Daily Archives: 1 March 2024

As Outrage Over Gaza Grows, Biden Hides From Protests Amid High-Stakes Election

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Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Members of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace join others in protesting President Joe Biden’s visit to New York due to his continued support for Israel on February 7, 2024.  (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“A Democratic campaign that is scared of college campuses is not a campaign that can win given today’s coalitions,” said one journalist.

Public opposition to U.S. President Joe Biden’s support for Israel pushed more than 100,000 primary voters in the key state of Michigan this week to vote “uncommitted” instead of backing him, but while the Biden campaign brushed the protest votes off with promises to “listen to what folks’ concerns are,” the president is reportedly intent on avoiding contact with pro-Palestinian constituents as much as possible.

As NBC News reported Friday, Biden’s campaign is considering hiring a private firm to vet attendees of a major upcoming fundraiser in New York in order to “weed out potential protesters.”

The fundraiser is one of several campaign events that the Biden team has planned with a new level of secrecy following protests that disrupted speeches he gave earlier this year.

According to NBC, the event will likely be held at Radio City Music Hall, but the campaign hasn’t confirmed the location and has only publicized the date—March 28.

The campaign also kept the location of Biden’s recent event in Culver City, California under wraps beforehand, and Biden opted to announced a $1.2 billion student loan forgiveness program in front of a small group at a public library there instead of speaking about the issue at a college campus.

Campuses are among the places that have become hotbeds of pro-Palestinian activism in recent months, but Intercept journalist Ryan Grim said that avoiding the youngest voters—who helped secure Biden’s victory in 2020—is no way for the president to win in November.

“To avoid protests against Biden’s support for Israel’s carnage in Gaza, the Biden campaign is among other things avoiding college campuses. Yes, you read that right: HE’S AVOIDING YOUNG PEOPLE. He is literally hiding from his base,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

The campaign told NBC News that “larger-scale events” are planned in the coming weeks, “including on college campuses,” but critics on social media said the report raises larger concerns about the president’s ability to gather the support he needs as the U.S. continues to shield Israel from accountability for its indiscriminate killing of more than 30,000 people in Gaza in less than five months.

“Having a foreign policy so unpopular that you must avoid large crowds is definitely totally fine and not a problem for a presidential candidate,” Beth Miller, political director for Jewish Voice for Peace, said sarcastically.

While Biden has faced fewer protests at events in the past five weeks, since the campaign implemented the new strategy after demonstrators disrupted a speech he gave on abortion rights in Virginia several times, one ally of the president told NBC that the secrecy and smaller events are a risk he is taking.

“The downside is that means he doesn’t reach as many voters,” the person told NBC. “The point is to reach as many voters as you can, and those small events don’t.”

The campaign’s strategy is the latest sign that Biden’s “Israel stubbornness continues to trump even his seeming top goal: reelection,” said HuffPost senior diplomatic correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed.

The report came a day after journalist Mehdi Hasan appeared on CNN and expressed shock that Biden has continued to support Israel despite mounting evidence not only that the country is targeting civilians instead of Hamas, but also that the issue is increasingly a political liability for him, with more than three-quarters of Democrats calling for a permanent cease-fire.

“Joe Biden has rightly said for the last few years that [former President] Donald Trump poses an existential threat to our democracy,” said Hasan. “The idea that he would risk not only his own presidency, but the future of American democracy for the sake of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and [National Security Minister] Itamar Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister] Bezalel Smotrich and the rest of the fascists in Israel is bizarre and inexplicable to me.”

Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

dizzy: Suggest that it is wise to have contingencies in place for neither Trump nor Biden being presidential candidates.

Continue ReadingAs Outrage Over Gaza Grows, Biden Hides From Protests Amid High-Stakes Election

Planet-Warming CO2 Emissions Surged to Record High in 2023: IEA

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Original article by THOR BENSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A sign reading “Stop, extreme heat danger” is seen in Death Valley National Park in California. (Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

“The clean energy transition has undergone a series of stress tests in the last five years—and it has demonstrated its resilience,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

Carbon emissions reached a record high in 2023, but the increased adoption of renewable energy is helping slow the pace, according to the International Energy Agency.

The IEA said in a new report that global CO2 emissions “increased by 410 million tonnes, or 1.1%, in 2023—compared with a rise of 490 million tonnes the year before—taking them to a record level of 37.4 billion tonnes.”

