#that poll is killing mee

[butchlifeguard]

i refuse to like. lovingly dunk on danger days. im here to say something true and beautiful

[thornethenorn]

POLL TIME (PLEASE yap in the tags i want to see your blorbo lore)

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 12/6/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 12/6/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has hit out at Americans who prefer a less interventionist foreign policy, smearing them as isolationists who want to see the US “retreat from responsibility.” AWC

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has scheduled a vote for Wednesday to advance President Biden’s massive $106 billion emergency spending request that includes military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, as well as additional funding for the border, POLITICO reported. AWC

Adm. Christopher Grady: US Can Handle Middle East, Russia and China All at Once. YouTubeThe Institute

China

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo called for tighter export controls on advanced technologies going to China and labeled Beijing “the biggest threat we’ve ever had.” AWC

Russia

White House Will Run Out of Funds to Arm Ukraine By the End of the Year. FTAWC

US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt explained that Washington was plotting a decade-long economic war targeting Moscow. The US has maintained sanctions on Russia since the 2014 Washington-backed coup in Ukraine sparked Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the economic war on the Russian economy was significantly intensified. The Institute

Bulgarian President Blocks Weapons Transfer to Ukraine. Newsweek

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is turning Ukraine into an authoritarian state as public criticism of Ukrainian leadership is becoming more common. AWC

Zelensky Cancels Address to US Senate. Forbes 

Israel

Biden Admin Says US Intel Had No Knowledge of Hamas Battle Plans for October 7. Axios

The UK announced on Saturday that it would begin surveillance flights in the skies above Gaza in search of captives held by Hamas. Over the past month, the US has conducted drone operations seeking hostages. Both Washington and London have engaged in a military buildup in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in support of Tel Aviv. The Institute 

UN Warns Israel Against Exacerbating the Already Catastrophic Humanitarian Situation in Gaza. VOA

Israel Hayom reported last week that some members of Congress have reviewed a plan to condition US aid to Arab countries on their willingness to accept refugees from Gaza, which would facilitate the Israeli goal of cleansing the territory of Palestinians. AWC

Israel intensified airstrikes in southern Gaza on Monday and bombed areas where it told Palestinians to seek shelter, Reuters reported. AWC

Amnesty International: “US-made Weapons Facilitated the Mass Killings of Extended Families” in Gaza. Press ReleaseThe Institute

Polling continues to show that the majority of Americans favor a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a position the Biden administration has rejected. AWC

The IDF Ignored Warnings Hours Before October 7 Hamas Attack. Haaretz 

The House on Tuesday passed a resolution that says “anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” the chamber’s latest piece of legislation conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. AWC

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Tuesday that he wants Israel’s military to maintain an open-ended occupation of the Gaza Strip after the current war. AWC

 Middle East

Officials Tell Politico that US Ships Under Threat in Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Politico 

The US Approves Arms Sales to UAE and Saudi Arabia. MEE

US officials are considering forming a Red Sea task force with other nations after a series of attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against commercial shipping that’s come in response to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. AWC

Read More

[icarusfellintomyarms]

those stupid Tumblr polls are always like

Trying to settle a debate between me and my friend, guys don't let this flop

[xtruss]

Diggers, Denial and Despair: The Macabre Story of the Srebrenica Cover-up!

“A Genocide of Muslims By the Criminal Christian Serb Forces!”

— Alastair Sloan, Peter Oborne | 6 May, 2017 | Middleeasreye.Net

Bosnian Serb genocide deniers are being courted by the Trump White House. Could rising anti-Muslim hatred in Europe lead to another killing spree?

TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — There is no ventilation in the room where they keep the bodies. There is no central heating in the room the forensics team work in. The cleaners were laid off long ago because there is no money to pay them. The plumbing in one of the lavatories is bust. The rent has gone unpaid for 12 months. The building is a dreary industrial unit with uncleaned windows and broken shutters.

Welcome to the International Commission on Missing Persons in Tuzla where earnest and stretched forensic anthropologists try to identify the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.

'He said he wanted to kill me, he chased us across the field cursing my dead children ... The police did nothing; this is Srpska now'

We had blithely assumed that the international community - and the governments of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia - would have ensured that the organisation working to find mass graves, painstakingly identify the bodies and then inform the families, would be adequately funded until the very last victim was found. We were wrong: "We wanted to get sniffer dogs to find the remaining graves," the only staff member in the building told us, "but we couldn't afford it."

The rundown building is a perfect metaphor for a genocide that is forgotten by many, ignored by others, and completely denied by many of those most closely involved.

Dragana Vucetic, a 36-year-old Serb, is the director of the centre. A forensic anthropologist by training, she was a child in Belgrade during the terrible civil wars that ripped apart the Balkans in the 1990s.

Dragana joined the International Commission on Missing Persons straight after university and has worked tirelessly in the 13 years since.

Bida Smajlovic, 64, survivor of July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, stands at a memorial center in Potocari, on March 24, 2016, while pointing at the name of her husband, engraved among names of other victims of the massacre. (AFP)

She showed us half a skeleton in a room next door to the mortuary, laid out on an aluminium table. She holds up a "skeletal inventory" in which they track the bones. Most of the diagram is red, indicating the bones that are missing. "It's a relief every time we identify someone," said Dragana. She described what she knew about the human remains in front of her. They belonged to a male, who was probably killed with a gunshot to the head.

Thanks to modern DNA techniques, the International Commission on Missing Persons has been able to identify him, even though much of his body is missing.

His family have been informed, and they are now ready to bury the remains. Many families, however, delay for years, waiting for more bones to be found. The reason for the majority of these delays is macabre.

Mass Graves Dispersed With Diggers

As Serbian paramilitaries found themselves hounded by international investigators intent on bringing the murderers to justice, they would carve up the mass graves at night with diggers, move the soil and bones to secondary sites, and then perhaps move them again for good measure.

The skeletons of Srebrenica were therefore spread across mass graves up to 20 kilometres apart.

It dawned on us that the genocide had actually worked

In the mortuary we see half a jaw with five teeth left in a semi-translucent plastic bag. On the shelves above each set of remains are corresponding brown paper bags containing whatever clothes, wallets or other scraps of belongings may have belonged to that person.

Most of the mass graves are now thought to have been found, but Dragana tells us there are one, "perhaps two”, still to go. Now that funding has dried up, they may never be discovered.

From Tuzla we drove towards Srebrenica, some 32 kilometres to the southeast, a haunting journey through villages that had been ethnically cleansed by Bosnian Serb forces and Serb militias during the war. Many Bosnian Muslims have left forever, while newly built churches mark Bosnian Serb possession of the territory.

