Mikey Likes It!: 2024-07-14

Friday, July 19, 2024

Idiot of the Week

First up, BURN IT DOWN WITH KIM BROWN.

It's so good to have a new BURN IT DOWN WITH KIM BROWN.

I've been planning to write for about three hours. I keep hoping that Joe Biden's going to announce that he's stepping aside. Nothing

But there is news.

Scott Wong, Ali Vitali and Rebecca Kaplan (NBC NEWS) report:

More than a dozen congressional Democrats on Friday joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling on President Joe Biden to step aside as the party’s nominee, bringing the total number of Capitol Hill Democrats who want someone else at the top of the ticket to 35.

The new detractors include close allies of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as well as a fourth senator.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is running for re-election in Ohio this fall, became the fourth Senate Democrat to call on Biden to leave the race, joining Sens. Peter Welch of Vermont, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Jon Tester, who is facing a tough re-election bid in Montana.

The latest announcements in the House come from some of the president’s core constituencies of support. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, became the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus — whose leaders campaigned with Biden this week in Nevada — to call on Biden to bow out.

In a joint statement, Veasey and three other House Democrats — Rep. Jared Huffman, of California; Chuy Garcia, of Illinois; and Mark Pocan, of Wisconsin — praised Biden’s decades of public service but said that it is now time for the 81-year-old president to “pass the torch” to give Democrats the best chance of beating Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.

Joe needs to go. He's harming us by not stepping aside and he's not the only one harming the party.

Idiot of the Week? I'm going with a politician.

Jon Queally (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out Sunday night against an unnamed "senior House Democrat" who said party leadership had already come to terms with the idea, following the weekend assassination attempt against Donald Trump, of the far-right former Republican president winning back the White House in November.

Responding to Axiosreporting in which the lawmaker, provided anonymity by the outlet, was quoted as saying, "We've all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency," Ocasio-Cortez said, "If you're a 'senior Democrat' that feels this way, you should absolutely retire and make space for true leadership that refuses to resign themselves to fascism."

"This kind of leadership is functionally useless to the American people," she added. "Retire."

You know who needs to retire? Stupid people like AOC. She's the one who is encouraging fascism by refusing to call for Joe Biden to step aside. She's the one dooming the party, dooming the country and dooming the world.

She's an idiot. She's a Fraud Squad of one doing nothing and standing for nothing. What is AOC? An overly painted fake ass. It's like her new Supreme Court effort. It's going to go nowhere and she knows that. She also could have done it last year. But we're months away from election so she wants to pretend like she's been working. Fake ass.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, July 19, 2024. The GOP wraps up Hate Week in Wisconsin, the world watches to see what Joe Biden will do, Amnesty International decries the treatment of detained Palestinians, and more.

The GOP ended their week-long hate rally last night with Donald Trump delivering a speech . . .

. . . and, yes, he still had the maxi pad on the side of his head. No word on whether the rumors are true that he also plugged his anus with a tampon. Careful, Donald, toxic shock syndrome is real and can effect men as well.

There he was last night, raging around onstage, seeking attention, like when he used prance around in mommy's heels while Fred raged at him to "act like a man!" (true story, by the way, not just a joke, Fred would sneer "little fancy" at him).

At COMMON DREAMS, Jake Johnson reports:

The former president who sparked a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol less than four years ago took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee Thursday night claiming to desire an end to the "discord and division in our society."

But Donald Trump's record, rhetoric throughout the 2024 campaign, insidious plans for a second term, and remarks as he accepted his party's presidential nomination give the lie to his fleeting attempt to posture as a unifying figure, critics said in the wake of the former president's speech, which came days after an attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.

"What we witnessed tonight were just empty words," said Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America. "This is the same twice-impeached, convicted felon who botched the Covid response, repeatedly tried to take healthcare away from millions of Americans, incited an insurrection to cling to power after voters rejected him, and to this day brags about appointing the justices that 'killed' Roe v. Wade."

"Let's be clear—Trump hasn't changed. He's only gotten more extreme," Harvey added. "If elected, he will enact the radical Project 2025 plan that allows employers to stop paying overtime, takes away health protections for preexisting conditions, and lets the government monitor Americans' pregnancies to potentially prosecute them if they miscarry. The damage of a second Trump term won't just last for four years. Trump would appoint more MAGA justices to the Supreme Court who will continue eroding our freedoms for decades. We must vote this November to keep Trump out of the Oval Office and protect our democracy and fundamental freedoms."

Not long after pledging to "be president for all of America, not half of America," Trump reverted to well-worn falsehoods about his 2020 election defeat, claiming that the Democratic Party "used Covid to cheat."

That was Donald, ending the week on a hate note. It was the week that the country met Miss Scarlet Natchez -- Matt Gaetz's drag name. Daniel Villarreal (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

During his speech, numerous web commenters noted that Gaetz’s face seemed different from its previous appearances. Some commenters blamed Botox, a toxin used as a cosmetic product to tighten face muscles. Others claimed he had undergone plastic surgery or was experimenting with becoming a drag queen.

As mentioned earlier, Rep. Orden posted a pic of Gaetz during his speech on X and joked that the RNC had debuted the “first AI powered inflatable sex doll to speak at a national convention.”

Miss Scarlet Natchez fit right in with the GOP's attempt to turn Milwaukee into Jonestown but with a splash more of crazy. Bill Lueders (THE PROGRESSIVE) reports:

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him,” Haley told the gathering. “Take it from me. I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more often than we disagree.” Earlier this year, Haley said it would be “like suicide for our country” were Trump to again be the Republican presidential nominee. She also called Trump “unhinged,” saying he is “more diminished than he was” and “is now saying things that don’t make sense.”

Cruz began his remarks with a proclamation: “God bless Donald J. Trump.” This is a guy who once stood up, ever so slightly, to Trump, declining to urge others to vote for him in 2016 after Trump had insulted Cruz’s wife and suggested his father helped kill JFK. DeSantis—who during the primary campaign also attested to Trump’s diminished capacity, saying “He’s lost the zip on his fastball”—also fell in line, referring to Trump in near-messianic terms: “Donald Trump has been demonized, he’s been sued, he’s been prosecuted, and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down, and we cannot let America down.”

DeSantis devoted the heart of his speech to recounting horrific instances in which “illegal immigrants” have committed heinous crimes, making it sound as though they were both common and deliberate, which they are not. But the Republicans are now all singing from the same hymnal, accusing Democrats of purposely seeking to destroy the country—a ridiculous assertion that no one would be asking had this not originated from the twisted worldview of Donald Trump.