But the agency found that carbon emissions “rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before even as total energy demand growth accelerated… with continued expansion of solar PV, wind, nuclear power, and electric cars helping the world avoid greater use of fossil fuels.”

The report notes that “exceptional droughts” decreased the amount of hydropower that could be produced last year. Demand for coal fell to “levels not seen since the early 1900s.” It says CO2 emissions would have been three times larger had renewable energy not been utilized to generate electricity.

An IEA report from September found that rapid adoption of clean energy technologies could keep the world from surpassing the 1.5°C warming target. The Energy Information Administration forecast in December that 2024 could become the first year that wind and solar power generate more electricity than coal in the U.S.

The world will need to adopt a lot more renewable energy to address the climate crisis. Last month was most likely the warmest February on record, and records like that are being set every year. The more countries burn fossil fuels, the higher the temperatures will go.

“The clean energy transition has undergone a series of stress tests in the last five years—and it has demonstrated its resilience,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “A pandemic, an energy crisis and geopolitical instability all had the potential to derail efforts to build cleaner and more secure energy systems. Instead, we’ve seen the opposite in many economies.”

Original article by THOR BENSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Continue ReadingPlanet-Warming CO2 Emissions Surged to Record High in 2023: IEA

Braverman’s consultation on anti-protest laws was ‘only open to police’

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Original article by Anita Mureithi republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Liberty’s lawyers say police feedback was ‘directly incorporated into the final text’ of Braverman’s anti-protest laws  | Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images

High Court told government only sought feedback from people it knew would agree with its controversial changes

Only police were consulted on anti-protest laws before they were forced through by the UK government, according to human rights lawyers suing the home secretary.

Campaign group Liberty has been in court this week challenging James Cleverly over amendments to the Public Order Act that were pushed through by his predecessor, Suella Braverman, last year.

Liberty was given permission to take legal action against Braverman in October after she used secondary legislation – subject to less parliamentary scrutiny – to strengthen police powers to shut down protests that cause “more than minor disruption to the life of the community”.

The group says Braverman’s actions amounted to a “serious overreach” and that she acted unlawfully because the changes to the law had already been rejected in the House of Lords.

And Liberty has labelled a consultation on the proposed laws in 2022 as “one-sided” and “unfair” – because the Home Office only consulted police. The government gave the Met, Staffordshire Police, Essex Police, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and the College of Policing opportunities to give their views on the legislation, but did not seek input from anyone who might be impacted by the laws.

Liberty argued: “The [home secretary] voluntarily embarked upon a process of consultation about the contents and drafting of the regulations but then only consulted a narrow group of stakeholders in support of the amendments rather than an even-handed group representative of all those whose interests may be adversely impacted.”

Its lawyers also say police feedback was “directly incorporated into the final text” of the amendments to the Public Order Act, including on the definition of “serious disruption to the life of the community”.

The new powers have been criticised by Liberty and other human rights groups due to the vagueness of the new language, which campaigners say allows police to shut down almost any protests. The changes forced through by Braverman mean officers can interfere with and arrest anyone taking part in protests that they believe will cause “more than minor disruption to the life of the community”.

Police feedback on “cumulative disruption” was also included in the final amendments to the act. Under this law, officers must take into account all “relevant cumulative disruption”, regardless of whether or not your protest is related to any other protest or disruption in the same area. Before this amendment, there was no explicit requirement for police to consider this.

While the government held multiple meetings with police representatives in December 2022 to seek input and “refine policy”, Liberty argues that the fact that no rights groups or members of the public were consulted is rooted in “procedural unfairness” and that the changes must be reversed.

Katy Watts, Liberty’s lawyer leading the case said: “The government has shown it’s determined to put itself above the law, avoid scrutiny and become untouchable – so it’s no surprise it only consulted people it knew would agree with its new law.

“Our democracy exists to make sure a government can’t just do whatever it wants, and an important part of that is consulting a wide range of voices on new laws – especially those likely to raise reasonable concerns. This improves government decision making and helps to make our laws better. The government’s failure to do this is just one of the ways it acted unlawfully when it forced these powers though.”

The laws were initially brought in to clamp down on protests by climate activist groups like Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain, and Extinction Rebellion, but other protesters are now also being targeted.