We also realised that that we were taking the same journey – only in the reverse direction – as the so-called "Death March" of 11 July 1995 when 10,000 Bosnian Muslims fled Srebrenica towards Tuzla after UN forces refused to protect them. Of those 10,000, some 7,000 were killed by Serbian forces.

Eventually we reached Srebrenica, the site of the only genocide in Europe since the Second World War. The UN camp, which failed so terribly in its task to protect, has now been turned into a museum.

As at Tuzla, we were in for a very nasty shock. We had come to Srebrenica to learn about the events that led to the genocide. Chillingly, we learnt something else as well. It dawned on us that the genocide had actually worked.

Act of Defiance

With most of the town's former Muslim residents dead or emigrated, Srebrenica is now controlled by Bosnian Serbs, the majority of whom refuse to accept that that genocide took place.

We met a survivor of the genocide who moved back to Srebrenica in an act of defiance, marrying a fellow survivor and having three children.

'They are being taught that the genocide never happened. You turn on the TV and it is like the war never ended'

"For a long time I thought we could make a life here," he told us, but now they want to move away. "Our first child is starting at the local school. They are being taught that the genocide never happened. You turn on the TV and it is like the war never ended."

Nedzad Avdic cannot doubt the genocide took place because his uncle and father, and many other male relatives, were also killed (only the bodies of his uncle and father have been found so far). His story is horrific: he himself survived after crawling away badly wounded from a mound of defenceless men who had been shot dead by the Serbs.

Nedzad Avdic survived the massacre by crawling away (Rooful Ali/MEE)

"The denial of the genocide hurts," said Mejra Dzogaz, whose sons were murdered in the hills around Srebrenica. The elderly lady told us her story in the United Nations base from which refugees were expelled by Dutch United Nations peacekeepers in the hours before the killings began.

"We are still hoping the deniers will turn round finally and think about us and all the other mothers, but all they want to do is deny. If you turn the TV on all you can hear is them denying. We cry and cry and they still deny."

The mother told us that the first time she returned to her home, a neighbour threatened her. "He said he wanted to kill me, he chased us across the field cursing my dead children. Luckily my neighbour came. The police did nothing; this is Srpska now."

Srpska is the semi-autonomous northern and eastern region of Bosnia-Herzegovina which includes Srebrenica and borders Serbia. Since the war ended Srpska has been dominated by Bosnian Serbs.

Mejra Dzogaz told us that many of the same men she remembered carrying out the killings she now sees around the town, some holding offices at the local council or senior ranks in the local police force.

"I put so much sugar in my coffee every morning," she added, "but no matter how much I put in, it still tastes bitter."

Every year, the international community gathers in the cemetery at Srebrenica to commemorate the genocide.

The ceremony remains an important reminder that a genocide in Europe has happened since the Second World War, and that leaders should always be on their guard to avoid it happening again.

Mejra Dzogas says that she still sees people responsible for the genocide walking freely in Screbenica (Rooful Ali/MEE)

This year, the preparations for the memorial must be in doubt. Last October a Bosnian Serb nationalist politician, Mladen Grujicic, was elected mayor of Srebrenica. “When they prove it to be the truth," Grujicic has said, "I’ll be the first to accept it."

Like many Bosnian Serb nationalists, he still refuses to use the word genocide about the atrocities of July 1995 - even though Srebrenica is now regarded as the most well-documented and best evidenced war crime in history.

"I always said that what happened in Srebrenica was a terrible crime against the Bosnian population and that there were also terrible crimes against the Serbian population." Grjujicic has said, adding that "I leave it to competent institutions to qualify it."

Genocide Denial

This is genocide denial. He ignores the fact that the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia have both clearly ruled the killings "genocide".

A United Nations Security Council motion proposing to condemn the Srebrenica killings as genocide in 2015 was vetoed by Russia, Serbia and Republika Srpska's ally, but both the US Congress and the European Parliament have also passed resolutions calling the massacre a genocide.

The chairman of Remembering Srebrenica, Dr Waqar Azmi, said: "It is a cruel irony that the election of a new mayor of Srebrenica, who is a genocide denier, was made possible only because of the ethnic cleansing of its Muslim population." In Serbia itself, one 2015 poll showed 54 percent people do not question the crime's brutality, but an extraordinary 70 percent still deny it was "genocide". In November 2016, Serb legislators excluded Srebrenica from a new law forbidding genocide denial more widely.

Grujicic does not hold a minority view among political leaders in both Srpska and Serbia, and Bosnian Serbs who now live in the Republika Srpska.

Once 2015 poll showed that in Serbia, 54 percent of people do not question the crime’s brutality, but 70 percent still deny it was "genocide". In November 2016, Serb legislators excluded Srebrenica from a new law forbidding genocide denial more widely.

Boak Bollocks Mladen Grujicic, mayor of Srebrenica, with Zeljka Cvijanovic, prime minister of the Republic of Srpska, at the 65th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on 2 February 2017 (Republic of Sprska Government)

With such a palpable atmosphere of denial everywhere we went, one question lingered on - could such a crime happen again?

It is as if European Jews who survived the Holocaust had found themselves being ruled by the same criminals who denied the gas chambers existed, and who themselves had ordered the killings.

There is more than a little crossover between the anti-Muslim Chetnik Serb nationalist ideology, and anti-Jewish German Nazism.

"It was genetically deformed material that embraced Islam," Biljana Plavsic, the president of the Republika Srpska from July 1996 to November 1998 - regarded as the ideologue who provided the pseudo-intellectual underpinning for the genocide - once said.

She was later sent to The Hague and convicted of war crimes. "And now, of course, with each successive generation it simply becomes concentrated," she continued.

'It really hurts when people deny the murder of your family. It is just like a dagger to the heart, as if they never even existed'

- Lilian Black, chair of the Holocaust Survivors' Association

"It gets worse and worse. It simply expresses itself and dictates their style of thinking, which is rooted in their genes. And through the centuries, the genes degraded further."

Plavsic was a former Fulbright scholar and acclaimed biologist, lending a chilling air of scientific callousness to the "Greater Serbia" ideology of Slobodan Milosevic.

Lilian Black, the chair of the Holocaust Survivors' Association and director of the Holocaust Heritage and Learning Centre for the North, was also on the trip.

Black was shocked by the culture of denial in Srpska, and drew comparisons with her own family's experiences.

"It really hurts when people deny the murder of your family. It is just like a dagger to the heart, as if they never even existed. When we got the Nazi records from the International Tracing Service in Germany of our family’s persecution it was a truly cathartic experience," she said.