Not all of Donald's deranged base could make it to Milwaukee. Such as the Nevada judge who loves Donald but apparently loves stealing from the families of dead police officers even more. Trina noted last night:

Need some more disgusting news? Or news about disgusting people? Michele Fiore. Who? Wikipedia:

Michele Ann Fiore (born July 29, 1970) is an American Republican politician serving as a justice of the peace for Nye County since being appointed to the position by the Nye County Commission in December 2022.

Biography[edit]

Fiore moved to Nye County in November 2022 after losing the race for Nevada State Treasurer in the 2022 election. She was a member of the Nevada Assembly from 2012 to 2016.^[1] Fiore, who represented much of northwestern Clark County, served two Assembly terms. On December 7, 2015, she confirmed that she would not seek reelection, and would instead enter the 2016 race for Nevada's 3rd congressional district in southern Clark County.^[2] On June 15, 2016, Fiore placed third in the primary, with 18% of the vote.^[3] She was elected to the Las Vegas City Council in 2017 and represented Ward 6.^[4] Fiore has been a high-profile supporter of Cliven Bundy and Donald Trump.^[4]^[5] She briefly ran in the Republican primary for the 2022 Nevada gubernatorial election before dropping out and winning the Republican nomination in the 2022 Nevada State Treasurer election, which she lost to Democratic nominee Zach Conine, 46.0% to 47.7%. She is currently the Nevada Republican Party national committeewoman responsible for fund-raising in the state.^[6]^[4]

Supporter of the jerk? So you know she's trash. Natalie Neysa Alund (USA Today) reports:

An ex Las Vegas councilwoman, former assembly member and current Nevada judge has been federally charged in connection with an alleged charity fraud scheme in which prosecutors say she pocketed more than $70,000 in donations intended to honor fallen officers.

Michele Fiore, 53, is charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.

According to the indictment handed down on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Fiore, who lives in the town of Pahrump, "solicited donations to build a statue honoring Las Vegas police officers" killed in the line of duty as a then-Las Vegas city councilwoman.

[. . .]

Fiore allegedly promised donors “100% of the contributions” would be used to create the statue, the indictment alleges.

But prosecutors said Fiore did not use the tens of thousands of dollars in charitable donations for the statue of the fallen officer and instead converted the money to her personal use.

"The donations were used to pay her political fundraising bills and rent and were transferred to family members, including to pay for her daughter’s wedding," officials wrote in the release.

As someone who has multiple brothers who are police officers (and a father whose a retired one), I find that disgusting and I hope that they throw the book at her. A fine is not enough. She needs to serve hard time. I agree with Ann that we tend to pretend crime in the streets is the worst when crime in the suites is just as bad. And to betray public trust when you're a public servant should come with an additional cost.

When Trump Land's not stealing from widows and orphans, they like to pretend that they back the blue. Jeffrey St. Clair (COUNTERPUNCH) notes:

+ Tuesday was Back the Blue night at the GOP convention. It says something about the truly perverse psychological state of American politics that the RNC convention spent last night heaping praise on law enforcement days after local police retreated from confronting the Trump shooter, while in Milwaukee out-of-town cops providing “security” for the RNC gunned down an unarmed black homeless veteran as a threat more than a mile from the convention.

+ Samuel Sharpe, a homeless Black veteran who was a regular at an encampment in downtown Milwaukee, was shot and killed by police today. Not by Milwaukee Police, but by a Columbus, Ohio police officer, in town to help police the RNC Convention, who shot Sharpe a mile from the convention. “Why are cops from Ohio way out here?” asked David Porter, a friend of Sharpe’s. “Had that been Milwaukee PD that man would be alive right now. I know that because they know him.”

+ As if to emphasize their indifference to the victims of the shooting, they’re having an AR-15 giveaway at the GOP convention…

+ Days after a 20-year-old tried to nail Trump with an AR-15, a federal appeals court ruled that Minnesota’s law requiring people to be at least 21 to carry a handgun in public is unconstitutional.

They used the week to lie and preach violence. It's an ugly America that they see. They came off like a dying breed, gasping for air and choking on their own bitterness.

Joe Biden could deliver a victory for the country by announcing he was stepping aside and passing the torch on to another generation. That's what leadership is, knowing when to step aside and let a new leader emerge. Today would be the ideal day for him to make such an announcement, it would end the 'sick COVICD Joe' coverage and the rah-rah for the RNC for the weekend and make the Democratic Party the number one story in the news cycle.

Gaza?

Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

The World Health Organisation has appealed to all parties in the Gaza war to "adhere to humanitarian and human rights laws at all times" after the deaths of medics and aid workers in the enclave, an official told The National on Friday.

"Health facilities, workers and patients must not be attacked nor used for military purposes, and the principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality are absolute and always apply," said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier.

Yesterday, Amnesty International issued the following press release:

Abusive Israeli law used to arbitrarily detain Palestinians from Gaza indefinitely without charge or trial
Unlawful Combatants Law legalizes incommunicado detention, enables enforced disappearance and must be repealed
Harrowing torture testimony from 27 former detainees, including a 14-year-old boy

Israeli authorities must end their indefinite incommunicado detention of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip, without charge or trial under the Unlawful Combatants law, in flagrant violation of international law, said Amnesty International.

The organization documented the cases of 27 Palestinian former detainees, including five women, 21 men and a 14-year-old boy, who were detained for periods of up to four and a half months without access to their lawyers or any contact with their families, in connection with this law. All those interviewed by Amnesty International said that during their incommunicado detention, which in some cases amounted to enforced disappearance, Israeli military, intelligence and police forces subjected them to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The Unlawful Combatants Law grants the Israeli military sweeping powers to detain anyone from Gaza that they suspect of engagement in hostilities against Israel or posing a threat to state security for indefinitely renewable periods without having to produce evidence to substantiate the claims.

“While international humanitarian law allows for the detention of individuals on imperative security grounds in situations of occupation, there must be safeguards to prevent indefinite or arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment. This law blatantly fails to provide these safeguards. It enables rampant torture and, in some circumstances, institutionalizes enforced disappearance,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Our documentation illustrates how the Israeli authorities are using the Unlawful Combatants Law to arbitrarily round up Palestinian civilians from Gaza and toss them into a virtual black hole for prolonged periods without producing any evidence that they pose a security threat and without minimum due process. Israeli authorities must immediately repeal this law and release those arbitrarily detained under it.”

