Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Mansplaining Manchin" went up last night.
A business executive and philanthropist has pledged $30 million to launch a first-of-its-kind center pushing to overhaul the Supreme Court, after a series of ethics controversies and conservative rulings prompted rising scrutiny of the justices.
The major gift from Jim Kohlberg, chairman and co-founder of the private equity firm Kohlberg & Co., will fund research, public outreach and policy advocacy over a decade at the prominent Brennan Center for Justice, which is affiliated with New York University.
The announcement comes amid a flurry of Democratic activity related to reshaping the high court, which includes forthcoming proposals from President Biden to limit justices’ terms and enact a binding ethics code, legislation capping gifts to justices, and a referral of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. The initiative will be called the Kohlberg Center on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The nonpartisan, nonprofit Brennan Center has often supported liberal positions on voting, criminal justice, money in politics and other law and policy issues. It was founded in 1995 and named after Justice William J. Brennan Jr., a liberal lion, and has a staff of about 160. Brennan’s president, Michael Waldman, directed speechwriting for President Bill Clinton and served on the 2021 panel convened by Biden that examined Supreme Court reform and issued a lengthy report.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Let's close this discussion with numbers.
24.
That's the number of Tweets Michael Tracey has done about Kamala Harris
since the news broke that she was dropping out of the race.
1.
That's the number of Tweets Michael Tracey did about Steve Bullock since the news broke that he was dropping out of the race.
24 and 1. It's an obsession and, yes, it's Bash The Bitch. As Ava and I noted when Katie Couric was the target in 2006:
For some of the left, though not all, that's at the root of their
pursuit of Couric. It's the gift of impunity that allows them to operate
in a fact-free environment as they compose the charges against Couric.
But those who hear such a statement and nod agreeably are also engaged
in the national pastime of bash-the-bitch.
Bash the bitch is as American as apple pie and rush to judgement, so
who are we to complain?
If it makes us "America haters" to say "Just a minute now" then so be
it. Let all the ones partaking in bash-the-bitch wrap themselves in Old
Glory, we'll call it the way we see it.
Here's what we see. A woman's trashed. For what she did?
Oh cookie, please, it's for being a woman. Read the commentaries.
"Cheerleader" is a trumped up charge -- as usual, the true crime is
gender.
Michael Tracey and a lot of others need to look at their actions in the
last 24 hours. There's a lot of latent sexism bubbling up.
Michael has never taken a look at his actions and why should he when our 'left' friends enable and embrace him?
As Katie Halper continues her descent into the land of loving MAGA Republicans, grasp that she had Michael on her lousy YOUTUBE show last week. That's what 'feminist' Katie did. She's already platformed a convicted pedophile and registered sex offender, she's never called Uncle Fester (Matt Taibbi) out for his transphobia or for his grifting or for his praise for Donald Trump, we all get now, don't we, that Katie joined the grift. She's not left, she's a grifter.
The call was initially intended for 1,000 participants, but it quickly increased as word spread. By midnight, the group, Win with Black Women, raised more than $1.5 million for Harris' campaign.
It's not happenstance that Black women are rallying quickly for this historic moment: a chance to show that a Black woman who is also Asian American could be president of the United States. They have been at the helm of Democratic organizing for decades — a steady, consistent force in politics. Torchbearers of democracy.
Only once in our history has a Black woman sought the presidency. That was Shirley Chisholm in 1972.
Sunday night's call was both strategy and empowerment, as women friends swapped group texts with positive emojiis and words of enthusiasm.
"Just being on a call with 40,000 Black women who are about business is uplifting," said Houston strategist Laurel Rutledge. "Kamala Harris is not the perfect candidate, but she's sharp and comes with the facts."
More than a dozen of my friends across the country joined the call. One shared that she was pulling out her pearls and pink and green accessories, the symbols of Harris' sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Some were energized as graduates of historically Black colleges, such as Howard University, where Harris earned an undergraduate degree in political science and economics. Many friends quickly made donations to Harris' campaign.
"The bloc, made up of hundreds of Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, and allies, will unite to demonstrate that collective struggle and liberation are possible, and there is a growing movement that embodies it," the coalition added. "We must act now to ensure that the voices for a just peace are louder than those of division and bloodshed."
