Correct Thought: How to Disable Our Military & Kill the Best Parts of Our Educational System

 Food truck destined for Gaza

“There is no starvation in Gaza”

Pete being one of the macho miliary boys

Correct Thought: How to Disable Our Military & Kill the Best Parts of Our Educational System

Donald Trump’s and senior appointments are determined to so hamstring our military leaders and limit the highest fountains of innovation and creative excellence so as to consolidate absolute power in his hands while moving the United States into being a has-been international power. Even as Trump is now joining virtually the entire planet in condemning Israel’s denial of its obvious starvation tactics in Gaza… he is using “antisemitism” as an excuse to defund major universities where their vital research drives job-creating innovation and keeps their student bodies expansive. Simply put, criticizing Israel is now officially deemed to be actionable “antisemitism.”

Aside from the clear violation of the free speech mandates of the First Amendment, even our purportedly closest allies, such as the UK and most of Western Europe, have or are threatening to recognize Palestine as a separate state if Israel does not immediately stop destroying Gaza and its people and begin recognizing that universally accepted two-state solution. This is no way supports or condones Hamas or its vicious actions in any way. But for Donald Trump and his henchmen, Duke University is the latest victim in the administration’s attack on our nation’s greatest institutions of higher learning. Killing the “elites” to draw favor from his white Christian nationalist cadre of voters. Trump’s thought police are everywhere now.

Yet Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu – himself being prosecuted for bribery and needing a war to distract that ongoing trial – and his ultra-rightwing coalition, not only claim there is no starvation in Gaza but reaffirm that the elimination of Hamas is justified as to what an increasing number of global experts and even GOP members of Congress refer to as “genocide.” The annihilation of every vestige of Hamas is an absolute impossibility. It is an ideology that will persist regardless of Israeli efforts… and Netanyahu and his band of heinous leaders know that.

Writing for the July 30th Wall Street Journal, Lieber and Shayndi Raice describe why Israel remains unwilling to stop its carnage of Gaza, making demands that cause Hamas to cling to the remaining hostages as their only real leverage against Israel: “The violence and hunger have eroded Israel’s standing on the global stage. In the U.S. and Europe, large portions of the population have turned against the country. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday [7/29] that the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes ‘substantive steps; to end the war in Gaza, following a similar pledge by France.

“Inside Israel, polls show a majority of Israelis say it is time for the war to end, as they watch the number of Israeli troops and hostages killed in Gaza rise. Many exhausted Israeli soldiers agree… The strategic goals of the warring parties, however, seem nearly unbridgeable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking the complete surrender or elimination of Hamas. The one thing Hamas won’t give up—despite the loss of most of its senior leadership and fighting capabilities and the suffering of the people of Gaza—is its existence as an armed group fighting Israel. Until one side gives in, the war is likely to grind on.

“On Friday [7/25], after weeks of cease-fire talks in Doha, Qatar, and expressions of optimism from the White House that a deal was imminent, Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams. The talks, aimed at reaching a temporary cease-fire and the release of some of hostages, stalled amid familiar recriminations over which side was standing in the way of a deal… Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, said in an interview Saturday [7/26] night with Saudi news channel Al Arabiya that the group would continue to hold out for a deal that will lead to an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. In a speech on Sunday [7/27], Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s top negotiator, called on civilians in neighboring Arab countries to break into Gaza to bring food, and to invade Israel…

“Israel has a very small standing army and relies on reservists for most of its troops. They are exhausted from fighting on expanding fronts in one of the longest stretches of war in the nation’s history. Commanders say it is getting harder to recruit men for new fighting… ‘Every day people now are killed, and for what?’ said a reservist from the 98th commando division, who served in Gaza for months on end after Oct. 7. He has decided not to go back. He said the fighting endangers the lives of the hostages and that, in his view, it is impossible to completely destroy Hamas due to its use of guerrilla warfare… ‘It’s no longer a just war,’ he said.” As much as the Israeli insistence of its uncompromising position of “correct thought” vis-à-vis Hamas creates an endless unwinnable war, Trump’s DOD chief and unqualified lackey, former Fox New host Pete Hegseth is undermining and unraveling our extraordinary military in the same way.

After the discharge of some of our finest flag officers based on Hegseth’s thoroughly unsubstantiated accusations (most of “leaking” information to the press, something Hegseth himself has clearly done), Hegseth is reinventing the military as a macho (male!) body of blind Trump loyalists. Writing for the July 28th Politico, Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Felicia Schwartz, tell us: “A wide swath of Defense Department officials fear that new rules banning employees from participating at think tank and research events — a key way the Pentagon delivers its message and solicits feedback — will leave the military muzzled and further isolated from allies.

”The move, according to more than a dozen officials and think tank leaders, hampers the department’s ability to make its case both in Washington policy circles and to allies struggling to understand how they fit into President Donald Trump’s worldview. That’s particularly important now as the Pentagon assesses whether to end decades of U.S. policy and remove thousands of troops stationed abroad… ‘The DOD can’t tell its message,’ said Becca Wasser, a former Army official, now a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a national security think tank. ‘They can’t tell the critical points they want the general public to know. This is essentially shooting themselves in the foot.’

“The Pentagon said it made the move to avoid lending the department’s name to organizations and events that run counter to Trump’s values. But it caused chaos throughout the department, according to the officials, who like others, were granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics. The decision came a week after Defense Department officials pulled out of the high-profile Aspen Security Forum citing ‘the evil of globalism.’

“The officials and experts warned cutting off employees’ access to such venues, which include major global conferences, gives the appearance of partisanship to the Pentagon, an institution intended as largely apolitical. The decision follows other seemingly political moves by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, including firing top generals and numerous admirals, and attacking the ‘left-wing’ media.” Trump’s deep dive into unthinking uniformity and mediocrity should scare us all.

I’m Peter Dekom, and fabricating governing concepts and prioritizing macho loyalty above all else does not make this country stronger or economically stronger; it produces precisely the opposite result.