"It was like saying yes they were here and this is what happened to them. It doesn't change their fate, but it is somehow a means to helping us accept what happened."

Bosnian Serb Nationalists' Trump links

Hungary was only a few hours drive from where we were standing, where Prime Miniser Viktor Orban has recently framed his own anti-refugee policy on distinctly religious grounds.

"Those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture," Orban wrote in a commentary for Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung, a German newspaper.

"Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims."

In December, Slovakia banned public authorities from allowing Islam to be recognised as a religion.

Potocari cemetery overlooking the old United Nations base (Rooful Ali/MEE)

In the recent Dutch election, Geert Wilders described Islam as "possibly even more dangerous than Nazism". During his election campaign, US President Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States".

One of the most disturbing aspects of our trip was the discovery of links between the new Trump administration and the genocide-denying tendency amongst Bosnian Serb nationalists.

Mayor Grujicic, who denies Srebrenica was a genocide, was invited to attend the prestigious National Prayer Breakfast event in Washington two weeks after Trump was inaugurated.

Grujicic said he hoped it would be "an opportunity to make contacts with some important persons, and I will try to do something useful for Srebrenica's residents".

Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska, also received an invite to the Trump inauguration ceremony, extended by his transition team (before it was knocked down by a concerned US State Department).

'Nobody tries to argue that the Holocaust wasn't so bad because the allies also committed some war crimes'

Dodik has called Srebrenica "the greatest deception of the 20th century".

Our trip, which was organised by the British charity Remembering Srebrenica, was hosted by Bosnian Muslims who had fought or suffered greatly during the war.

Systematic Atrocities

None denied that crimes by Muslim fighters had also taken place against Serbs, but there was an important and qualitative difference between the two.

According to Azmi, who is now working on plans for a Srebrenica memorial centre in Britain, "Nobody tries to argue that the Holocaust wasn't so bad because the allies also committed some war crimes.

"Bosniak [Bosnian Muslim] war crimes were sporadic and isolated, and Bosniaks were fighting for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society. Serb war crimes were organised and systematic, and Serbs were fighting for a mono-ethnic 'Greater Serbia'."

It is clear when you visit Srebrenica that what happened there in July 1995 was by far the greatest atrocity of the Yugoslav conflict.

It was also not an incident that can be understood simply by tracing out the mechanics of what took place minute by minute, hour by hour, on those particular days.

Srebrenica was the culmination of years of increasingly explicit anti-Muslim hate speech in the Serbian media, and in the speeches and rhetoric of figures like Slobodan Milosevic, and the Bosnian Serb political and military leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

Milosevic, who was overthrown in 2000, was extradited to The Hague and accused of genocide and other war crimes but died before his trial concluded. Karadzic and Mladic were both captured in Serbia, in 2008 and 2011, respectively, with the former found guilty of genocide and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Mladic's trial, in which he faces two indicted for two counts of genocide, is ongoing.

Yet the strength of their anti-Muslim ideology clearly lives on in Serbia and Republika Srpska. It is this that made us wonder - could a Srebrenica-style genocide in Europe happen again?

— Alastair Sloan focuses on injustice and oppression in the West, Russia and the Middle East. He contributes regularly to The Guardian, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. Follow Alastair's work at www.unequalmeasures.com

— Peter Oborne was named freelancer of the year 2016 by the Online Media Awards for an article he wrote for Middle East Eye. He was British Press Awards Columnist of the Year 2013. He resigned as chief political columnist of the Daily Telegraph in 2015. His books include The Triumph of the Political Class, The Rise of Political Lying, and Why the West is Wrong about Nuclear Iran.

— The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

— Photo: A Bosnian woman mourns over a coffin of a relative at the Potocari Memorial Center near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica on 10 July 2015 where 136 bodies found in mass grave sites in eastern Bosnia will be reburied on 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. (AFP)

— This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON  | The Latest: Wine store co-owner wins Dem race in Maryland

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/EqI5Ms

WASHINGTON  | The Latest: Wine store co-owner wins Dem race in Maryland

WASHINGTON  — The Latest on primaries and runoffs in seven states (all times local):

11:25 p.m.

The co-owner of giant wine retailer Total Wine & More has won Maryland’s Democratic primary for the state’s only open congressional seat.

David Trone finished first in Tuesday’s crowded race in the state’s 6th district.

Two years ago, Trone broke a record as the biggest self-funder for a House candidate. He spent $13.4 million in a failed primary bid for the 8th District congressional seat. He’s reported spending about $10 million of his own money in this race.

Trone has highlighted the opioid crisis as a top concern and focused on job creation. He says his business created close to 7,000 jobs in 24 states.

The district has been criticized as one of the state’s most gerrymandered. Rep. John Delaney doesn’t live in the 6th District and isn’t running for re-election. He’s seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

___

11:20 p.m.

Tony Campbell has won Maryland’s Republican nomination in the state’s crowded primary for a U.S. Senate seat.

Eleven Republican candidates campaigned ahead of Tuesday’s race.

Campbell teaches politics at Towson University in Maryland and was a chaplain in the Army. Among the issues central to his campaign is education reform.

Campbell faces popular, well-funded U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin in the November general election. Earlier Tuesday night, Cardin won the Democratic nomination for his bid to earn a third term, beating convicted leaker Chelsea Manning and six others.

Cardin has name recognition within the state. He served 20 years in the U.S. House before becoming a senator in 2006.

___

11:10 p.m.

President Donald Trump is reveling in the primary loss of longtime Democratic congressman Joseph Crowley of New York, saying he should have been “nicer, and more respectful, to his President!”

Trump issued a series of tweets as election results came in from seven states Tuesday.

One of the biggest upsets was Crowley’s loss to 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who worked for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. She has never held elected office.

Trump tweeted: “Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election.” He added: “Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!”

The 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens, is a liberal area of New York City, where Trump is largely unpopular.

___

11:05 p.m.

Marilyn Mosby has won the Democratic nomination for a second term as Baltimore’s chief prosecutor and is expected to run unopposed in November’s general election.

She beat challengers Ivan Bates and Thiru Vignarajah in Tuesday’s hard-fought primary in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Mosby made international headlines in 2015 when she declared that six police officers would be held accountable for the broken neck of a black man whose death in custody triggered riots and protests. She failed to get a conviction in the Freddie Gray case. Nonetheless, Mosby has trumpeted her leading role in the case as many residents admired her decision to swiftly charge the officers.

Her primary victory comes as Baltimore continues to struggle with a punishing rate of killings and high rates of other crimes.

___

11 p.m.