A larger protest by a coalition of groups including Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine, CodePink, ANSWER Coalition, the People's Forum, International Peoples' Assembly, Al-Awda-N.Y., and the Palestinian American Community Center-N.J. is also planned for Wednesday, when Netanyahu is set to speak. Organizers are planning to surround the U.S. Capitol.
"A visit by Netanyahu to Congress and the U.S. confirms something we already knew: The United States of America financially and morally supports the slaughter of Palestinians happening in Gaza," said CodePink Palestine campaign coordinator Nour Jaghama, who was arrested outside the Republican National Convention last week after being falsely accused of assaulting a Republican lawmaker. "They are no better than Netanyahu and every single Israeli official who orders the dropping of bombs on sieges on hospitals."
Three days after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful, the United Nations children's rights agency said that after decades of being "exposed to horrific violence," the number of children who have been killed in the West Bank since last October has skyrocketed.
Since Israel began its bombardment of the Palestinian territories nearly 10 months ago—with Gaza the primary target of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacks, but with West Bank communities also subjected to raids and other violence—143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The
number represents a 250% increase compared to the nine months preceding
the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, after which the IDF began
retaliating in the occupied territories.
"The situation has deteriorated significantly, coinciding with the escalation of hostilities inside Gaza," said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. "We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the streets. The violence needs to stop now."
More than half of the killings have been reported in the cities of Nablus, Tulkarm, and Jenin, the latter of which was the site of a major raid by Israeli forces earlier this month, in which 12 Palestinians were killed. All three cities have seen a rise in "militarized law enforcement operations" over the last two years, said UNICEF, as Israeli soldiers and settlers have stormed parts of the territory " to scare Palestinians out of" their homes, as the International Crisis Group reported last year.
Some of the killings of children in the West Bank over the last 10 months have received international attention, like the Israeli forces' shooting of two children, Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa and Adam Samer al-Ghoul, during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in November.
Al-Ghoul, who was nine, was shown on CCTV footage trying to run away from IDF soldiers when he was gunned down.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman.
We end today’s show in The Hague, where the International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, should come to an end, quote, “as rapidly as possible,” unquote. Israel’s illegal military occupation of the territories began in 1967, has since forcefully expanded, killing and displacing thousands of Palestinians. ICJ Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam read the nonbinding legal opinion Friday, deeming Israel’s presence in the territories illegal.
JUDGE NAWAF SALAM: [translated] Israel must immediately cease all new settlement activity. Israel also has an obligation to repeal all legislation and measures creating or maintaining the unlawful situation, including those which discriminate against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as all measures aimed at modifying the demographic composition of any parts of the territory. Israel is also under an obligation to provide full reparations for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all natural or legal persons concerned.
AMY GOODMAN: The court also said other nations are obligated not to legally recognize Israel’s decadeslong occupation of the territories and, quote, “not to render aid or assistance,” unquote, to the occupation. The 15-judge panel said Israel has no right to sovereignty of the territories and pointed to a number of Israeli actions, such as the construction and violent expansion of illegal Israeli settlements across West Bank and East Jerusalem, the forced permanent control over Palestinian lands, and discriminatory policies against Palestinians — all violations of international law, they said. The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki praised Friday’s ruling.
RIYAD AL-MALIKI: All states and the U.N. are now under obligation not to recognize the legality of Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to do nothing to assist Israel in maintaining this illegal situation. They are directed by the court to bring Israel’s illegal occupation to an end. This means all states and the U.N. must immediately review their bilateral relations with Israel to ensure their policies do not aid in Israel’s continued aggression against the Palestinian people, whether directly or indirectly. … [translated] All states must now fulfill their clear obligations: no aid, no collusion, no money, no weapons, no trade, nothing with Israel.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2022, the U.N. General Assembly issued a resolution tasking the International Court of Justice with determining whether the Israeli occupation amounted to annexation. This all comes as the ICJ is also overseeing an ongoing genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and as the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Despite mounting outcry over Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed some 39,000 Palestinians — more than 16,000 of them children — Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington, D.C., to address a joint session of Congress Wednesday.
For more, we go to Brussels, Belgium, where we’re joined by Diana Buttu, Palestinian human rights attorney, former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Thank you so much for being with us. Diana, first respond to this court ruling. Since it is nonbinding, what is the significance of it?
