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"Kamala Harris has enthusiastically accepted the endorsement of Dick Cheney.

The degree of comfort US liberals have with men like Cheney is more evidence that they don’t view people in the global south as fully human. If they did, his endorsement would be rejected with the same revulsion they’d show endorsements from NAMBLA or neo-Nazis. The emotional comfort they receive from all this warm cozy talk about “unity” between Democrats and Bush-era war criminals matters more to them than the lives of millions of Iraqis.

Any political worldview that’s worth a damn necessarily includes a deep and visceral hatred of Dick Cheney, and an abhorrence toward any ideology which sympathizes with him."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

It’s The Trump Party Vs The Cheney Party

One of earth’s most evil living beings, Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney, has officially endorsed Kamala Harris for president. His daughter, Liz Cheney, has also endorsed Harris.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” said the former vice president in a statement, adding, “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Cheney was a charter signatory to the notorious neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century, and as vice president played a leading role in the George W Bush administration’s soaring warmongering, militarism and authoritarianism, including most famously the invasion of Iraq. He has the blood of millions of people on his hands, and he should be living out the rest of his miserable life in a cage.

His daughter Liz is an equally bloodthirsty warmonger who has spent her career pushing for mass military slaughter at every opportunity. After the Israeli assault on Gaza began last year she went on CNN to declare that all deaths which occur in the onslaught are “the responsibility of Hamas”, that protests against Israel’s actions are “antisemitic” in nature, and that the US should escalate against Iran and the Houthis because of their oppositional posture toward Israel.

The Cheneys join a growing list of formerly Republican warmongers who are migrating to the Democratic Party in droves to support Harris. Last month hundreds of staffers who served under Republicans George W Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney signed a letter endorsing Harris, saying that “re-electing President Trump would be a disaster for our nation.”

“Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies,” the group writes, adding, “We can’t let that happen.”

It is here worth noting that contrary to the narratives circulated in both mainstream Democrat-aligned media and mainstream Republican-aligned media, Donald Trump actually spent his entire term ramping up aggressions against Russia and helped pave the way to the war in Ukraine. He also promoted many longstanding warmongering agendas against official enemies of the US empire like Iran, Syria, and Venezuela. But even Trump’s insane hawkishness is insufficient for these freaks.

In June of 2022, author Sarah Kendzior made the following predictions on the Gaslit Nation podcast:

“I’m gonna wrap this up with a warning, which is that there is a new plan for our already broken two-party system. The plan is to have two parties. One, a batshit crazy MAGA party led by Trump or DeSantis that will bulldoze your rights. And the second one will be a far-right “respectable” party led by Liz Cheney that will also bulldoze your rights. They will call the Cheney party the Democrats and pretend that a creeping capitulation to a right-wing agenda is some kind of act of healing bipartisanship.”

...

“When I mentioned this possibility on Twitter, someone wrote to me, ‘Liz Cheney is not becoming a Democrat.’ And I replied, ‘I agree. The Democrats are becoming Cheneys.’”

neocons saying it’s their kind of convention is a massive red flag https://t.co/RomzfqS7V4

— Mac (@GoodPoliticGuy) August 23, 2024

This is more or less what appears to have been happening, and it actually started several years ago. During the 2016 Trump campaign a bunch of neoconservative warmongers switched from defending George W Bush as a saint and decrying Obama as an Ayatollah lover, and began pivoting to endorse Hillary Clinton instead. After Trump won, this coalition between Democrats and Bush-era neocons grew even stronger with the creation of new Democratic think tank projects led by Iraq-raping neocons like Bill Kristol.

So now we’re seeing two warmongering oligarchic parties shoving the Overton window of acceptable opinion as far in the direction of imperialism, militarism and tyranny as possible under the leadership of some of the very worst people alive. By doing this they ensure that these matters are never on the ballot, and that elections are always about issues the powerful are completely indifferent toward like abortion and trans rights instead.

Progressives who want healthcare and a ceasefire in Gaza are being dismissed and ignored while alliances are being made with the world’s most blood-soaked imperialists. Things have been shoved so far to the right that this election is now a showdown between the Trump Party against the Cheney Party, and no matter who wins, the empire wins.