Former Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris has advanced to a runoff election for the Republican nomination in Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District.

The longtime prosecutor advances in a five-candidate field for the GOP nomination for the open Tulsa-area district. A runoff election is set for Aug. 28, and the winner will meet the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 6 general election.

First elected DA in 1998, Harris is the longest serving district attorney in the county’s history. He retired in 2014.

The seat has been vacant since April when former U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine resigned to become administrator of NASA.

President Donald Trump nominated Bridenstine to head the space agency in September.

___

10:55 p.m.

Defense consultant Amie (AH’-mee) Hoeber has won the Maryland Republican primary for U.S. House in her second consecutive nomination for the seat.

Hoeber beat three other Republicans in Tuesday’s race.

In 2016, she lost the general election to incumbent Rep. John Delaney, who isn’t running for re-election this year. He’s seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Hoeber served as deputy undersecretary of the Army during President Ronald Reagan’s administration. She oversaw the Army’s research and development programs and managed environmental cleanup of decommissioned bases.

She’s pointed to her defense expertise as a background to help steer defense work to the district.

The district includes western Maryland and portions of the Washington suburbs. It’s criticized as one of the state’s most gerrymandered districts.

___

10:48 p.m.

Former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett has advanced to the August runoff to decide who gets the Republican nomination in the state’s governor’s race.

The 59-year-old Cornett is among top vote getters in Tuesday’s GOP primary election in the crowded 10-man field seeking to replace Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, who is term limited. The primary runoff is Aug. 28. The general election is in November.

Cornett is a former television reporter who was first elected mayor of Oklahoma City in 2004 and served four consecutive terms during a revitalization of the state’s capital city.

Political newcomer and businessman Kevin Stitt and Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb are also considered favorites headed for the Republican runoff.

___

10:45 p.m.

Former NAACP President Ben Jealous has won the Democratic nomination for governor in Maryland, setting up a battle between the liberal candidate and a popular Republican incumbent.

Jealous beat Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker. Both candidates are black, and Jealous now has a shot at becoming the state’s first black governor and the country’s third elected black governor.

Jealous faces Gov. Larry Hogan in the general election.

Jealous won support from leading liberals on the national stage, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Kamala Harris of California.

Jealous supports tuition-free college educations and expanding Medicare to all. He also advocates raising teacher pay by 29 percent and funding full-day, universal pre-kindergarten with tax revenue from his proposal to legalize recreational marijuana.

___

10:40 p.m.

Turnout is up significantly in Colorado’s primary, thanks in large part to a new state law allowing unaffiliated voters to participate in the two parties’ nominating contests for the first time.

According to preliminary figures from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, more than 32 percent of the state’s 3.2 million active voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary election, up from 21 percent in 2016.

Unaffiliated voters, who make up roughly a third of the state’s electorate, represent the bulk of the increase. They cast more than 250,000 votes, or about 8 percentage points of the turnout.

Preliminary voter turnout among members of the two major parties was up about 3 percentage points.

Enthusiasm is one possible factor. Turnout has been high in primary elections across the country, among Democrats in particular. This year’s ballot also had interesting races. Colorado did not have a presidential primary in 2016. This year, both parties have contested gubernatorial primaries atop the ticket.

___

10:35 p.m.

A state senator in South Carolina has won the Republican nomination for U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy’s open seat.

William Timmons was nominated after Tuesday’s runoff. He had finished second to former state Sen. Lee Bright in the June 12 primary.

Timmons was the choice of establishment Republicans, picking up a number of endorsements and quiet support. He is similar to Gowdy, who spent eight years in the House and led a highly partisan panel investigating the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Timmons was a prosecutor and successful businessman who spent more than $900,000 of his own money on his campaign.

Timmons will take on businessman Brandon Brown, who won the Democratic runoff Tuesday.

___

10:30 p.m.

Gov. Henry McMaster says he will use his relationship with President Donald Trump to bring prosperity to South Carolina.

McMaster told supporters gathered to celebrate his victory in Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial runoff that he was glad to have a friend in the president and knew that the state would benefit from their relationship.

Trump endorsed McMaster in his pursuit of a first full term in office and campaigned for him just hours before polls opened for Tuesday’s voting.

Greenville businessman John Warren congratulated McMaster on his victory but told his own supporters he hoped they could continue their momentum in forging a new brand of conservatism in South Carolina.

___

10:27 p.m.

Mitt Romney has won the Republican primary for a Utah Senate seat, setting him on the path to restart his political career with a Senate seat left open by retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Romney secured the nomination Tuesday against state lawmaker Mike Kennedy after fending off attacks on his onetime criticism of President Donald Trump.

Romney was the heavy favorite to win the race in Utah, where he moved after his failed 2012 presidential run and is a beloved adopted son.

Romney blasted Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, though the two men have largely buried the hatchet, and Romney has accepted the president’s endorsement.

He now faces Democratic Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, though GOP candidates have an upper hand in the conservative state.

___

10:25 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley says he wishes “the best” for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the challenger who beat him in the Democratic congressional primary in New York in a highly unexpected upset.

The 10-term incumbent thanked supporters and expressed his love Tuesday for the people of the 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ocasio-Cortez has never held elected office. She worked for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

She was outspent by an 18-1 margin but won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party’s left, including MoveOn.

Crowley says, “I want nothing but the best for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I want her to be victorious.”

Crowley had been considered a candidate to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the majority.

Republican candidate Anthony Pappas is running unopposed.

___

10:20 p.m.

Oklahoma voters have backed the medicinal use of marijuana despite opposition from law enforcement and business, faith and political leaders.

State Question 788 was the result of an activist-led signature drive. It allows physicians to approve medical marijuana licenses for people to legally grow, keep and use cannabis. The proposal doesn’t list any qualifying medical conditions, allowing doctors to prescribe it for a wide range of ailments.

Opponents had argued the proposal was too loosely written, and Republican Gov. Mary Fallin said it would essentially allow recreational use. She recently warned that if the measure passed, she would have to call lawmakers into a special session to develop rules regulating the industry in Oklahoma.

It’s the first marijuana question on a state ballot in 2018. Elections are scheduled for later this year in Michigan and Utah.

___

9:50 p.m.

In a shocking upset, U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley has been defeated by a 28-year-old Bernie Sanders supporter in the Democratic congressional primary in New York.

Crowley had been considered a candidate to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the majority.

He was defeated Tuesday by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has never held elected office.

Ocasio-Cortez ran a low-budget campaign and was outspent by an 18-1 margin. She won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party’s left, including MoveOn.

Crowley has been in Congress since 1999. He represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens.