The government has accused pro-Palestine protesters of “hijacking legitimate protests”, “shouting down and coercing elected representatives”, and has also called them “un-British” and “undemocratic”.

In a new ‘defending democracy policing protocol’ released this week, the government pledged £31m of additional funding to protect MPs after safety fears were raised.

The Home Office said it wants to “protect the democratic process from intimidation” but according to its own policy paper, only met with police representatives from the National Police Chiefs Council, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, and the College of Policing.

The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment.

The two-day hearing ended yesterday and Liberty’s lawyers expect a decision could take up to three months.

Original article by Anita Mureithi republished from OpenDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

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Protest isn’t harassment, says group suing UK government over law change

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Continue ReadingBraverman’s consultation on anti-protest laws was ‘only open to police’

Judge Disqualifies Trump From Illinois Ballot, Citing Jan 6 Role

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Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to supporters near the White House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)  (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

The decision comes ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Colorado challenge to the 2024 GOP front-runner’s candidacy based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.

An Illinois judge ruled Wednesday that former U.S. President Donald Trump cannot appear on the state’s presidential primary and general election ballots because of his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Judge Tracie Porter of the State Circuit Court in Cook County sided with Illinois voters who asserted that Trump—the 2024 GOP front-runner—must be disqualified from Illinois’ March 19 primary and November 5 general election ballots due to his violation of the 14th Amendment’s so-called “insurrection clause.”

Porter, a Democrat, placed a stay on her ruling if Trump appeals by Thursday, or if the U.S. Supreme Court issues a highly anticipated ruling in a Colorado case involving a 14th Amendment challenge.

“This is a historic victory,” said Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, the co-lead counsel in the case. “Every court or official that has addressed the merits of Trump’s constitutional eligibility has found that he engaged in insurrection after taking the oath of office and is therefore disqualified from the presidency.”

Enacted after the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars from public office any “officer of the United States” who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution but then participates in an insurrection or rebellion against the country. The text does not require a criminal conviction for the clause to apply.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Caryn Lederer called the ruling “a critical decision that is adding to decisions in Colorado and Maine on this point.”

Last month, a Maine judge deferred a ruling on yet another insurrection clause challenge, citing the Supreme Court’s Colorado case.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, said that “today, an activist Democrat judge in Illinois summarily overruled the state’s Board of Elections and contradicted earlier decisions from dozens of other state and federal jurisdictions.”

“This is an unconstitutional ruling that we will quickly appeal,” he added.

According to The New York Times, courts in at least 18 states have dismissed or rejected efforts to exclude Trump from the ballot on 14th Amendment grounds, while unresolved challenges remain in 15 states.

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingJudge Disqualifies Trump From Illinois Ballot, Citing Jan 6 Role

‘They took our home, our land, everything’: Palestinians displaced by illegal settlers tell their stories

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/01/they-took-our-home-our-land-everything-palestinians-displaced-by-settlers-tell-their-stories

Azam Nawajeh, 62, said one of the Israeli settlers now sanctioned by the UK had blocked roads to his village compound, uprooted trees and destroyed water cisterns. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

As the UK, US and France impose sanctions on ‘extremist Israeli settlers’, Palestinians face assault by gun, bulldozer and attack dog

Salah Abu Awad says he is haunted by memories of the night he was woken up by Israeli settlers who burst into his home and threatened him at gunpoint.

It was one of the many attacks that forced the 28-year-old shepherd and his family to dismantle their homes and abandon their land in the village of Widada in the occupied West Bank’s south Hebron hills.

Abu Awad said he identified the intruders in a police complaint as Ely Federman and Yinon Levy, from the nearby unauthorised outpost of Meitarim Farm.

This month, the UK imposed sanctions on Levy and Federman and two other “extremist Israeli settlers” accused of “egregious abuses of human rights” against Palestinians.

“I hope the sanctions mean something,” said Abu Awad as he grazed his animals on a rocky, windswept hill. “We have suffered a lot from Yinon and Ely. They have confronted me many times, tried to steal my sheep, and ransacked my home.”

…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/01/they-took-our-home-our-land-everything-palestinians-displaced-by-settlers-tell-their-stories

Continue Reading‘They took our home, our land, everything’: Palestinians displaced by illegal settlers tell their stories