A lot of fuss will probably be made about election-rigging after the results are announced in November, with the loser declaring that the results are the result of Russian interference or Deep State vote tampering depending on who that loser happens to be. But remember this: the worst election rigging is happening right out in the open, to ensure that oligarchs and empire managers are happy with either outcome.

The most important election in the history of the universe pic.twitter.com/vWEZmUOqZw

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) September 8, 2024

Jordanian driver kills Israeli security guards at border with West Bank

Three Israeli security guards have been killed at a border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan when a Jordanian truck driver opened fire on them, in a fresh sign that the nearly year-old Gaza conflict is spreading violence across the region.

On the same day, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed a senior aid official and two women and two children from his family.

The West Bank border shooting took place on Sunday at the Allenby Bridge crossing over the River Jordan, also known as the King Hussein Bridge. The Israeli military said: “A terrorist approached the area of the Allenby Bridge from Jordan in a truck, exited the truck, and opened fire at the Israeli security forces operating at the bridge. The terrorist was eliminated by the security forces, three Israeli civilians were pronounced dead as a result of the attack.” ...

In Gaza, the civil defence group, which fights fires and rescues people trapped in rubble, said its deputy director for northern end of the strip, Mohammed Morsi, had been killed in an airstrike. The organisation said four members of his family also died in the bombing of Morsi’s house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, north-east of Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). ...

There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank, involving army raids on Palestinian towns and frequent and increasing attacks by Israeli settlers. In recent days there has also been a sharp rise in the number of attacks on Israeli settlers and security forces, including two car bombs and one attempted car bombing.

"The Brutality Is Truly Unprecedented" in West Bank: Mariam Barghouti on Israel's Deadly Incursions

Netanyahu Rejects US Assessment on Ceasefire, Says There’s ‘Not a Deal in the Making’

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there was “not a deal in the making” regarding a potential ceasefire deal with Hamas and rejected a US assessment that an agreement was 90% of the way there.

When asked on Fox News about the 90% assessment, Netanyahu said, “No, it’s exactly inaccurate. There’s a story, a narrative out that there’s a deal out there … that’s just a false narrative.”

Later in the day, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was confronted about why the US assessments have been so far off base with Netanyahu. ... Kirby doubled down on the assessment that a deal was 90% the way there. “So, first of all, ’90 percent,’ ‘verge of a deal’ — you call that optimistic, I call that accurate."

Justice for Ayşenur Eygi: As Israel Kills Another American, Will U.S. Demand Accountability?

West Bank residents tell of teargas then shots before US woman’s death

US officials have insisted that a ceasefire in Gaza is close even as fighting rages unabated in the blockaded Palestinian territory and violence spirals in the occupied West Bank, where witnesses told the Observer an American-Turkish dual national was killed by Israeli forces on Friday. ...

The US has also said it is urgently seeking more information about the killing of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who witnesses said was shot in the head by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops during an anti-settlement protest in the West Bank on Friday. Several of Israel’s western allies, including the US, have recently imposed sanctions on individuals and organisations associated with Israel’s settler movement, despite blowback from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ­government, which includes far-right supporters of Israeli extremism in the West Bank. Eygi’s family have called for an independent investigation into her killing, adding to the pressure on the Biden administration to end what critics say is US complicity in the Israeli occupation.

On Saturday, IDF troops, some of whom appeared to be forensic investigators, visited the town of Beita, near Nablus, to examine the scene where Eygi was killed. For the residents, it was yet another case of the IDF investigating itself: about 1% of army inquiries result in prosecutions, according to rights groups.

All of the Beita residents the Observer spoke to gave very similar accounts of the shooting. A group of demonstrators had gathered on the hillside, as they have every Friday for midday prayers in recent years, to protest against Eyvatar, an Israeli settlement on the next hill built on land belonging to Palestinian farmers. On this occasion, there were some 20 Palestinians from Beita, 10 foreign volunteers from the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement, including Eygi, and about a dozen children from the district.