Ocasio-Cortez has been a community organizer in the Bronx and worked on Sanders’ presidential campaign.

___

9:47 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis has won the Democratic primary in the race to replace Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Polis secured the nomination Tuesday against former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy, former state Sen. Mike Johnston and Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne.

Polis is a five-term congressman, former state board of education member and self-made millionaire and philanthropist.

He supports publicly-funded preschool and kindergarten, forgiveness of college debt, single-payer health care and promoting renewable energy.

State law prohibits Hickenlooper from serving a third consecutive term.

Tuesday’s primary was the first in which unaffiliated voters, the state’s largest voting bloc, could participate in one or the other of the major party primaries.

Colorado hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Bill Owens, who served from 1999 to 2007.

___

9:45 p.m.

Former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has defeated ex-state Sen. Connie Johnson to win the Democratic nomination in the race to be the state’s next governor.

Edmondson will face the eventual Republican nominee in November.

Edmondson’s victory Tuesday was something he was unable to do in 2010. He was upset in that Democratic primary by then-Lt. Gov. Jari Askins.

The 71-year-old Edmondson is a Vietnam War veteran from Muskogee who served four terms as Oklahoma attorney general and had a huge fundraising advantage over Johnson. The $1.5 million he raised was more than 20 times as much as Johnson, a 66-year-old former state senator from Oklahoma City.

Johnson has been a longtime champion of legalizing marijuana and abolishing the death penalty.

___

9:40 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan has survived a fierce challenge in New York’s Republican primary from Michael Grimm, a former congressman who resigned to go to prison for tax fraud.

Donovan represents New York’s 11th Congressional District, which covers Staten Island and part of Brooklyn.

Grimm served more than seven months in prison after pleading guilty in 2014 to cheating the government out of taxes at his Manhattan restaurant.

He was leading in at least one poll when President Donald Trump weighed in on the race last month, urging voters to stick with Donovan.

Trump said in a tweet that a vote for Grimm risked handing the seat to Democrats.

Donovan is New York City’s only Republican congressman.

He is seeking a third term.

___

9:35 p.m.

Mississippi Democrats have nominated state Rep. David Baria to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, lining up behind a party stalwart as they reject a bid by a newcomer.

Baria is a Bay St. Louis attorney. He beat venture capitalist Howard Sherman of Meridian in Tuesday’s runoff.

Many Democratic politicians backed Baria, the state House minority leader, arguing that Sherman was an unknown quantity. The husband of actress Sela Ward, Sherman voted as a Republican in California and donated to Wicker. Sherman said that was an effort to prevent a tea party conservative from winning office.

Baria says he has the experience to make the uphill campaign against Wicker and be a productive senator.

The Reform Party’s Shawn O’Hara of Hattiesburg and Libertarian Danny Bedwell of Columbus also are running in November.

___

9:30 p.m.

State Treasurer Walker Stapleton has won the Republican primary for Colorado governor.

Stapleton secured the nomination Tuesday against businessmen Victor Mitchell, Doug Robinson and Greg Lopez.

Stapleton led a field that collectively vowed to defend any attempt to tamper with Colorado’s constitutional Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which leaves it to voters to approve tax hikes. He also aligned himself with President Donald Trump on immigration, health care and the federal tax plan.

Stapleton has aired an ad in which he states, “I’ll stand with Donald Trump to get illegal aliens who commit crimes deported.” In the ad, Stapleton blames Congress for an immigration policy that separates children from their parents along the border.

State law prohibits Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper from serving a third consecutive term.

___

9:25 p.m.

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin has won the Democratic nomination for his bid to earn a third term, beating Chelsea Manning and six others.

The popular and well-funded incumbent easily took victory in Tuesday’s crowded primary.

Cardin’s best-known rival was Manning, the convicted leaker of U.S. government secrets. She ran an unorthodox, grassroots campaign that failed to resonate with many voters.

Outside Manning’s involvement, the contest attracted such little attention that there were no debates, few candidate forums and hardly any polling.

Cardin has name recognition within the state. He served 20 years in the U.S. House before becoming a senator in 2006. In his last primary, he easily defeated eight challengers.

___

9:15 p.m.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has secured the Republican gubernatorial nomination for a first full term in office, after President Donald Trump publicly embraced him at a rally and followed up with a tweet encouraging voters.

McMaster defeated Greenville businessman John Warren in Tuesday’s primary runoff.

McMaster became governor when Nikki Haley left the office in 2017 to join the Trump administration as U.N. ambassador. As lieutenant governor, McMaster was the first statewide elected official in the country to back Trump’s candidacy.

The runoff pitting McMaster against Warren threatened to embarrass the White House if the governor fell short. Trump has a mixed track record when going all-in for candidates.

McMaster was unsuccessful in his previous bid for the governorship in 2010, losing a four-way GOP primary to Haley.

___

9 p.m.

Polls have now closed in New York and Colorado on a night when seven states are holding primary or runoff elections.

Polls closed in New York and Colorado at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Polls have already closed in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Maryland but remain open in Utah.

New York City’s only Republican congressman will try to hold off a fierce challenge in the state’s primary election from a former congressman trying to make a political comeback after serving prison time for tax fraud. The fight between U.S. Rep. Daniel Donovan and former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm is the most closely watched race in New York congressional primaries.

In Colorado, the contest to succeed Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper tops the primary. He is prevented by term limit laws from running again.

__

By Associated Press

___

[reseau-actu]

US Jewish protests against Israel highlight growing schism

Jewish Voice for Peace members were arrested in front of US Senator Chuck Schumer's office (MEE/Jake Ratner)

Fourteen American Jews were arrested by the New York Police Department after blocking the entrance to US Senator Chuck Schumer’s New York office on Thursday, the latest Jewish-led civil disobedience action aimed at pushing members of Congress to condemn Israel’s killing of Palestinian protesters in Gaza.

Chanting “Free, Free Gaza” and singing Jewish prayers while wearing black, the protesters, all members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), sat in front of Schumer’s office building, locked arms and unfurled a banner that read: “Schumer, your silence is shameful. NYC Jews stand with Gaza. Palestinians should be free.”

The 14 who were arrested were joined by at least 40 other JVP members there to support the protest and push Schumer, the Democratic majority leader, to speak out against Israeli actions in Gaza. The demonstrators wore signs around their necks with the names of the 41 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since 30 March, when Gazans began the Great March of Return.

The Gaza protest is a weeks-long encampment near Israel’s self-imposed militarised barrier with Gaza, calling for the right of return to lands Palestinians and their descendants were expelled from in 1948, when Israel was founded. The Palestinian demonstrators have been met with sniper fire and tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers.

