clear winner of the 2024 U.S. presidential election is undeniably Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is now freer than ever to pursue his genocidal campaign against Palestinians; demolish Lebanon; create more illegal settlements on the West Bank; and even annex the West Bank itself if he chooses to do so.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made headlines this week after suggesting the 2024 election could be the last U.S. election if he wins in November. We look at a secret organization of wealthy Christians called Ziklag that is backing Trump’s efforts by working to purge more than a million voters from the rolls in battleground states and mobilize Republican voters to back Trump. The news outlets ProPublica and Documented obtained thousands of Ziklag’s internal files and found the group has divided its 2024 activities into three different operations: Steeplechase, which uses churches to get out the vote; Watchtower, which aims to rally voters around opposition to transgender rights; and Checkmate, which is focused on funding so-called election integrity groups, explains ProPublica investigative reporter Andy Kroll.
So, what is in a name? Not much, instead, what Trump says or doesn’t say should be the focal point of this presidential campaign. Donald Trump has not said he will accept the outcome of the 2024 election if he loses. Indeed, he said there would be a “bloodbath” if he loses the election, so Mike Pence may wish to stay home on January 6 2025. Donald Trump said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member, so it is safe to say Vladimir Putin is rooting for Trump to win the 2024 Presidential Election. Then there is Donald Trump’s desire to be a dictator, even only walking it back to one day (that is all a dictator needs), as well as using Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric of referring to Latin American people as being vermin. Donald Trump’s stated economic agenda of reducing taxes, including abolishing corporate tax, has been dismissed by economists and business leaders as nonsensical and will increase inflation, not to mention the economic disaster he caused during his first term.
Joe Biden is right: Listen to what Donald Trump says, and what you hear will terrify you.
“Do I really want to, contribute to Biden being our nominee? And I struggled, because it’s — do I want to vote for someone who’s supporting a genocide? No.”
Critical and rational thinking is being challenged. Meanwhile, SCOTUS has given Presidential IMMUNITY to the very top educated or not.
Ten CUNY students are still facing felony charges from the police raid on City College’s Gaza encampment. If convicted, the ruling would set a precedent for prosecuting pro-Palestinian students and organizers across the United States.
I am, therefore, doubtful the discussions about dropping out of the race will get serious in the president’s inner circle. Donors and the consultant class will have much to discuss in the week’s leading up to the convention, but the Biden camp will be unmoved. They realize, as does my friend in his comment above, that politics has always been a function of context and perspective, and one old guy with failing faculties but a fine record and good judgment is better risk than another old guy who thinks only of himself and vengeance
Whatever happened to the 25th Amendment that authorises the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president incompetent? What is going on in the Biden White House? Who is running the country?
“You got to ask him, as far as Israel and Hamas, Israel is the one that wants to go. He said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. Actually, Israel is the one, and you should them go and let them finish the job. He doesn’t want to do it. He has become like a Palestinian. But, they don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. He is a weak one.”
Long-standing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is set to be NATO’s next secretary general. To win the role, he had to prove his alignment with Washington — and he did so by repeatedly misleading the public about Israel’s crimes.
Foxx and her MAGA colleagues are much more concerned about cracking the heads of principled undergraduates than about the 15,000 dead children in Gaza.
Dan Patrick was right about one thing, though. The majority of Americans, ruling class or not, do want Trump to disappear. Forever, and that’s a long, long time.
Even the 2.5% of the global oil and gas industry’s capital spending currently investing in renewable energy is resented by shareholders. BP was threatened by a hedge fund for depressing its share price by this “irrational” spending.
Lacking any moral framework, this shareholder model demands government regulation to behave responsibly.
It is likely that a Trump victory at the end of this year will leave one of the world’s largest economies expanding its fossil fuel sector, cutting back every limit on carbon energy and stripping incentives promoting clean energy. Any regulation mitigating the immorality of shareholder capitalism will be stripped away. It is possible that China or India might step into a gap left on the global stage by America, but the damage to international cooperation will be extensive.
If America is to survive as a functioning democracy, we must recover and restore trust while diminishing the power massive corporate monopolies (including media monopolies) have over our everyday lives.
That means overturning corrupt Supreme Court decisions that allow politicians to pick or purge voters; that give the morbidly rich the “right” to own their very own politicians; and that limit the ability of working people to form a union.
Political dark money and racial/religious hatred are like heroin or fentanyl being injected into the bloodstream of our nation. Over the short term they numb us; over the long term they kill our trust in democracy itself.
This year’s election may be our last chance to push back against the oligarchy that the GOP has been constructing for the past forty-three years. President Biden and Democrats in Congress made a valiant try with the For The People Act that would have expanded voter rights, outlawed gerrymandering, and reversed Citizens United to strip dark money out of our electoral system, but were stabbed in the back by Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema.
“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respected stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges.” – President George Washington.
Republicans don’t want a solution; they prefer a crisis to hang around the president’s neck in an election year.