“The kids were throwing stones here at the junction, and the soldiers fired tear gas at them,” Mahmud Abdullah, a 43-year-old resident said. “Everyone scattered and ran into the olive grove and then there were two shots.” One of the bullets hit something along the way and a fragment hit a protester in the stomach, wounding him slightly, the witnesses said. The other bullet hit Eygi in the head, passing through her skull. Neighbours pointed out both the spot where Eygi was shot and where the bullet came from: a house on a ridge. The owner, Ali Mohali, said a group of soldiers, perhaps half a dozen, had gone on to his roof, 200m from where Eygi was shot. He said he heard one shot, but was not sure if there had been a second from that position.

Rachel Corrie's Parents Mourn Death of Ayşenur Eygi, Warn of Israeli Military Cover-Up

Massive London March Demands Israeli Arms Embargo After Police Drop Restrictions

Thousands of people gathered at London's Picadilly Circus Saturday for the city's latest march against Israel's bombardment of Gaza and the United Kingdom's continued support for the Israel Defense Forces, following what organizers called "a major victory in defense of the democratic right to protest."

The Metropolitan Police on Friday dropped its restrictions on the march, which was the first pro-Palestinian protest since last October to proceed to the Israeli embassy in London.

The police had attempted to stop campaigners from gathering before 2:30 pm, conflicting with plans to begin the rally preceding the march at noon.

"They never provided any convincing explanation or evidence for this delay, and it has caused enormous, unnecessary difficulty to the organization of a large-scale demonstration," Ben Jamal, who leads the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of the groups organizing the march, toldMiddle East Eye on Friday.

"It has unfortunately been part of a pattern of obstruction, delay, and lack of communication on the part of the Met which we will press them to review and reflect on for future demonstrations," he added. "For tomorrow, we call on our supporters to turn out in their hundreds of thousands to show we will not be deterred from seeking an end to Israel's genocide and justice for Palestine!"

Jamal said the police "saw sense and abandoned their unjustified and impractical attempt to delay the start of the march by two hours on Saturday," allowing the march to begin at 1:30 pm.

During previous marches in which hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in solidarity with Palestinians since last October, police have blocked off the area surrounding the Israeli embassy in Kensington, threatening anyone who protested in the vicinity with arrest.

Marching to the embassy, demonstrators made a "renewed call to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza" and demanded an "immediate and full cessation of arms supplies to Israel."

Earlier this week, the U.K. government announced it was suspending approximately 30 of its 350 arms export licenses for Israel, saying that "there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law."

Human rights advocates, medical professionals working in Gaza, and legal experts have for months demanded that Israel's top international funders, including the U.S. and U.K., stop providing military aid as Israel has blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza and waged attacks on civilian infrastructure, killing more than 40,000 people.

The country has also been accused of carrying out genocide in a case led by South Africa at the International Court of Justice; the court has ordered Israel to end its blockade on humanitarian aid and to prevent genocide in Gaza.

"We demand our government completely stop arming Israel and push for a cease-fire now," said the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

As Londoners marched on Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry announced that at least 61 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces in the last two days. Four people were killed in a strike on Halimah al-Saadiyah school in Jabaliya, where displaced Palestinians have been sheltering, and three were killed in a bombing at Amr Ibn al-As school in Gaza City.

Media outlets in Palestine reported that a baby named Yaqeen al-Astal had become the 37th child in Gaza to die of malnutrition since Israel began its near-total aid blockade.

International outrage also grew on Saturday regarding the killing of a Turkish American activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, in the West Bank on Friday. Local media and eyewitnesses said Eygi had been deliberately shot in the head by Israeli forces at a protest over the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements.

The U.S. called on Israel to investigate the killing on Friday, but Eygi's family said in a statement that such a probe would not be "adequate."

"We call on President [Joe] Biden, Vice President [Kamala] Harris, and Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a U.S. citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties," said the family.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the United Nations, called for "a full investigation of the circumstances" and said that "people should be held accountable. And again, civilians must be protected at all times."