As a Jew, I have a responsibility to speak out publicly when violence is committed in my name

- Audrey Bruner, Jewish Voice for Peace

“We’re here today to call on Senator Schumer to condemn the murder of 41 people in Gaza,” said MJ Edery, a member of JVP’s New York City chapter. “Everyone should have the right to peacefully protest for their rights without being murdered.”

Schumer has been one of Israel’s most steadfast backers in the US Congress.

But JVP said it hopes to use this protest to pressure other US senators to urge Israel to stop using sniper fire on unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza.

The sit-in is the first in a series of JVP-led demonstrations to be held in front of the offices of US politicians across the country to press for enforcement of the Leahy Law, a US provision that prohibits American military aid from going to foreign army units that violate human rights. The US provides Israel with more than $3bn in annual military aid.

”As a Jew, I have a responsibility to speak out publicly when violence is committed in my name,” said Audrey Bruner, a JVP member who was arrested outside Schumer's office.

Growing Jewish protests over Gaza

There have been several indicators, including these latest sit-ins at politicians' offices, of a growing split in the American Jewish community over Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinians.

Since 30 March, at least 51 American Jews have been arrested protesting against Israel’s lethal response to the Great March of Return.

“The recent wave of actions reflects more broadly that the tide is turning in the American Jewish community, and its time that Jewish institutions took note,” said Noah Wagner, a Boston-based member of IfNotNow, a group of young American Jews that organise against the Israeli occupation.

IfNotNow members are arrested in Boston for protesting Israel's occupation (MEE/Emily Glick)

Wagner is one of 37 IfNotNow members who have been arrested by police officers in various states for blocking the entrances to offices of US politicians or Israeli consulates. Wagner and seven other IfNotNow members were arrested after blocking the entrance to the Israeli consulate in Boston. The Israeli consulate responded by saying that the demonstrators were “lawless”.

“This is a moment of reckoning, a moment when young Jews are exhibiting moral leadership and showing a sense of clarity and integrity when it comes to putting fundamental human dignity first,” Wagner told Middle East Eye. “The violence in Gaza laid bare, exposed the ugliest undercurrents of the occupation, the real overt brutality that is required to uphold it. And I think that young Jews no longer feel we can look away.”

US Jews increasingly critical of Israel

The memberships of IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace have steadily increased in recent years, the groups say, calling them a reflection of how Israeli human rights abuses of Palestinians are driving members of the American Jewish community away from supporting Israel.

For decades, the American Jewish community has stood as a pillar of support for Israel. Washington has shielded Israel from diplomatic sanctions at the United Nations and has given it more than $134bn in aid, most of it military assistance, since 1948.

But the 50-year-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian land - and the deaths, mass detentions and building of illegal settlements, all hallmarks of its rule - has eroded support for Israel among American Jews.

People involved in these demonstrations are the future leadership of the American Jewish community

- Dov Waxman, Northeastern University

Various studies have shown that more American Jews are becoming critics of Israel. Two surveys conducted by the Brand Israel Group six years apart revealed a drop in support for the state, as between 2010, when one poll was taken, and 2016, support for Israel by Jewish college students dropped by 26 points.

Dov Waxman, a professor at Northeastern University, said that American Jews will not be able to change US policy towards Israel single handedly.

The US-Israel relationship rests on a number of pillars, like Christian Evangelical support, intelligence sharing and US weapons companies that profit from Israeli purchases.

Still, Waxman, who authored Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel, told Middle East Eye that the wave of American Jewish protests against Israel’s killings in Gaza was important.

“People involved in these demonstrations are the future leadership of the American Jewish community. It does matter what their views are and what their positions are,” said Waxman. “[The Jewish protests] can make a difference, particularly for some congressmen - it can embolden them to speak.”

And as Israel continues to inflict violence on protesters in Gaza, the Jewish-led protests in the US will continue, the groups involved say, in the hopes that pressure will embolden members of Congress to criticise Israeli actions.

“With Nakba Day, and the move of the US embassy [to Jerusalem] coming up, we can expect to see more tragedy and more death in Israel-Palestine,” said Wagner, the IfNotNow member. “We will be watching that with a lot of compassion and concern. We will not let that go unaddressed.”

Article complet: Middle East Eye - RSS Feed — http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-jewish-protests-against-israel-highlights-growing-schism-735222057