DIANA BUTTU: Even though it’s nonbinding, Amy, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any weight. It simply means that Israel is going to ignore it. But what it does set is it sets out the legal precedent for other countries, and those other countries do have to respect the opinion of the highest court, the highest international court.
And so, what we see with this decision is that it’s a very important and a very necessary one, because we see the court makes it clear not only that Israel’s occupation is illegal, but it also says that all countries around the world have an obligation to make sure that Israel doesn’t get away with it, that they have an obligation to make sure that this occupation comes to an end. And this is very important, because over the years, and in particular over the past 30 years, we’ve seen a shift in international diplomacy to try to push Palestinians to somehow give up their rights. And here we have the highest international court saying that that isn’t the case and that, in fact, it’s up to Israel to end its military occupation, and it’s up to the international community to make sure that Israel does that.
AMY GOODMAN: And exactly what is the extended decision when it comes to how other countries should deal with Israel at this point?
DIANA BUTTU: Well, there are some very interesting elements to this case. The first is that the court comes out very clearly and not just says that the occupation is illegal, but they also say that the settlements have to go and the settlers have to go. They also say that Palestinians have a right to return. Now, we’re talking about over 300,000 Palestinians who were expelled in 1967, and now there are probably about 200,000 Palestinians who have never been able to return back — we’re just talking about the West Bank and Gaza Strip — because of Israel’s discriminatory measures.
The other thing that the court says is that it’s not just the West Bank and East Jerusalem that are occupied, but also Gaza, as well. And this is a very important ruling, because for so many years Israel has tried to blur the lines and make it seem as though they’re not in occupation of Gaza, which they are. And so, what this requires is that the international community not only not recognize the occupation, but that they take into account measures or they take measures to make sure that Israel stops its occupation. That means everything from arms embargo to sanctions on Israel — anything that is necessary that can be done to make sure that Israel’s occupation finally comes to an end. And this is where we now see that instead of the world telling Palestinians that they just have to negotiate a resolution with their occupier, with their abuser, that the ball is now in their court. It’s up to the international community now to put sanctions on Israel to end this military occupation.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about what’s happening right now in Gaza. You’ve got the deaths at — it’s expected to be well over 39,000. But you also have this new report by Oxfam that finds Israel has used water as a weapon of war, with Gaza’s water supplies plummeting 94% since October 7th and the nonstop Israeli bombardment. Even before, their access was extremely limited. And then you have this catastrophic situation where you have, because of the destruction of Gaza’s water treatment plants, forcing people to resort to sewage-contaminated water containing pathogens that lead to diarrhea, especially deadly for kids, diseases like cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid. Meanwhile, the Israeli army has started to vaccinate the Israeli soldiers after Palestinian health authorities said a high concentration of the poliovirus has been found in sewage samples from Gaza. It’s taking place, the vaccination program of soldiers, across Israel in the coming weeks. The significance of this, Diana?
DIANA BUTTU: This is precisely what we’ve been talking about, which is that Israel is carrying out genocide, they know that they’re carrying out genocide, and we don’t see that anybody is stopping Israel in carrying out this genocide. So, here now we have yet another International Court of Justice ruling. This one — the previous ones are actually binding, saying that Israel has take all measures to stop this genocide. And yet we just simply don’t see that the world has put into place measures to sanction Israel, to isolate Israel, to punish Israel. Instead, it gets to do whatever it wants.
But there is something very important, as well, which is that Israel somehow believes that it’s going to be immune, that somehow this polio or all of these diseases aren’t going to boomerang back into Israeli society. They will. And the issue here now is whether we are going to see some very robust action on the part of the international community, now that we have a number of decisions from the ICJ saying to Israel that it’s got to stop and that this genocide must come to end. Israel must pay a price for continuing this genocide.
AMY GOODMAN: Diana Buttu, I wanted to end by asking you about Netanyahu coming here. The Center for Constitutional Rights tweeted, “Before @netanyahu lands in DC, we demand @TheJusticeDept investigate him for genocide, war crimes & torture in Gaza. Nearly 40k killed, including more than 14k children, 90k injured, 2 million displaced, & an entire population subject to starvation. This cannot go unanswered.” If you can talk about the significance of Netanyahu addressing a joint session of Congress? Also, it’s expected that the person who President Biden has said he is supporting, as he steps aside, to run for president, Kamala Harris, is expected to be meeting with Netanyahu. And what you would like to see happen here?