Ralph Nader: Slaughter In Gaza

Worth a full read. Here's a bit to get you started:

Why Limiting Israel Arms Sales Doesn’t Absolve the UK

The Guardian reported this week a source from within the Foreign Office confirming what anyone paying close attention already knew. By last February, according to the source, Britain’s then foreign secretary, David Cameron, had received official advice that Israel was using British arms components to commit war crimes in Gaza. Cameron sat on that information for many months, concealing it from the House of Commons and the British public, while Israel continued to butcher tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

Several points need making about the information provided to The Guardian:

No. 1: The source says that the advice to Cameron on Israeli war crimes was “so obvious” it could not have been misunderstood by him or anyone else in the previous government. Given that the new Labour government has been similarly advised, forcing it to partially suspend arms sales, one conclusion only is possible: Cameron is complicit in Israel’s war crimes. The International Criminal Court must immediately investigate him. Its British chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, needs to issue an arrest warrant for Cameron as soon as possible. No ifs or buts.

No. 2: Now that it’s in government, Labour has a legal duty to make clear the timeline of the advice Cameron received — and who else received it — to help the ICC in its prosecution of the former foreign secretary and other British officials for complicity in Israel’s atrocities.

No. 3: The current furore being kicked up over Labour’s suspension of a tiny fraction of arm sales to Israel needs to be put firmly in context. David Lammy, Cameron’s successor, is keen to evade any risk of complicity charges himself. Leaders of the previous government are denouncing his decision on arms sales only because it exposes their own complicity in war crimes. Their outrage is desperate arse-covering — something the media ought to be highlighting but isn’t.

No. 4: Labour needs to explain why, according to the source, the advice it has published has apparently been watered down from the advice Cameron received. As a result, Lammy has suspended 30 of 350 arms contracts with Israel — or 8 percent of the total. He has avoided suspending the British components most likely to be assisting Israel in its war crimes: those used in Israel’s F-35 jets, made in the U.S. Why? Because that would incur the full wrath of the Biden administration. He and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, dare not take on Washington.

In other words, Lammy’s decision has not only exposed the complicity of Cameron and the previous Tory leadership in Israeli war crimes. It also exposes Lammy and Starmer’s complicity. Put bluntly, following this week’s announcement, they are now 8 percent less complicit in Israel’s crimes against humanity than Cameron and the Tories were.

When Six Israelis Are Mourned More Than 40,000 Palestinians

Israel mourns the six hostages who were killed. The world also mourns them. Their names, their pictures, their life stories and their families led news broadcasts in Israel and around the world. Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Eden Yerushalmi became celebrities against their will, in their captivity and in their death. The world cried for them – it's impossible not to: six beautiful young people, who went through hell in captivity before being brutally executed.

But our six hostages are only the tip of the story, a tiny fraction of the war's victims. Their becoming a global story is understandable. Less understandable is the unbelievable contrast between the wide coverage of their lives and deaths and the total disregard for the similar fate of people their own age – as blameless and ingenuous and beautiful as them, and just as much innocent victims – on the Palestinian side.

While the world is shocked by the fate of Gaza, it has never paid similar respect to the Palestinian victims. The president of the United States does not call the relatives of fallen Palestinians, not even if they, like the Goldberg-Polins, had American citizenship. The United States has never called for the release of thousands of Palestinian abductees that Israel has detained without trial. A young Israeli woman who was killed at the Nova festival arouses more sympathy and compassion in the world than a female teenage refugee from Jabalya. The Israeli is more similar to "the world."

Everything has already been said about the overlooking and concealment of Palestinian suffering in the Israeli public conversation, and not enough has yet been said. The Palestinian killed in Gaza who had a face, a name and a life story and whose killing shocked Israel has not yet been born.

The 17,000 children killed in the Strip since the war began also had hopes and dreams and families that were destroyed by their deaths. They hold no interest for a majority of Israelis; a minority even rejoices in their deaths. In the world beyond Israel they are seen as terrible victims, but even there they usually have neither names nor faces.

Amnesty International Calls for War Crimes Probe Into Israel’s ‘Buffer Zone’

On Thursday, Amnesty International said Israel’s creation of a “buffer zone” in Gaza should be investigated as war crimes since it has involved the “wanton destruction” of all buildings and agricultural land in those areas.

“Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighborhoods, including homes, schools and mosques,” Amnesty said.

