- Post author:dizzy
- Post published:7 November 2024
- Post category:Donald Trump/Joe Biden/Kamala Harris/Neo-liberalism/politics/Trump
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Palestinians will not be allowed to return to homes in northern Gaza, says IDF
Israeli ground forces are getting closer to “the complete evacuation” of northern Gaza and residents will not be allowed to return home, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said, in what appears to be the first official acknowledgment from Israel it is systematically removing Palestinians from the area.
In a media briefing on Tuesday night, the IDF Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that since troops had been forced to enter some areas twice, such as Jabaliya camp, “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes”.
He added that humanitarian aid would be allowed to “regularly” enter the south of the territory but not the north, since there are “no more civilians left”.
International humanitarian law experts have said that such actions would amount to the war crimes of forcible transfer and the use of food as a weapon.
The Israeli army and government have repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of northern Gaza to flee to the relative safety of the south during a month-long renewed offensive and tightened siege. Residents still clinging on in the north have said the new operation has created the worst conditions of the war to date. Israel said the push is necessary to combat regrouped Hamas cells.
Rights groups and aid agencies have alleged that despite the denials, Israel appears to be carrying out a version of the so-called “generals’ plan”, which proposes giving civilians a deadline to leave and then treating anyone who remains as a combatant.
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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/06/palestinians-will-not-be-allowed-to-return-to-homes-in-northern-gaza-says-idf
Progressives Say Trump Win Spotlights Rot of Political System ‘Bought and Paid for by Billionaires’
Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
(Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
“These monied interests are on the frontlines of destroying our democracy, taking away the power of voters through their unprecedented spending in elections,” said the executive director of Justice Democrats.
As progressives in the United States and around the world assessed the dire implications of Donald Trump’s victory and prepared to fight his coming administration, the advocacy group Justice Democrats said Wednesday that the Republican’s win is a devastating indictment of a political system “bought and paid for by billionaires and corporations” committed only to accruing more wealth and power for themselves.
“These monied interests are on the frontlines of destroying our democracy, taking away the power of voters through their unprecedented spending in elections—while those in power refuse to stand up and fight back,” Alexandra Rojas, the executive director of Justice Democrats, said in a statement, condemning the leadership of both major parties as servants of corporate power.
“It’s time to end the era of career politicians and the corrupt campaign finance laws that keep them in power,” Rojas added.
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The 2024 contest was the most expensive in U.S. history, according to the watchdog organization OpenSecrets, which noted in an Election Day blog post that outside spending in the race reached a record-shattering $4.5 billion. More than half of that spending, OpenSecrets observed, came from “groups that do not fully disclose the source of their funding.”
Such dark money groups have proliferated widely since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which—along with other rulings and congressional inaction—allowed torrents of untraceable cash to flood the nation’s political system, warping and undermining the electoral process.
“It’s Citizens United’s world, we’re just living in it,” researcher Becca Lewis wrote Wednesday morning.
“As long as our party has cozied up with corporate CEOs, right-wing billionaires, and big money super PACs, everyday people in this country have seen Democrats’ populist platitudes as hypocrisy at best, and outright deceitful at worst.”
As OpenSecrets’ Tuesday analysis made clear, both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris—and their parties—benefited from massive sums of dark money and super PAC cash, as well as donations from billionaire families.
“Super PACs aligned with each major party’s leaders in the House and Senate have taken hundreds of millions of dollars from dark money groups funded by anonymous donors during the 2024 cycle,” the watchdog reported. “During the 2024 election cycle, the four main nonprofits aligned with Republicans and Democrats in Congress churned about $250 million from anonymous donors to allied super PACs. Senate Democrats’ flagship dark money group, Majority Forward, accounted for over $113.2 million of that, more than any prior election.”
Despite that massive influx of cash, Democrats lost control of the U.S. Senate after the GOP flipped seats in Ohio, Montana, and West Virginia—underscoring Justice Democrats’ call for a “new era” of Democrats “not beholden to corporations and billionaires.”
Rojas acknowledged Wednesday that “there are no easy answers for where we as a country and movement go from here” following such a decisive win for Trump and his far-right Republican Party, which has no interest in reforming the federal campaign finance system.
“But what is clear to us is that politically courageous leaders at the federal level are needed now more than ever,” she said, warning that the Democratic Party is “rapidly losing its legitimacy amongst the everyday people and marginalized communities continuously used as stepping stones to win elections.”
“For as long as our party has cozied up with corporate CEOs, right-wing billionaires, and big money super PACs,” Rojas added, “everyday people in this country have seen Democrats’ populist platitudes as hypocrisy at best, and outright deceitful at worst.”
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, argued Wednesday that the Democratic Party “needs institutional reform, a return to the principles of economic justice, and a commitment to prioritizing the needs of the working class and young voters.”
“We can no longer afford to be held hostage by the donor class,” said Geevarghese.
Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Starmer pledges support for Trump and capitalism
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-pledges-support-trump-and-capitalism
BRITAIN must unite with Donald Trump in support of freedom and capitalism, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said today.
Congratulating Mr Trump on his imminent return to the US presidency, Sir Keir said: “As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.”
The generous interpretation of Mr Trump’s outlook appeared to be an attempt by the government to efface the record of unflattering comments made about the president-elect by Labour figures, including Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Sir Keir was taunted by new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons over the fact that the Republican Party is suing the Labour Party over the dispatch of hundreds of activists to the US to assist Kamala Harris’s doomed campaign.
Sir Keir submitted himself to a meal with Mr Trump during a recent visit to New York, which by most accounts went rather well, details including the president-elect personally offering Mr Lammy second helpings. [!]
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Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths said: “In place of grovelling congratulations like those from Prime Minister Starmer, the so-called ‘centre-left’ should learn the lesson from recent US and EU election results: capitulating to big business market forces, racism, militarism and right-wing nationalism will end in their own defeat, sooner or later.”
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-pledges-support-trump-and-capitalism