In early March 2020, I was privileged to join a ten-person medical delegation to Gaza organized by the Washington state chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Several among our group have long histories and deep personal ties with Gaza, which has been subjected to a harsh Israeli blockade for fourteen years. The staff of our host organization, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, worked tirelessly to tailor our daily schedules to our specialties and interests. We were provided with personal interpreters and transportation. In my capacity as a medical physicist, I visited six hospitals, where I left behind textbooks and electronic files of my medical imaging teaching materials. I met and spoke with hospital administrators, medical directors, radiologists, radiology technologists, and other medical professionals. read more

On 3 December, 1963, the African American minister and religious thinker, Howard Thurman (1899–1981) and his wife, Sue Bailey Thurman (1903–1993) arrived in Israel for a stay of several weeks. They had wanted to visit Israel during a previous, round-the-world trip, in 1960, when they visited Lebanon—where he had talks with Palestinian refugees—and Egypt, but the ongoing Arab boycott had made this impossible. They arrived in Israel after an extended stay in Nigeria, where Howard Thurman had been teaching at the University of Ibadan. read more

White Supremacists came to Washington in broad daylight, rioting in the Capitol at Trump’s instigation. The country watched, terrified and helpless. We saw smashed glass, the destruction of the people’s property, the terrorizing of those who were there to work and heard cries for help that did not come. Trump refused to stop the insurrection, enjoying the sight of a mob acting out his/their rage.

We have known that white supremacists have been part of our history, and solidified into endemic racism. Yet we chose to avert eyes. Last Wednesday we were forced as a nation to confront our truth as white supremacists came to the Hill with fascist ideologies using violence and terror tactics. 147 House Republicans who refused to confirm the people’s vote infused the rioters’ shouts of “stolen election.” Senators Hawley and Cruz supported the lie, and an autocratic unhinged president told the mob, “We love you, you’re very special.” read more

The rioters entered fearlessly, looking straight into cameras as they destroyed and desecrated a people’s building. Urged and fired-up, by an unhinged Trump they stormed the Capitol building, smashing doors and windows and terrorizing those who were there to confirm the people’s presidential vote.

They were as unafraid and arrogant as the policeman with his knee on the neck of George Floyd looking calmly into the camera. No one stopped the murder of George Floyd. No one stopped the hooligans in the Capitol. To the contrary, some Capitol police took pictures with the smirking rioters. In Minneapolis we witnessed brutal power terrorizing Black people, in Washington we saw with our own eyes how White Supremacists pushed and shoved law officers with impunity. read more

Let us stipulate that Donald Trump has not started a war that has killed 50 million people, and has not tried to systematically murder any ethnic or religious group. Other than that, let the Hitler analogies fly. A man who came to political prominence solely by promoting vicious, racist lies. A man whose “talent” if you want to call it that is his ability to tap into the anger and rage of his followers, exclusively cultivating the worse devils of our nature. And if Hitler, is obviously, the worst chancellor in German history, from Bismarck to Merkel, by some exceptional exponential magnitude, the same can be said about Trump among his presidential peers, let us say, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Andrew Johnson. They were terrible politicians, who failed the United States at a critical hour in its history. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is simply a monster. And yesterday’s events were an absolute nadir. We make comparisons to Hitler because he is the best-known example of a legally elected head of a democratic government who systematically destroyed his country’s democracy.   Donald Trump never had any intention of leaving the presidency voluntarily. He will have to be pried out, excavated and dynamited out. read more

Our country and the world are watching, fearfully and stunned, the attack of pro-Trump supporters invading the Capitol building. Today, January 6, 2021 a wild crowd following Trump’s unhinged call earlier to “Stop the Steal” invaded the building where top political leaders of this country have gathered today. Lawmakers have gathered in a joint session to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. The terrifying mob streamed into the building threatening the joint session of Congress including the Vice President, the Speaker and the leaders of the Senate. The mob endangered  lives and democracy. read more

It was a jarring moment when Amy Coney Barret refused to answer questions about climate change in her confirmation hearings for the position of Supreme Court Justice. She said “I am certainly not a scientist” and that “my views on global warming or climate change are not relevant to the job I would do as a judge”. Ms. Barrett added that she could not respond to questions because it was “too politically controversial.”

As I listened to her responses, I thought of how Supreme Court decisions both horrific and enlightened have had a profound impact on real people. Supreme Court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education and Obergefell v. Hodges have expanded individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Other decisions, such as Dred Scott v. Sanford or Korematsu v. U.S. have contracted people’s liberty. read more