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Israel’s 1.7 million Palestinian citizens are facing a tidal wave of incitement and hate speech on social media, including from government ministers, community leaders have warned. They say the increasingly hostile political climate in Israel is stoking violence from the police and street gangs, and has laid the ground for a recent raft of racist legislative proposals. The alert comes as a group of Palestinian lawyers demand that Israel’s attorney general investigates Gilad Erdan, the internal security minister, for incitement to racism. Adalah, a legal group for Israel’s Palestinian minority, highlighted statements from Erdan blaming Palestinian citizens for “arson terrorism” last November after forest fires swept the country, despite their having been no prosecutions. “Israel has experienced arson terrorism and I won’t let anyone sweep this fact under the rug,” he wrote on Facebook in December. “Why does it seem unrealistic that Arabs would attempt to harm Jews?” Adalah argued Erdan’s comments were part of a wider government strategy to portray Palestinian citizens, about 20 per cent of Israel’s population, as a “fifth column”. Although other government ministers had incited, the group said, Erdan’s statements were especially harmful because of his role overseeing the police. Adalah said he was bolstering a police culture that already treated Palestinian citizens as an “enemy within”. “Incitement from Erdan is dangerous because it reinforces and sanctions existing prejudices in the police,” Nadim Shehadeh, a lawyer with Adalah, told Middle East Eye. “As a result, the police are likely to have an even lighter finger on the trigger.” Concern about the effects of incitement from leading politicians has been underscored by a survey published this month that found rocketing levels of online abuse from Israeli Jews against Palestinians. 7amleh, an organisation promoting social media rights for Palestinians, identified 675,000 posts in Hebrew last year expressing racism or hatred towards Palestinians – one every 46 seconds, and more than double the previous year’s figure. “There are terrifying levels of hate speech online from Israeli Jews,” Nadim Nashef, 7amleh’s director, told MEE. “No one in Israel – politicians, the police, the courts and the social media companies – has shown any interest in doing something about it. “But it’s worse than that. The politicians are fuelling the problem. It has become completely normal in Israel to incite against Palestinians. You find it everywhere. It is entirely mainstream.” The research identified more than 50,000 Hebrew speakers as persistent offenders on social media, especially Facebook, said Nashef. Spikes in online abuse correlated with incitement from Israeli politicians and the media, he added. Popular terms of abuse included threats to kill, rape, burn, expel, and assault Palestinians. Both Adalah and 7amleh said incitement from Israeli Jews was rarely investigated or prosecuted. Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories, on the other hand, had their accounts closed or were arrested and jailed over less serious online activity. 7amleh said its research showed that the brunt of online abuse was directed at leading Palestinian politicians in Israel. The most common targets were Haneen Zoabi, one of only two Palestinian women in the parliament, and Ahmed Tibi, a former adviser to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, 7amleh said. Both Zoabi and Tibi have reported regular death threats. According to the survey, they received more online abuse than the leader of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas. “When we are targeted rather than the Palestinian leadership in the occupied territories, a clear message is sent to the [Jewish] public that we have no place in the parliament and those we represent have no right to be citizens,” Zoabi told MEE. The climate of incitement had very concrete effects, said Zoabi: “It gives a green light to police violence. It is converted into shootings and deaths.” She said dozens of Palestinian citizens had died in unexplained circumstances at the hands of the police in the last 15 years. Zoabi also pointed to the increasing reports of gangs chanting “Death to the Arabs!” in Israeli cities and Jerusalem, as well as a growing incidence of street assaults. Polls have shown high levels of racial prejudice among Israeli Jews. A survey last year found 49 per cent would not live in the same building as a Palestinian citizen. Another showed a similar number of 16 and 17-year-olds would deny Palestinian citizens the right to vote. Adalah said constant incitement from government politicians had made possible the drafting of ever-more discriminatory and anti-democratic legislation. Shehadeh noted that recent laws allowed the parliament to expel the minority’s legislators over their views, and hampered the work of human rights groups assisting Palestinians. Zoabi agreed. “Every week we see bills being introduced, such as a ban on the mosque call to prayer, or moves to step up home demolitions in Palestinian communities. The political culture sanctions ever more violence through legislation.” Nashef said a turning point in the levels of incitement could be traced to comments by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the last general election, in early 2015. Netanyahu posted a video on Facebook telling the Jewish public it was vital they voted because “Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls”. “When the prime minister talks like this, then everyone else understands that it is okay to do it too,” Nashef said. 7amleh’s survey showed a significant peak of online incitement and hate speech last November, as hundreds of fires broke out across Israel and the occupied territories, triggered by a prolonged drought and high winds. Despite the exceptional weather conditions, Erdan led government ministers in accusing Palestinians, especially those in Israel, of being behind the fires. Adalah cited Erdan’s Facebook post from early December. Dozens of Palestinian citizens were arrested by police, but none have been charged with “nationalist crimes” over the fires. Nevertheless, Netanyahu has continued to make similar accusations, stating last month: “That fact that we can’t prove it [that the fires were terrorism] doesn’t mean it’s not what happened.” Nashef said: “These inciteful statements garner a lot of media attention and our research shows they have a powerful impact in shaping public attitudes. But few notice when they turn out to be based on lies or misinformation.” Adalah also cited comments by Erdan justifying the fatal shooting of Yacoub Abu al-Qiyan by police last month during a demolition operation in Umm al-Hiran, a Bedouin community in Israel’s south. A police video and post-mortem examination report indicated that Abu al-Qiyan lost control of his car after he was shot, and careered into a group of policemen, killing one of them. According to Israeli media, a justice ministry report – due to published next month – has found no evidence that Abu al-Qiyan carried out an attack or belonged to an extremist organisation. Nonetheless, said Shehadeh, Erdan and other government ministers repeatedly accused Abu al-Qiyan, without evidence, of being an Islamic State terrorist. Erdan tweeted hours after the two deaths: “The terrorist sharply turned his wheel and quickly accelerated in order to run over a group of police officers.” Netanyahu’s office similarly described the incident as a “car-ramming attack”. Implying that Abu al-Qiyan was part of global trend of Islamic terrorism, Netanyahu said Israel and the world were “fighting this murderous phenomenon”. Adalah’s letter to the attorney general also pointed out that Erdan had repeatedly blamed the deaths in Umm al-Hiran on Palestinian legislators there to protest against the demolitions. Erdan singled out Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, the Palestinian coalition in the parliament. In comments to the media, he said: “Ayman Odeh and the rest of the MKs from the Arab [sic] List who have come to enflame sentiments this morning: This blood is also on your hands. … You are a disgrace to the State of Israel.” In Umm al-Hiran, Odeh was himself injured twice, including to the head, by sponge-tipped bullets fired at him by police. Problem with Facebook Nashef criticised Facebook, where most of the online hate speech was found, for contributing to the problem. Last summer Facebook agreed to crack down on what Israel defines as incitement by Palestinians. Paradoxically, Erdan was the minister who met the tech companies. According to reports, in the first half of 2016, a tenth of all content restrictions imposed by Facebook globally were at the Israeli government’s behest. But Nashef said nothing was being done to deal with incitement and hate speech from the Jewish public. “It is not reasonable that large numbers of Palestinians have their accounts shut down or are arrested and jailed for online hate speech, while Israeli Jews can engage in the same or worse activity and there are no consequences,” he said. Neither the justice or police ministries were available for comment. 7amleh said the biggest peak in online abuse followed the arrest last March of army medic Elor Azaria. He was filmed executing a badly wounded Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif. This week he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for manslaughter. Several government ministers, including Netanyahu, expressed strong support for Azaria. The survey showed another outburst of online abuse followed attacks last September by the culture minister, Miri Regev, against two Palestinian cultural icons. She described the late national poet Mahmoud Darwish as the “leader of the Palestinian industry of lies”, and accused a popular rapper, Tamer Nafar, of giving “legitimacy to terrorism”. • First published in Middle Eastern Eye http://clubof.info/

[butchlifeguard]

that captains poll going around rn is killing mee theres a beautiful competent woman in a gorgeous retro scifi outfit on the right and the left image is luffy who perpetually looks like a fucked up fish

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 1/2/2024 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 1/2/2024

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

Poll: Foreign Policy Becoming Top Issue for Americans AP

Poll: Trump Leads Biden Among Latino and Young Voters Guardian

Russia

Putin Said Russia Will Ramp Up Weapons Production TASS

Ukrainians Turn On War But Are Afraid to Speak Out The Times

Senior UK Official Says Weapons Stockpiles Are Depleted The Times

Putin Vows to Ramp Up Strikes on Ukraine After Belgorod Attack AWC

Turkey Will Block Transit of Two UK Minesweepers Headed for Ukraine Reuters

NATO Chief Is Confident Sweden Will Join Alliance By July Politico

Israel

US Aircraft Carrier to Leave Middle East Yahoo

Israel Shifts Forces in Gaza to Prepare for Long War WSJ

Survivors of Nova Music Festival Sue Israeli Security Establishment for Failing to Protect Them AWC