Our documentation illustrates how the Israeli authorities are using the Unlawful Combatants Law to arbitrarily round up Palestinian civilians from Gaza and toss them into a virtual black hole for prolonged periods without producing any evidence that they pose a security threat and without minimum due process
Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Amnesty International is calling for all detainees held under the Unlawful Combatants Law, including suspected members of armed groups, to be treated humanely and given access to lawyers and international monitoring bodies such as the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC). Those suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law must be tried in line with international fair trial standards, while all civilians detained arbitrarily without charge or trial must be immediately released.

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) confirmed to the Israeli NGO Hamoked that as of 1 July 2024, 1,402 Palestinians were detained under the Unlawful Combatants law. This number excludes those held for an initial 45-day period without formal order.

Between February and June 2024, Amnesty International documented 31 cases of incommunicado detention and found credible evidence of widespread use of torture and other ill treatment. Interviews were conducted with 27 released detainees – all civilians arrested from the occupied Gaza Strip (20 men, six women and one child). The organization also interviewed four family members of civilians detained for up to seven months whose whereabouts are yet to be disclosed by Israeli authorities and two lawyers who recently managed to meet with detainees.

Israeli military seized the detainees from locations across Gaza including Gaza City, Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Khan Younis. The detainees were rounded up at schools housing internally displaced people, during raids on homes, hospitals, and newly installed checkpoints. They were then transferred to Israel and held for periods ranging from two weeks to up to 140 days in military or IPS-run detention facilities.

Those detained included doctors taken into custody at hospitals for refusing to abandon their patients; mothers separated from their infants while trying to cross the so-called “safe corridor” from northern Gaza to the south; human rights defenders, UN workers, journalists and other civilians.

All those interviewed by Amnesty International said they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

Detention of Palestinians from Gaza under the law

“Torture and other ill-treatment including sexual violence are war crimes. These allegations must be independently investigated by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office. This is crucial due to the documented failure of the Israeli judiciary to credibly investigate torture allegations by Palestinians in the past. Israeli authorities must also grant immediate and unrestricted access to all places of detention to independent monitors – access that has been denied since 7 October,” said Agnès Callamard.

The Detention of Unlawful Combatants Law, enacted in 2002, was invoked for the first time in five years following the horrific attacks perpetrated by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October in southern Israel.

The Israeli military initially invoked the law to hold alleged participants in the 7 October attacks, but shortly thereafter expanded its use to detain Palestinians from Gaza en masse without charge or trial. The lack of due process means that both civilians and those directly engaging in hostilities have been detained under this law.

For the first 45 days of detention, the military are not required to issue a detention order. The law denies detainees access to a lawyer for up to 90 days, codifying incommunicado detention, which in turn enables torture and other ill treatment.

Detainees must be brought before a judge within a maximum period of75 days of their detention for judicial review, but judges typically rubberstamp the detention order in sham proceedings.

The law does not stipulate a maximum time for detention and allows security services to hold detainees under indefinitely renewable orders.

Amended law facilitates incommunicado detention

The Unlawful Combatants Law was originally enacted in 2002 to allow for the prolonged detention without charges or trial of two Lebanese nationals, who were not under Israeli jurisdiction. Since its unilateral “disengagement” from the occupied Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel has used this law to hold people from Gaza it deems a national security threat for indefinitely renewable periods.

In December 2023, the Israeli authorities passed a temporary amendment to the law, extending the time the military is permitted to detain Palestinians without a detention order from an initial 96 hours (extendable up to seven days) to up to 45 days. It also increased the maximum time a detainee can be held before being brought before a judge to review the detention order from 14 days to 75 days and extended the period a detainee can be held without seeing a lawyer from 21 days to up to six months, later reduced to three months. This amendment was renewed again in April 2024.

Evidence justifying the detention is withheld both from the detainee and their lawyer. This means many of those detained are held for months without the slightest idea of why they have been detained, in violation of international law, completely cut off from their family and loved ones and unable to challenge the grounds of their detention.

Two detainees told Amnesty International they were brought before a judge twice for virtual hearings and on both occasions were unable to speak or ask questions. Instead, they were simply informed that their detention had been renewed for a further 45 days. They were never informed of the legal basis of their arrests nor of what evidence had been brought against them to justify their arrests.

Following a petition brought before the Israeli Supreme Court by Hamoked on behalf of a detained X-ray technician from Khan Younis, the state informed the Court in May 2024 that lawyers can apply to visit detainees from Gaza 90 days after their detention. Only a very limited number of such applications has been approved since.

In addition to being denied access to legal counsel, detainees are also cut off from their families. Families described to Amnesty International the agony of being separated from their loved ones and living in constant fear of discovering that they died in prison.

Alaa Muhanna, whose husband Ahmad Muhhana, the director of Al-Awda hospital, was detained during a raid on the hospital on 17 December 2023, told Amnesty International the only scant information she receives about him is from other released prisoners: “I assure the children that Ahmad is fine, that he’s coming back soon, but to live through this war, the constant displacement, the bombing and also have to fight to know where your husband is, not to hear his voice, is like a war within the war.”

One released health worker told Amnesty International that not knowing whether his family in Gaza were alive or dead while he was detained was “even worse than torture and starvation”.

Torture and other ill-treatment

The extensive periods of incommunicado detention facilitate torture by eliminating any monitoring of the physical condition of detainees and communication with them.

The 27 released detainees, interviewed by Amnesty International, consistently described being subjected to torture on at least one occasion during their arrest. The organization observed marks and bruises consistent with torture on at least eight detainees interviewed in person and also reviewed medical reports of two detainees corroborating their accounts of torture.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab verified and geolocated at least five videos of mass arrests including of detainees filmed while stripped to their underwear after being detained from northern Gaza and in Khan Younis. Public forced nudity for long durations violates the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and amounts to sexual violence.

Those held at the notorious Sde Teiman military detention camp, near Beersheba in southern Israel said they were blindfolded and handcuffed for the entire time they were detained there. They described being forced to remain in stress positions for long hours and being prevented from talking to one another or raising their heads. These accounts are consistent with findings of other human rights organizations and UN bodies as well as numerous reports, based on accounts of whistleblowers and released detainees.

One detainee who was released in June after 27 days during which he was detained in a barrack with at least 120 others told Amnesty detainees they would be beaten by the military or sent to be attacked by dogs simply for talking to another prisoner, raising their head or changing position.

Said Maarouf, a 57-year-old pediatrician who was detained by the Israeli military during a raid on al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza City in December 2023 and detained for 45 days at the Sde Teiman military camp, told Amnesty International that detention guards kept him blindfolded and handcuffed for the entire duration of his detention, and described being starved, repeatedly beaten, and forced to sit on his knees for long periods.

