October 14, 20265:00 AM ET

It's a familiar experience for anyone who has walked through an American shopping mall: A friendly salesperson approaches with a free sample of skincare cream, offering the promise of younger-looking skin. As you pass, they launch into a stream of chatter — a compliment on your handbag or a question about what's in your shopping bag. It's the kind of encounter that shoppers often walk away from without a second thought.

But behind this familiar mall ritual, NPR uncovered something far more costly: customers hit with thousands of dollars in charges they never authorized and products they didn't want and can't return.

In Michigan, an elderly man with dementia was charged $42,000 for skincare products and devices. His family didn't realize the situation until his credit score dropped, his son told NPR.

In New Mexico, a spa employee sold a woman a $30,000 red-light therapy device. She alleged in a lawsuit that he also charged $78,000 for what he said was sales tax without her consent.

In Hawaii, a disabled woman was shown to the back room of a spa for a "free" facial. The salesperson took her walker, she wrote in a complaint to the state, and refused to let her leave for hours until she spent $2,600.

These stories share a common thread: The stores they visited have contracts to buy skincare products from Mazal Group, a California-based company managing dozens of brands sold in thousands of stores worldwide. And those brands are all owned by one family.

Over the past year, NPR spoke with more than 50 people impacted by this enterprise, including customers who say they were taken advantage of, their family members and former employees. This investigation draws from state and federal court lawsuits, hundreds of online reviews and nearly 500 consumer complaints that NPR obtained from agencies via Freedom of Information Act requests. NPR staff visited stores selling products from Mazal Group in Virginia, Maryland and California, as well as the company's Chatsworth, Calif., headquarters.

NPR's investigation finds that stores selling skincare products purchased from Mazal Group have routinely pressured shoppers, including older adults and people with disabilities, into buying expensive skincare products and services they did not want, could not afford or tried to refuse. The business model that a decade ago federal agents called a "credit card overcharge scheme" is active today in malls and shopping districts from Honolulu to Annapolis, Maryland.

Some store and kiosk operators... READ MORE https://www.npr.org/2026/10/14/nx-s1-5550974/skincare-scheme-mazal-group-investigation

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Friday, September 4, 2026

POWER ... a 2026 Poem by Anne Selden Annab

POWER

Billionaires hoard wealth in part,

by deploying a small fraction

of their ginormous wealth to persuade-

persuading leaders to vote for data centers

and shape public policies

that build Billionaire wealth

and increasing political influence:

The VORTEX spins...

Erasing democracy.

Erasing equality.

Erasing justice.

Erasing security for most people,

excluding, of course, the Billionaires' own personal empires-

the influencers they train, the puppets they prop up,

the politicians they own,

the armies they build to bully US.

Massive Data Centers

hide Billionaire corruption

and cover up Billionaire greed

in a trillion different ways...

Human history online is rewritten

bit by bit, to empower

and reward Billionaires even further.

A bloodless coup d'état

to impoverish We The People

individually and collectively.

A global game of get get get

more wage slaves

to cook the food and clean the toilets

on the mega-yachts and in the McMansions

More wage slaves

for whatever whims and itches

the Billionaires and their

calculating Data Centers might feel.

Monday, August 24, 2026

"Meanwhile, with his unwinnable war in the Middle East, capricious tariff regime and penchant for self-enrichment on an epic scale, Trump is turning the US into an increasingly unpredictable player in the global economy. Instead of the guarantor of rules-based markets and open global trade routes, the US has become a source of uncertainty and chaos." Heather Stewart in The Guardian

Economics viewpoint

US economy

Jumpy bond markets make it clear: Trump risks driving US into debt crisis

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s attempt to calm bond markets is a sign of weakness not strength

Heather Stewart

Sun 23 Aug 2026

“Look, there’s nothing magic about that $40tn number,” the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, told CNBC insouciantly last week, as the country’s debt mountain surpassed another bleak record.

Yet Bessent’s decision to intervene in government bond markets in an effort to combat soaring yields belied his studied calm in TV interviews – and reignited fears the US may be on the road to a debt crisis.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/23/jumpy-bond-markets-make-it-clear-trump-risks-driving-us-into-debt-crisis

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says. Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions... "By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions."

Greenpeace said a large share of emissions was associated with the ownership of carbon-intensive assets and investments such as property developments. Photograph: A Amsel/Alamy

Fiona Harvey in Bonn

Wed 10 Jun 2026

Ultra-wealthy people zooming across the world on their private jets, lounging on yachts and conspicuous by their Instagrammable consumption are among the most easily identified individual culprits when it comes to the climate crisis – but new research argues that it is not just their heady lifestyles to blame, but also their bank accounts.

