Since deserting the ceasefire deal ten days ago to resume its genocidal campaign and takeover of Palestinian land, Israel has killed 896 Palestinians, bringing the death toll to 50,251, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. That’s 896 men, women, and children—nearly 2 percent of the total murdered since October 7, 2023—killed within a span of ten days, amid the most inhumane of conditions created by Israel and materially supported by the US. Humanitarian aid continues to be blocked, limited food and medicine are being deliberately targeted, while doctors are sounding the alarm on a monstrous pattern of children being treated for close-range gunshot wounds.

Overnight, Israel unleashed waves of heavy bombardment across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 400 Palestinians and injuring over 550 in their sleep—mostly women, children, and the elderly.

Israel's illegal blockade of the Gaza strip has entered its third week, continuing to deny entry of all food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies into the region. In case it needs spelling out, Palestinians, amid their decimated city, have been without food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies for three weeks. All the while, IDF soldiers continue to murder and maim Palestinian civilians and journalists in flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement and international law.

It bothers me when people call Trump voters “idiots”. More likely, they’re vile bigots. Or nasty xenophobes. Maybe they’re just poor. But they’re not idiots. I find the “idiot” label to be so wholly unproductive, dismissing both the person and quandary at large. Instead of looking at why or how right-wing leadership has literally gained momentum all over the world, the answer is simply written off as “this country is full of fucking idiots”. Idiots indeed.

Six weeks into his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump addressed Congress and the world at large, the whole shebang a display of American idiocy at its finest. Republicans were on their feet whooping “USA! USA! USA!” while Democrats remained seated, meaning to “disrupt” the chamber with their Barbie pink blazers, glittering brooches, and black and white ping pong paddles.

This past Saturday, March 1, Marco Rubio, invoking unspecified “emergency authorities”, bypassed congressional approval to send an additional 35,000 2,000-pound U.S. bombs to Israel, equating to $4 billion. Tack on the $8 billion that was approved in early February, and one wonders why (I mean, not really), in less than a month—during a supposed ceasefire—the U.S. government has armed Israel with $12 billion in weaponry, and (more importantly) what this means for Phase 2 of the three-pronged Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. Since the deal went into effect on January 19, Israel has flagrantly violated the agreement hundreds of times over, effectively continuing its siege on Gaza.

In 2025, I cannot think of a situation more straightforward or dire than Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. For Americans still wrestling over the “complexity” of the Palestinian plight, hindsight offers us examples of indisputable right vs. wrong, oppressed vs. oppressor, colonized vs. colonizer—chattel slavery, Native American genocide, South African apartheid, and the Holocaust immediately spring to mind. When looking back, we know these things to be wrong (well, hopefully you do). But what about this moment, when looking around at the here and now?

On October 7, 2023, I reposted a tweet to my instagram stories (because that’s how social media works these days) that said, "today is the best of days to see who is really on the side of liberation”. In the months that followed, I watched countless friends, acquaintances, artists, and celebrities—initially reluctant, timid, or apolitical—join the side of liberation. I was moved by their changed hearts and minds in the face of the media’s overwhelming bias and spread of disinformation.