In another case, the Israeli army arrested a 14-year old child from his home in Jabalia, in northern Gaza on 1 January 2024. He was held for 24 days in the Sde Teiman military detention centre with at least 100 adult detainees in one barrack. He told Amnesty International that military interrogators had subjected him to torture, including by kicking him, punching him in the neck and head. He said he had been repeatedly burnt with cigarette butts. Signs of cigarettes burns and bruises were visible on the child’s body when Amnesty International interviewed him on 3 February 2024, in the school where he was sheltering with other displaced families. During his detention, he was not allowed to call his family or see a lawyer and was held blindfolded and handcuffed.

On 5 June Israeli authorities announced plans to improve detention conditions at Sde Teiman military camp and limit the number of detainees held at the site in response to a petition from Israeli human rights organizations demanding its closure, but over a month later little appears to have changed.

The lawyer Khaled Mahajna was able to gain rare entry into Sde Teiman on 19 June. He told Amnesty International that his client, Mohammed Arab, a detained journalist, told him he was being held with at least 100 people in the same barrack in inhumane conditions and that the detainees had seen no improvement whatsoever over the past two weeks. He also said he had been held in Sde Teiman for over 100 days, without even knowing why.

The Israeli military confirmed to Haaretz on 3 June that it is investigating the deaths in custody in Israel of 40 detainees, including 36 who died or were killed in the military detention facility in Sde Teiman. No indictments have been filed yet. This number does not include detainees who died or were killed while in the custody of the Israeli Prison Service.

Women detainees

Among the detainees interviewed by Amnesty International were five women all of whom had been detained incommunicado for over 50 days. They were first held in a women-only detention camp at Anatot military detention centre, in an illegal Israeli settlement near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, then in Damon prison for women in northern Israel, under the control of the Israeli Prison Service. None of the five was informed of the legal grounds for their arrest or brought before a judge. All of them described being beaten while being transported to detention.

One of them, arrested on 6 December from her home, said she was separated from her two children- a four-year-old and a nine-month-old baby – and held initially alongside hundreds of men. She was accused of being a Hamas member, beaten, forced to remove her veil and photographed without it. She also described the torment of being subjected to the mock execution of her husband:

“On the third day of detention, they put us in a ditch and started throwing sand. A soldier fired two shots in the air and said they executed my husband and I broke down and begged him to kill me too, to relieve me from the nightmare,” she said.

On the third day of detention, they put us in a ditch and started throwing sand. A soldier fired two shots in the air and said they executed my husband and I broke down and begged him to kill me too, to relieve me from the nightmare
Former detainee

“I was terrified and scared for my kids all the time,” another released woman detainee told Amnesty that her repeated requests for information about her children were ignored by prison guards whom she overheard laughing and mocking her.

She told Amnesty International that after three weeks at Damon prison she was told she would be released. She was handcuffed, blindfolded and had her feet shackled and was taken to another location. Upon arrival there, instead of being released she was violently strip-searched by guards who used a huge knife to rip off her clothes. She was then returned to Anatot for 18 more days.

She told Amnesty that she was threatened by prison guards who said: “We will do to you what Hamas did to us, we will kidnap and rape you”. She was never informed of the reason for her detention.

She and other detainees interviewed by Amnesty International said that they were dropped off near Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing and had to walk for more than half an hour until they reached an ICRC -run point for released prisoners. All detainees said that all or most of their belongings were never returned to them, including their phones, jewellery and money.

Background

Amnesty International expressed grave concerns over Israel’s use of the Unlawful Combatants Law and its violations of international human rights law in a 2012 report Starved of Justice: Palestinians detained without trial by Israel. As explained in detail in that report, Israel previously derogated from its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) citing the fact that the nation has been in a declared state of emergency since its formation, a derogation that continues to this day. However international humanitarian law, which is not subject to derogation, requires that the right to a fair trial must always be respected. In addition, Article 4(2) of the ICCPR prohibits derogation from certain rights in the ICCPR even during a state of emergency, including the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 7). Accordingly, incommunicado detention, the lack of fair trial, and torture and other ill-treatment violate international law, even during a state of emergency.

Beyond this law, Israeli authorities have a history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial through their systematic use of administrative detention, a key feature of Israel’s system of apartheid. According to Israeli human rights organization Hamoked, as of 1 July Israeli authorities were holding 3,379 people under administrative detention, the vast majority of whom are Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 287 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 38,848, with 89,459 wounded." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

As for the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second World War."

The following sites updated:

Thursday, July 18, 2024

Joe hasn't stepped aside yet

First up, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Donald Trump On The Wings Of A Maxi" went up

Zachary Folk (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reportedly urged President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl revealed Wednesday.

Schumer had a private, one-on-one meeting with the president in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Saturday, Karl added, where the majority leader allegedly encouraged Biden to drop out of the race.

So drop out, Joe. I worked on this and then stopped for the community roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin. I really thought there was a chance -- a strong one -- that when I came back from the roundtable, the news would be Joe did the right thing and stepped aside.

Sadly, no.

I've noted Colin Allred here twice. Once by name to note I was impressed by him. Last week, I noted polling and didn't have time to look up his name. He's US House Rep who is running for the Senate seat currently held by the disaster that is Ted Cruz. Carla Astudillo (TEXAS TRIBUNE) reports:

With five months to go before the November election, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred have collectively raised about $81.2 million for the U.S. Senate race.

The Texas Tribune has been tracking contributions and cash on hand for both candidates since January 1, 2023. The data from the Federal Ethics Commission is as of June 30, 2024.

Between Jan. 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, Allred raised about $1.2 million more than Cruz, according to a Tribune analysis of the candidates' main campaign accounts and other entities that are part of their fundraising networks.

About $23.4 million of the money that Cruz raised was through Ted Cruz for Senate, his main reelection campaign committee. He also raised about $16.6 million through his two joint fundraising committees, Ted Cruz Victory Committee and Ted Cruz Victory Fund, along with his leadership PAC, Jobs, Freedom, and Security.

Meanwhile, Colin Allred has raised most of his $41.2 million through his main campaign account, Colin Allred for Senate, with about $3.1 million coming from his joint fundraising committee, Colin Allred Victory Fund.

Imagine if Colin Allred beat Ted Cruz. That would be so amazing and wonderful.

I can't endorse because I can't vote in that state but I do urge you to take a look at him.

Another thing we should look at is the pretense of 'inclusion' at the RNC. Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

Ric Grenell, a gay man who was acting director of national intelligence for about two months during the Trump administration, spoke on day three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, telling the audience that Donald Trump doesn’t actually care about anyone’s sexuality or gender, despite his anti-LGBTQ+ policy positions.