Through their ownership of companies and private financial and physical assets, from oil producers to property developments, the super-rich are responsible for an outsized slice of the greenhouse gases that are overheating the planet. The top 1% of people by wealth, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions in total.

Greenpeace has calculated the “climate debt” of these high net worth individuals, by attributing to them their share of the damage done to the climate by the assets they own. By this reckoning, the world’s richest cause nearly $1tn a year of damage to the climate.

Clara Thompson, the global lead campaigner on socioeconomic systems at Greenpeace International, said: “At a time when people are facing rising energy bills, rising living costs, and growing climate impacts, many are asking why ordinary households should shoulder so much of the burden, while some of the world’s wealthiest people continue to profit from the industries driving the crisis.”

Greenpeace estimates that the top 1% by wealth are responsible for about 40% of all “ownership”-based emissions – that is, the emissions produced by businesses and associated with privately owned financial and physical assets – which themselves make up 60% of global carbon output. Within that group, the top 0.1% account for about 17% of ownership-based emissions, and the top 0.01% about 9%. The top 1% is made up of people with wealth above about $2m, the top 0.1% people with wealth above about $7m, and the top 0.01% is people with wealth above about $38m.

By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/10/super-rich-assets-outsized-amount-climate-harm-study

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Sunday, June 21, 2026

The U.S. provides Israel more than $63 million in military aid per day... The United States spends more on military aid to Israel than to any other country. Israel receives this extraordinary amount of money even though it is the 22nd wealthiest country in the world.

Aid to Israel in Previous Years

From October 7, 2023 through September 30, 2024, the U.S. gave Israel a total of at least $17.9 billion. This works out to $49,041,095.89 per day.

The Real Costs to US Taxpayers

Like many government policies, this disbursement of U.S. tax money is not because it serves American interests, but instead is the result of special interest lobbying.

https://ifamericansknew.org/download/StaggeringCost.pdf

The United States has granted more total aid to Israel since World War II than to any other country.

Cumulative US foreign assistance obligations between 1946 and 2022 to the top ten recipients. Inflation-adjusted to 2022 dollars. (source)

https://ifamericansknew.org/stat/usaid.html

IF AMERICANS KNEW

More articles on US Aid to Israel

Sunday, May 17, 2026

"Reducing inequality was “not only about fairness, but essential for the resilience of economies, the stability of democracies, and the viability of our planet”" .......Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds- Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%

People protest against extreme wealth in London. The report found that in almost every region, the top 1% was wealthier than the bottom 90% combined.
Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Jon Henley

Wed 10 Dec 2025 02.00 EST

Fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world’s population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a report that argues global inequality has reached such extremes that urgent action has become essential.

The authoritative World Inequality Report 2026, based on data compiled by 200 researchers, also found that the top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90% combined, while the poorest half captures less than 10% of total global earnings.

Wealth – the value of people’s assets – was even more concentrated than income, or earnings from work and investments, the report found, with the richest 10% of the world’s population owning 75% of wealth and the bottom half just 2%.

In almost every region, the top 1% was wealthier than the bottom 90% combined, the report found, with wealth inequality increasing rapidly around the world.

“The result is a world in which a tiny minority commands unprecedented financial power, while billions remain excluded from even basic economic stability,” the authors, led by Ricardo Gómez-Carrera of the Paris School of Economics, wrote.

The share of global wealth held by the top 0.001% has grown from almost 4% in 1995 to more than 6%, the report said, while the wealth of multimillionaires had increased by about 8% annually since the 1990s – nearly twice the rate of the bottom 50%.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2025/dec/10/just-0001-hold-three-times-the-wealth-of-poorest-half-of-humanity-report-finds

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Dear America- American leadership has been opting to waste billions and now trillions of our tax money on war, all for what?

Palestinian Christians celebrating Holy Saturday in Gaza City Holy Family Catholic Church April 4, 2026

4/5/2026 Easter day letter I just sent to my elected leaders

Dear America,

Money can be used for good, or for evil.

American leadership has been opting to waste billions and now trillions of our tax money on war, all for what?

No one wins modern war. Stealing life or land or resources from others is WRONG, and always will be.

War is a win for all the worst in this world: A win for cruelty & violence. A win for death & destruction. A win for thievery & lies. A win for toxic thought & dangerous propaganda. A win for greed & corruption. A win for racist hate & revenge. A win for planting & perpetuating terrorism. A win for pollution & escalating poverty.