Biden is right to campaign on the threat Trump represents. Just don’t think his base sticks with him because they don’t understand that threat. They understand. Maybe better than anyone else.
The two openers for the New Pakistan : Caught and bowled by Imran Khan
For a year and a half, Pakistani politics has been gripped by word of a diplomatic cable said to describe U.S. State Department officials encouraging the removal of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan from power. Last week, The Intercept published the contents of the cable, known internally as a cypher, which revealed U.S. diplomats pressing for the removal of Khan over his neutral stance on the conflict in Ukraine.
Since it was published, the response to the story from Pakistani and U.S. officials has been both defensive and contradictory.
Right-wing media are attacking Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over Donald Trump’s pending criminal case in Washington D.C.
Chutkan was randomly selected to preside over the case. Appointed by former President Obama, she has been described as a “tough Jan. 6 sentencer” of defendants who participated in the insurrection, though she has “avoided some of the most pointed criticisms of Trump that some of her colleagues on the federal bench in D.C. have delivered.”
Media figures on the right have leveled numerous attacks and charges against her, describing her as politically motivated, and calling for her recusal in the case against the former president.
So, we see, based on Robert Kennedy’s entire journey, that we have before us an anti-establishment candidate, a candidate who is not afraid to clash with huge financial interests, a candidate who is not afraid to go against the dominant system, defying the risks.
In closing, I would like to emphatically emphasize that the overwhelming majority of politicians who appeared in the past, before the elections, against the dominant system, when they gained power not only did not change a single hair from it, but instead turned into components of the system. Let’s hope that in the case of Robert Kennedy, if he wins the nomination of the Democratic Party and is elected president of the United States, the same will not happen.
And so Republicans end up declaring that the FBI, long a conservative bastion, needs to be shut down because the results of its investigations don’t match the political expectations of Trump and his propagandists.
The Separation of Powers in a Democracy has the Justice System determine whether actions are treasonous or not, not politicians or politically motivated individuals. Unfortunately in America, it seems that that separation is tenuous in that judges and judicial system is made up of party political appointees. So Rhodes who claims to be a proud American is simply stating the obvious. All prisoners in the US are political and some on a bipartisan basis.
However, not all those incarcerated committed a treasonous act when breaking American laws. Rhodes is no Cool Hand Luke neither a victim or a hero. He and his band of Oaf Keepers are simply treasonous thugs who stood by and were ready. waiting for the call of the greater Oaf Trump who was President and believed he should be for life. Trump had brown-eyed Democracy and wanted to remain in the job as king “America’s Shame” is their court system not separate from politics and one also slow to judge those with a degree of status and heaps of money from the wealthy and corporate donors. Wealth allowed Trump to play with the courts and remain free for 78 years. American prisons reflect that very class system within which US citizens live and by which they’re threatened
Stated simply, if you vote for a Republican, you’re probably voting against your personal preferences for the nation.
You’re voting against democracy, which is supposed to honor voters’ desires.
You’re voting for those who claim to care what you think, but use such rhetoric to seduce you.
You’re voting for people whose sole agenda is the acquisition and retention of power. Other than Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) desire to retain his slim, four-person GOP majority in the House of Representatives, there’s no reason for him or any true party leader to tolerate the continuing presence of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was a disgrace long before his recent federal indictment for fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and false statements.
Republicans are trying to distract America from the easy access Audrey Hale had to weapons of war by discussing Hale’s personal life, but the availability of guns and the Republican embrace of death as a political weapon are the only real issues here.
We’re the only developed country in the world that unconditionally allows civilians to own military-style assault weapons, that allows “open carry,” and that lets gun manufacturers openly buy politicians (thanks, Republicans on the Supreme Court).
As a consequence, we’re also the only country in the world where the leading cause of death for children is being blown apart by bullets.
Ron DeSantis’s crusade against “woke ideology” was always a thinly disguised assault on the rights of Florida teachers and their unions. His recent “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” only makes it explicit.
DeSantis doesn’t pretend to be moderate; being a far-right culture warrior is his brand. Journalist/author and scholar Henry A. Giroux analyzes DeSantis’ appeal in a scathing article published by Truthout on December 16, and he doesn’t sugarcoat anything. DeSantis, Giroux warns, is “fueling the emergence of fascist politics in the United States.”
Women’s right. Personal responsibility. Personal freedom. Equality. The role of the Supreme Court. Roe v Wade wraps all those issues into one. And like the frequent but unexpected tornadoes the locals have learnt to live with, it swept through US politics this week – showing the power of voters galvanised by a single issue.
The Republicans calculated that by focusing on inflation they could immunize themselves from the growing backlash against the Supreme Court’s abortion decision. They were wrong.
What would be the global ramifications of America going full fascist after the midterms, and entrenching severely anti-democratic outcomes by notionally democratic means?
We might be about to find out.
The results of next week’s midterms could represent the endgame of a frankly fucking terrifying strategy carefully implemented by the likes of Mitch McConnell as he let the world be distracted by the performance of a grifting gimp as President.