Grenell is the only out gay person scheduled to speak at the RNC this week and one of only two LGBTQ+ people, along with out bisexual rapper Amber Rose, speaking at the event that features dozens of speakers.

“Donald Trump doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are,” he said, the last claim standing in strong contrast to other speakers at the RNC who repeatedly attacked many people’s genders. “He knows that we are all Americans and that it’s time to put America first.”

That is the only reference Grenell made to LGBTQ+ people.

[. . .]

Grenell did not mention the Trump administration’s alleged attempt to decriminalize homosexuality in other countries, a program that he has proudly touted in the past. The decriminalization campaign was called out as a sham by LGBTQ+ advocates who said it wasn’t doing anything.

Despite Grenell’s implication that Trump is indifferent to LGBTQ+ people, Trump has already taken anti-LGBTQ+ policy stances as part of his “Agenda 47,” which lays out his campaign’s plans for his possible second term.

Marcia noted the odious Agenda 47 at her site yesterday "" so check that out. Donald is no friend to LGBTQ+ people or to those of us who have family members that are LGBTQ+.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, July 18, 2024. Joe Biden has COVID while the RNC convention turns out to be a super-spreader for lies, and much more.

Last night, Team Biden sent out a message from US President Joe Biden. It opened, "I'm sick..." and then continued:

…of Elon Musk trying to buy this election for himself and his billionaire buddies.

Did you see he pledged 45 million bucks a month to help reelect Donald Trump in November? I’m not kidding.

But you are, Joe, but you are.

The reason most people opened that e-mail after the headline of "I'm sick . . ." is because Joe is, in fact, sick. He has COVID. Again. This is his third time. Ana Faguy and Tom Bateman (BBC NEWS) notes:

President Joe Biden faces new questions over his candidacy in the November election - with his campaign events currently on pause due to a Covid-19 infection.

The top two Democrats in the US Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are both reported to have met him individually to express concerns over his bid for the White House.

Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, has also privately told him that he cannot beat Donald Trump in November's election, according to CNN.

Mr Biden’s re-election attempt was already being buffeted by growing dissent among top Democrats after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month.

Announcing his Covid infection on Wednesday, Mr Biden's press secretary said the 81-year-old was facing mild symptoms.

He would isolate at his home in Delaware while carrying out "all of his duties fully", said Karine Jean-Pierre. She added that the president was vaccinated and boosted. He has tested positive for Covid twice before.

He was already on limited campaigning -- roughly from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. And how he's got off the campaign trail? This is nonsense. We're expected to shut up and accept his lousy campaigning and his mental decline and now he's also got to take time off for COVID -- third time COVID?

He needs to step aside. He's not up to four more years. He needs to step aside and let a healthy and robust candidate step forward and save the election. In last night's ",Step aside, COVID Joe" Elaine noted the polls, noted the drag he was on other Democratic Party candidates in their down ticket races and noted his bizarre attack in a Zoom call last Saturday where he snapped at US House Rep Jason Crow, "Tell me something you've ever done with your Bronze Star like my son." As Elaine pointed out, "Also, not a good look. Being proud of your son? Great. But, Joe, you didn't serve in Vietnam. It looks a little cowardly for you to bring up your son to Crow who served several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. "

Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) observes:

A strong majority of Democrats want President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, new polling finds, as faith in his mental fitness drops and Democratic lawmakers are stepping up their efforts to replace him with a different candidate.

AP-NORC’s latest polling released Wednesday finds that 65 percent of Democrats say that Biden should step aside and allow the party to choose a different candidate. Only 35 percent say that he should stay in the race.

Opposition to Biden’s continued candidacy is especially strong among younger people — a key demographic for Democrats — with 75 percent of those aged 18 to 44 agreeing that he should withdraw, though a strong majority of those older than 45 also believe another candidate should be selected.

The findings come amid growing concern over Biden’s health, with only 3 in 10 Democrats saying they’re “extremely” or “very” confident that Biden can effectively serve as president, down by roughly 10 percentage points from a February AP-NORC poll.

These concerns were largely sparked after Biden’s disastrous debate performance at the end of June, though progressives have long been warning Biden that he is risking his chances of winning due to his funding of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Concerns about his health have compounded in recent weeks, however, with the president doubling down on his candidacy even as he continues to make embarrassing gaffes in every public appearance.

On THE MAJORITY REPORT, Sam and Emma note all the problems Joe Biden is creating for their party.

In further bad news for Joe, THE NATIONAL reports:

The US announced on Wednesday that it will end aid delivery to Gaza through its temporary pier and instead send relief for the Palestinian enclave to Ashdod port in Israel.

The pier was plagued by many issues including severe weather damage, ensuring security and increasing aid to Gazans, who are wrestling with worsening humanitarian aid crises.

But the US insists the temporary pier was "successful" despite the challenges.

$230 million wasted by Joe on this project. Promised in his State of the Union Address and presented as we're going to rush to get this done project. It didn't actually start construction until May. Late opening and no real results to speak of although it was apparently used by the Israeli government in the staging of at least one attack on Palestinian civilians.

The pier may be the best exxample of the inertia of Joe's administration.

In Wisconsin, the GOP continues their convention. It wraps tonight. I don't encourage anyone to watch but we will find out tonight whether or not Donald's going to take the maxi pad off the side of his head or not.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Donald Trump On The Wings Of A Maxi" went up late last night or early this morning depending upon your time zone.

"I cannot believe you don't care about a political convention!" a few insist in e-mails.

First off, check the ratings, most people -- like me -- are not watching this garbage live. I'm not going to sit through hours of hate speech and violent threats. and never-ending lies. Most Americans aren't, again check the ratings.

In the past? Ava and I've covered them before, we've attended them before to cover them. I don't see the point in watching lies live on television. I read the day after and even there I'm encountering too much repeating of lies. Amplifying them.

Isn't that all Joseph Morton does in "Ted Cruz bashes Biden immigration record during Republican National Convention speech" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS)? That's journalism?

In a 34 paragraph 'essay' -- don't call it a report, it's not reporting -- he offers two paragraphs of 'critique' -- paragraph 8 and paragraph 15:

Critics of the GOP focus on those crimes cite research indicating undocumented immigrants have lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants.

And:

Critics have said figures Cruz and other Republicans often cite are inflated or misleading because many migrants encountered at the border were quickly turned away under pandemic-era public health policies or sent back to their countries of origin.

34 paragraphs and that passes for a fact check? Before he published that piece yesterday morning, I had already heard this segment of Wednesday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency: Breaking with Convention.” I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from the Republican National Convention.