FYI WAR is evil.

Stealing American workers' Social Security in order to fund nefarious projects is also evil and wrong. For decades workers have been overworked & underpaid, all so that greedy CEOs can jet set to parties and bribe our elected officials. Many workers count on Social Security and Medicare for when they are no longer able to work. Our country's highest priority should be to make sure that the stolen social security funds are returned.

We should be investing in infrastructure and people needs here AND globally- not war, and certainly not Israel. Israel, armed with American money and weaponry, has been attacking its neighbors for decades, demolishing homes, destroying commerce and jobs, and creating a massive refugee crisis- in addition to many murders. Israeli torture, both physical and psychological, is widespread, and so are Israeli lies and propaganda.

Yes Virginia, Israel has a right to exist- Israel also has a right to change its name to Mecca or Magical Land of Pink Unicorns if that is what all its citizens (including refugees in forced exile) prefer... However, Israel has no right to steal land and resources from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran... etc... and America.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

A strategy ‘to make life intolerable’: Israeli settlers are driving Christians out of West Bank. The Taybeh community has survived crusaders and the Ottoman and British empires, but the latest attacks leave its future in question

"We may speak thousands of languages, but we all call this planet home. No matter where we come from, protecting our Earth is a shared responsibility. We need more ambitious #ClimateAction — for our planet and the generations to come."

Over 100 US legal experts condemn strikes on Iran as possible ‘war crimes’ : United States-based scholars sign open letter raising concerns about conduct, rhetoric during US-Israeli war on Iran.

Death, displacement and military duties: children plunged into crisis by Middle East war. The US-Israeli war will have a lifelong impact on millions of children across the Middle East

What Would Jesus Say to a Zionist Christian? ... (umkahlil wrote this in 2009, and it is just as applicable today.)

Palestinian Thoub - Rome Thoubs Exhibition 2026 The cross-point of Palestinian identities

This Week in Palestine- Digital Horizons: Entrepreneurship and Economic Resilience

1935, Tiberias, Palestine 🇵🇸 Fishermen fixing their nets.

"In order for me to write poetry that isn't political I must listen to the birds and in order to hear the birds the warplanes must be silent" Marwan Makhoul

This year marks 50 years of honoring Land Day — a commemoration of the Palestinian ongoing struggle against the Israeli government's theft of Palestinian land. "With immense grief and rage at the horrors the Israeli military is committing in Gaza and the occupied West Bank right now, we recognize Palestinians’ deep roots in their land as we support the struggle for Palestinian freedom. We honor the steadfastness and resilience of those who have resisted land theft by the Israeli government, military, and Israeli settlers." Jewish Voice for Peace

"This moment in Jerusalem feels heavy in a way that is hard to fully grasp. The Old City stands closed under the Israeli occupation, its narrow streets unusually silent, and for the first time in modern history, both Al Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have been shut for such a prolonged period. Places that have always been alive with prayer, footsteps, and quiet devotion now feel distant, almost unreachable. For many, it is not just about restricted access, but about a deeper sense of separation from something sacred and rooted in identity. And still, people hold on, to faith, to memory, to the belief that these doors will open again, and that the life and spirit of Jerusalem will return to what it has always been." Palestinian Artist Sliman Mansour

Pope Leo XIV: Planes should bring peace, not war and destruction ...Pope Leo XIV thanks the Italian national airline ITA Airways for carrying the Pope on his Apostolic Journeys, and laments the use of aircraft as carriers of death and destruction in theaters of war.

"On the International Day for the Right to Truth about Human Rights Abuses, we honour victims and human rights defenders who break the silence and uncover the facts." Volker Türk, United Nations Human Rights

"The parallels between the Germany of the 1930s and the United States of America today are frightening." A Holocaust teacher’s warning: Will ‘good Americans’ speak up this time? | PennLive letters

Trump’s Iran ‘talks’: a war, a pause – and a distraction... The US president claims progress in talks with Iran, but uncertainty persists. Meanwhile, Israel advances West Bank annexation under cover of a crisis

Trump’s sanctions against a UN human rights expert show free speech is dying: Francesca Albanese recommended ICC arrests and investigations over Gaza. Who will be the administration’s next target?

"One Gulf diplomat, who has direct knowledge of the talks and is furious with Witkoff and Kushner’s behaviour, described the pair as “Israeli assets that had conspired to force the US president into entering a war from which he is now desperate to get himself out of”."