We are so fortunate in Australia to have compulsory voting as a duty required of every Australian citizen. America doesn’t require its citizens to vote. If that is the case why not allow all American “residents” to vote citizens or not? Republicans want neither as they command the votes of the wealthiest minority in the nation and while their numbers are shrinking their proportion of voters remains high despite the fact they have been captured by MAGA Trumpists.
My friends, we owe it to generations before us who fought and died for democracy and the rule of law, and to generations after us who will live with the legacy we leave them — to get out the vote next Tuesday, to vote out the traitors and liars, to renounce the party that has forsaken the precious ideal of self-government, and to vote in people who are dedicated to making our democracy stronger and better.
As soon as they’d lost the election Peter Dutton flew to America to seek advice
The New York Times has just released a study into the language used by a group of Republicans it labels “the objectors.” This is the radical posse that most stridently fights the fact that Biden won the election. Together with partisan media, this group of congressmen and women have done incalculable damage to the civic space in America, and may have broken it altogether. We have the same forces at work in Australia, battling to destroy our own democracy. The movement here is nascent, but so was the American version once.
Fossil fuel giant Koch Industries has poured over $1m into backing – directly and indirectly – dozens of House and Senate candidates who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s win on 6 January 2021.
Koch, which is controlled by multibillionaire Charles Koch, boasts a corporate Pac that has donated $607,000 to the campaigns or leadership Pacs of 52 election deniers since January 2021, making Koch’s Pac the top corporate funder of members who opposed the election results, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending.
Unless Republicans win there’s no voting system that will be declared fair in America. So Republicans simply want to either do away with voting altogether or simply have a one party system in place for America. The fact is Palin lost because Republican Alaskans didn’t want her to win.
“Scam to rig elections”: Tom Cotton fumes over Sarah Palin loss as GOP fans cry “stolen election” | Salon.com
The man who should be President and knows he never will be
Bernie Sanders is holding rallies in cities across the country — not to stump for candidates but to broadcast ordinary people’s struggles, build enthusiasm for the labor movement, and promote pride among the working class. That’s exactly what we need.
Did Australia leap ahead and stop this process by ridding itself of the Morrison/ LNP? Or because we are generally regarded as being 20 years behind are we merely witnessing a delay in this forward movement? If the Dutton/ LNP continues it’s Abbottesque nope nope nope opposition it doesn’t bide well for our once two party bipartisan Democracy but rather indicates what might be seen as the continued Monkey Pod room push for a future coup. In a true Democracy a loss must be accepted as much as is a win. Is that what Dutton is doing?
Candidates who amplified false claims about Donald Trump winning in 2020 did very well in this month’s primaries. Their victories are one more step in the direction of authoritarianism.
For years Trump threatened anyone ready to speak out against him with money or the courts. He was the most practised Don in the country with 4000 court cases to prove it. However, the Jan 6th Committee hasn’t been bought or a court it’s simply there to gather the facts for the American legal system to decide whether charges should be brought. However, Trump while President made every effort to swing that system his way. The question remains just how much and solid must the evidence be against Trump be for an indictment to be made?
Donald Trump famously joked that he was so popular with his fans that he could literally get away with murder.
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, he bragged while campaigning in Iowa back in 2016.
Never mind the voters. Here we are, 18 months after his presidency, staring at clear evidence that Trump led a criminal conspiracy to interfere with the 2020 election and the constitutional duties of Congress. He intentionally incited a violent mob that he knew was armed to mount an attempted coup on Capitol Hill.
We need a criminal investigation into Donald Trump | Richard Wolffe | The Guardian
The legitimization of American Neo- Nazis is real and in plain sight
Carl Paladino apparently loves Trump rallies and finds them similar to another foreign leader in history. So do we, but not in a good way.
Paladino was asked by host Peter Hunt how to rile up the people for change.
“I was thinking the other day about somebody had mentioned on the radio Adolf Hitler and how he aroused the crowds. And he would get up there screaming these epithets and these people were just — they were hypnotized by him. That’s, I guess, I guess that’s the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer, has been there and done it.”
It used to be verboten to even mention the Nazi leader when bashing a political rival in Congress, but Paladino is using Hitler as his inspiration.
With the rise of white supremacy throughout the Republican party and Fox News because of Trump, his comparison will be celebrated.
During an NYC Town Hall on April 20, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained that if the Republicans had control of the House on January 6, 2021, the insurrection would not have been thwarted and Trump might still be in office. “This is no joke. January 6 was a trial run and a lot of people don’t seem to understand that,” AOC said.
“Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill, a member of the Select Committee, characterized the January 6 attack on our democracy as a “dry run” – implying it could happen again – perhaps successfully. It will happen again – unless we put mechanisms in place to constrain a corrupt president from exploiting the absolute power presently conveyed by the Insurrection Act. That change needs to happen now – before yet another authoritarian – or even the same one – tries another Jan. 6 and succeeds,” he argued.
StoryJul 30, 2024
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