On Tuesday night, several of Donald Trump’s former rivals endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket. Speakers at the RNC included former Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Much of the evening focused on the party’s hard-line border and immigration policies. The 2024 Republican platform backs Trump’s pledge to carry out, quote, “the largest deportation operation in American history,” unquote, and to stop what it calls a “migrant crime epidemic.” This is Texas Senator Ted Cruz speaking last night.

SEN. TED CRUZ: Never before has an election mattered so much. We are facing an invasion on our southern border — not figuratively, a literal invasion. Eleven-point-five million people have crossed our border illegally under Joe Biden. Every day Americans are dying, murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released. Teenage girls and boys wearing colored wristbands are being sold into a life of sex slavery. This is evil, and it’s wrong. And it is happening every damn day. Today, as a result of Joe Biden’s presidency, your family is less safe, your children are less safe, the country is less safe. But here’s the good news: We can fix it. And when Donald Trump is president, we will fix it.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, speaking here in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention last night. There’s no data linking immigrants to rising crime.

For more, we’re joined by Jean Guerrero, contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, author of the book Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Her latest piece is headlined “How Biden Can Win Over Young Latinos.” She’s a senior fellow at the UCLA Latina Futures 2050 Lab and a former opinion columnist at the Los Angeles Times. She’s joining us from Los Angeles.

Jean, welcome back to Democracy Now! Why don’t you summarize your response to what Ted Cruz was saying, in particular? And, overall, the theme of last night was the issue of immigration and safety, as they put it, immigration and crime, Jean.

JEAN GUERRERO: Exactly. Great to be here, Amy.

What we saw last night was the politics of hate. The Republican Party is not letting up on its deceptive anti-immigrant hatemongering. Again, this is a politics of hate, that is rooted in the deceptive demonization of one of the most vulnerable groups in the United States, which is immigrants.

And Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s speech was one of the most debased and deceptive of the week. He listed example after example of Americans being killed by immigrants, which, as you noted, Amy, immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than people who are born in the United States. Data consistently shows this. But this is a strategy that has been used by Trump, and it’s straight out of the playbook of Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller, which is to take aberrant examples, unusual examples of crimes and to paint them as the norm. This is a strategy that was used by the Nazis to vilify Jewish people and other groups that they didn’t like. They published lists of crimes committed by these people to create the false notion that these are monsters, that they’re subhuman, that they’re a threat to society.

And this is what we saw last night, that even in the wake of Trump’s assassination attempt, the Republican Party is not letting up on its anti-immigrant hatemongering, on its very dangerous and deceptive rhetoric, which is not surprising, given that when Trump was shot, he was in the middle of anti-immigrant hatemongering. If he hadn’t turned to look at that chart showing border crossing statistics, he might be dead. So, as the Republican Party is painting Trump as the victim of demonization by the left, Trump and the Republican Party continue with its classic anti-immigrant hatemongering, which is endangering this group of people and Latinos across the United States who come from mixed-status families.

AMY GOODMAN: And we should say, as Senator Cruz spoke, as Nikki Haley spoke, as our next clip we’re going to play of a mom who lost her son to fentanyl spoke, President Trump was there sitting next to J.D. Vance, and President Trump had a bandage over his right ear after Saturday’s assassination attempt. I want to go to another speaker at the RNC last night, and that was Anne Fundner of Southern California, who said her son Weston’s fentanyl overdose death was because Biden opened, quote, “our borders.” This is a clip.

ANNE FUNDNER: We did everything right. I had those conversations with him, and fentanyl still found my son. And on February 27th, 2022, our lives were shattered, and our baby was gone. This was not an overdose; it was a poisoning. His whole future, everything we ever wanted for him, was ripped away in an instant. And Joe Biden does nothing. I hold Joe Biden, Kamala Harris — the border czar, what a joke — and Gavin Newsom, and every Democrat who supports open borders, responsible for the death of my son.

AMY GOODMAN: In fact, data shows fentanyl is largely smuggled by U.S. citizens across U.S. ports of entry. Jean Guerrero, this is a statistic that you talk about. The statistic is 90%?

JEAN GUERRERO: Exactly, about 90% of fentanyl is actually smuggled through ports of entry, not through the desert, and it’s smuggled by U.S. citizens, not by immigrants. So the Republican Party is misusing a legitimate tragedy to manipulate perceptions about what is happening at the border.

This woman’s son, Weston, should not have died. It is a tragedy that he died. However, this blame on, quote-unquote, “open borders” is misleading, to say the least, because the border, first of all, is not open. Biden has deployed more Border Patrol agents than any president in U.S. history. They have had record fentanyl seizures under his administration. And again, when fentanyl is smuggled across the border, it is smuggled through ports of entry, which are always open. And there’s — yeah, the Trump administration also kept the ports of entry open because you have legitimate commercial traffic that needs to be coming across the borders. And that is where the fentanyl is being smuggled, not through the desert.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you respond to Senator Cruz saying that immigrants commit murders, I think he said, “every damn day”?

JEAN GUERRERO: That’s extremely deceptive. Again, immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than people who are born in the United States. They have a lot more to lose, particularly undocumented immigrants. The statistics consistently show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes. And so, this idea that they’re committing crimes every day is just absolutely bonkers.

But it’s a strategy that is very classic Stephen Miller. My book was about Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller. And one of the things that they did under the Trump administration was they created an office called the VOICE. It was for the victims of immigration crimes. And it was constantly publishing lists of immigrants committing crimes, which, again, creates the false notion that they’re out there disproportionately committing crimes, when in fact that is not the case.

And if you wanted to demonize somebody based on a statistical fact, you might choose, for example, the fact that white men are disproportionately responsible for mass shootings. But, of course, you don’t see anybody advocating for the mass detention or deportation of white men, because that would be crazy. And again, this is based on a completely false notion that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes, which is — it’s just not the case.

AMY GOODMAN: Kari Lake, who’s running for Arizona’s Senate seat left vacant by Kyrsten Sinema, kicked off the RNC on Tuesday night, lashing out against the media and her Senate race opponent, Congressmember Ruben Gallego.

KARI LAKE: You have spent the last eight years lying about President Donald Trump and his — and his amazing patriotic supporters. Actually, guys, they lie about everything. They’ve lied about Joe Biden’s health, the economy, the laptop, the border. I could go on and on and on. But the really good news is that every day more and more people are turning off the fake news. And they’re — that’s right. And Americans are waking up to the truth about the disastrous Democrat policies pushed by Joe Biden and his favorite congressman, my opponent, Ruben Gallego.