Israeli settlers carry out series of West Bank attacks as security forces stand by

Witnesses describe coordinated raids in which homes and vehicles were set on fire and several Palestinians injured

"An entire Economist article on famine in Gaza doesn’t say the word “Israel” once. Not even when describing damage to farmland and water facilities or severely restricted aid deliveries. Saying who is destroying the farmland and restricting aid seems like basic info to include." Assal Rad

"Church leaders argue that invoking Christian identity while directing military actions that have killed thousands amounted to a political use of the faith, reducing Christianity to a public‑relations tool rather than a moral framework. It is this stark contrast between rhetoric and lived reality that fueled widespread anger among Christian leaders in Jerusalem and beyond."

“It’s time for the force of the law to prevail over the law of the force. It’s time for diplomacy to prevail over war.” Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of The United Nations

A UN expert claimed Israel was systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale "that suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent", in a report released to media on Friday.

Israel has crushed Unrwa in Gaza – and the rest of the world has done nothing " I bow out of my role for the organisation at a perilous time for the international law. There are consequences not just for Palestinians, but the wider Middle East" -Philippe Lazzarini

On top of all that, official Washington is disregarding decency, a minimal need for a sustainable society, and playing footsy with the truth. An example of action devoid of decency is having fun promoting the war on social media. The White House, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command posted videos mixing actual war scenes with clips from violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” and blues artist John Lee Hooker’s song “Boom Boom” (opening lyric: “Boom, boom, boom, boom. I’m gonna shoot you right down.”)" - John Baer in The Patriot News

In 1945, 50 nations came together in San Francisco to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights- the United Nations

Israel’s settlement expansion drives mass displacement in West Bank [Palestine] – United Nations report 17 March 2026

Israel is using the ongoing war to intensify multi-layered violations against Palestinians during Ramadan and Easter. Al-Aqsa stands empty. The Holy Sepulchre is sealed for the first time in history. Demolitions, settler attacks, and movement restrictions are surging.

Joe Kent, Trump's counterterrorism chief, resigns, blaming members of the media, as well as high-ranking Israeli officials and lobbyists, for prompting Trump to abandon his America First agenda.

Trump’s Iran war has cost Americans at least $11bn already. And that’s just the start- That $11.3bn doesn’t include any estimate of repairing facilities or replacing losses.- Arwa Mahdawi

Dear America- Centuries before America's Declaration of Independence in 1776 (and our subsequent Bill of Rights)- in 1095 the First Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Urban II— with a call to arms for Christians to reconquer Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Please stop funding and fueling Israel's wars and the ongoing destruction of historic Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria... and Iran.

War and terrorism are for tyrants, not for freedom or justice. Bully tactics teach all the wrong lessons.

Billionaires want Ballrooms. The rest of us want clean water; safe neighborhoods; good schools, libraries, & museums; National Parks; playgrounds; PBS; good job opportunities for ourselves and our children; affordable heath-care; AND PEACE.

Funding and arming terrorism and violence is evil and wrong: America should not be funding, arming, defending, or trusting today's Israel in any way, shape or form.

A barbaric new era has already begun as Americans are duped into being wage slaves for billionaires who have no respect for basic human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

Golden Rule Thinking IS GOOD

Our land and resources are being gobbled up for AI data centers for what purpose? Is it for the greater good of tax paying citizens- or is it to feed the greed of corporations and companies that already use our data to charge us as much as they can at every turn.

Real freedom, justice, and democracy are being embezzled by corporate greed and political corruption to empower Israel and war.

"ISRAEL SAYS" is not God talking.

Israel has a right to exist, but Israel has no right to starve and displace the men, women and children of historic Palestine.

The vast majority of Americans are not wealthy & the taxes that We The People pay are being diverted into funding religious bigotry and terror via Israel's cruel war on the native non-Jewish men, women, and children of historic Palestine. HAMAS cruelty and stupidity echoes Zionist cruelty and stupidity and on and on it goes. Neither approach will build peace or security.

The weapons industry and a global war machine- AND INJUSTICE- burgeon with American tax payer funds.

Violence is a problem- not the answer.

"The United Nations is the only place on Earth where all the world's nations come together to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. This intergovernmental organization born out of the ashes of the Second World War remains indispensable to the pursuit of world peace, justice, equality and sustainable development" https://www.un.org/en/

The right of refugees to return to homes and lands they were expelled from is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties. https://imeu.org/resources/resources/fact-sheet-palestinian-refugees-the-right-of-return-under-international-law/441

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..." https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

DEAR AMERICA

Friday, February 20, 2026

Billionaires want Ballrooms. The rest of us want clean water; safe neighborhoods; good schools, libraries, & museums; National Parks; playgrounds; PBS; good job opportunities for ourselves and our children; affordable heath-care; AND PEACE.