“By analyzing satellite imagery and videos posted by Israeli soldiers on social media between October 2023 and May 2024, Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab identified newly cleared land along Gaza’s eastern boundary, ranging from approximately 1km to 1.8km wide. In some videos, Israeli soldiers are seen posing for pictures or toasting in celebration as buildings are demolished in the background,” the group added.

Alastair Crooke : Afraid of Free Speech

Antony Blinken to visit UK for talks on Ukraine and Middle East

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will head to London next week to discuss the Middle East and Ukraine, the state department announced on Saturday, in advance of a US visit by prime minister Keir Starmer.

Blinken’s visit to London on Monday and Tuesday will be the most senior by a US official since the Labour party won the general election in July, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.

Blinken will take part in a strategic dialogue “reaffirming our special relationship”, the state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said.

He will discuss Asia as well as the Middle East and “our collective efforts to support Ukraine”, Miller said in a statement.

The White House earlier announced that Starmer would visit next Friday, his second trip to Washington since his election.

Anya Parampil : US Disrupts What It Hates

100,000+ People Across France March to Decry Macron's 'Denial of Democracy'

In cities and towns across France on Saturday, more than 100,000 people answered the call from the left-wing political party La France Insoumise for mass protests against President Emmanuel Macron's selection of a right-wing prime minister.

The demonstrations came two months after the left coalition won more seats than Macron's centrist coalition or the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in the National Assembly and two days after the president announced that Michel Barnier, the right-wing former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, would lead the government.

The selection was made after negotiations between Macron and RN leader Marine Le Pen, leading protesters on Saturday to accuse the president of a "denial of democracy."

"Expressing one's vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power," a protester named Manon Bonijol toldAl Jazeera.

A poll released on Friday by Elabe showed that 74% of French people believed Macron had disregarded the results of July's snap parliamentary elections, and 55% said the election had been "stolen."

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed, also accused Macron of "stealing the election" in a speech at the demonstration in Paris on Saturday.

"Democracy is not just the art of accepting you have won but the humility to accept you have lost," Mélenchon told protesters. "I call you for what will be a long battle."

He added that "the French people are in rebellion. They have entered into revolution."

Macron's centrist coalition won about 160 assembly seats out of 577 in July, compared to the left coalition's 180. The RN won about 140.

Barnier's Les Républicains (LR) party won fewer than 50 parliamentary seats. French presidents have generally named prime ministers, who oversee domestic policy, from the party with the most seats in the National Assembly.

Barnier signaled on Friday that he would largely defend Macron's pro-business policies and could unveil stricter anti-immigration reforms. Macron has enraged French workers and the left with policies including a retirement age hike last year.

Protests also took place in cities including Nantes, Nice, Montpellier, Marseilles, and Strasbourg.

All four left-wing parties within the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) coalition have announced plans to vote for a motion of no confidence against Barnier.

The RN has not committed to backing Barnier's government yet and leaders have said they are waiting to see what policies he presents to the National Assembly before deciding how to proceed in a no confidence vote.

Florida Cops Question Abortion Petition Signers

Floridians and reproductive rights advocates responded with alarm on Friday to Tampa Bay Times reporting that Florida law enforcement officers have been sent to the homes of multiple voters who signed a petition to get an abortion rights measure on the November ballot.

While Isaac Menasche told the newspaper that he isn't sure which agency the plainclothes officer who came to his home is with, fellow Lee County resident Becky Castellanos said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Officer Gary Negrinelli showed his badge and gave his card.

Both visits were about potential fraud related to the petition for Amendment 4, which would outlaw pre-viability abortion bans in Florida. Menasche was asked if he signed the petition, which he had. Negrinelli inquired about Castellanos' relative, who also signed the petition.

The officer inquiries appear "to be part of a broad—and unusual—effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to inspect thousands of already verified and validated petitions for Amendment 4 in the final two months before Election Day," the Times reported.

The Republican governor signed the state's six-week ban that would end if the ballot measure passes. He has also faced criticism for creating an Office of Election Crimes and Security, whose work has led to the arrest of Floridians who believed they were legally allowed to vote following the passage of a referendum that restored voting rights to many people with past felony convictions.