These guys, they are full — they’re full of bad ideas. Just last week, Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election. Gallego and the Democrats have handed over control of my state Arizona’s border to the drug cartels. And because of them, criminals and deadly drugs are pouring in, and our children are dying. Our children are getting their hands on these drugs and dying.

AMY GOODMAN: Kari Lake falsely said that her opponent, the Congressmember Ruben Gallego, quote, “voted to let millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election,” unquote. However, she did not mention that it’s already banned by federal law for noncitizens to vote. Lake is a former TV news anchor who lost Arizona’s governor’s race and has since become a face for Trump’s 2020 election denial movement. Jean Guerrero, her comments?

JEAN GUERRERO: Gallego is a moderate on immigration. And what the Republican Party does is, regardless of whether you are a moderate, which is the case with Biden — you know, he has, as I mentioned earlier, increased border security to unprecedented levels. But regardless of whether you take a moderate stance on immigration, they’re going to say that you have opened the borders, that you are in favor of people coming across the border without any sort of security measures, without any enforcement. And that’s just simply not the case.

But they are heavily leaning on this because they have nothing else to offer the American people. It’s a scapegoating politics, which is rooted in stoking fear and stoking hate and creating the impression that there’s a dystopic reality at the border, which simply is not the case. You know, Trump promised to shut down the border, and he was not able to build the wall that he said he was going to build, because it’s physically impossible to build a 2,000-mile structure along the terrain that exists at the border.

So, President Biden is doing the best that he can, and Democrats like Gallego are in favor of moderate immigration strategies that embrace certain levels of border security. And the Republican Party simply takes that completely out of context, ignores that, and claims that they’re in favor of open borders, which is just absolutely not the case.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to another clip. We’re on the floor of the convention at night. This is another Arizona delegate, named Stacey Goodman, who spoke with Democracy Now!’s Renée Feltz. Goodman wore a white patch of paper on her right ear, similar to the bandage Trump is wearing at the RNC on his right ear after the assassination attempt on Saturday.

STACEY GOODMAN: I’m here to serve my community, my country. What I have on my right ear is in solidarity with President Trump. He got shot on Saturday. Somebody attempted to take his life. It was an attempted assassination, all because of the rhetoric on the left. Even Joe Biden said it, and he even apologized for it. He said, “We need to put Donald Trump in the bull’s-eye.” So, crazy people take that as meaning, you know — you know, the hypocrisy is ridiculous, because the left says, “Oh, unity, unity, unity,” but there is no unity on the left. Look what CNN did today, said D.J. [sic] Vance is more toxic than Trump. Where’s the unity in that? No.

RENÉE FELTZ: And I just have to ask. It does seem like it’s being reported that this young man was able to use a gun purchased by his father and that the family, or at least the young man was a registered Republican. So, it seems —

STACEY GOODMAN: He wasn’t a registered Republican, OK? His Facebook page was wiped. He was not a registered Republican. That’s just the narrative of the left. He was not a Republican.

RENÉE FELTZ: What was he?

STACEY GOODMAN: I’m not 100% sure, but he was probably mentally ill and easily swayed by the left.

RENÉE FELTZ: OK. Can I ask you one other question —

STACEY GOODMAN: Sure.

RENÉE FELTZ: — about immigration? It seems like it’s a major topic tonight. Is it a big one for you?

STACEY GOODMAN: Well, yeah. I’m all for people coming into this country and supporting this country, speaking English, assimilating. What we have — and I’m from a border state — we have open borders. We have illegal immigrants coming in here, killing, raping and maiming our children. OK? That is not acceptable. The border wall —

RENÉE FELTZ: But you’re saying that’s not all of them?

STACEY GOODMAN: The border wall needs to be finished. Joe Biden, had he just left that alone, we would have had a complete border wall. The blood is on Joe Biden’s hands and his administration’s.

RENÉE FELTZ: Just real quick, there are some people who have drawn attention to reports that show that U.S.-born citizens are much more likely to commit crimes than immigrants.

STACEY GOODMAN: That’s a lie. That’s an out-and-out lie. I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but it’s a lie.

RENÉE FELTZ: One, I got it from a study that was done by Northwestern, who used census data.

STACEY GOODMAN: No. No. No, not buying it.

RENÉE FELTZ: And one other —

STACEY GOODMAN: I was a police officer for 21 years. I will tell you, illegal immigrants commit more crimes than anyone else, because, first of all, they’re coming into this country — they’re committing a crime by coming into this country, so they don’t care about our laws. They don’t abide by our laws.

AMY GOODMAN: In fact, it’s been widely reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks was in fact a registered Republican, who would have been eligible to cast his first presidential vote in November for the election. Public records also show Crooks’ father is a registered Republican, his mother a registered Democrat, and that, as a 17-year-old, Crooks made a $15 donation to a Democratic Party cause. Jean Guerrero, you’ve been shaking your head through this comment. Stacey Goodman is a retired police officer.

JEAN GUERRERO: Yeah, she mentioned blood on Biden’s hands. If you want to talk about somebody who has blood on their hands, the Republican Party has spent the last seven years normalizing the white supremacist “great replacement” theory, which has been used by white terrorists, by white extremists across the world and in this country to commit horrific acts of violence against Mexican Americans, against Latinos, against Black people, and it’s one of the most dangerous theories that exists today. And it has been normalized in U.S. politics. It’s the idea that immigrants are being brought to the United States to replace white people. It confuses demographic change and demographic growth with demographic subtraction and demographic violence. It’s extremely deceptive and manipulative, and the Republican Party has been doing this for seven years. And so, it’s, of course, no surprise that under the Trump administration we saw the worst, the most deadly attack against the Mexican American community that the United States has seen, in El Paso, when you saw the white supremacist shooter attack a Walmart because of this theory.

So, the notion that Trump is the victim, that he is being victimized, or that Americans are being victimized by the Democratic Party’s border policies, completely ignores the reality, which is that President Biden has deployed historic numbers of agents to the border. They’re seeing record seizures of fentanyl. He has kept in place a majority of Trump’s restrictive policies at the border. And again, the research consistently shows that immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes, and this includes undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes.

AMY GOODMAN: Jean Guerrero, before we go, I want to ask you about your latest piece in The New York Times, “How Biden Can Win Over Young Latinos.” You say that 20% of the Latino population that will be voting will be voting for the first time. What is the significance of this?