DIANA BUTTU: You know, it’s repugnant to me to be hearing that a war criminal, a person who has flattened Gaza, who said that he was going to flatten Gaza, who has issued orders to kill more than 40,000, upwards of 190,000 Palestinians — we still don’t know the numbers — who has made life in Gaza unlivable, who’s using Palestinians as human pinballs, telling them to move from one area to the next, who’s presiding over a genocide, and unabashedly so — it’s going to be shocking to see the number of applause and rounds of applause and the standing ovations that this man is going to be receiving. It very much signals exactly where the United States is, which is complicit in this genocide. And Palestinians know this. If anything, he should have not had received an invitation. He should simply be getting a warrant for his arrest, not be receiving applause and accolades in Congress.
AMY GOODMAN: Diana Buttu, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Palestinian human rights attorney, joining us from Brussels, Belgium.
That does it for our show. Democracy Now! is currently accepting applications for a director of development to lead our fundraising team. You can learn more and apply at democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud and Hana Elias. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Hugh Gran, Denis Moynihan, David Prude, Dennis McCormick. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.
Independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council renewed calls on Friday for Israel to investigate the killing of 6-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, along with six members of her family and the two paramedics who tried to rescue her, in what the experts said “may amount to a war crime.”
Hind became one of the conflict’s most high-profile victims when, on Jan. 29, her final pleas over the phone to be saved were recorded by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and heard around the world. Her case highlights the difficulty in bringing accountability for the deaths of civilians in Gaza.
The experts first raised the issue in a letter to the Israeli government on March 19, expressing alarm at the "apparently unlawful killing, of a seemingly targeted nature," and asked for information on what measures had been taken to conduct an "independent, impartial and transparent" investigation, and to ensure the protection of Gaza's civilian population.
The letter had received no response by July and, in "the absence of proper investigation and accountability," on Friday the experts issued a news release citing forensic analysis that show the car Hind was trapped in was shot at “from very close range using a type of weapon that can only be attributed to the Israeli forces.”
In response to a request for comment from NBC News on the allegations and on what measures the Israel Defense Forces had taken to investigate the case, the IDF said the incident was "under review," without providing further details.
The experts said the family members "were shot dead while fleeing," in what they said appears to be a “broader pattern of indiscriminate killings of civilians attempting to find shelter and escape the fighting in Gaza.”
Immediately following the incident, the IDF said that its troops were not in the area where Hind was killed, a claim the experts denounced as "unacceptable," given the evidence of Israeli munitions on the vehicle.
At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded in Israel’s latest assault on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza as Palestinians fleeing Israeli tank shelling and air strikes have described the situation as “doomsday”.
“Due to the Israeli occupation’s attacks and massacres in Khan Yunis governorate from the early hours of this morning until now, 70 people have been martyred and more than 200 wounded,” Gaza’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Monday, adding that the dead included women and children.
A senior World Health Organisation official on Tuesday said he was "extremely worried" by the possibility of disease outbreaks after poliovirus was reported in sewage, warning that communicable diseases could cause more deaths than injuries.
Ayadil Saparbekov, the WHO’s head of health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, said that, "We have not yet collected human samples," so it is unclear if anyone has been infected with the virus.
But he acknowledged that "I am very much worried".
"I'm extremely worried about outbreaks happening in Gaza," he said, pointing to the confirmation late last year that Hepatitis A was spreading, "and now we may have polio".
Advocates for Palestinian rights are demanding that the Biden administration take urgent action to stop a potential outbreak of polio in Gaza after the virus that causes the deadly disease was found in Gaza’s wastewater, threatening an epidemic that would be nothing short of catastrophic.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that Biden bears responsibility to respond to the crisis after funding Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems, which has created conditions ripe for a deadly epidemic.
“Having enabled the wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure and medical facilities in Gaza, the Biden administration has a duty to ensure that polio vaccines reach all those who need to be vaccinated,” said CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper in a statement Sunday.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 291 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 39,090, with 90,147 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:
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