Political cartoon from 1906, by artist William Balfour Ker

letter I just wrote & sent to my elected leaders

Dear America,

This month, so far, saw snow and bitter cold ending & Ramadan and Lent beginning & Aloka the Peace Dog arrive in Washington Dc with the Buddhist Monks walking for peace.

Winter is ending, flowers will soon start to bloom- will the flowers be blooming be on America's grave? I hope not.

This month, so far, also saw church leaders highlighting threats "to Christian heritage by Israeli authorities: financial pressure, municipal taxes, restrictions on freedom of movement for worshipers, settler violence, takeover of Church lands, hate crimes, and barriers for West Bank teachers reaching Christian schools in East Jerusalem."

Many Americans can't afford health care, home heating bills, or eating out, but our elected leaders keep opting to invest oodles of our hard earned tax dollars into a very foreign country called Israel and the military-industrial complex that has been aggressively polluting planet earth, exasperating racist hate & freely bombing babies and children in impoverished refugee camps.

PLUS the Trump Administration and its minions are doing all they can to undermine and destroy the United Nations, international law, and ICC International Criminal Court... Golly Gee I wonder why.

Meanwhile American battleships and troops are gearing up to bomb Iran.

American politicians and billionaire business owners (plus many a wanna be) have been borrowing vast sums of money to invest in building numerous land and energy gobbling data centers/hyperscalers that fuel AI delusions.

We need good jobs- real jobs- not AI... and certainly not war.

We need to be working with the international community before it shuts us out completely.

Billionaires want Ballrooms. The rest of us want clean water; safe neighborhoods; good schools, libraries, & museums; National Parks; playgrounds; PBS; good job opportunities for ourselves and our children; affordable heath-care; AND PEACE.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

'In Israel's eyes, we are terrorists' | In search of Palestine: episode 1 – video... In Search of Palestine

Saint Valentina was from Caesarea of Palestine... The ancient Latin name “Valentina” means “strong, vigorous and healthy.”

The Peace Walk “a powerful reminder that peace is practiced step by step. In a divided time, this is what it looks like to stand up for the best of who we are. Love demands endurance. Peace is strength.” MLKIII

Whether on a long road or a church stage, Aloka remains a steadfast support to the venerable monks, proving that peace is a journey shared by all beings...

Church leaders highlight threats to Christian heritage by Israeli authorities: financial pressure, municipal taxes (Arnona), restrictions on freedom of movement for worshippers, settler violence, takeover of Church lands, hate crimes, and barriers for West Bank teachers reaching Christian schools in East Jerusalem.

"Yesterday, I was honored to welcome the Buddhist monks to Washington National Cathedral, to learn from their example, and as Christians to recommit ourselves to the way of peace for all people. We are so grateful, so inspired, and so grateful that the monks are calling out the best in all of us as they make their pilgrimage among us. Their commitment to embody and bring peace to us all. Our response–across all that seems to divide us as a nation–reveals how united we are in our longing for peace, God willing, our readiness for peace. The monks, like all our spiritual masters of all faiths, including Jesus, remind us that true peace begins in the human heart, and in genuine peace offerings to those we love, the we struggle to love, and even those we would consider our adversaries." Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC, USA

Bishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna: Resolving the Palestinian issue is the key to peace....

Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans that pave the way for more settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory

Her father’s war grave in Gaza was bulldozed by Israel. Amid the grief and anger, she wants answers... " “They have no respect for the living, so why would they respect the dead?” Wilma says of the Israeli government."

Human Rights Watch researchers resign after report on Palestinian right of return blocked : The organization claims the report, which finds Israel’s denial of the right of return is a crime against humanity, is ‘paused pending further analysis and research’

‘A violation of our history’: Palestinian uproar over Israel’s plan to seize historic West Bank site- Residents of Sebastia say heritage project is pretext for massive land grab and expansion of Jewish settlements

US politics: After years spent documenting state terror, I know it when I see it. And I see it now in the US and Israel. It’s chilling to watch as Trump and Netanyahu adopt the methods of regimes their countries once condemned

"The true irony is, state terror does not make a state safer. When democratic states adopt the methods of tyrannies, they become weaker. Their global credibility frays. They sacrifice the legitimacy they once held that distinguishes them from the regimes they claim to oppose."