Israeli Supreme Court Strikes Down Netanyahu’s Changes to Justice System Haaretz

Two Israeli Ministers Say ‘Resettle’ Palestinians from Gaza and Build Settlements in the Strip AWC

Israel Rejects Hostage Release Deal Proposed By Hamas Axios

Israel Bombs Palestine Red Crescent Building, Killing a Child MEE

Yemen

British Defense Minister Says UK Ready to Take ‘Direct Action’ Against the Houthis AWC

Iranian Warship Enters the Red Sea Amid Heightened Tensions AWC

Read More

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 12/20/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 12/20/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

Poll Finds Biden Approval at Record Low Monmouth

Pentagon Warns Software Issues Will Shutdown F-35 Production Forbes

Ukraine

Ukrainian Soldiers Sent on “Suicide Mission” NYT

White House Will Deplete Ukraine Funds After Next Weapons Packages The HillAWC

Ukraine “Replanning” Military Operations Due to Ammo Shortage NewsweekThe Institute

US Granted Access to 15 Military Bases in Finland Under New Deal AWC

Ukrainian Military Command Asks Zelensky to Add 500,000 Soldiers FTAWC

Germany to Permanently Deploy 4,800 Troops in Lithuania AWC

China

US Increasing Military Exercises With Allies Near China AWC

US Approves $300 Million Sale for Taiwan’s Military Information Systems AWC

Korea

North Korea Tests ICBM AP

Kim Jong Un Says ICBM Test a “Clear Signal” to Washington KCNAThe Institute

Israel

Human Rights Watch Says Israel Using Starvation as a Weapon of War in Gaza HRWAWC

Israel Tells the US Hezbollah Must Be Pushed 6 Miles from Israel-Lebanon Border Axios

Lloyd Austin Visits Israel, Vows Continued Support for Gaza Slaughter AWC

Several Gazans Detained By Israel Die MEE

300 Palestinians Killed in West Bank Since October 7 Cradle

Israel Shows Renewed Interest in New Hostage Agreement After Killing Israeli Captives in Gaza FT

Israel Raids One of the Last Hospitals in North Gaza APThe Institute

Yemen

Houthis Say They Won’t Back Down Even If US ‘Mobilizes the Entire World’ AWC

Somalia

US Carries Out Airstrike in Somalia VOAAWC

Read More

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 12/13/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 12/13/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

Jack Teixeira’s Commanding Officer Removed from Post. GuardianThe Institute

Venezuela Says US Military Drills in Guyana Are “Provocation.” AFP

Russia

Russian Oil Revenue Higher in October Than in Year Before War. Bloomberg The Institute

Zelensky: “You Can Count on Ukraine and We Hope to Be Able to Count on You” NBCAWC

As the Biden administration is seeking over $60 billion to fund the war in Ukraine for another year, a poll has found that nearly half of American voters think the US is spending too much on the conflict. AWC

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Offers to Jump and Dance for EU Membership. AP

Republicans Appear Unmoved on Ukraine Aid After Meeting with Zelensky. TIMEAWC

After Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive, US and Ukrainian officials are looking for a new strategy for the war against Russia as political leadership in both nations is determined to keep the conflict going. AWC

Zelensky meets with the leaders of American arms makers. X

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the US has put 250 individuals and entities on blacklists for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Washington has waged an economic war aimed at destroying the Russian economy for the past 20 months. However, Moscow has largely successfully circumvented the Western financial penalties. The Institute

China

Chinese and Philippine vessels collided near a disputed reef in the South China Sea as tensions in the waters continue to rise. AWC

The US Sanctions Two Chinese Officials for “Serious Human Rights Abuses” Against the Uyghurs. RFA

Israel

Destruction of Gaza Compared to Years-Long WWII Bombing Campaigns. FT

US Officials Say Hostage Release Talks Breakdown. Politico 

Israel Pushes Palestinians into “Safe Zones” with no Aid, Bathrooms or Running Water. AP

Haaretz Editorial Board Warns “Israeli Jails Must Not Become Execution Facilities.” Haaretz

Blinken Says What Happens to Gaza After Israeli Military Campaign Is Tel Aviv’s Decision to Make. Politico 

UN Official Says Israel Trying to Push Gazans Into Egypt. NYT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said he appreciated the US vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and vowed to continue his war in the besieged enclave, which has killed at least 18,000 Palestinians. AWC

The Biden administration is bypassing Congress to get 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel to fuel its onslaught in Gaza by waiving a congressional review period for foreign weapons sales. AWC

Haaretz: Data Shows Israeli Bombing in Gaza Less Restrained Than Past Operations. Haaretz

Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday that Israel was ready to act against the Houthis in Yemen if the US and its allies do not. AWC

5,000 Israeli Soldiers Injured Fighting in Gaza. MEE

WHO Warns Gaza’s Health System “On Its Knees.” WashPo

Death Toll in Gaza Crosses 18,000 with 300 Killed in 24 Hours. AJ

Israel Prepared to Fight for Months or Longer to Defeat Hamas. APAWC

Israeli Army Accused of Arbitrary Detention of Women and Children in Gaza. MEE

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, said Monday that the destruction in Gaza as a result of the Israeli bombing campaign could be “even greater” than the damage to German cities during World War II, AFP reported. AWC

Biden Says Israel Government “Doesn’t Want a Two-State Solution.” FT

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza as global opposition to the US-backed Israeli massacre of Palestinians continues to rise. AWC

Lebanon

Israel used US-provided white phosphorous munitions in an attack on southern Lebanon that wounded nine civilians, The Washington Post reported on Monday. AWC

White House Says It Is “Concerned” About Reports Israel Used White Phosphorous in Lebanon. Politico 

Israeli Shell Kills Lebanese Mayor. Reuters

Syria

The US embassy in Baghdad came under mortar fire on Friday as US assets in Iraq and Syria continue to be targeted over US support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. AWC

Yemen

Houthis Say No Ships Bound for Israel Will Cross Red Sea. NYT

Pentagon Says Houthis Missile Hit Tanker in Red Sea. CENTCOMAWC

The US is threatening to kill a peace plan for Yemen that was negotiated between the Houthis and the Saudis if the Houthis continue attacking shipping in the Red Sea, which the group has been doing in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza. AWC

Mali

UN Ends Decade-Long Peacekeeping Operations in Mali. Fox News

Read More