As the Times detailed Friday:

Since last week, DeSantis' secretary of state has ordered elections supervisors in at least four counties to send to Tallahassee at least 36,000 petition forms already deemed to have been signed by real people. Since the Times first reported on this effort, Alachua and Broward counties have confirmed they also received requests from the state.

One 16-year supervisor said the request was unprecedented. The state did not ask for rejected petitions, which have been the basis for past fraud cases.

While Department of State spokesperson Ryan Ash said the agency has "uncovered evidence of illegal conduct with fraudulent petitions" and "we have a duty to seek justice for Florida citizens who were victimized," a representative for the coalition behind Amendment 4 criticized the state effort.

"This is very clearly a fishing expedition," ACLU of Florida spokesperson Keisha Mulfort, whose group is part of Floridians Protecting Freedom, told the Times. "It is more important than ever for Floridians to reject these authoritarian tactics and vote yes on Amendment 4 in November."

Promoting the report on social media, the ACLU of Florida added, "This is what state-authorized election interference looks like."

Democrats in the state were similarly critical. Florida state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (D-42) shared a social media post in which Menasche described feeling "shaken" and "troubled" by the encounter with the officer.

"This is unhinged and undemocratic behavior being pushed by DeSantis and his cronies in an effort to continue our state's near total abortion ban," said Eskamani. "It's clear voter intimidation and plain corruption—continue to call it out and fight back. Vote @yes4florida and spread the word."

Responding to Eskamani, Pamela Castellana, chair of the Brevard Democratic Executive Committee, said: "This literally took my breath away. This is pure voter intimidation, just like with the 'election police' in 2022. It's Gestapo tactics. If you live in Florida you know. If you don't—please help me get the word out. Stop authoritarianism."

Journalist Jessica Valenti argued Friday that Republicans "don't care that voters want abortion rights restored—and if they need to dismantle democracy to keep it banned, so be it."

"We've seen lots of Republican attacks on pro-choice ballot measures—but what makes this one especially insidious is that it's trying to gaslight Americans into thinking that voters don't really want abortion rights restored, but that the overwhelming support is fabricated," she added.

In addition to raising concerns about the fraud allegations, Amendment 4 supporters are outraged over the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration on Thursday launching a webpage claiming that the ballot measure "threatens women's safety."

Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D-35) pledged that she is looking into "appropriate legal action," while Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement that "this kind of propaganda issued by the state, using taxpayer money and operating outside of the political process, sets a dangerous precedent."

"This is what we would expect to see from an authoritarian regime," added Jackson, "not in the so-called 'Free State of Florida.'"

How Dems Are Thwarting Democracy With Jordan Chariton & Gaza Update With Noura Erakat

Gavin Newsom LAUGHS About Dems Rigging Their Primary & Installing Kamala!

Harris and Trump tied in latest US election polls, as Tuesday’s debate nears

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are in effect tied heading into the final weeks of the election campaign, according to a national poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College, raising the stakes of Tuesday’s presidential debate.

Trump is up one percentage point, 48%-47%, over Harris, according to the survey released on Sunday, a difference that is within the survey’s three-percentage point margin of error, meaning a win for either candidate in the election on 5 November is well within reach.

Separately, a CBS/YouGov poll on Sunday showed a similarly tight race in key swing states, with Harris leading narrowly in Michigan (50%-49%) and Wisconsin (51%-49) and tied in Pennsylvania.

While the Trump campaign endured a relatively rocky stretch in the weeks after Democratic President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, the most recent polling indicates his core support base is not going anywhere.

The NYT poll notably showed that voters feel they need to learn more about Harris, while their opinions on Trump are largely set. In the survey, 28% of likely voters said they needed more information about the Democratic nominee, while only 9% said the same about Trump. The poll indicates that Tuesday’s presidential debate could be a crucial moment.

Abortion long ago slipped off the Democrats "to do" list and onto its "handy election issues list."

Democrats unite to center reproductive rights as Republicans flail on abortion

As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to meet on the debate stage in Philadelphia, the battle over abortion rights has vaulted to the center of the 2024 presidential election campaign, the first since the supreme court’s decision overturning Roe v Wade.

At the party’s convention last month, Democrats spotlighted the harrowing stories of women placed in medical peril as a result of post-Roe abortion bans in their states. Last week, the Harris campaign launched a 50-stop “reproductive freedom” bus tour across several battleground states, kicking off in Trump’s “back yard”, miles from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in south Florida.

And this weekend, days before the first – and perhaps only – primetime presidential debate, where the issue is likely to be raised, the Harris campaign debuted three new TV ads reminding voters that Trump has repeatedly taking credit for his role in ending the 50-year-old constitutional right to an abortion. The message is blunt: because of Trump, one in three women of reproductive age now live in states where abortion is banned or significantly restricted. And it could get worse, they warn, if Trump is given a second term.

Hottest summer on record could lead to warmest year ever measured

Summer 2024 sweltered to Earth’s hottest on record, making it even more likely that this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, the European climate service Copernicus reported on Friday. And if this sounds familiar, that’s because the records the globe shattered were set just last year as human-caused climate change, with a temporary boost from an El Niño, keeps dialing up temperatures and extreme weather, scientists said.

The northern meteorological summer – June, July and August – averaged 16.8C (62.24F), according to Copernicus. That’s 0.03C (0.05F) warmer than the old record in 2023. Copernicus records go back to 1940, but American, British and Japanese records, which start in the mid-19th century, show the last decade has been the hottest since regular measurements were taken and probably in about 120,000 years, according to some scientists.

The Augusts of both 2024 and 2023 tied for the hottest Augusts globally at 16.82C. July was the first time in more than a year that the world did not set a record, a tad behind 2023, but because June 2024 was so much hotter than June 2023, this summer as a whole was the hottest, the Copernicus director, Carlo Buontempo, said.

“What those sober numbers indicate is how the climate crisis is tightening its grip on us,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, who was not part of the research.

It’s a sweaty grip because with the high temperatures, the dew point – one of several ways to measure the air’s humidity – probably was at or near record high this summer for much of the world, Buontempo said.

EU failing to enforce illegal fishing rules

Campaigners have said that the EU is failing to enforce rules on illegal fishing, and allowing member states to conceal information that could help uncover breaches of fishing law.

The court of justice of the EU ruled on Thursday that member states could keep vital details of their implementation of fishing rules under wraps, in a blow to environmental campaigners hoping to use the information to show whether the regulations are working.

There are strong reasons to suspect that many fishing vessels are flouting restrictions meant to protect fish populations in the EU’s seas, by under-reporting their catches or by discarding fish at sea. But member states are often reluctant to enforce the rules stringently, under pressure from their fishing industries.

The campaigning organisation ClientEarth brought a legal case against the European Commission contesting its refusal to grant access to audit reports for France and Denmark, which would show whether those governments were controlling illegal fishing properly.

But the EU court found, in an appeal judgment on Thursday, that the audit reports could remain secret, which campaigners said made a mockery of the rules.

Wildfire near LA forces evacuations and threatens tens of thousands of buildings

Tens of thousands of homes and buildings were threatened Sunday by an out-of-control wildfire burning in the foothills of a national forest east of Los Angeles, amid a days-long heatwave that pushed temperatures into the triple digits across the region.

State firefighters said three firefighters had been injured and more than 35,000 structures were threatened, including single and multi-family homes and commercial buildings, while authorities issued evacuation orders for several areas. Thunderstorms expected later in the day could make conditions even more challenging.

The so-called Line fire was burning along the edge of the San Bernardino national forest, about 65 miles (105km) east of LA. As of Sunday morning, the blaze had charred about 27 sq miles (70 sq km) of grass and chaparral, leaving a thick cloud of dark smoke blanketing the area. “Afternoon thunderstorms could cause new ignitions and potentially influence activity around the fire perimeter,” state firefighters said in a Sunday morning update. “Hot and dry conditions mixed with thunderstorms are expected to challenge firefighters for the next few days.”

County officials, who declared an emergency Saturday evening, issued evacuation orders for Running Springs, Arrowbear Lake, areas east of Highway 330 and other regions. “Extreme temperatures, wind and lightning strikes have allowed the fire to grow rapidly,” the county said in a statement.

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