JEAN GUERRERO: So, the focus has been on the MAGA Latino. Every time you talk about the Latino vote in the national media, you hear about the MAGA Latino, the Latino who’s supporting Trump. And while this is a reality of a segment of the Latino voters, those who are going to determine the future of the Latino vote are young progressive voters, who are overrepresented, actually, in battleground states. So, if President Biden focuses on turning out this young Latino electorate, it can make all the difference.

And these are Latinos who are very, very progressive. They believe in a pathway to citizenship for long-term undocumented immigrants. They believe in abortion rights. They believe in stopping climate change. They believe in stopping gun violence. They’re more likely to belong to groups that have been harmed by Trump. They’re more likely to identify as LGBTQ. They’re more likely to have a family member or a close friend who is undocumented.

So, if President Biden wants to win over young Latinos, he needs to take the group of people that Trump has chosen to persecute systematically, and show that he has what it takes to defend them. He has already taken significant actions as far as executive action to provide deportation relief to the undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. However, he needs to go farther than that. He needs to take much bolder action to show that he is in fact a fighter for oppressed communities.

Right now there is an impression among young voters, including Latino voters, that he is as bad with oppressed communities as Trump, because of the horrors in Gaza. And there is one way — there is just one way that President Biden can counter that narrative, and it is to take these people that Trump is victimizing, that the Republican Party is victimizing, and show that he has what it takes to defend them and take bold action to provide deportation relief to all undocumented people who have lived here a long time, who have U.S. citizen children here, who were essential workers during the pandemic, and make sure that they can be safe here, they can continue paying taxes, and they can continue to save this economy from a recession.

AMY GOODMAN: Jean Guerrero, we want to thank you for being with us, author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. We’ll link to your piece in The New York Times, “How Biden Can Win Over Young Latinos.”

Get it?

One is reporting and one is stenography.

And those two 'fact checks' Morton did aren't even specific, nor did they require any research. 'Some say . . .' Send Joey back to the steno pool.

You can contrast that with Philip Bump's report for THE WASHINGTON POST:

“We are facing an invasion on our southern border,” Cruz said as he began. “Not figuratively. A literal invasion. 11.5 million people have crossed our border illegally under Joe Biden.”

That’s not true. A number of those counted as having been apprehended at the border were turned away. Millions more were deported and millions remain in detention.

“But,” Cruz continued, “the numbers don’t show us the true price that our country is paying.”

That cost? That “every day, Americans are dying — murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released.” The accuracy of that sweeping, unsupported statement notwithstanding, it has been demonstrated repeatedly that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born Americans.

Cruz was building to something, though, exaggerating the number of immigrants in the country and the threat they pose so that he could make a staggering, dishonest claim about his political opponents.

We could go on and on but I think Philip Bump's already demonstrated that some do the work and some people fluff. What's really sad though is that Morton is supposed to be the stronger of the two since Morton works at a Texas outlet and Cruz is a Texas senator. A paper can change hands constantly and still be garbage. I don't know who is served in Texas by a lousy report on a US senator from Texas; however, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS never really served anyone. THE DALLAS TIMES HERALD was the only decent paper that city ever had.

But it's true of the bulk of what passes for media and it's sad. A sorry state of journalism.

Turning to Gaza, Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

Ahead of the International Court of Justice's expected advisory opinion on legal consequences for Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, Palestine's permanent observer at the United Nations reminded other diplomats at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday that the slaughter of more than 38,000 people in Gaza has been broadcast for nine months—while Israel has claimed it is acting in self-defense and is targeting Hamas.

"What is happening in Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history," Riyad Mansour said. "When will the world denounce the crimes and stop tolerating their reoccurrence?"

In addition to the daily news of aerial and ground attacks on schools, homes, and places of worship in Gaza, Mansour pointed to Israeli soldiers' filming of their own attacks in the enclave, leaving no doubt that innocent civilians are being targeted.

Members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have "openly, brazenly, and repeatedly" shared its "crimes" on social media, said Mansour.

Since the IDF began its bombardment of Gaza in October with political and material support from the United States and other Western countries, videos taken by Israeli soldiers themselves have shown the controlled detonation of Israa University, a soldier blowing up a mosque, and another IDF fighter giving a thumbs up while driving a bulldozer into a destroyed car, accompanied by the caption, "I stopped counting how many neighborhoods I've erased."

In a segment produced by Al Jazeera in March, Sarah Leah Whitson of Democracy for the Arab World Now said that "there have been a remarkable number of videos posted by Israeli soldiers on social media, depicting themselves pillaging property, mocking the death and destruction that they are causing, and most egregiously, torturing, humiliating, and mocking detained Palestinian prisoners."

Meanwhile, human rights experts and aid groups have amplified images of the results of Israel's use of what Mansour called "the ultimate weapon": a near-total blockade on humanitarian relief. Last month, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights documented the deaths from starvation of five-month-old Fayez Attaya and 13-year-old Abdulqader Al-Serhi—two of more than two dozen children who have perished as U.N. experts have warned famine has taken hold in Gaza.

"Two million people who were subjected to a 17-year-old blockade are now confronted with a hermetic siege, dying of hunger and disease while food and medicine are available only meters away," said Mansour on Wednesday.

Palestinians including Bisan Owda, a journalist who won a Peabody Award for her coverage, have also documented their own forced displacement, the destruction of their homes, and the loss of loved ones.

Mansour on Wednesday asked the Security Council—which only voted in favor of a cease-fire in Gaza in June, after U.S. officials had vetoed several resolutions—why it has allowed Israel to violate international laws and norms.

As noted earlier, the pier that was supposed to deliver food and aid such as medicine is no more after being a repeated failure. While 'operational,' it was often detached from the shoreline and floating off to no where like a Joe Biden interview answer. Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Doctors in Gaza are having to make extremely difficult choices, aid groups said on Thursday, as over 500 have been killed and hospitals have collapsed with an influx of patients.

The United Nations Palestinian Refugee agency receives 1,000 patients a day across their eight clinics in the Strip, spokeswoman Tamara Rifai told The National, with doctors being “heroes” and taking on much more than their capacity, she said.

“We are going to run out within a few weeks if we do not manage to get more supplies," Ms Al Rifai said, adding that UNRWA is facing two major issues.

"One is the very, very low access of humanitarian drugs, including those that carry medical supplies, but also our inability to truly go around the entire Gaza Strip," she said.

“We're still getting our access permits denied to the north.”

Gaza remains under assault. Day 286 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 38,794, with 89,364 wounded." Yes, that is the same figure they offered yesterday morning. No, the deaths did not stop on Wednesday. ALJAZEERA notes this morning, "At least 54 Palestinians killed in 24 hours as Israel’s military intensifies strikes on central Gaza where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are 'drowning' in sewage." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted: