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<title>Food That Prolongs Your Life</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/food-that-prolongs-your-life/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=food-that-prolongs-your-life</link>
<comments>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/food-that-prolongs-your-life/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ralph Nader / Nader.org]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:44:14 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health & Wellness]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295552</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jean Carper shows that people who eat “optimal” diets can slow their aging process and add years to their lives.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/food-that-prolongs-your-life/">Food That Prolongs Your Life</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[It is not often that a best-selling author and correspondent on consumer, food, medical, and health issues comes up with an idea for all Eaters that nobody has thought of before. Jean Carper, with sixty years of experience, has done just that with her brand-new book provocatively titled “100 Life or Death Foods: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely.”Based on scientific studies about the life-expectancy effect of different foods – positive and negative – (many cited in the book’s Appendix and available at the National Institutes of Health Library of Medicine). Carper writes: “The evidence is stunningly clear that people who eat ‘optimal’ diets can slow their aging process and add years to their lives.”Carper reports that researchers have found common legumes (beans, peas, soybeans), whole grains, and nuts, extend longevity, while refined grains (white bread), sugar-sweetened beverages, heavy salt use, and red and processed meats can shorten one’s life.<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left">
<blockquote>
“The evidence is stunningly clear that people who eat ‘optimal’ diets can slow their aging process and add years to their lives.”
</blockquote>
</figure>Carper’s book is instantly usable because she efficiently runs through specific foods. For example, studies give high life-extension marks to apples, bananas, beets, berries, cabbage, carrots, hot chili peppers, coffee, eggplant, fermented food (pickles and sauerkraut), garlic grapes and raisins, green leafy veggies, herbs and spices, kale, oats, olives and olive oil, brown rice, tea, tomatoes, vinegar, yogurt and whole grain cereals.On the life-shortening side, she names alcoholic beverages, candy, diet sodas, cured meats (bacon, hot dogs), fried foods, ice cream, fruit juices (stripped of fiber and called “high-calorie sugar water”) ultra-processed foods, including those labeled with high amounts of sucrose, glucose, fructose, corn syrup, and refined sugary cereals that corporate hucksters advertise to youngsters.In addition to specific foods, Carper explains why the Mediterranean Diet is so superior to the corporate Western Diet. She also praises the Dash Diet (similar to the Mediterranean Diet) which she reports as a “famous blood pressure downer.” She advocates getting your protein more from plants than from animals.Much of the “bad food” cited in “100 Life or Death Foods” is high on the list of the corporate marketeers who exploit “taste and texture” – meaning sugar, salt, and fats – to seduce children at a young age for a lifetime of ingesting junk food and junk drink. Their advertising is relentless, with heavy psychological manipulation. Fast food companies know from their own research the damage they have been doing to the health of their customers. That is why they fill their ads with lies and deceptions and have focused promotions on “kiddy TV,” over the decades.The natural foods grown locally for generations have been mostly displaced by pesticide-heavy factory farms that fuel processed corporate diets.<div id="ad_slot_wrapper_22724279127_1" class="max-w-td m-auto p-6 ad-slot--wrapper ad-slot--wrapper--article-hrec-1">

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This book is a guide for all eaters to work their way back to unprocessed natural foods, with organic-certified labels. These foods have another advantage – they frequently come in at lower prices than steaks, chops, and highly processed foods, including those from fancy bakeries.<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left">
<blockquote>
The natural foods grown locally for generations have been mostly displaced by pesticide-heavy factory farms that fuel processed corporate diets.
</blockquote>
</figure>Carper recognizes, of course, that many factors influence life expectancy, such as genetics, exercise, lifestyles, smoking, pollution, alcohol abuse, and, of course, endemic poverty. Inadequate healthcare and health insurance also contribute to shortened life expectancies. However, food is something people can have personal control over without asking the permission of higher authorities.Some people are in a position to grow their own vegetables and fruits and share the harvest with neighbors. Now you have what Carper calls “a unique, up to date, one stop guide to more than 100 common foods, beverages and popular diets, revealing whether they prolong health and life or accelerate aging and death.”The guide works for all ages as well. It will show you that nutritious and delicious food prepared with all kinds of simple recipes can be healthy and tasty. (See, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/100-LIFE-DEATH-FOODS-Prematurely/dp/B0CPW7CXFY" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">100 Life or Death Foods: A Scientific Guide to Which Foods Prolong Life or Kill You Prematurely</a>, December 9, 2023).
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/food-that-prolongs-your-life/">Food That Prolongs Your Life</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Gaza War Is Testing Jordan’s Stability</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/gaza-war-is-testing-jordans-stability/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gaza-war-is-testing-jordans-stability</link>
<comments>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/gaza-war-is-testing-jordans-stability/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[CONNOR ECHOLS / Responsible Statecraft ]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:24:31 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wounds of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[gaza]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[israel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[jordan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[palestinian]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295541</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Amman is facing a delicate balancing act as Israel’s war on Gaza threatens to further inflame regional tensions.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/gaza-war-is-testing-jordans-stability/">Gaza War Is Testing Jordan’s Stability</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
This article was <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/gaza-war-destabilising-jordan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">co-published</a> with The New Arab.
Iranian missiles lit up the sky over Jordan this weekend as Israeli jets reportedly scrambled alongside their French, Jordanian, and U.S. counterparts to intercept the <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/why-iran-attacked-israel-and-what-could-happen-next" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">unprecedented barrage</a>.
On the ground, regular Jordanians got their first taste of what could escalate to a broader war. Videos <a href="https://twitter.com/Sprinterfactory/status/1779289195720171734" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">showed</a> charred remnants of missiles in Marj al-Hamam, a quiet neighborhood a short drive from downtown Amman. Some responded with levity, <a href="https://x.com/harasis2010/status/1779502690982154439" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">placing</a> ads on the Arab equivalent of Craigslist for a “used missile”.
But the overwhelming response was <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/jordanians-angered-governments-downing-iran-missiles" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">anger</a>. Jordan’s defense of Israel led to a firestorm of criticism and conspiracy on social media, with posters <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/did-jordans-princess-salma-shoot-down-iranian-drones" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">falsely claiming</a> that a Jordanian princess had participated in the interceptions, while others shared fake images of King Abdullah in an Israeli uniform.
The king and his deputies responded by insisting that they would shoot down any unauthorized objects in Jordanian airspace, but it remains unclear if regular Jordanians are buying that claim.
“Things are very tense right now in Jordan,” said Sean Yom, a political science professor at Temple University. “The Jordanian government is obviously trying to do the best job that it can in just getting out of this, but it’s not easy.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Jordan’s defense of Israel led to a firestorm of criticism and conspiracy on social media.</blockquote></figure>
This latest escalation of the Gaza war highlights the ways Israel’s campaign risks destabilizing some of the Middle East’s most conflict-averse states. The strikes, themselves a response to an Israeli bombing of an Iranian consulate, came just a few months after Iran-aligned militias attacked a U.S. base in Jordan and killed three American soldiers.
As the U.S. seeks to <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/where-do-abraham-accords-leave-jordan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">forge diplomatic ties</a> between Arab states and Israel, Amman’s situation also offers a stark reminder that normalization with autocratic governments does not equal normalization with those countries’ citizens.
In recent years, the American approach to the Middle East has largely focused on freezing the situation as it stands. The Abraham Accords were designed to give Israel a stronger place in the region, allowing the Jewish state to build on previous peace deals with Jordan and Egypt and establish relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, and Bahrain. The deal is simple: The U.S. will invest in your regime’s stability if you accept Israel as it exists today.
But it’s not clear that these <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/will-arab-israeli-normalisation-survive-gaza-war" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">internal tensions</a> can stay on ice as Gaza burns. In Jordan, decades of lavish U.S. aid has done little to mollify the anger that average citizens — many of whom are Palestinians — feel over Israel’s actions.
For months, Jordanians have held <a href="https://www.newarab.com/features/can-jordan-protest-movement-force-divorce-israel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">daily protests</a> outside of the Israeli embassy in Amman. The government, anxious to avoid a diplomatic crisis with Israel, has cracked down on the rallies with large-scale arrests and even a few clashes with protesters.
Jordan’s role in downing Iranian drones over the weekend has further inflamed sentiments both inside the country and across the region, according to Nader Hashemi, an expert on Middle East politics and a professor at Georgetown University.
“The United States has to realize that its almost unconditional support for Israel in Gaza is producing these types of destabilizing effects,” Hashemi said. “It’s going to increase the instability in Jordan.”
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A ‘very delicate’ balance</h3>
Jordan is built on a series of contradictions. The country has a largely Palestinian population but maintains a close relationship with Israel. It hosts an enormous number of refugees despite <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/can-jordan-ever-escape-israels-grip-water-resources" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">barely having enough water</a> to sustain its own citizenry. The royal court convenes a parliament but more or less ignores any decisions that the legislature provides.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Jordan is built on a series of contradictions. The country has a largely Palestinian population but maintains a close relationship with Israel.</blockquote></figure>
These compromises are part of an understandable balancing act on the part of Jordanian officials, who must find a way to govern a small, resource-poor state in a war-torn region, argues Rami Khouri, a Jordanian-American journalist of Palestinian descent and a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut.
“That balance is very delicate, but it’s always been there,” Khouri said, noting that he doesn’t expect the latest escalation to cause a major crisis. “The Jordanians have always figured it out.”
This equilibrium has grown unsteady in recent years as deep economic woes have ravaged the country. Jordan’s unemployment rate <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/jordan/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">sits</a> at roughly 22%, with nearly half of young people unable to find a job, according to the World Bank. Authorities have also cracked down on protests and shuttered some of the country’s most powerful unions. The war in Gaza has added significant fuel to this growing fire by highlighting the distance between Jordanians and their leaders.
Even prior to the war, 19% of Jordanians <a href="https://www.namasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/4th-Wave-of-22Foreign-Relations-Survey-202322.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">told</a> pollsters that Amman’s primary foreign policy goal should be to champion the Palestinian cause — more than twice the number who said Jordan should prioritize its own security. (It’s telling that fully 40% of those surveyed said the top priority should be facilitating economic agreements that promote growth and jobs.)
This does not necessarily mean that the average Jordanian is opposed to all cooperation with Israel, as Jamal al-Tahat of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) notes. After all, Jordan relies on Israel for water and trade, two essential factors for the desert country. In al-Tahat’s view, the main concern is about whether Amman is getting a fair deal in its relationship with Tel Aviv, coupled with a deep anger over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
But it’s hard to ignore the fact that the latest protests are “very new in terms of size and in terms of the determination of the people,” al-Tahat said.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Between Iraq and a hard place</h3>
To understand Jordan’s predicament, one need only look at a map. To its north and east are Syria and Iraq, both of which have long suffered from instability and war. Jordan’s neighbors to the west are Israel and Palestine, and its only port is a thin strip of land on the Red Sea near the border with Saudi Arabia.
These geographical facts have left the monarchy with little choice but to find a powerful patron to protect its interests. The U.S. has been more than happy to fill that role so long as Jordan toes the American line on regional issues.
From America’s point of view, it’s an easy deal. A 2021 agreement <a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/03/21/Jordan-announces-new-US-defense-deal-allowing-free-entry-of-American-troops" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">gave</a> the U.S. military unparalleled independence for its operations in Jordan, allowing American troops to enter and transit the country as they please. The relationship gives Washington a nearly unlimited base of operations at the heart of the Middle East.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>One thing is certain, according to Yom: A regional war would be “cataclysmic” for Jordan.</blockquote></figure>
For the royal court, U.S. backing offers a crucial layer of security, especially in moments like today. “The situation is not going to threaten the stability of the country as long as you still have the large-scale American military, financial support for Jordan,” Khouri said.
But close ties with the U.S. and Israel come with strings attached. The regime has little choice but to allow both countries to use its airspace when crises occur, but it must hold onto a certain level of plausible deniability to avoid angering the Jordanian public. “If the government admits this, it would be seen in the eyes of many Jordanians as a collaborator with Israel, and that would contravene the spirit of the Jordanian government’s official stance,” Yom said.
It remains unclear how Jordan’s regime could respond if a full-scale war breaks out between Israel and Iran. Experts who spoke with Responsible Statecraft/The New Arab all doubted that Amman would proactively join the conflict, but a strong possibility remains that it could get dragged into battle despite its best efforts to stay on the sidelines. One thing is certain, according to Yom: A regional war would be “cataclysmic” for Jordan.
So how can U.S. policymakers avoid such a disaster? They can start by preaching restraint to the Israelis as they weigh further strikes on Iranian assets in the region, Yom argued. “That’s the only way Jordan is able to get out of this very difficult situation with as little damage as possible,” he said.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/gaza-war-is-testing-jordans-stability/">Gaza War Is Testing Jordan’s Stability</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Report: Attacks on Indigenous Land Defenders on the Rise</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/report-attacks-on-indigenous-land-defenders-on-the-rise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=report-attacks-on-indigenous-land-defenders-on-the-rise</link>
<comments>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/report-attacks-on-indigenous-land-defenders-on-the-rise/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Sax / Grist]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:21:11 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[DEIB]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Race]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Social Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[freedom of speech]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[indigenous rights]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Maasai]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[united nations]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295544</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Indigenous peoples around the world are harassed and killed at alarming rates. Will the world act?
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/report-attacks-on-indigenous-land-defenders-on-the-rise/">Report: Attacks on Indigenous Land Defenders on the Rise</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
This story is published as part of the Global Indigenous Affairs Desk, an Indigenous-led collaboration between Grist, High Country News, ICT, Mongabay, Native News Online, and APTN.
When around<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/tanzanian-authorities-brutally-violated-maasai-amid-forced-evictions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> 70,000 Indigenous Maasai</a> were expelled from their lands in northern Tanzania in 2022, it didn’t happen in a vacuum. For years, the Tanzanian government has systematically attacked Maasai communities, imprisoning <a href="https://grist.org/indigenous/indigenous-maasai-ask-the-united-nations-to-intervene-on-human-rights-abuses/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Maasai leaders and land defenders</a> on trumped-up charges,<a href="https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/looming-threat-eviction" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> confiscating livestock</a>, using <a href="https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/after-violent-evictions-indigenous-maasai-call-human-rights-investigation-a-sham/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">lethal violence</a>, and claiming that the Maasai’s pastoralist lifestyle <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/6/16/in-tanzania-the-maasai-fight-eviction-over-statconservation-plot" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">is causing environmental degradation</a>—a lifestyle that has <a href="https://grist.org/indigenous/sweden-sami-unesco-world-heritage-indigenous-rights-iron-mine/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">shaped and sustained</a> the land that the Maasai have lived on for centuries. This rise in criminalization, especially in the face of mining, development, and conservation is being noted in Indigenous communities around the world and was the key focus of <a href="https://www.docip.org/en/indigenous-peoples-at-the-un/permanent-forum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">a report</a> released this week at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, or UNPFII, the largest gathering of Indigenous activists, policymakers, and leaders in the world.
“It’s a very serious concern because the Indigenous people who have been resisting the taking over of their lands and territories, they are the ones who most commonly face these charges and criminalization,” Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples told a packed panel on the topic on Tuesday. “There is a need to focus on criminalization because this is what brings fear to Indigenous communities and it is also what curtails them in their capacity to assert their right to self-determination.”
The report “Criminalization of Indigenous Peoples’ human rights” lays out the mechanisms by which Indigenous Peoples around the world are increasingly facing criminalization and violations of their rights with impunity. Indigenous land, subsistence and governance rights are often poorly implemented if at all, leading to violations when they intersect with government and third party interests, especially in extractive industries and conservation. In addition to historical discrimination, a lack of access to justice for Indigenous rights holders—including environmental and human rights defenders, journalists, and communities—leads to higher rates of arrests and incarcerations. The <a href="https://www.docip.org/en/indigenous-peoples-at-the-un/permanent-forum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">report</a> provides recommendations for UN bodies, states, and other relevant actors to better address this growing threat.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“There is a need to focus on criminalization because this is what brings fear to Indigenous communities and it is also what curtails them in their capacity to assert their right to self-determination.”</blockquote></figure>
The use of criminal law to punish and dissuade people from protesting or speaking out is typically the way people understand criminalization, said Fergus Mackay, a Senior Legal Counsel and Policy Advisor to Indigenous Peoples Rights International, an organization that works to protect Indigenous Peoples rights defenders. But the bulk of criminalization Indigenous Peoples face actually stems from the inadequate recognition or non-recognition of their rights by governments. “The lack of recognition of Indigenous rights in national legal frameworks is at the heart of this issue,” Mackay said.
This is especially prevalent when those rights intersect with public or protected lands, or areas that overlap with extractive interests, <a href="https://grist.org/indigenous/sweden-sami-unesco-world-heritage-indigenous-rights-iron-mine/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">conservation</a>, or climate mitigation measures. For example in Canada,<a href="https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-legal-fishery-sparking-arrests-and-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> First Nations Fishermen</a> are being arrested and harassed by federal fisheries officers for fishing–rights protected by treaty. In the Democratic republic of the Congo, Baka Indigenous peoples have been beaten, imprisoned, and prevented from using their customary forest by eco guards <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/07/armed-ecoguards-funded-by-wwf-beat-up-congo-tribespeople" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">hired to protect wildlife</a>. A 2018 study estimated that <a href="https://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Cornered-by-PAs-Brief_RRI_June-2018.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">more than a quarter million </a>Indigenous peoples have been evicted due to carbon-offset schemes, tourism, and other activities that lead to the creation of protected areas.
“The criminalization of Indigenous People could also be considered the criminalization of the exercise of practicing Indigenous rights,” said Naw Ei Ei Min, a member of Myanmar’s Indigenous Karen peoples and an expert UNPFII member at Tuesday’s panel.
Defamation and smear campaigns through social media are often used in the lead-up to false criminal charges, especially when Indigenous peoples speak up against government-supported private companies investing in large-scale projects on their traditional lands, said Tauli-Corpuz. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/05/berta-caceres-assassination-roberto-david-castillo-found-guilty" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Berta Cárceres</a>, the renowned Indigenous Lenca environmental defender who opposed the development of the Agua Zarca dam in Honduras, had previously been detained on fabricated allegations of usurpation of land, coercion and possession of an illegal firearm before she was killed in 2016. Tauli-Corpuz, the former Special Rapporteur, along with around 30 other Indigenous leaders, was herself placed on a <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/philippines/3272-terrorist-accusations-against-joan-carling" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">terrorist list in 2018</a> by the Philippine government, a move that was <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/statement/statement-response-allegations-terrorism-against-un-special-rapporteurs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">criticized harshly</a> by the UN.
Criminalization comes with serious consequences. In 2021,<a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/decade-defiance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> of the 200 land</a> and environmental defenders killed worldwide, more than 40 per cent were Indigenous. According to Indigenous Peoples Rights International, an organization founded in part to address the growing concern over criminalization of Indigenous Peoples, despite representing only 6% of the global population, Indigenous defenders suffered nearly<a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/protector-not-prisoner-exploring-the-rights-violations-criminalization-of-indigenous-peoples-in-climate-actions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> 20% of attacks between 2015 and 2022</a> and were much more likely to experience violent attacks.
The <a href="https://www.docip.org/en/indigenous-peoples-at-the-un/permanent-forum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">UN report</a> also pointed to the high rates of incarceration of Indigenous People, and their disproportionate risk of arrest. In Canada, dozens of members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, who have long protested the creation of the Coastal GasLink pipeline that will cross their unceded territory, have been arrested and await trial in Canada. That trial is currently on hold because of allegations of<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/canada-amnesty-criminalization-surveillance-wetsuweten-land-defenders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> excessive force and harassment of the police</a>.
In countries like New Zealand and Australia, Indigenous peoples are already massively overrepresented in prisons. In Australia, despite making up only 3% of the population, Aboriginal Australians make <a href="https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-prison-rates" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">up almost 30% of the incarcerated population</a>. “This really speaks about the racism and discrimination that exists, which is the foundation for filing the criminalization cases against them,” said Tauli-Corpuz.
Indigenous journalists were included in this year’s report as being increasingly at risk of criminalization. In 2020 Anastasia Mejía Tiriquiz, a Guatemalan Kʼicheʼ Mayan journalist<a href="https://cpj.org/awards/anastasia-mejia-guatemala/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> was arrested</a> and charged with sedition after reporting on a protest against the municipal government. And just this year, Brandi Morin, an award-winning Cree/Iroquois/French journalist from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-arrest-of-indigenous-journalist-brandi-morin-chills-press-freedom/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">was arrested while</a> covering an Indigenous-led homeless encampment in Edmonton.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“The criminalization of Indigenous People could also be considered the criminalization of the exercise of practicing Indigenous rights.”</blockquote></figure>
Indigenous Peoples are also affected by the growing use of criminal law to deter free speech and protests. Since the Indigenous-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation in 2016<a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/09/15/24-states-have-considered-harsher-penalties-for-pipeline-protesters-since-dapl-standoff/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> lawmakers in two dozen states</a> in the US have taken up bills that ratchet up penalties for pipeline protesters. Globally, laws targeting everything from anti-terrorism, national security, and free speech only add to the ability for states to lay criminal charges on Indigenous activists.
Olnar Ortiz Bolívar, an Indigenous Baré lawyer from Venezuela who works to defend the rights of Indigenous communities, has been the target of both physical violence and harassment for his work in the Amazon, an area where illegal miners, criminal organizations, and the government are competing for control of resources,<a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/venezuela-depends-gold-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> especially gold</a>. He has been an<a href="https://www.heartsonvenezuela.com/the-orinoco-mining-arc-did-away-with-self-determination-in-the-venezuelan-amazon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> outspoken critic</a> of the Government-designated mining area in southern Venezuela known as the Orinoco Mining Arc.  Now he fears that a new bill introduced by the<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article287431415.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Maduro regime into congress</a>, that effectively turns dissent against the government and protesting into a criminal act, will severely affect his ability to continue to speak out against such projects.
“It’s a contradiction because we have rights in theory, but we don’t have the right to practice those,” he said. “What they are doing is taking away the freedom of expression of Venezuelans and, evidently, of the Indigenous People, who are increasingly vulnerable.”
As countries attempt to reach their goals of protecting 30% of their lands and waters by 2030 along with growing demand for transition minerals, criminalization of Indigenous Peoples is likely to grow, say experts. A survey of more than 5000 existing “energy transition mineral” projects found that<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00994-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> more than half were located on</a> or near Indigenous Peoples’ lands; for unmined deposits, that figure was much higher.
The report set forth a series of recommendations to counteract criminalization, emphasizing the importance of revising national laws, improving measures to protect Indigenous human rights defenders and access to justice, and promoting efforts to prevent, reverse and remedy criminalization and its consequences.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/report-attacks-on-indigenous-land-defenders-on-the-rise/">Report: Attacks on Indigenous Land Defenders on the Rise</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Michigan in the Balance</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/michigan-in-the-balance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=michigan-in-the-balance</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Eoin Higgins]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:37:50 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ear to the Ground]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Social Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[TD Original]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wounds of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[arab americans]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[gaza]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[israel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[michigan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[morning joe]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[To win the important swing state, the president needs to listen to voters before their concerns trickle down to ‘Morning Joe.'
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/michigan-in-the-balance/">Michigan in the Balance</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
President Joe Biden is facing a strong challenge in November from former President Donald Trump, who leads in the polls in key swing states that could determine the course of the election. It’s hard to pinpoint a single issue that’s of concern to the activist Democratic base — student loans, inflation and immigration all come to mind in various states — but the cause is easier to pinpoint in Michigan and Wisconsin, where voters are sending the incumbent an unambiguous message about his support for Israel’s war on Gaza. The question is: Will he listen?
In 2020, Biden narrowly won the White House by flipping Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona back to the Democratic column. He’ll need at least the two upper Midwest states this year to beat Trump, whose victories in the region in 2016 helped him beat Hillary Clinton. And to do that he’ll need the same voters who came out for him in 2020 to return to the polls. 
But those voters are increasingly angry with the president over his policy on Gaza, so much so that they’re expressed their displeasure in voting “uncommitted” or leaving ballots blank in primaries. The number of people doing this isn’t enough to change the outcome of the primary contest — Biden easily won — but it shows a growing dissatisfaction with a president who seems committed to ensuring thousands of young Palestinian parents endure the same heartache he felt when his wife and daughter died over 50 years ago.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Michigan’s relatively large Muslim population went heavily for Biden in 2020, but polling indicates they’re largely going to abandon the incumbent over his support for Israel’s war.</blockquote></figure>
In Michigan, where Biden edged out Trump by around 152,000 votes, 101,623 voters chose uncommitted. That’s two-thirds of the votes he needed last time, in a state that is essential to his reelection prospects. Michigan’s relatively large Muslim population went heavily for Biden in 2020, but polling indicates they’re largely going to abandon the incumbent over his support for Israel’s war. 
Wisconsin doesn’t have the same demographic concerns for the Democrats, but had a narrower margin of error in 2020. Biden won the state in a squeaker — by a margin of around 28,000 votes. Alarmingly for the incumbent, 47,800 Wisconsinites chose “uninstructed” in the primary, the same protest vote as “uncommitted” in Michigan. The discontent is real. 
Voters in Arizona and Georgia have also cast protest votes. Arizona doesn’t have an “uncommitted”-style option, so voters were encouraged to go for Marianne Williamson as a stand-in; she received 15,837 votes, more than the roughly 10,500 votes Biden bested Trump with last time. Georgia was a bit of a brighter spot, with only about 6,000 voters leaving their ballot blank in protest; still, the state went to Biden by 11,779 votes in 2020. 
This should be an alarm bell for the White House. Biden only won the White House by a nose four years ago and this year the head to head polling isn’t doing him any favors. Polling averages from FiveThirtyEight give Trump a three-point advantage in Michigan, a one-to-four-point edge in Georgia and a three-point advantage in Arizona. Wisconsin is dead even. If these numbers hold, Biden will need every vote he can get — and he’ll need to motivate his most loyal supporters to come out in force for him.
A good way to motivate the base is to be accountable to criticism. The uncommitted vote — including all the ways the protest vote is manifesting itself — is a signal from Democrats of their dissatisfaction over the way the administration is assisting the massacre in Gaza. Though not a huge number of voters, it’s enough to turn the tide in a swing state. In large part, the Democratic voters choosing this form of protest are telling the president they’re still gettable voters. But they’re also warning him not to take their support for granted.
Despite leaked stories to the press about the president’s personal antipathy to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his “concern” over the number of civilian deaths in the territory, the material reality of U.S. policy continues to be one that offers steadfast and unwavering backing for the massacres. Earlier the same day that seven World Central Kitchen members <a href="https://wck.org/news/gaza-team-update" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">were killed</a> in an Israeli triple tap drone strike, the Biden administration approved sending <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/world-central-kitchen-us-weapons-israel/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">thousands more bombs</a> to the Israeli military; the week before that the White House sent massive, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/us-israel-bombs-transfer/index.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">2,000 pound</a> bombs to Israel for its assault on Gaza. The rhetoric and the actions just don’t add up.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>A <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx#:~:text=Democrats%2C%20who%20were%20already%20largely,from%2071%25%20%2D%2D%20now%20approve." rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">staggering 75% of Democrats</a> — Biden’s party — do not support how Israel has conducted the war.</blockquote></figure>
The American public isn’t stupid. Support for Israel in the war is dropping as the country’s military continues to pound Gaza into rubble and starve the citizenry. A <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx#:~:text=Democrats%2C%20who%20were%20already%20largely,from%2071%25%20%2D%2D%20now%20approve." rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">staggering 75% of Democrats</a> — Biden’s party — do not support how Israel has conducted the war. Most of the people opposed to the war might be expected to still go out and vote for the incumbent in November. But there’s a further concern.
Israel’s overall blockade of aid and destruction of infrastructure is sending Gaza hurtling into famine and mass starvation. Unlike the photos and videos of bombed out buildings and maimed and dead bodies, which can be rationalized away as the cost of war, images of famine are likely to provoke outrage and anger from the electorate. 
The urgency of this political threat is best displayed by how the hosts of “Morning Joe,” the right-leaning MSNBC morning show that Biden watches religiously, have gone after Israel in recent days, portraying the nation as a rogue state and making clear in no uncertain terms that the president should cut them off. The “Morning Joe” efforts were somewhat of a Hail Mary, but the pressure may have influenced the April 4 “tense” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/04/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-call-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel-3/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">phone conversation</a> between the president and Netanyahu, after which Israel announced it will let some aid into the territory. It would be a mistake for Biden and his administration to take that insufficient development as enough to assuage angry voters. If they stop at half measures and allow the massacre to continue, they’ll only have themselves to blame if Trump squeaks into the White House on the strength of the Upper Midwest.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/michigan-in-the-balance/">Michigan in the Balance</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Why Most Americans Can’t Afford EVs</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-most-americans-cant-afford-evs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-most-americans-cant-afford-evs</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sonali Kolhatkar / IMI]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:24:39 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Asia Pacific]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Business & Economy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[carbon footprint]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[china]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[electric vehicles]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Inflation Reduction Act]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[tax credit]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295477</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The tax credits are too complicated and trade warriors are blocking cheaper Chinese models.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-most-americans-cant-afford-evs/">Why Most Americans Can’t Afford EVs</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
It might seem like there’s never been a better time to buy an electric vehicle.
If you go by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/climate/biden-phase-out-gas-cars.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">headlines</a>, you might be forgiven for thinking you can afford to upgrade your old gas-guzzling sedan with a sleek new zero-emissions EV. And if you can’t, government<a href="https://www.electricforall.org/rebates-incentives/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> rebates </a>will knock thousands off the price tag, right?
Well, not necessarily.
To qualify for the ever-changing and complicated<a href="https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/ev-tax-credit" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> federal $7,500 rebate</a> on EVs, you have to be rich enough to afford a new EV. (Some used models qualify, but good luck figuring out which ones — and better luck finding one that’s available).
But to qualify for the rebate, you can’t be too rich. If you’re middle-income like me, you can lease an EV, but then you don’t qualify for the rebate — your leasing company does.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>To qualify for the ever-changing and complicated<a href="https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/ev-tax-credit" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> federal $7,500 rebate</a> on EVs, you have to be rich enough to afford a new EV.</blockquote></figure>
EV prices have come down in recent years. But they’re still unaffordable for the majority of Americans, especially those who want to reduce their carbon footprint as well as their expenses. “Pricing is still very much the biggest barrier to electric vehicles,” according to one<a href="https://press.spglobal.com/2023-11-08-S-P-Global-Mobility-Survey-Finds-EV-Affordability-tops-Charging-and-Range-Concerns-in-Slowing-EV-Demand" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> analyst</a>.
Too bad consumers don’t have access to China’s new EV, the BYD Seagull, a car that test drivers in the U.S. are<a href="https://insideevs.com/news/710364/byd-detroit-import-seagull-caresoft/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> gushing over</a> — and whose price tag begins at a mere $9,698. “That undercuts the average price of an American EV by more than $50,000,” reports <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-18/chinese-ev-affordability-frightens-ford-gm-us-automakers" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>.
In fact, more than 70 percent of all EVs sold globally are Chinese manufactured. You don’t have to live in China to buy one. You just have to live outside the United States, which is waging a fierce trade war with China.
Forget <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/opinion/tiktok-china.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">TikTok </a>— it’s Chinese-made EVs that keep U.S. auto CEOs up at night.
To protect them, the Biden administration is fanning the flames of anti-China sentiment. “China is determined to dominate the future of the auto market, including by using unfair practices,”<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/29/statement-from-president-biden-on-addressing-national-security-risks-to-the-u-s-auto-industry/?utm_source=link" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> said President Biden</a> in late February. “China’s policies could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security.”
This undermines Biden’s own<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/climate/biden-phase-out-gas-cars.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> climate goals</a>, which rely on a mass transition to EVs. On top of that, the GOP has made attacking EVs part of its<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/climate/the-roadblocks-to-bidens-electric-vehicles-plan.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> new culture war</a>. It’s no wonder EVs remain out of reach for most Americans.
Why are Chinese cars<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/01/electric-cars-cheaper-china-than-america/677290/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> so much cheaper, more varied, and just better</a> than American ones? It doesn’t all boil down to the cost of labor — Chinese labor costs are<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/17/news/economy/china-cheap-labor-productivity/index.html#:~:text=Making%20goods%20in%20China%20isn,faster%20than%20increases%20in%20productivity." rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> not as low</a> as they used to be. China’s government has simply made EVs a massive priority.
The Chinese government “has long played an important role — propping up both the supply of EVs and the demand for them,” explains <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/21/1068880/how-did-china-dominate-electric-cars-policy/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">MIT’s Technology Review</a>. Beijing has offered “generous government subsidies, tax breaks, procurement contracts, and other policy incentives.”
Instead of adopting a similarly aggressive approach, the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created a complex series of tax credits that require all EV materials and labor to be sourced in the United States.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Forget <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/opinion/tiktok-china.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">TikTok </a>— it’s Chinese-made EVs that keep U.S. auto CEOs up at night.</blockquote></figure>
There are better ways to protect fair labor standards. Fresh from a<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/uaw-strike-victory-analysis/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> major union victory</a> in late 2023, the United Auto Workers union<a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/02/uaw-contracts-electric-cars-batteries" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> won job protections</a> from the three biggest U.S. automakers for workers transitioning into the EV industry.
Vehicles are the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/climate/biden-phase-out-gas-cars.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> single largest source</a> of U.S. carbon emissions. There are many ways to reduce this pollution, including redesigning cities to be more<a href="https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/walkable-cities-can-benefit-environment-economy-and-your-health" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> walkable</a>, improving the quality and cost of<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/better-bus-systems-could-slow-climate-change/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> public transportation</a> and<a href="https://evergreenaction.com/blog/trains-are-a-climate-solution-just-not-in-the-united-states" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> trains</a>, and encouraging<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/19/23312913/worldwide-bicycle-commute-netherlands-climate-change" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> bicycle transportation</a>.
All of that will take effort, time, and resources. But the climate clock is ticking<a href="https://wapo.st/4coDydf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> fast</a>.
Even when<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/5-facts-you-should-know-about-electric-vehicles/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> accounting</a> for the mineral extraction needed to make EV batteries, EVs have a far lower carbon footprint than gasoline-powered cars — and are perhaps the most accessible tool we have to quickly reduce our carbon impact. We just need to prioritize making them available.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-most-americans-cant-afford-evs/">Why Most Americans Can’t Afford EVs</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Observing Arab American Heritage Month While Tragedy Persists in Gaza</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/observing-arab-american-heritage-month-while-tragedy-persists-in-gaza/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=observing-arab-american-heritage-month-while-tragedy-persists-in-gaza</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Farrah Hassen / Otherwords]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:20:26 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Race]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Social Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wounds of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[arab americans]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[gaza]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[humanitarian crisis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[israel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[October 7th]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295483</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Our culture is worth celebrating. But amid the immense suffering of Palestinians, it’s hard to feel celebratory.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/observing-arab-american-heritage-month-while-tragedy-persists-in-gaza/">Observing Arab American Heritage Month While Tragedy Persists in Gaza</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
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I’ve always known my Arab culture is worth celebrating.
I heard it in Syrian tenor Sabah Fakhri’s powerful voice reverberating in my mom’s car on the way to piano lessons and soccer practice during my youth. I smelled it in the za’atar, Aleppo pepper, allspice, and cumin permeating the air in the family kitchen.
I saw it in the intricate embroidery on my grandma’s silk robe. And in the determination etched in the faces of my immigrant parents, who raised seven children in Southern California without relinquishing our rich Syrian traditions.
April is National Arab American Heritage Month. It should be a time to celebrate the contributions of the over 3.5 million Arab Americans who strengthen our proud nation.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>My community is reeling from the immense pain and horror of an <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">unfolding genocide</a> against the 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza.</blockquote></figure>
We have Ralph Nader to thank for consumer protections like automobile safety. We have the late Senator James Abourezk (D-SD) — the first Arab American elected to the U.S. Senate — to credit for landmark legislation championing Indigenous rights. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician, first exposed the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
There are countless others. But right now, it’s impossible to feel celebratory. My community is reeling from the immense pain and horror of an <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">unfolding genocide</a> against the 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza.
Palestinian Americans have lost family members in Gaza from Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/gaza-famine-ohchr-press-release/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">mass starvation</a> of civilians. Adding insult to injury, Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons to commit these atrocities.
Palestinian Americans — along with other Arabs — have also been on the receiving end of increased hate crimes, harassment, racist rhetoric, and discrimination, belying the message that they, too, are an integral part of this nation. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna146874" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">received</a> 2,500 reports of anti-Arab hate from October to March.
During this period, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/18/wadea-al-fayoume-six-year-old-palestinian-boy-killed-hate-crime-illinois" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Wadea Al-Fayoume</a>, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy from Illinois, was fatally stabbed. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/palestinian-students-shot-burlington-vermont-interview-hospital-recove-rcna133822" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Three Palestinian college students</a> were shot in Vermont.
In his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-arab-american-heritage-month-2024/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">proclamation</a> marking this year’s heritage month, President Biden was forced to reckon with Gaza. Instead of announcing a long overdue, permanent ceasefire and an end to U.S. military support for Israel, he offered empty words.
How can Arab American life and culture be celebrated when fellow Arabs are facing erasure in Gaza? Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/17/israels-war-on-gaza-live-eleven-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-refugee-camp" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">killed</a> in Gaza so far, including <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">nearly 14,000 children</a>. Thousands more remain missing. And at least 576,000 Palestinians are on the brink of famine.
Homes filled with family heirlooms and memories have been <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147272#:~:text=Gaza%3A%20Massive%20destruction,displacing%20over%201.5%20million%20persons." rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">systematically</a> destroyed. The ancient <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/1/22/the-olive-tree-symbol-of-palestine-and-mute-victim-of-israels-war-on-gaza" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">olive trees</a> that symbolize Palestinians’ deep-rooted connection to their land haven’t been spared.
It’s easy to feel despair. But what brings me hope is the new generation of Arab Americans organizing, marching, and working with other communities to demand a permanent ceasefire. We are reminded that dissent is the highest form of “patriotism.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>But what brings me hope is the new generation of Arab Americans organizing, marching, and working with other communities to demand a permanent ceasefire.</blockquote></figure>
Despite attempts to smear and silence them for supporting Palestinian human rights, their efforts are having an impact. A March 27 Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">poll</a> showed a significant drop in American public support for Israel’s conduct of the war, from 50 percent in November 2023 to 36 percent now.
Meanwhile, Arab Americans have emerged as a new and powerful voting bloc. Spearheaded by Arab Americans in Michigan, hundreds of thousands of Americans voted “uncommitted” in recent primary elections in Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and elsewhere to protest U.S. policy in Gaza.
This represents a real shift from the days after 9/11, when Arab Americans faced blanket demonization without any pushback. This is progress, although much more must be done.
We know we belong in America even if we’re not always treated that way. We need enduring collaboration between Arab Americans and policymakers, educators, and community members to defend our rights, create a more equal America, and promote more just U.S. policies abroad  — starting with a ceasefire in Gaza.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/observing-arab-american-heritage-month-while-tragedy-persists-in-gaza/">Observing Arab American Heritage Month While Tragedy Persists in Gaza</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>California Takes Historic Action Against Groundwater-Guzzling Farms</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/california-takes-historic-action-against-groundwater-guzzling-farms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=california-takes-historic-action-against-groundwater-guzzling-farms</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jake Bittle / Grist]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:58:34 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[california]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[drought]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[groundwater extraction]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Tulare Lake]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295488</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Regulators just imposed unprecedented fees on water usage in the state’s agricultural heartland.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/california-takes-historic-action-against-groundwater-guzzling-farms/">California Takes Historic Action Against Groundwater-Guzzling Farms</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
This story was originally published by <a href="https://grist.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Grist</a>. Sign up for Grist’s <a href="https://go.grist.org/signup/weekly/partner?utm_campaign=republish-content&utm_medium=syndication&utm_source=partner" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">weekly newsletter here</a>.
In much of the United States, groundwater extraction is unregulated and unlimited. There are few rules governing who can pump water from underground aquifers or how much they can take. This lack of regulation has allowed farmers nationwide to empty aquifers of trillions of gallons of water for irrigation and livestock. <a href="https://grist.org/drought/how-climate-change-spurs-megadroughts/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Droughts fueled by climate change</a> have exacerbated this trend by depleting rivers and reservoirs, increasing reliance on this dwindling groundwater.
In many places, such as <a href="https://grist.org/agriculture/dos-rios-california-central-valley-floodplain/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">California’s Central Valley</a>, the results have been devastating. As aquifers decline, residential wells start to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04475-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">yield contaminated water</a> or else <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-09-20/thousands-of-central-valley-water-wells-risk-failure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">dry up altogether</a>, forcing families to rely on emergency deliveries of bottled water. Large-scale groundwater pumping has also caused <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/us/corcoran-california-sinking.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">land to sink and form fissures</a>, threatening to collapse key infrastructure like roads, bridges, and canals. These local impacts have been the price of an economic model that provides big farmers with unlimited access to cheap water.
At a tense twelve-hour hearing that lasted well into the night on Tuesday, California officials struck a big blow against that model. The state board that regulates water voted unanimously to take control of groundwater in the Tulare Lake subbasin, one of the state’s largest farming areas, imposing a first-of-its-kind mandatory fee on water pumping by farmers in the area.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>As aquifers decline, residential wells start to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04475-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">yield contaminated water</a> or else <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-09-20/thousands-of-central-valley-water-wells-risk-failure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">dry up altogether</a>, forcing families to rely on emergency deliveries of bottled water.</blockquote></figure>
The decision to place the basin’s water users on “probation,” a punishment for not managing their water effectively, could force some of the region’s largest land barons to pay millions of dollars in fees or stop cultivating huge sections of their farmland.
The vote sets up a high-stakes enforcement fight with some of the state’s most powerful farmers, who have <a href="https://hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/multi-million-dollar-plan-proposed-to-change-kings-county-groundwater-management/article_b4e91c44-8524-52fc-9daf-607e70018655.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">fought</a> <a href="https://sjvwater.org/kings-county-groundwater-plan-raising-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">for years</a> to avoid state intervention on their profitable dairy pens and tomato fields. The state will start measuring water usage and collecting fines later this year, but it has never attempted any such enforcement action before, and there is no way to know yet whether farmers will comply with the fees.
The larger question is whether the state’s policing effort will succeed in forcing a long-term reduction to groundwater usage in the state’s agricultural areas. The success or failure of this effort matters not just for California but also for many other pasture-rich states, from Nevada to Nebraska, that are trying to police their groundwater. If the Golden State can cut water usage without causing political or economic upheaval, it will leave a blueprint for other states trying to manage scarce water.
“Groundwater is one of these collective resources where your pumping has an impact on a lot of other people, and you have to have a mechanism to manage that,” said Ellen Hanak, an economist and water expert at the Public Policy Institute of California, a think tank. “I seriously doubt that the state wants to be taking over basins and managing them, but there has to be a backstop.”
The probation vote for Tulare Lake comes almost a decade after the California lawmakers passed the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which requires water users in threatened areas across the state to draft plans for healing their depleted aquifers by 2040. The Central Valley pumps around 7 million acre-feet of groundwater per year, enough to supply more than 15 million average American households, and almost all of it is used for agriculture. 
The vast majority of the state’s 89 troubled groundwater basins have already created viable plans for dealing with the crisis, agreeing to fallow some farmland or replenish aquifers by capturing rainwater. 
But six laggard basins in the Central Valley have never presented the state with adequate plans for fixing their groundwater deficits. Tulare Lake in particular has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-12-27/tulare-lake-land-barons-defy-calls-to-cut-groundwater-pumping" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">slow-walked</a> <a href="https://sjvwater.org/kings-county-groundwater-plan-raising-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">its</a> <a href="https://sjvwater.org/latest-blow-in-boswell-vidovich-water-war-could-bring-state-control-over-regions-groundwater/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">planning</a>, even as aquifer levels in the area have plummeted and huge sections of land have sunk by several feet. Water officials from the area have submitted several different water management plans with the state over the past few years, and during Tuesday’s hearing even said they would soon unveil another plan that includes a commitment to use less water for farming. But none of this documentation convinced the state that it could trust local officials to stop the rapid decline of the area’s aquifers.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The state will start measuring water usage and collecting fines later this year, but it has never attempted any such enforcement action before, and there is no way to know yet whether farmers will comply with the fees.</blockquote></figure>
The probation will force all significant water users in the basin to measure their well water usage starting in July, something that has never been done or even attempted in the Central Valley. It will charge these users a fee of $20 for every acre-foot of water they use, with exceptions for individual households, impoverished communities, and public institutions like schools. That fee is lower than the fees that water officials in other basins have voluntarily imposed on large users.
The basin could exit probation within months if local water leaders present the state with a plan that endorses major usage reductions. One state official said he hoped the probation period would be “short.”
“The reality is that probation is a step in the process,” said E. Joaquin Esquivel, the chair of the state water board. “It’s the forcing of something that the locals aren’t willing to do.”
The <a href="https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/california-farmers-groundwater-probation-kings-county/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">major forces in the Tulare Lake area</a> are J.G. Boswell, a massive farming company that has dominated Central Valley politics for almost a century, and Sandridge Partners, another large farming enterprise owned by the Bay Area real estate magnate John Vidovich. These two companies together own tens of thousands of acres of tomatoes, nuts, and dairy farms. They <a href="https://sjvwater.org/boswell-vidovich-water-war-blows-up-over-groundwater/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">both have representatives</a> on the agencies charged with managing groundwater in the Tulare Lake basin. (A representative for the group of groundwater agencies in the basin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.)
The farmland owned by these two companies sits atop the former site of Tulare Lake, <a href="https://grist.org/extreme-weather/tulare-lake-flooding-california-central-valley-subsidence-agriculture/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">once the largest body of freshwater</a> west of the Mississippi River. Farmers drained the lake in the late 19th century so they could cultivate the fertile soil beneath it, but the lake reappears during wet years as flooded rivers roar down from the Sierra Nevada mountains and fill the Central Valley. When the lake reappeared last year, Boswell and other landowners <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-09-28/central-valley-land-barons-tulare-lake-basin-kings-county-flooding-water-farms-boswell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">erected makeshift levees</a> to protect their valuable crops.
Enforcement of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act will transform this landscape and the rest of the fertile Central Valley. Despite recent investments in more efficient drip irrigation systems and recharge projects that can refill aquifers, most areas in the state will have no choice but to farm less land in order to comply with the law by 2040. According to one <a href="https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">study</a> from the Public Policy Institute of California, the law will eliminate between 500,000 and 1 million acres of irrigated crops in the valley, or between 10 and 20 percent of the valley’s agricultural land.
Tulare Lake farmers who spoke at the hearing said the fees could devastate their industry. 
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The basin could exit probation within months if local water leaders present the state with a plan that endorses major usage reductions.</blockquote></figure>
“My concern is with the fiscal strain you’re placing on the small farmers,” said Aaron Freitas, a fourth-generation nut farmer who helps run a smaller operation in the basin, at the hearing. “It’s just not encouraging for us to continue our work or protect the future for our children.”
The state believes this reduction is necessary in order to protect low-income communities and critical infrastructure from the devastating effects of subsidence. But enforcing the transition won’t be easy, especially because the major farmers have drawn water with impunity for so long. Some observers worry that the decision to send Tulare Lake into probation could lead to a dangerous confrontation between state regulators and local agricultural interests.
“There may have to be some kind of law enforcement agency out there when the state goes to meter wells for the fees,” said a person who has been closely involved with implementing the groundwater law, who spoke anonymously because they weren’t authorized to speculate about the consequences of the probation decision. “That’s the worst case-scenario.” 
*Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article mistakenly suggested that many states, including Idaho and Nebraska, have not regulated groundwater.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/california-takes-historic-action-against-groundwater-guzzling-farms/">California Takes Historic Action Against Groundwater-Guzzling Farms</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>The Unlikely Candidate: A Q&A With Melina Abdullah</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-unlikely-candidate-a-qa-with-melina-abdullah/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-unlikely-candidate-a-qa-with-melina-abdullah</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Erin Aubry Kaplan]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:50:13 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[DEIB]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Race]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Social Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[TD Interview]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[TD Original]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[black lives matter]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[cornel west]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Election 2024]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[joe biden]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[melina abdullah]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295448</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Black Lives Matter co-founder has joined the ticket in Cornel West’s campaign of “truth, justice and love.”
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-unlikely-candidate-a-qa-with-melina-abdullah/">The Unlikely Candidate: A Q&A With Melina Abdullah</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
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Melina Abdullah never planned to run for office, let alone for the vice presidency of the United States. When the 51-year-old Cal State University professor and co-founder of Black Lives Matter accepted independent presidential candidate Cornel West’s invitation to be his running mate in early April, she had never sought public office of any size. But when the opportunity arose, she did not hesitate. “My heart soared,” she says of West’s offer. Joining forces with West, a major influence in her own development as a scholar and activist, felt like another mode of organizing. “It’s a feeling I haven’t had since I last gave birth,” she says. The all-Black presidential ticket of West/Abdullah is running on a platform that includes justice for Gaza, police abolition and the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. Although she has become a national figure in anti-racism movements — usually photographed in front of a microphone with a fist thrust in the air, confronting police at a protest or direct action — in conversation Abdullah is often lighthearted, prone to laughing and pointing out the exquisite absurdities of the political landscape. I interviewed her in Los Angeles by phone on April 14.. The following transcript has been edited slightly for clarity and length.

Related



<a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/what-does-one-do-when-both-options-are-catastrophic-an-interview-with-cornel-west/" class="!border-0">
‘What Does One Do When Both Options Are Catastrophic?’: An Interview With Cornel West </a>


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Truthdig: You say you didn’t see it coming — how did this come about?
Melina Abdullah: I never wanted to run for office, never had that ambition. People asked me occasionally but I never thought of running because I’m pretty effective as an outside organizer. I’ve been a supporter of Cornel West since I first met him as an undergrad at Howard University in 1994. He’s been influential in my own work. I would see him and think, “How does he treat everybody like they’re the most important person in the room?” He was on my KBLA radio show recently, and afterward he asked me [to be his] vice presidential running mate. I bring things to the ticket, but I also bring things people could perceive as nonbenefits, [such as] a commitment to free Palestine that predates Oct. 7. I asked him to vet me. I’ve never been a public figure in that way. I have a social media history that I’m not scrubbing. I’m not calculating.
TD: You’ve said you’ll continue working as usual with Black Lives Matter during the presidential campaign.
MA: I’m never stepping back from BLM. If they felt this was a bad move for us, I wouldn’t do it. I only want to bring our message forward. It was important that everyone in BLM-LA and worldwide endorse this. There will be some changes. I won’t be able to be at every Wednesday protest now. I have to step back from my radio programs, “This Is Not A Drill” and “Move the Crowd” because of FCC rules. But the shows will go on. I was always one host of many.
TD: Cornel represents many things, not just politically, but morally. What about his campaign and his candidacy resonates most for you?
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“I’m not interested in police reform or training bills. Public safety comes from investing in community services, not policing.”</blockquote></figure>
MA: In the platform, everything ends with the word “justice.” We’re not tethered to policy positions. I come into this work as an abolitionist. I’m not interested in police reform or training bills. Public safety comes from investing in community services, not policing. It’s all about transformative justice. It doesn’t hurt that I’m running with the smartest man in the world. [His 1993 book] “Race Matters” reminds us of the history of race and racism in the world, especially Blackness as an indicator of where we are in terms of power and resources. It’s a call for us to disrupt the situation that puts Black people at the bottom of the list. And it’s digestible. Everyone can read it.
One of my closest friends who isn’t wild about Democrats or the GOP or electoral politics in general said, “I love that brother. He is the Sade of politics!” That brother’s tune never changes, like Sade, it’s been the same show since 1990. It’s not what’s trendy, he’s never going to waiver on where he stands. He’s creative, willing to evolve, he has new albums like Sade, but like her, his core is unmistakable. That’s very important, that he doesn’t sing differently for different people. That’s his courage. He has a vision, an intellect we’ve never seen in any president before, a spirituality and humility, connectedness. Our platform is based on truth, justice and love.
TD: What would a West/Abdullah administration do on its first day? 
MA: Stop funding war. Immediately free up trillions to ensure that everyone is housed, has food, clean water. Make sure everyone has what they need. We have to demonstrate that poverty is created and we don’t have to have it. When you pull that veil off, you see things differently. It sounds grandiose, but it frees people. We think it’s acceptable to see skyscrapers and tents at the same time, but it’s an obvious choice. We don’t have to have that. Just move the people into the skyscrapers. Use the money to fund the people.
TD: I have to ask the devil’s advocate question: Is this the right time for this campaign, when it really feels like the country hangs in the balance? Black people especially can’t afford a second MAGA regime.  
MA: When is the right time? We’re always being told, “Be quiet, here’s a few crumbs, this is better than the alternative.” We vote and get nothing. People have to earn our vote. The lesser of two evils is still evil. If you have any critique of the status quo at all, if you believe in reparations, housing and health care for all, you’ve got to vote for this ticket. There’s no truth to the idea that a vote for a third-party is a vote for a Republican. I have two kids who’ll be voting for first time in a presidential election—
TD: Those young first-time voters are a critical demographic this year.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>We have to demonstrate that poverty is created and we don’t have to have it. When you pull that veil off, you see things differently.</blockquote></figure>
MA: They are. No way either one of my kids would ever vote for Biden — they’re calling him “Genocide Joe.” No Gen Z’ers I know are lining up to vote for him. What we’re doing is mobilizing people who wouldn’t otherwise vote. We need to look at data around this. There’s no literature to support this idea we’re “peeling” away Democratic support. Gaza is a huge issue that in a way transcends politics. Fifteen-thousand children are dying, the ones we know about. How will the surviving kids grow up, be parents? For young people who are not as cynical as adults, they can’t allow this genocide to happen. They’ll do whatever it takes. And they’re not watching CNN, mainstream news, they’re watching social media, which is why the U.S. wants to ban TikTok. This is a generational mission, which Frantz Fanon described when he said that each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it. And this connects with racial justice campaign of BLM, which immediately issued a statement of solidarity with Palestine on Oct. 9 last year. Our young people were the ones who said, we have to write something. Black folk know what it’s like to see families separated and attacked.
TD: What other issues will motivate Black people to vote?
MA: Reparations are a growing issue. When I was in grad school writing my dissertation in the late ’90s, I wanted to focus on reparations. You had N’Cobra and Randall Robinson, but I wound up focusing on something else because reparations seemed generations off. But it wasn’t. In California, Black people are deeply committed to real reparations. Public safety is another issue. The duopoly tries to erase the issue by attacking calls to defund police, because both parties get money from police associations. They buy off politicians. It’s very clear we have to reimagine public safety. Every single piece of data says that the safest communities are the ones with the most resources, not the ones with the most police.
TD: There’s been lots of talk about Black people gravitating towards Trump and possibly swinging the election the wrong way.
MA: This idea that there’s significant Black support of Trump is overstated. The estimates are really small. That said, if we dig down, Black men are more likely to support Trump than Black women. [But] it’s not really Black support for Trump. It’s that Trump is right up to a point — his analysis of Biden and who’s controlling him and the Democrats is probably mostly right. But what’s missing is an analysis of the GOP. If you don’t want to vote for anybody controlled by rich powerful white folks, then vote for us.
TD: The worry is that Black people have become too cynical to vote. Do you believe at this point the vote can make the kind of revolutionary change you and Cornel represent?
MA: Electoral politics is just one tool. Nobody has ever voted themselves into freedom. You have to vote and organize. This is what we owe our ancestors, owe our people. If you vote people in and leave them to their own devices, don’t keep up pressure, it won’t work. It never has.
TD: You’re the first Muslim running on a presidential ticket that’s also all African American. Black people have supported Palestinian rights forever because they see their struggles as similar, as you’ve noted, but that’s really come to the fore.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“Gaza is a huge issue that in a way transcends politics. Fifteen-thousand children are dying, the ones we know about. How will the surviving kids grow up, be parents?”</blockquote></figure>
MA: This is the time for a Muslim candidate, though when Cornel asked me, I didn’t even think about that. Both Cornel’s Christian analysis and faith and my Muslim faith bring us to the same conclusions. That is a powerful statement about what’s driving this campaign, about what we know as spiritual people. What God and Allah tell us what’s right always prioritizes how I’m guided; “Abdullah” means “humble servant.” Dr. West and I share a deep reverence for ancestors. What do we owe the people who worked before us? Fannie Lou Hamer, Charlotta Bass, etc? It’s all about what to owe to our ancestors and to our future. I’m a mom of three kids, I can’t leave them a world that’s like this, where there’s police in schools but not nurses, where we’re spending on war and not on housing. That’s a crime. I can’t sit by and do nothing. This campaign is not just about what I owe, but what we all owe.
TD: Do you see you and Cornel’s candidacy as appealing to a significant number of nonBlack folks?
MA: Absolutely. Justice-loving people across racial lines will and should support us. I’ve already gotten lots of enthusiastic messages from Black and nonBlack people. It’s been a great start. I’ve also gotten very threatening letters. But I’m used to that. It’s easy to find me, send me letters, working here at the university. I’m grateful for the summer break coming up.
TD: In four years, has Joe Biden done anything for Black people?
MA: The things Biden has done have been mostly symbolic. We do have a Black VP, and there’s the Ketanji Brown Jackson appointment to the Supreme Court. We haven’t won anything, but it matters that she’s there. Biden is increasing student debt forgiveness, he’s passed an infrastructure bill. Jobs numbers are up but the employment numbers are manipulated. Most Black people don’t have much to thank Biden for. He double-talks: he says he’s very pro-labor but he’s also pro-corporate. He’s not doing anything for Chris Smalls’ fight against Amazon.
But the bottom line is we can’t sit out the election. Many people have told me they plan to vote but not at the top of the ticket. My prayer is that they see us as people they can vote for, for what they believe in. We’re not going to waiver. We’re going to stand strong in what we feel is right and strong. As candidates we have the opportunity to have conversations about racial betrayal and other difficult topics. Cornel is very good at brothering and sistering everybody. I’m not so good at that [laughs] I’m more like Ahmer Ramman who did this bit some years ago on reverse racism, which is both poignant and hilarious. One of things he’s talking about now is the false choice between Genocide Joe and the cheeseburger-powered, crazy orange man [laughs again]. Let’s just say he encapsulates the situation the way I would.
TD: Vice presidents tend to have a cause they promote. What would yours be?
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“Many people have told me they plan to vote but not at the top of the ticket. My prayer is that they see us as people they can vote for, for what they believe in.”</blockquote></figure>
MA: Reimagining public safety that’s not grounded in police but grounded in community. People see police as a very local issue, but the feds have a big role — it funds police. Qualified immunity is a federal issue. One of the many things BLM is doing is working on a federal law around family notification, which is notifying families about relatives and loved ones who’ve died in police custody. Seems like a small thing but it’s important. It’s called “Wakiesha’s law,” for Wakiesha Wilson who died in an L.A. jail cell in 2016 and her family wasn’t told right away.
TD: This will upend your life, right? You teach, you lead a movement and are a single mother of three. I always think of how running for office can be more disruptive for women than it is for men. 
MA: We have to be on the road a lot, which is a challenge for a single mom. I had to turn down a fellowship, which I needed. But I have extended family that’s stepping in and allowing me to travel, folks pitching in to make sure it happens. It’s a 50-state strategy, beginning with ballot access in California. As independents, we’re forming the Justice for All party, and we need 73,000 voters to register. We’ve got to get all this done by July. 
Ultimately, the success of the campaign depends on people getting involved. We have a huge and enthusiastic volunteer base, and we want to encourage everyone to join. This is for all of us.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-unlikely-candidate-a-qa-with-melina-abdullah/">The Unlikely Candidate: A Q&A With Melina Abdullah</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>The Military Industrial Complex Has an Inside Man in the Pacific</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-military-industrial-complex-has-an-inside-man-in-the-pacific/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-military-industrial-complex-has-an-inside-man-in-the-pacific</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jonathan Guyer / The Lever]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:58:05 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Asia Pacific]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Business & Economy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[china]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Joseph Yun]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[lockheed martin]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[marshall islands]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[The Asia Group]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[Biden envoy, Joseph Yun, helped shape defensive policy for the Pacific islands while consulting for a private firm that represents a massive conflict of interest.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-military-industrial-complex-has-an-inside-man-in-the-pacific/">The Military Industrial Complex Has an Inside Man in the Pacific</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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The following article was first reported and published by <a href="https://www.levernews.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">The Lever</a>, a reader-supported investigative news outlet that holds the powerful accountable.
When Biden’s presidential envoy Joseph Yun landed in the Marshall Islands in June 2022, he took every precaution.
Everyone involved wore teal N95 masks. Yun kept his distance from his Marshallese hosts, who exchanged handmade gifts without physical contact, the U.S. military base’s newspaper Kwajalein Hourglass <a href="https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/15/88/09279/06-18-2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">reported</a>. Concerns around COVID-19 had delayed Yun’s trip and related negotiations over pacts with the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau — strategic islands in the Pacific where the United States and China are vying for military dominance.
But <a href="https://www.levernews.com/tag/joe-biden/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">the Biden administration</a> has been less cautious about the ethical quandary presented by Yun’s role. At the same time that Yun was America’s chief negotiator in the Pacific, he was also listed as a senior adviser to The Asia Group, an ultra-connected Washington consulting firm composed of former government leaders who advise major corporations and military contractors. He led talks that are likely to deliver a lucrative advantage to the consulting firm where he currently works and the powerful defense contractor it represents in the Pacific.
Yun’s efforts, and his potential conflicts of interest, could have a wide-scale impact on both the 2.3 million who call the region home, not to mention the world at large. As Washington and Beijing ratchet up tensions in the region that resemble a new Cold War, these Pacific Island nations may be small in size, but have massively outsized consequences for U.S. power. 
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The Biden administration sees the Pacific through the lens of American military power, much like his predecessors.</blockquote></figure>
Just last week, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/us/politics/biden-japan-philippines-summit.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">announced</a> a new defense partnership with Japan and the Philippines last week in response to China’s interests in the Indo-Pacific, and a top Australian official called the region the site of the “<a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/04/11/biggest-arms-race-since-world-war-ii-00151779" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">biggest arms race</a>” since World War II.
The Asia Group engages in influence-peddling, and several top Biden appointees come from the firm. But since it’s not technically a lobbying firm, it manages to evade scrutiny — and lobbying disclosure laws — by design. The firm mostly keeps its clients secret, even as it advocates on their behalf in backrooms with policymakers in Washington and world capitals. And they’re not required to divulge anything. A former employee told me that the work that The Asia Group does for clients is “innately corrupt.”
The Biden administration sees the Pacific through the lens of American military power, much like his predecessors. From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. tested <a href="https://nuclearprinceton.princeton.edu/pacific#:~:text=67%20nuclear%20tests%20were%20conducted,bomb%20named%20Castle%20Bravo%20Bomb." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">67 nuclear weapons</a> in the Marshall Islands and the area has continued to be the site of U.S. weapons testing ever since.
The agreements Yun negotiated, which were just signed into law, give the U.S. military continued exclusive access to the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau in exchange for billions in U.S. aid going to the independent nations. These accords may significantly benefit one of The Asia Group’s major recent clients, Lockheed Martin. The military contracting giant operates the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site in the Marshall Islands, and another U.S. base on the islands is home to what Lockheed calls “<a href="https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/space-fence.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">the world’s most advanced radar</a>.”
Just under half of the gargantuan $850 billion U.S. military budget goes to military contractors, and companies like Lockheed are some of the biggest beneficiaries of hawkish American policies in the Pacific.   
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="backroom-deals">Backroom Deals</h3>
Unlike what is federally mandated for most political appointees, Yun held a special designation as a presidential envoy and was not required to publicly disclose his clients, income, and investments. The potential appearances of a conflict alone were plentiful, as Yun <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/youngjun-kim-1a666a9_in-washington-dc-a-reunion-with-my-longtime-activity-7045024684739846144-O4FQ/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">continued to hold meetings</a> at The Asia Group’s office.
Yun wrote by email that his government role “was reviewed by State Legal/Ethics and approved, because there was no conflict of interest or any overlap, and I agreed to recusal if we came across any such overlap.” He added that his advisory work for The Asia Group “involved no defense sector work” and “involved no Pacific islands.” 
The State Department defended the arrangement. “There is no legal prohibition on Department of State employees holding outside employment in most circumstances,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to The Lever. 
But ethics lawyers still have concerns. Yun, listed throughout as a member of The Asia Group’s “team,” has kept his clients secret, and the terms of his government service did not require public disclosure. 
“If I were the ethics adviser at the State Department… I would tell him he can’t have anything to do with those areas of the world where the firm is doing consulting business,” Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007, told me. “I just don’t like it. I wouldn’t allow it.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Unlike what is federally mandated for most political appointees, Yun held a special designation as a presidential envoy and was not required to publicly disclose his clients, income, and investments.</blockquote></figure>
Yun’s employer, The Asia Group, is no ordinary Washington firm. Its co-founder, <a href="https://www.pogo.org/investigations/the-troubling-business-connections-of-bidens-asia-advisor-kurt-campbell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Kurt Campbell</a>, is the long-standing Asia czar of the Democratic establishment. After three years in the White House directing China policy, Campbell moved to the State Department in January and is now one of its two deputy secretaries, its number-two position. The other deputy secretary, Richard Verma, was previously vice chairman of The Asia Group, where he <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200629170555/https://theasiagroup.com/staff/amb-richard-verma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">led the firm’s South Asia business</a>, advising Facebook, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America lobbying group, and Walmart.
Campbell’s network of diplomats blurs the line between official and private life. On <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joseph-yun/id1355207045?i=1000598542007" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">a 2018 episode</a> of the firm’s podcast, Tea Leaves, Campbell warmly introduced Yun as a friend and traced his decadeslong path, including serving as ambassador to Malaysia and holding one of the toughest diplomatic jobs imaginable, negotiating with North Korea.
Campbell paused for effect. “Joe’s most extraordinary career accomplishment — joining us at The Asia Group,” he said, “bringing his expertise and knowledge to help our clients further their interests.” 
The Asia Group has since removed the episode from its website.
In a statement sent to The Lever, the Asia group noted, “Amb. Yun assists on TAG’s Korea and Southeast Asia work, helping clients better understand risks and opportunities in those regions.” 
The firm did not respond to detailed follow-up questions.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="%E2%80%9Cinnately-corrupt%E2%80%9D">“Innately Corrupt”</h3>
Call it a Rolodex firm. The Asia Group is one of a handful of influential Washington consulting outfits for out-of-office government appointees going through the revolving door. Before becoming secretary of state, Antony Blinken cofounded the firm <a href="https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">WestExec Advisors</a>, sustaining a tradition of corporate work pioneered by <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/5/27/23738792/henry-kissinger-100-birthday-foreign-policy-legacy-vietnam-consultant-white-house" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Henry Kissinger</a> and continued by Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.
National security officials make millions advising the world’s most recognizable companies. In the last several decades it’s become normal for former government leaders to do this and then return to government. 
The Asia Group promises access: The national security adviser will return your calls and take the meeting, according to the former Asia Group employee. And some of that door-opening is for foreign dignitaries. Campbell himself has ferried the former prime minister of Thailand to meetings around Washington.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The Asia Group is an egregious example of the ethical gray zone posed by officials revolving to and fro, but it’s not the only one. </blockquote></figure>
The firm’s focus is on the military and aerospace sectors, and they’ve worked for <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/6/23/23770369/modi-india-weapons-arms-deal-drones-jet-engines" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">General Electric, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon</a>. In 2020, The Asia Group <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200814000820/https://theasiagroup.com/case-studies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">advertised</a> that it helped “a leading U.S. defense company in Australia for a multibillion-dollar contract,” and ethics disclosures filed by <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20528999-kurt-campbell-form-278-public-financial-disclosure-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Campbell</a> and his colleagues who have gone into government show that it also works for automakers, Big Banks, and Big Tech. The firm has expanded far beyond Washington to offices in China, India, Japan, and Vietnam — and later this year it will open an outpost in Hong Kong.
Since the firm doesn’t technically lobby, no federal or state disclosures are required. The Asia Group does not share its client list, creating a shield of secrecy that allows Campbell’s team to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-vietnam-casino" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">quietly work</a> for individuals like billionaire casino magnate Steve Wynn and businessman <a href="https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/vi/node/6004" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Philip Falcone</a>, who was convicted of securities fraud.
The Asia Group is an egregious example of the ethical gray zone posed by officials revolving to and fro, but it’s not the only one. More than 30 top national security officials in the Biden administration hail from <a href="https://prospect.org/power/meet-the-consulting-firm-staffing-biden-administration-westexec/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Blinken’s firm</a>, and dozens of senior national security officials have revolved in and out of Albright’s consulting operation, the Albright Stonebridge Group.
Consultants are so ubiquitous in Washington that when Yun <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/2023/7/hearing-to-receive-testimony-regarding-the-compact-of-free-association-amendments-act-of-2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">testified</a> to Congress about the Pacific island agreements in October, he sat next to Asia Group alum Siddharth Mohandas, who was then the Pentagon’s top Asia official. Biden also appointed the firm’s president, Rexon Ryu, to the <a href="https://theasiagroup.com/rexon-y-ryu-appointed-to-defense-policy-board/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Defense Policy Board</a>, a group of influential outside advisers to the secretary of defense.
“As a patriot, I find what I witnessed there to be terribly corrupt and untoward, and I cannot believe my country is going to put someone like that into a position of immense power,” the former Asia Group employee told me. 
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="%E2%80%9Cwe-live-in-fear-fear-of-the-bombs%E2%80%9D">“We Live In Fear, Fear Of The Bombs”</h3>
With the U.S. and China engaged in hostile competition, Pacific Island nations are caught in between, their very sovereignty a contested arena between the two superpowers. 
The combined population of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau is <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104436.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">less than 200,000</a>, and their hundreds of islands cover more than the length of the continental U.S. Soviet-era U.S. bases have taken on increased significance as the U.S. monitors China’s maritime activities. 
“The most important thing we get out of them is, of course, access to their land, their air, and their water,” Yun <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwoEK475Pdw&t=1s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">told</a> the Heritage Foundation last year. “It’s crucially important.”
Threat-mongering around war with China drives a lot of business for firms like The Asia Group. In Campbell’s nomination hearing in December for the deputy secretary role, he pushed for the compact. 
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“As a patriot, I find what I witnessed there to be terribly corrupt and untoward, and I cannot believe my country is going to put someone like that into a position of immense power.”</blockquote></figure>
“I will simply say to the Senate that literally China is waiting at the moment that we are unable to fulfill our commitment,” he said. The agreement “keeps these countries in our purview,” Campbell continued, and the U.S. needs it for its security or, “you can expect literally the next day that Chinese diplomats, military, and other folks on the plane, landing in each of these states trying to secure a better deal for China.”
In March, Congress passed the agreements and Biden signed them into law as part of the omnibus spending bill. The accords lock in the U.S. military’s exclusive presence in the three Pacific Island nations over the next 20 years in exchange for more than $7 billion in U.S. aid. 
The U.S. military <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3707447/dod-applauds-funding-for-pacifics-freely-associated-states/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">applauded</a> the passing of the agreements, and senior Defense official Ely Ratner told the Senate that the military, beyond the existing missile and space testing sites, is “<a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/73106e66-b32a-6bdb-b9d5-c7ca0b00de24/031424_Ratner_Testimony.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">exploring opportunities for new cooperation</a>.”
For Van Jackson, a former defense strategy adviser in the Obama Pentagon, the compacts are modern-day imperialism. Since these island nations are by and large poor — with <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12194" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">low gross domestic product</a> and few options for trade except for with China — they are dependent on the U.S. government for investment, services, and all matters of national security.
“It is a vestige of the musty imperial days,” he told me. “America has full veto control over them.”
The U.S. notoriously tested dozens of nuclear weapons on the Marshall Islands in the 1940s and 50s, poisoning a generation and <a href="https://gizmodo.com/radiation-levels-at-the-marshall-islands-remain-disturb-1836382678" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">making whole areas unlivable</a>. In 1954, the U.S. used the area to conduct the largest nuclear test in history, <a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2024-02-29/castle-bravo-70-worst-nuclear-test-us-history" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Castle Bravo</a>. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has provided <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2023-03/news/us-marshall-islands-sign-deal-nuclear-testing-impacts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">about $2 billion</a> in compensation to the Marshallese as well as related development assistance.
In the Marshall Islands, the nuclear legacy remains visceral. In 2022, Yun visited <a href="https://marshallislandsjournal.com/yun-testing-was-a-tragedy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Runit Dome</a>, where the U.S. dumped 30,000 tons of nuclear waste in the late seventies. A school choir welcomed the U.S. delegation and sang, “We live in fear, fear of the bombs, guns, and nuclear.” 
Nuclear reparations, climate change, and the environment were sticking points in the negotiations Yun oversaw, and the Marshallese nearly walked out. But the much smaller country didn’t have leverage or an alternative. 
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The fact that there are serious ethical concerns about foreign policy leaders in the Biden administration reveals the limitations of current government ethics rules.</blockquote></figure>
“Part of Joe Yun’s job was to play hardball with them, effectively treat them like North Korea on this issue,” Jackson, now a professor at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, explained.
The compact agreements are important to clients of The Asia Group. There’s a strong chance that <a href="https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/long-range-discrimination-radar.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Lockheed Martin</a> will land a resulting contract for an over-the-horizon radar system in Palau, whose construction experts say will cause <a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/pacific/palau-us-radar-08072023000835.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">serious environmental damage</a>. Lockheed already operates a missile defense system with advanced radar in Guam as part of a <a href="https://www.govconwire.com/2022/12/lockheed-to-receive-528m-mda-contract-for-aegis-guam-missile-defense-system/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">$528 million contract</a>.
It’s a criminal offense, under <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section208&num=0&edition=prelim" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">federal law</a>, for government employees to knowingly participate “personally and substantially in a particular Government matter” that has a direct and predictable economic effect on their employer’s financial employer. 
“We would never let someone come into a government job and keep a job with a law firm or a consulting firm,” Painter, who now teaches at the University of Minnesota, told me. “If you come into government, you quit your day job,” Painter said. “Otherwise, all the firm’s conflicts become yours.”
The fact that there are serious ethical concerns about foreign policy leaders in the Biden administration reveals the limitations of current government ethics rules. It also reveals the limits of those officials’ foreign-policy thinking. The U.S. has a troubling legacy in the Pacific islands region, and it <a href="https://investors.lockheedmartin.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lockheed-martins-thaad-system-successfully-demonstrates-remote/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">keeps testing new missiles</a> in the Marshall Islands and expanding its military footprint — ultimately enriching the very corporations drawn to The Asia Group’s services.
“You’re advocating for and implementing a foreign policy that generates military requirements that benefit the clients of your firm,” Jackson told me. “The conflict of interest is very in your face.”
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-military-industrial-complex-has-an-inside-man-in-the-pacific/">The Military Industrial Complex Has an Inside Man in the Pacific</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>The Middle East Continues to Fail on Climate Action</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-middle-east-continues-to-fail-on-climate-action/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-middle-east-continues-to-fail-on-climate-action</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Juan Cole / TomDispatch]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:56:06 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Business & Economy]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[Despite record heat waves and biblical floods, Middle Eastern leaders continue to do as little as possible to combat the reality of climate change.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-middle-east-continues-to-fail-on-climate-action/">The Middle East Continues to Fail on Climate Action</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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Last September witnessed what used to be a truly rare weather phenomenon: a Mediterranean hurricane, or “medicane.” Once upon a time, the Mediterranean Sea simply didn’t get hot enough to produce hurricanes more than every few hundred (yes, few hundred!) years. In this case, however, Storm Daniel assaulted Libya with a biblical-style deluge for four straight days. It was enough to overwhelm the al-Bilad and Abu Mansour dams near the city of Derna, built in the 1970s to old cool-earth specifications. The resulting flood <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/from-bad-to-worse-climate-migration-in-middle-east" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">destroyed</a> nearly 1,000 buildings, washing thousands of people out to sea, and displaced tens of thousands more.
Saliha Abu Bakr, an attorney, told a harrowing tale of how the waters kept rising in her apartment building before almost reaching the roof and quite literally washing many of its residents away. She clung to a piece of wooden furniture for three hours in the water. “I can swim,” she <a href="https://www.alghad.tv/%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%AC%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AB%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%8A/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">told a reporter</a> afterward, “but when I tried to save my family, I couldn’t do a thing.” Human-caused climate change, provoked by the way we spew <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissions-in-2023/executive-summary" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">37 billion</a> metric tons of dangerous carbon dioxide gas into our atmosphere every year, made the Libyan disaster <a href="https://www.juancole.com/2023/09/collapse-flooding-climate.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">50 times</a> more likely than it once might have been. And worse yet, for the Middle East, as well as the rest of the world, that nightmare is undoubtedly only the beginning of serial disasters to come (and come and come and come) that will undoubtedly render millions of people homeless or worse.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="more">Failing Grades</h3>
In the race to keep this planet from heating up more than 2.7° Fahrenheit (1.5° Centigrade) above the preindustrial average, the whole world is already getting abominable grades. Beyond that benchmark, scientists fear, the planet’s whole climate system could fall into chaos, severely challenging civilization itself. The <a href="https://ccpi.org/download/climate-change-performance-index-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Climate Change Performance Index</a> (CCPI), which monitors the implementation of the Paris climate accords, presented its alarming conclusions in a late March report. The CCPI crew was so disheartened by its findings — no country is even close to meeting the goals set in that treaty – that it left the top three slots in its ranking system completely empty.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The countries of the Middle East made a distinctly poor showing when it came to the greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels that are already heating the planet so radically.</blockquote></figure>
For the most part, the countries of the Middle East made a distinctly poor showing when it came to the greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels that are already heating the planet so radically. Admittedly, Morocco, with longstanding and ambitious green energy goals, came in ninth, and <a href="https://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2024.99" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Egypt</a>, which depends heavily on hydroelectric power and has some solar projects, ranked a modest 22nd. However, some Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hit rock bottom in the CCPI’s chart. That matters since you undoubtedly won’t be surprised to learn that the region <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/101515/biggest-oil-producers-middle-east.asp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">produces</a> perhaps 27% of the world’s petroleum annually and includes five of the 10 largest oil producers on the planet.
Ironically enough, the Middle East is at special risk from climate change. Scientists have <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/eastern-mediterranean-middle-east-warming-almost-twice-as-fast-as-global-average-report-finds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">found</a> that it’s experiencing twice the rate of heating as the global average and, in the near future, they warn that it will suffer, as a recent <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/07/06/climate-change-and-vulnerability-in-middle-east-pub-90089" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">study</a> from the Carnegie Institute for International Peace put it, from “soaring heat waves, declining precipitation, extended droughts, more intense sandstorms and floods, and rising sea levels.” And yet some of the countries facing the biggest threat from the climate crisis seem all too intent on making it far worse.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Little Sparta</h3>
The CCPI index, issued by Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute, and the Climate Action Network (CAN), <a href="https://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2024.99" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">ranks</a> countries in their efforts to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement according to four criteria: their emissions of greenhouse gases, their implementation of renewable energy, their consumption of fossil-fuel energy, and their government’s climate policies. The authors listed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 65th place, calling it “one of the lowest-performing countries.” The report then slammed the government of President Mohammed Bin Zayed, saying: “The UAE‘s per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are among the highest in the world, as is its per capita wealth, while its national climate targets are inadequate. The UAE continues to develop and finance new oil and gas fields domestically and abroad.” On the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, the UAE has a population of only about a million citizens (and about eight million guest workers). It is nonetheless a geopolitical energy and greenhouse gas giant of the first order.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or ADNOC, headquartered in that country’s capital and helmed by businessman Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber (who is also the country’s minister of industry and advanced technology), has some of the more <a href="https://priceofoil.org/2024/01/17/just-weeks-after-cop28-adnocs-oil-and-gas-expansion-plans-gain-momentum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">ambitious</a> plans for expanding petroleum production in the world. ADNOC is, in fact, seeking to increase its oil production from four million to five million barrels a day by 2027, while further developing its crucial al-Nouf oil field, next to which the UAE is building an artificial island to help with its expected future expansion. To be fair, the UAE is behaving little differently from the United States, which ranked only a few spots better at 57. Last October, in fact, American <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-fossil-fuels-climate-change-biden-df27160fc81f28d21fbf1fc5575b77bc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">oil production</a>, which continues to be heavily government-subsidized (as does that industry in Europe), actually hit an all-time high.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“The UAE‘s per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are among the highest in the world, as is its per capita wealth, while its national climate targets are inadequate.”</blockquote></figure>
The UAE is a major proponent of the dubious technique of carbon capture and storage, which has not yet been found to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions significantly or to do so safely and affordably. The magazine <a href="https://priceofoil.org/2024/01/17/just-weeks-after-cop28-adnocs-oil-and-gas-expansion-plans-gain-momentum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Oil Change International</a> points out that the country’s carbon capture efforts at the Emirates Steel Plant probably sequester no more than 17% of the CO2 produced there and that the stored carbon dioxide is then injected into older, non-producing oil fields to help retrieve the last drops of petroleum they hold.
The UAE, which the Pentagon adoringly refers to as “little Sparta” for its aggressive military interventions in places like Yemen and Sudan, brazenly flouts the international scientific consensus on climate action. As ADNOC’s al-Jaber had the cheek to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/03/back-into-caves-cop28-president-dismisses-phase-out-of-fossil-fuels" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">claim</a> last fall: “There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.”
Such outrageous denialism scales almost Trumpian heights in the faux grandeur of its mendacity. At the time, al-Jaber was also, ironically enough, the chairman of the yearly U.N. Conference of Parties (COP) climate summit. Last November 21st, he boldly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/03/back-into-caves-cop28-president-dismisses-phase-out-of-fossil-fuels" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">posed</a> this challenge: “Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.” (In the world he’s helping to create, of course, even the caves would sooner or later prove too hot to handle.) This year the International Energy Agency decisively <a href="https://www.juancole.com/2024/03/first-nations-levels.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">answered</a> his epic piece of trolling by reporting that the wealthier nations, particularly the European ones, actually grew their gross national products in 2023 even as they cut CO2 emissions by a stunning 4.5%. In other words, moving away from fossil fuels can make humanity more prosperous and safer from planetary catastrophe rather than turning us into so many beggars.
“Absolutely Not!”
What could be worse than the UAE’s unabashedly pro-fossil fuel energy policy? Well, Iran, heavily wedded to oil and gas, is, at 66, ranked one place lower than that country. Ironically, however, extensive American sanctions on Iran’s petroleum exports may, at long last, be <a href="https://www.eiu.com/n/iran-refocuses-on-renewable-energy-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">turning</a> that country’s ruling ayatollahs toward creating substantial wind and solar power projects.
But I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that dead last — with an emphasis on “dead” — comes that favorite of Donald (“<a href="https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2023/12/06/trump-declines-to-rule-out-abusing-power-or-seeking-retribution-if-he-returns-to-the-white-house/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">drill, drill, drill</a>“) Trump, Saudi Arabia, which, at 67, “scores very low in all four CCPI index categories: Energy Use, Climate Policy, Renewable Energy, and GHG Emissions.” Other observers have <a href="https://www.emission-index.com/countries/saudi-arabia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">noted</a> that, since 1990, the kingdom’s carbon dioxide emissions have increased by a compound yearly rate of roughly 4% and, in 2019, that relatively small country was the world’s 10th largest emitter of CO2.
Worse yet, though you wouldn’t know it from the way the leaders of both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are acting, the Arabian Peninsula (already both arid and torrid) is anything but immune to the potential disasters produced by climate change. The year 2023 was, in fact, the third hottest <a href="https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en/news/2023-global-water-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">on record</a> in Saudi Arabia. (2021 took the all-time hottest mark so far.) The weather is already unbearable there in the summer. On July 18, 2023, the temperature in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, al-Ahsa, <a href="https://www.aol.com/europe-heatwave-live-rome-shatters-044520046.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">reached</a> an almost inconceivable 122.9° F (50.5° C). If, in the future, such temperatures were to be accompanied by a humidity of 50%, some researchers are suggesting that they could prove fatal to humans. According to Professor Lewis Halsey of the University of Roehampton in England and his colleagues, that kind of heat <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/hot-hot-human-body-function-optimally-rcna92346" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">can actually raise</a> the temperature of an individual by 1.8° F. In other words, it would be as if they were running a fever and, worse yet, “people’s metabolic rates also rose by 56%, and their heart rates went up by 64%.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The Arabian Peninsula (already both arid and torrid) is anything but immune to the potential disasters produced by climate change.</blockquote></figure>
While the Arabian Peninsula is relatively dry, cities on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden can at times be humid and muggy, which means that significant increases in temperature could sooner or later render them uninhabitable. Such rising heat even threatens one of Islam’s “five pillars.” This past year the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the Hajj, took place in June, when temperatures sometimes reached 118° F (48° C) in western Saudi Arabia. More than 2,000 pilgrims fell victim to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/30/thousands-suffer-heat-stress-on-hajj-pilgrimage-as-temperatures-reach-48c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">heat stress</a>, a problem guaranteed to worsen radically as the planet heats further.
Despite the threat that climate change poses to the welfare of that country’s inhabitants, the government of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is doing less than nothing to address the growing problems. As the CCPI’s authors put it, “Saudi Arabia’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are rising steadily. Its share of renewable energy in total primary energy supply (TPES) is close to zero.” Meanwhile, at the 2022 U.N. climate summit conference held in Egypt, “Saudi Arabia played a notably unconstructive role in the negotiations. Its delegation included many fossil fuel lobbyists. It also tried to water down the language used in the COP’s umbrella decision.”
At the next meeting in Dubai last fall, COP28, the final document <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2023_L17_adv.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">called only for</a> “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.” Avoided was the far more relevant phrase “phase down” or “phase out” when it came to fossil fuels and even the far milder “transitioning away” was only included over the strenuous objections of Riyadh, whose energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231204-saudi-arabia-says-absolutely-not-to-oil-phaseout-at-cop28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">said</a> “absolutely not” to any such language. He added, “And I assure you not a single person — I’m talking about governments — believes in that.” His assertion was, of course, nonsense. In fact, some leaders, like those of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pacific-island-leader-climate-change-b7d1a524eb25cc94449158e702919512" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Pacific Island</a> nations, consider an immediate abolition of fossil fuels essential to the very survival of their countries.
Abandoning the Logic of Small Steps
Although Saudi Arabia’s leaders sometimes engage in <a href="https://tomdispatch.com/how-big-oil-is-taking-us-for-a-fossil-fuelized-ride/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">greenwashing</a>, including making periodic <a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-africa-business-middle-east-12fd748874b5e3113fa3cd0afd023cc2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">announcements</a> about future plans to develop green energy, they have done virtually nothing in that regard, despite the Kingdom’s enormous potential for solar and wind power. Ironically, the biggest Saudi green energy achievement has been abroad, thanks to the <a href="https://www.acwapower.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">ACWA Power</a> firm, a public-private joint venture in the Kingdom. The Moroccan government, the only one in the Middle East to make significant strides in combatting climate change, brought in ACWA as part of a <a href="https://helioscsp.com/noor-ouarzazate-solar-complex-in-morocco-worlds-largest-concentrated-solar-power-plant/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">consortium</a> to build its epochal Noor concentrated solar energy complex near the ancient city of Ouarzazate at the edge of the Sahara desert. It has set a goal of getting 52% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. Though critics pointed out that it missed its goal of 42% by 2020, government boosters <a href="https://lematin.ma/economie/energies-renouvelables-un-nouveau-cap-franchi-au-maroc-a-fin-2023/217889" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">responded</a> that, by the end of 2022, 37% of Morocco’s electricity already came from renewables and, just in the past year, it jumped to 40%, with a total renewables production of 4.6 gigawatts of energy.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>In contrast to the pernicious nonsense often spewed by Saudi and Emirati officials, the Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, is in no doubt about the severe challenges his poverty-ridden country faces.</blockquote></figure>
Moreover, Morocco has a <a href="https://northafricapost.com/69357-mena-morocco-in-top-five-states-generating-electricity-from-solar-power-third-developing-country-attracting-most-investments-in-green-energy.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">plethora</a> of green energy projects in the pipeline, including 20 more hydroelectric installations, 19 wind farms, and 16 solar farms. The solar plants alone are expected to generate 13.5 gigawatts within a few years, tripling the country’s current total green energy output. Two huge wind farms, one retooled with a new generation of large turbines, have already <a href="https://fr.le360.ma/economie/energies-renouvelables-les-parcs-eoliens-nassim-koudia-al-baida-et-nassim-jbel-lahdid-operationnels_J3YN6WL2KRBRBAXMOJE2FTIFDY/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">come online</a> in the first quarter of this year. The country’s expansion of green electricity production since it launched its visionary plans in 2009 has not only helped it make major strides toward decarbonization but contributed to the <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/energy/what-can-developing-countries-learn-moroccos-experience-power-sector-reforms" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">electrification</a> of its countryside, where access to power is now universal. Just in the past two and a half decades, the government has provided 2.1 million households with electricity access. Morocco has few hydrocarbons of its own and local green energy helps the state avoid an enormous drain on its budget.
In contrast to the pernicious nonsense often spewed by Saudi and Emirati officials, the Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, is in no doubt about the severe challenges his poverty-ridden country faces. He <a href="https://medias24.com/2023/12/01/cop28-le-roi-mohammed-vi-plaide-pour-un-pacte-pour-laction-face-au-defi-climatique/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">told</a> the U.N. COP28 climate conference in early December, “Just as climate change is inexorably increasing, the COPs must, from here on, emerge from the logic of ‘small steps,’ which has characterized them for too long.”
Large steps toward a Middle East (and a world) of low-carbon energy would, of course, be a big improvement. Unfortunately, on a planet they are helping to overheat in a remarkable fashion, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have largely taken steps — huge ones, in fact — toward ever more carbon dioxide emissions. Worse yet, they’re located in a part of the world where such retrograde policies are tantamount to playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-middle-east-continues-to-fail-on-climate-action/">The Middle East Continues to Fail on Climate Action</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Criminalizing the Unhoused Costs More Than Housing Them</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/criminalizing-the-unhoused-costs-more-than-housing-them/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=criminalizing-the-unhoused-costs-more-than-housing-them</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Farrah Hassen / Otherwords]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:49:56 +0000</pubDate>
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<category><![CDATA[Social Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[cost of living]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Grants Pass]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[homelessness]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[housing crisis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[unhoused]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295437</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For the U.S. to truly address this crisis, we must transform our approach and recognize that housing is a fundamental human right, not a commodity.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/criminalizing-the-unhoused-costs-more-than-housing-them/">Criminalizing the Unhoused Costs More Than Housing Them</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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As the cost of housing has exploded, so has the number of people experiencing homelessness. And unfortunately, instead of trying to house people, more <a href="https://housingnothandcuffs.org/emergent-threats-homelessness-criminalization/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">states</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-beach-commission-votes-to-allow-police-to-arrest-homeless-people-who-sleep-outside-decline-shelter/3137002/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">cities</a> are criminalizing people simply for lacking a safe place to sleep.
According to the National Homelessness Law Center, <a href="https://homelesslaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2021-HNH-State-Crim-Supplement.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">almost every state</a> restricts the conduct of people experiencing homelessness. In <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/29/new-missouri-law-makes-sleeping-on-state-land-a-crime-for-people-experiencing-homelessness/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Missouri</a>, sleeping on state land is a crime. A new law in <a href="https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/20/gov-ron-desantis-oks-new-law-to-create-homeless-camps-in-florida/73039045007/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Florida</a> bans people from sleeping on public property — and requires local governments without bed space for unhoused people to set up camps far away from public services.
Laura Gutowski, from Grants Pass, Oregon, lives in a tent near the home where she resided for 25 years. Soon after her husband unexpectedly passed away, she became unhoused. “It kind of all piled on at the same time,” she told <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2024/04/04/grants-pass-oregon-homeless-parks-josephine-county-public-spaces-camping-shelter/?outputType=amp" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Oregon Public Broadcasting</a>. “Flipped my world upside down.”
Grants Pass, like most cities today, lacks enough shelter beds to accommodate its unhoused population. It’s now the subject of a Supreme Court case: <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/city-of-grants-pass-oregon-v-johnson/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Grants Pass v. Johnson</a>, which started when Grants Pass began ticketing people for sleeping in public even when there weren’t enough shelter beds.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote><a href="https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/2023-06/CASPEH_Executive_Summary_62023.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Researchers</a> have found that homelessness is primarily linked to unaffordable housing, compounded by the lack of adequate health care and social safety net support.</blockquote></figure>
People can be fined hundreds of dollars and face criminal charges “simply for existing without access to shelter,” <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2024/01/homeless-camp-scotus/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">said</a> Ed Johnson, an attorney for the unhoused residents of Grants Pass. The Supreme Court’s decision will have far-reaching ramifications as communities grapple with rising homelessness and housing costs.
If the Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, local governments will get more authority to clear homeless encampments and penalize those who sleep on streets, only exacerbating the problem.
Alternatively, the Court could prohibit these “camping” bans and remove criminalization as an option. Back in 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals took that route in Martin v. City of Boise, which <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/04/01/15-35845.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">held</a> that it is “cruel and unusual punishment” to criminalize homelessness when people have no other place to go.
According to the <a href="https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/hud_no_23_278" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">federal government</a>, last year 653,100 people experienced homelessness on a single night in America — a 12 percent increase from 2022. Nearly half of these people sleep outside.
<a href="https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/2023-06/CASPEH_Executive_Summary_62023.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Researchers</a> have found that homelessness is primarily linked to unaffordable housing, compounded by the lack of adequate health care and social safety net support. With half of all renter households <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2024.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">now spending more than 30 percent of their income</a> on housing, more people today are one emergency away from being vulnerable to homelessness.
Fining, arresting, and jailing people for a lack of housing is never the solution — and compounds existing housing inequities. Neither is displacing people without providing permanent alternative housing. Unpayable fines perpetuate the cycle of poverty, and a criminal record makes it even more difficult to secure employment and decent housing.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Criminalizing people for involuntarily living unhoused and in poverty is inherently cruel.</blockquote></figure>
Moreover, the costs of criminalizing people for living unhoused are higher than housing them, both morally and <a href="https://homelessvoice.org/the-cost-to-criminalize-homelessness/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">financially</a>. Instead of kicking them while they’re down, housing support combined with other voluntary services help to lift them back up.
Using a “<a href="https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Housing-First-Research.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Housing First</a>” approach, Houston, Texas <a href="https://www.governing.com/housing/how-houston-cut-its-homeless-population-by-nearly-two-thirds" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">reduced homelessness</a> by nearly two-thirds over a decade. Chattanooga, Tennessee <a href="https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUD_No_23_278_2.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">reduced homelessness by half</a> in 2022-2023 by connecting more people to housing, increasing homelessness prevention efforts, and creating more affordable housing units.
Other helpful measures include expanding housing subsidies, rent control, a <a href="https://otherwords.org/rents-are-unaffordable-nationwide-a-renters-tax-credit-would-help/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">renter’s tax credit</a>, and ensuring access to health care services.
The underlying issue is how we treat those who struggle to meet basic needs in the wealthiest nation in the world. Criminalizing people for involuntarily living unhoused and in poverty is inherently cruel.
For the U.S. to truly address this crisis, we must transform our approach and recognize that <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/human-right-adequate-housing#:~:text=The%20right%20to%20adequate%20housing%20in%20human%20rights%20law,Economic%2C%20Social%20and%20Cultural%20Rights." rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">housing is a fundamental human right</a>, not a commodity. All people deserve to live in a home in peace, security, and dignity.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/criminalizing-the-unhoused-costs-more-than-housing-them/">Criminalizing the Unhoused Costs More Than Housing Them</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Why Aren’t We Banning ‘Forever Chemicals’?</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-arent-we-banning-forever-chemicals/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-arent-we-banning-forever-chemicals</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Julian Mathews]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 19:51:20 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Column]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Health & Wellness]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[TD Column]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[TD Original]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[epa]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[forever chemicals]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[PFAS]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295411</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Cancer-causing PFAS are in 45% of our tap water. New government regulations won't fix that.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-arent-we-banning-forever-chemicals/">Why Aren’t We Banning ‘Forever Chemicals’?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
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Last week, the U.S. federal government rolled out its first-ever legally binding national drinking water standards for six “forever” chemicals present in the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans. The new regulations, announced on April 10, require local drinking water systems to slash these chemicals down to near-zero levels. 
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” due to their indestructible nature and tendency to accumulate in the body and environment, are ubiquitous. They are notoriously present in an array of everyday consumer products, from makeup and rain jackets to nonstick pans and menstrual products. They’re also in the tap water of <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/tap-water-study-detects-pfas-forever-chemicals-across-us" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">nearly half</a> of all Americans.
The new measure is designed to reduce public exposure to PFAS, which the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Environmental Protection Agency</a> has linked to a range of health problems, including decreased fertility, developmental delays in children and a higher risk of certain cancers. EPA head Michael Regan stated that the new standard “will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people.” Additionally, the EPA <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-first-ever-national-drinking-water-standard" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">expects</a> these changes to “prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>While the new PFAS regulations represent significant progress, they merely scratch the surface of what’s needed to address the crisis fully.</blockquote></figure>
Sarah Doll, national director of Safer States, an alliance of environmental health organizations dedicated to protecting people from toxic chemicals, corroborates this optimism. “It’s a big deal,” she told me. “The last time that any administration regulated a chemical under the Safe Drinking Water Act was in 1996.” She went on to explain how the leap forward reflects a growing acknowledgment of the insidious threat posed by these chemicals.
While the new PFAS regulations represent significant progress, they merely scratch the surface of what’s needed to address the crisis fully. These measures tackle PFAS contamination after it occurs, without addressing the ongoing production of these chemicals. Continuing to produce PFAS means the problem will persist, and cleaning contaminated water will remain a partial fix at best. Experts and scientific research advocate for a more comprehensive approach: a national ban on PFAS production.

Related



<a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-moms-vs-the-multinational/" class="!border-0">
The Moms Vs. The Multinational </a>


<a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-moms-vs-the-multinational/"><img decoding="async" width="405" height="270" src="https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-405x270.jpg" class="attachment-16:9-medium size-16:9-medium wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-405x270.jpg 405w, https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-270x180.jpg 270w, https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-607x405.jpg 607w, https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DARK-WATERS023-1-877x585.jpg 877w" sizes="(max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px" /></a>




At the moment, the U.S. federal government has neither the capability nor the willingness to pass such comprehensive legislation. This inaction reflects a weak federal structure and strong industry lobbies that prevent public health and environmental safety prioritization, reducing the government’s role to managing crises rather than preventing them.
In contrast, on Thursday, April 4, France’s National Assembly <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/04/05/french-lawmakers-vote-to-ban-forever-chemicals-except-in-cooking-utensils_6667451_114.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">passed a near-total ban</a> on PFAS production. Set to take effect in 2026, the legislation does include some exceptions due to industry lobbying. The French draft law specifically makes an exception for kitchen utensils thanks to effective lobbying by Groupe SEB, the world leader in nonstick frying pans, which convinced French Minister for Industry Roland Lescure that the law would “kill off French industry.” This move by France also hints at what increasingly looks like an <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/-/echa-publishes-pfas-restriction-proposal" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">EU-wide ban</a> on the horizon.
Doll commented on the challenges of implementing such a ban in the U.S., stating that “the [American] federal system isn’t designed to effectively do that,” pointing to the intricate dance of politics and science that hampers decisive action. “The federal government is better positioned to think about downstream cleanup… less well positioned on the upstream side to mirror what France did.”
She went on to further explain how the current federal landscape, influenced by politics and industry interests, creates significant obstacles. The approach of slowly implementing incremental regulations, driven by lengthy litigation and legislative caution, does not meet the need for immediate action. 
Another drawback of the new federal PFAS regulation is its financial impact on taxpayers. The EPA estimates that compliance will cost water utilities about $1.5 billion annually while a <a href="https://www.awwa.org/AWWA-Articles/awwa-statement-on-proposed-pfas-drinking-water-standards" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">study</a> commissioned by the American Water Works Association suggests these costs could soar to over $3.8 billion each year.
Some U.S. states have pursued legal action against chemical manufacturers to hold them accountable for contaminating drinking water supplies and to help subsidize the cleanup costs. For instance, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-states-withdraw-objections-3ms-103-billion-pfas-settlement-2023-08-29/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">3M</a> is expected to pay out $10.3 billion to settle multiple lawsuits related to water system contaminations. However, these settlement amounts are small compared to the extensive costs of cleaning up the contamination. Industry executives argue that these expenses will eventually be passed on to the public through higher water rates, further burdening taxpayers.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>More significant progress in addressing PFAS contamination in the U.S. is taking place in Maine and Minnesota, two states that have passed laws similar to those in France, aiming to <a href="https://www.saferstates.org/wp-content/uploads/PFAS-Upstream-State-Action.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">eliminate all uses</a> of PFAS by 2030 and 2032, respectively.</blockquote></figure>
Additionally, the regulation mandates that public water systems complete their initial monitoring for PFAS within three years and publicly disclose the detected levels. If these levels surpass safety standards, the systems have five years to implement strategies to reduce PFAS in their drinking water. This means that this limited strategy won’t come into effect until at least 2029.
More significant progress in addressing PFAS contamination in the U.S. is taking place in Maine and Minnesota, two states that have passed laws similar to those in France, aiming to <a href="https://www.saferstates.org/wp-content/uploads/PFAS-Upstream-State-Action.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">eliminate all uses</a> of PFAS by 2030 and 2032, respectively. Doll highlighted to me the impact of these state-level policies on the corporate landscape. She pointed to the example of Walmart, which will need to modify its supply chain to adhere to new PFAS restrictions in states like New York, California, Minnesota and Maine. This required adaptation may catalyze widespread changes throughout the retail and manufacturing sectors.
Another positive aspect of the state-level PFAS restrictions in Maine and Minnesota is their origin in a unified, bipartisan effort to enact comprehensive legislation. “Everybody wants clean water. Everybody wants to not be drinking carcinogens,” Doll stated, emphasizing the widespread consensus on the issue. Recognizing clean water and a toxin-free environment as fundamental rights could motivate both the public and policymakers, promoting initiatives that not only purify our water but also halt PFAS production.
Doll also highlighted a crucial element of state policy: the requirement for disclosure. She explained that a major issue is that both the public and regulators often don’t know what substances are present and where they are used. Addressing these information gaps is essential for understanding and managing PFAS risks more effectively. Increased awareness, partly spurred by federal regulation, is helping to build momentum.
But ultimately, says Doll, this is a production-side crisis. “Let’s stop creating the problem,” she says. “Let’s turn off the tap.”
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-arent-we-banning-forever-chemicals/">Why Aren’t We Banning ‘Forever Chemicals’?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Ted Cruz’s Podcast May Be ‘Brazenly’ Violating Campaign Finance Laws</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ted-cruzs-podcast-may-be-brazenly-violating-campaign-finance-laws/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ted-cruzs-podcast-may-be-brazenly-violating-campaign-finance-laws</link>
<comments>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ted-cruzs-podcast-may-be-brazenly-violating-campaign-finance-laws/#respond</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Justin Miller / Texas Observer]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:13:06 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Courts & Law]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[campaign finance]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[fec]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[iHeartMedia]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[super pac]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[ted cruz]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295381</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Texas senator’s iHeartMedia deal, which sent over $600,000 to an aligned super PAC, may be illegal—or it exploits a new loophole.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ted-cruzs-podcast-may-be-brazenly-violating-campaign-finance-laws/">Ted Cruz’s Podcast May Be ‘Brazenly’ Violating Campaign Finance Laws</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet. Sign up for their <a href="https://mailchi.mp/texasobserver/newsletter-signup?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=navbar&utm_campaign=tag_manager" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">weekly newsletter</a>, or follow them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/texasobserver/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/texasobserver" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Twitter.</a>
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is facing yet another <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/Cruz%20iHeartMedia%20Truth%20PAC%20Soft%20Money%20Complaint%20%28Final%29.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">complaint</a> to the Federal Elections Commission that claims he has “brazenly” violated federal campaign finance laws through his podcast deal with one of the nation’s largest media conglomerates. 
Cruz struck a deal in 2022 with San Antonio-based radio giant iHeartMedia to pay for the production, marketing, and distribution of his “Verdict” podcast, where he pontificates about various right-wing grievances several times a week. The sweetheart arrangement has raised myriad ethics concerns ever since. 
The complaint, filed Tuesday, comes amid <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/ted-cruz-podcast-iheartmedia-19373225.php" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">revelations</a> that iHeartMedia has sent over $630,000 to a super PAC backing Cruz’s <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/ted-cruz-roland-gutierrez-senate/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">2024 reelection campaign</a> over the past year. That’s about a third of the PAC’s total cash haul.
The company has <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/04/05/ad-money-from-sen-ted-cruz-podcast-flows-to-super-pac-focused-on-his-reelection/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">told reporters</a> that these payments were for “digital revenue” from the podcast’s advertising sales, while referring further questions to Cruz and the super PAC. Neither the senator, nor his affiliated super PAC, Truth & Courage PAC, have provided any further details. 
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The complaint, filed Tuesday, comes amid <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/ted-cruz-podcast-iheartmedia-19373225.php" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">revelations</a> that iHeartMedia has sent over $630,000 to a super PAC backing Cruz’s <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/ted-cruz-roland-gutierrez-senate/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">2024 reelection campaign</a> over the past year.</blockquote></figure>
But Campaign Legal Center and End Citizens United allege in their complaint that Cruz “requested or directed” iHeartMedia to pay the PAC in violation of federal election laws that prohibit candidates from raising, directing, or spending “soft money” that exceeds contribution limits and from coordinating directly with outside super PACs. 
Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based campaign finance watchdog, has persistently bird-dogged Cruz over a series of potential ethics, campaign finance, and election law violations. End Citizens United is a Democratic PAC that supports campaign finance reform and aligned candidates; the group has <a href="https://endcitizensunited.org/candidates/colin-allred/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">endorsed</a> Cruz’s Democratic opponent Colin Allred. 
“The terms of iHeartMedia’s podcast agreement with Cruz are not public, and the company’s recent comments do not explain why it is sending money derived from ad sales associated with Cruz’s podcast to a super PAC supporting Cruz’s 2024 reelection campaign,” the <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/Cruz%20iHeartMedia%20Truth%20PAC%20Soft%20Money%20Complaint%20%28Final%29.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">complaint</a> states.  “The most reasonable and logical inference to be drawn from these circumstances, however, is that Cruz requested or directed, and iHeartMedia agreed, that iHeartMedia would transmit these funds to TCP, which then would use the funds to support Cruz’s candidacy.”
The Campaign Legal Center previously prompted the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate whether Cruz violated Senate ethics rules that prohibit taking gifts from a registered lobbyist or accepting honoraria for event appearances or speeches. That investigation was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/03/20/super-pac-backing-ted-cruz-received-215000-from-iheartmedia-fueling-ethics-concerns-after-podcast-deal/?sh=5c0c0a0860ac" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">ultimately closed</a> after both Cruz and iHeartMedia said the senator personally makes no money through the deal and volunteers his time to host episodes several times a week.
Cruz and Truth & Courage PAC have ducked questions about who directed iHeartMedia to send money to the super PAC. Pressed by a reporter in a <a href="https://abc13.com/ted-cruz-podcast-iheartmedia-fundraising-pac-money/14611744/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">recent TV news interview</a>, Cruz attacked the media for “parroting” left-wing Democratic attacks and pointed to the prior Senate Ethics Committee’s investigation that found no wrongdoing. That probe, however, did not involve the company’s payments to the Cruz-aligned super PAC.
Cruz claims he does the podcast as a service to the public by pulling back the curtain on corruption in Washington. “Because the media doesn’t report on news, and I do the podcast to talk to the people of Texas about the issues that matter,” Cruz said. 
The Texas senator—a key player in conservatives’ pursuit of unlimited, unregulated money in federal politics—is no naif on these matters and, in fact, has earned a reputation as a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-ted-cruz-became-a-blatantly-cynical-election-law-troll" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">“blatantly cynical” FEC troll</a> who methodically seeks to exploit loopholes in the gray areas of federal election law. In his 2018 Senate campaign, he successfully challenged federal regulations that restrict how much of candidates’ personal loans to their campaigns can be repaid by donors. He has also been accused of blatantly testing (or outright violating) laws that prohibit super PAC coordination and using campaign funds for personal use or gain. In 2021, he was accused of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/02/22/now-ted-cruz-may-be-buying-his-own-books-through-a-mystery-company/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">executing an illegal scheme</a> to funnel campaign cash through a shadow entity to buy copies of his latest book.
Cruz may be likely trying to game the system again with his podcast deal. As the Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ted-cruz-is-turning-an-allied-super-pac-into-a-media-company" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">reported</a>, some campaign finance experts say Cruz is technically not “raising” money for the super PAC but instead “earning” money for it—and PACs aren’t prohibited by law from making outside revenue. What’s unique about the iHeart podcast arrangement, the report says, is that it “raises a prospect entirely unique to Cruz: that a super PAC can essentially moonlight as a media company.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“The terms of iHeartMedia’s podcast agreement with Cruz are not public, and the company’s recent comments do not explain why it is sending money derived from ad sales associated with Cruz’s podcast to a super PAC supporting Cruz’s 2024 reelection campaign,”</blockquote></figure>
“What seems to be going on here is he’s treating this political group not through the standard fundraising that it would do, but instead, basically treating it as business, and that it’s making money off of his podcast, as if it were just making money off of selling T-shirts,” one campaign finance watchdog <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ted-cruz-is-turning-an-allied-super-pac-into-a-media-company" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">told the Daily Beast</a>.
Whether Cruz violated federal election laws depends largely on details that remain unknown—including who the actual parties in the podcast contract are and what role Cruz played in directing payment to the PAC.
The complaint asks the FEC to investigate specifics of the podcast deal and PAC payments. The federal agency, however, has long been mired in political <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/update/why-fec-ineffective" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">dysfunction and discord</a> that effectively make it incapable of policing even the most basic tenets of election law. 
 “The odds of the FEC sanctioning him for this are astronomically low,” Brett Kappel, a campaign finance attorney at a Washington law firm, told the Daily Beast, noting that one of the Republican commissioners appointed by Trump was previously Cruz’s chief counsel in the Senate. 
Cruz’s podcast deal has also raised concerns of undue influence that go beyond the super PAC payments: iHeartMedia, which owns hundreds of radio stations across the country, spends millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers each year on a range of issues including policies under the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee—on which Cruz serves as the ranking Republican member.  Cruz has also received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from lobbyists who represent iHeartMedia, the Daily Beast found.
Two months after iHeartMedia began sending payments to the Truth & Courage PAC last year, Cruz announced he was sponsoring a bill that would prohibit automakers from removing AM radio from certain cars. iHeartRadio owns over 250 AM radio stations.
While trying to pass his bill on the Senate floor last year, Cruz praised AM radio as an “oasis for conservative speech,” citing influential talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin. Their dominance of those airwaves helped give rise to Cruz’s career—first as a politician, now as a podcaster.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/ted-cruzs-podcast-may-be-brazenly-violating-campaign-finance-laws/">Ted Cruz’s Podcast May Be ‘Brazenly’ Violating Campaign Finance Laws</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Finally Get Their Day in Court</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/abu-ghraib-torture-victims-finally-get-their-day-in-court/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=abu-ghraib-torture-victims-finally-get-their-day-in-court</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:12:39 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Courts & Law]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wounds of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[abu ghraib]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[CACI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[george w bush]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[iraq war]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[torture]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295386</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Two decades after being brutally tortured, three Iraqis have brought a lawsuit against the U.S. military contractors responsible.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/abu-ghraib-torture-victims-finally-get-their-day-in-court/">Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Finally Get Their Day in Court</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Two decades after they were tortured by U.S. military contractors at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, three Iraqi victims are finally getting their day in court Monday as a federal court in Virginia takes up a case they brought during the George W. Bush administration.
The case being heard in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/AlShimari" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Al Shimari v. CACI</a>, was first filed in 2008 under the Alien Tort Statute—which allows non-U.S. citizens to sue for human rights abuses committed abroad—by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of three Iraqis. The men suffered torture directed and perpetrated by employees of CACI, a Virginia-based professional services and information technology firm hired in 2003 by the Bush administration as translators and interrogators in Iraq during the illegal U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
Plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Asa’ad Zuba’e, and Salah Al-Ejaili accuse CACI of conspiring to commit war crimes including torture at Abu Ghraib, where the men suffered broken bones, electric shocks, sexual abuse, extreme temperatures, and death threats at the hands of their U.S. interrogators.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Dozens of Abu Ghraib detainees <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1868355/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">died</a> in U.S. custody, some of them as a result of being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/27/AR2006022701320.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">tortured to death</a>.</blockquote></figure>
“This lawsuit is a critical step towards justice for these three men who will finally have their day in court. But they are the lucky few,” Sarah Sanbar, an Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abu-ghraib-day-in-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">wrote</a> on Monday. “For the hundreds of other survivors still suffering from past abuses, their chances of justice remain slim.”
“The U.S. government should do the right thing: Take responsibility for their abuses, offer an apology, and open an avenue to redress that has been denied them for too many years,” Sanbar added.
U.S. military investigators found that employees of CACI and Titan Corporation (now L3 Technologies) tortured Iraqi prisoners and encouraged U.S. troops to do likewise. Dozens of Abu Ghraib detainees <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1868355/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">died</a> in U.S. custody, some of them as a result of being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/27/AR2006022701320.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">tortured to death</a>. Abu Ghraib prisoners endured torture ranging from rape and being attacked with dogs to being forced to eat pork and renounce Islam.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Meanwhile, the US government STILL hasn't provided compensation or other redress to people tortured by US troops in Iraq. These three men are the lucky few. Hundreds of others are still in need of justice.<a href="https://t.co/qYNRwUnfMq" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">https://t.co/qYNRwUnfMq</a> <a href="https://t.co/ontCGXm5BS" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">https://t.co/ontCGXm5BS</a>— Sarah Sanbar (@SarahSanbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahSanbar/status/1779906437117809021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>
A May 2004 <a href="https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/taguba.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">report</a> by Maj. Gen. Anthony Taguba concluded that the majority of Abu Ghraib prisoners—the Red Cross <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/world/the-reach-of-war-abu-ghraib-scant-evidence-cited-in-long-detention-of-iraqis.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">said</a> 70-90%— were innocent. In addition to thousands of men and boys, some women and girls were also jailed there as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/female-prisoners-now-bargaining-chips/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">bargaining chips</a> meant to induce wanted insurgents to surrender. Some of them <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/20/iraq.gender" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">said</a> they were raped or sexually abused by their American captors; lesser-known Abu Ghraib photos show women being <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-fg-photos13-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">forced</a> to expose their private parts. Some female detainees were <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">reportedly murdered</a> by their own relatives in so-called “honor killings” after their release.
Eleven low-ranking U.S. soldiers were convicted and jailed for their roles in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the prison’s commanding officer, was demoted. No other high-ranking military officer faced accountability for the abuse. Senior Bush administration officials—who had <a href="https://www.salon.com/2009/05/18/torture_25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">authorized</a> many of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used at prisons including Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay—<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/06/what-did-rumsfeld-know/227576/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">lied</a> about their knowledge of the torture. None of them were ever held accountable.
Bush’s successor, former President Barack Obama, <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Barack_on_torture.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">promised</a> to investigate—and if warranted, to prosecute—the Bush-era officials responsible for the torture that had become synonymous with the War on Terror. Instead, the Obama administration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/31/obama-justice-department-immunity-bush-cia-torturer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">protected</a> them from prosecution.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“In many ways, this case may be seen as setting a precedent for holding contractors accountable for human rights violations should they happen in other contexts, too.”</blockquote></figure>
In 2013, L3 Technologies <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/1/9/iraqis-awarded-5m-over-abu-ghraib-abuse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">agreed to pay</a> $5.28 million to 71 former Abu Ghraib detainees who were subjected to sexual assault and humiliation, rape threats, electrical shocks, mock executions, brutal beatings, and other abuse.
The following year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling prohibiting Abu Ghraib torture victims from suing U.S. companies implicated in their abuse. But the court later reversed itself, finding the case had sufficient ties to the United States to be heard in an American court. The suit was later dismissed under the political question doctrine, which prevents courts from ruling on issues determined to be essentially political.
However, in 2016, a 4th Circuit panel <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/10/21/appeals-court-reinstates-torture-case-against-infamous-military-contractor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">ruled</a> that “the political question doctrine does not shield from judicial review intentional acts by a government contractor that were unlawful at the time they were committed,” allowing the Iraqis’ case to proceed.
“This is a historic trial that we hope will deliver some measure of justice and healing for what President Bush rightly deemed disgraceful conduct that dishonored the United States and its values,” CCR senior attorney Katherine Gallagher <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/apr/14/abu-ghraib-iraq-torture-abuse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">told</a> The Guardian on Monday.
“In many ways, this case may be seen as setting a precedent for holding contractors accountable for human rights violations should they happen in other contexts, too,” she added.
CACI—which denies any wrongdoing—has tried to get the case dismissed 20 times. The company still <a href="https://www.caci.com/contracts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">lands</a> millions of dollars worth of U.S. government contracts. In February, Fortune <a href="https://investor.caci.com/news/news-details/2024/CACI-Named-a-Fortune-Worlds-Most-Admired-Company-for-Seventh-Consecutive-Year/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">included</a> the firm on its “World’s Most Admired Companies” list for the seventh straight year.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/abu-ghraib-torture-victims-finally-get-their-day-in-court/">Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Finally Get Their Day in Court</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>The Pentagon Is Dangerously Edging Toward the Dark Side of AI</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-pentagon-is-dangerously-edging-toward-the-dark-side-of-ai/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-pentagon-is-dangerously-edging-toward-the-dark-side-of-ai</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Janet Abou-Elias, Lillian Mauldin, William Hartung / Responsible Statecraft]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:07:50 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wounds of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[drones]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[idf]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Lavender AI]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[pentagon]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295374</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As DOD integrates artificial intelligence into military operations, concerns rise over ethics, transparency, and unintended consequences.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-pentagon-is-dangerously-edging-toward-the-dark-side-of-ai/">The Pentagon Is Dangerously Edging Toward the Dark Side of AI</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Rhetoric from the Pentagon and the arms industry suggests that integrating artificial intelligence, or AI, into U.S. weapons, communications, and surveillance systems will improve efficiency, innovation, and national security.
The Pentagon is beginning to back its rhetoric on emerging technology with resources. The department’s Office of Strategic Capital now has the <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/defense-tech/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">authority</a> to grant executive loans and loan guarantees to invest in firms researching and developing 14 “critical technologies,” including hypersonics, quantum computing, microelectronics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Advanced Defense Capabilities Pilot, which contains a mandate to establish public-private partnerships with the goal of “leverag[ing] private equity capital to accelerate domestic defense scaling, production, and manufacturing.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>This shift is portrayed as a positive development, when in fact it could easily enable deadly escalations by accident or design.</blockquote></figure>
Proponents argue that the rapid development and deployment of autonomous systems, pilotless vehicles, and hypersonic weapons will shorten the time between recognizing a potential threat and destroying it — a process analysts and military leaders often refer to as shortening the “kill chain.” This shift is portrayed as a positive development, when in fact it could easily enable deadly escalations by accident or design.
A case in point is Israel’s use of targeting systems incorporating AI to generate targets for military strikes in its brutal seige on Gaza. A recent <a href="https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">investigation</a> revealed the use of “Lavender,” an AI-based program developed by the Israeli army designed to identify all suspected operatives in the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as potential bombing targets. Rather than using this capability to focus on discrete targets and spare civilians, the Israeli Defense Forces are using Lavender to multiply the number of targets to attack in a given time frame, increasing the pace of attack and the number of casualties, which now stand at over 33,000 deaths and tens of thousands injured.

Related



<a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/report-israel-using-ai-to-write-kill-lists-in-gaza/" class="!border-0">
Report: Israel Using AI to Write Kill Lists in Gaza </a>


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The investigation revealed that the Israeli army preferred to only use unguided missiles, commonly known as “dumb” bombs (in contrast to “smart” precision bombs) to target alleged junior militants marked by Lavender. These bombs can indiscriminately destroy entire buildings and cause significant casualties.
“You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people — it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs],” said C., one of the intelligence officers speaking to +972 Magazine, which broke the story on Lavender.
The Lavender machine is not the first time the Israeli military has used AI. “The Gospel,” another system largely built on AI, is said to generate targets at a fast pace. As noted by +972 Magazine, “A fundamental difference between the two systems is in the definition of the target: whereas The Gospel marks buildings and structures that the army claims militants operate from, Lavender marks people — and puts them on a kill list.” Far from enabling more precise strikes that reduce civilian harm, the AI-targeted attacks increased impunity in the bombing of Gaza. As a member of the Israeli military posted to Gaza <a href="https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">put it</a>, “I don’t know how many people I killed as collateral damage … the focus was on creating as many targets as quickly as possible.”
The U.S. Congress has demonstrated its commitment to spurring on “collaborative defense projects between the United States and Israel in emerging technologies” through bills such as the United States-Israel <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1777" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Future of Warfare Act</a>, which is just one avenue through which the United States continues to fund and support Israeli military operations. In February, the Senate approved an additional $14.1 billion for Israeli military operations via a <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/murray-releases-text-of-bipartisan-national-security-supplemental" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">supplemental funding package</a>, but the fate of that aid package <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/08/mike-johnson-speaker-congress-ukraine-marjorie-taylor-greene/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">awaits</a> action by the House.
But some members of Congress have pushed back against the risks of emerging technologies by introducing legislation to establish governance and regulations of AI. The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7532" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Federal AI Governance and Transparency Act</a>, for example, aims to ensure that “the design, development, acquisition, use, management, and oversight of artificial intelligence in the Federal Government… [is] consistent with the Constitution and any other applicable law and policy, including those addressing freedom of speech, privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and an open and transparent Government.”
Accidents in the use of AI systems have their own potentially dire consequences, as pointed out by Michael Klare in a <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/sites/default/files/files/Reports/ACA_Report_EmergingTech_digital.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">report</a> for the Arms Control Association: “many analysts have cautioned against proceeding with such haste until more is known about the inadvertent and hazardous consequences of doing so. Analysts worry, for example, that AI-enabled systems may fail in unpredictable ways, causing unintended human slaughter or uncontrolled escalation.”
The Pentagon has given lip service to the potential dangers posed by widespread weaponization of AI, but its calls for responsible use of these systems ring hollow in the face of its public commitments to deploy advanced technology as quickly as possible. Last August, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/Article/3507156/deputy-secretary-of-defense-kathleen-hicks-keynote-address-the-urgency-to-innov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">unveiled</a> her department’s “Replicator Initiative” in front of an audience of arms-producing companies, pledging to deploy large numbers of new systems by late 2025, possibly including “swarms of drones” designed to overwhelm Chinese defenses in a potential U.S-China conflict.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“Analysts worry, for example, that AI-enabled systems may fail in unpredictable ways, causing unintended human slaughter or uncontrolled escalation.”</blockquote></figure>
Meanwhile, venture capital firms like Andreesen-Horowitz and the Founders Fund are <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/venture-capital-military-industrial-complex/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">pouring</a> billions of dollars into emerging military tech startups, hoping to cash in when some of them become major Pentagon contractors. In addition, these firms have been rushing to increase their lobbying clout by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/us/politics/pentagon-venture-capitalists.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">hiring</a> dozens of ex-military officers as advisers and advocates for higher Pentagon spending on AI-driven systems.
The promoters of these new battlefield technologies are marketing them with evangelical fervor, suggesting that not only are they central to being able to “beat” China in a conflict, but that they are the key to restoring U.S. global military dominance. At a time when cooperation between Washington and Beijing is essential for addressing urgent threats like climate change, pandemics, and global poverty, cheerleading for a new high-tech arms race with China is both dangerous and counterproductive.
So what is to be done? First, there needs to be greater transparency about new weapons systems in development, how they might be used, and whether the technology is being shared with other nations. Also, the revolving door between the military, the Pentagon, and the emerging tech sector needs to be carefully regulated, including prohibitions on direct lobbying of former colleagues still in government.
In addition, Washington should consider the <a href="https://www.icrac.net/the-scientists-call/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">calls</a> of scientists and advocates for a ban on robotic weapons and in the meantime, increase transparency, regulation, and oversight of these technologies. And all this needs to be coupled with a rethinking of U.S. global strategy that reduces reliance on military intervention and prioritizes diplomacy in U.S. interactions with governments, organizations, and individuals.
Developing a new generation of military technology will not solve our world’s most pressing problems, and there is a strong chance that it will make them worse. The time to push back against the illusions promoted by the people who will profit from taking AI to war is now.
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<title>The O.J. Simpson Trial Forced Us to Confront Domestic Violence</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-o-j-simpson-trial-forced-us-to-confront-domestic-violence/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-o-j-simpson-trial-forced-us-to-confront-domestic-violence</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nadra Nittle, Candice Norwood / The 19th]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:16:22 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Courts & Law]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Women]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[domestic violence]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nicole Brown Simpson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[o.j. simpson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ron Goldman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[violence against women act]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[His legacy will forever be linked to the trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, and the ways racial dynamics complicated it.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-o-j-simpson-trial-forced-us-to-confront-domestic-violence/">The O.J. Simpson Trial Forced Us to Confront Domestic Violence</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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The killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman led to one of the country’s most watched legal cases: The football superstar O.J. Simpson stood accused of killing his ex-wife and Goldman in a trial that sparked widespread debate about the power of celebrity, the inadequacies of the criminal justice system and the significance of his race.
Following news of O.J. Simpson’s death on Wednesday from cancer complications, experts revisited how the killings and subsequent trial reshaped discussions of domestic violence — and the ways racial dynamics complicated them. 
Some said the country saw a major shift on a subject that had historically been framed as a private matter.
“When those murders happened, it really forced folks to take a look at domestic violence, what it really means to families, how dangerous it is,” said Charmine Davis, director of family wellness at the <a href="https://jenesse.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Jenesse Center</a>, a domestic violence prevention and intervention nonprofit in Los Angeles. “It changed the way bills are passed and how politicians, police and the whole system looked at domestic violence.”
Others said the case primarily amplified a harmful reality that continues today in entertainment and beyond.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The legacy of this case — however inconsistent it may be — advanced national conversations that were rarely visible at such widespread levels.</blockquote></figure>
“I don’t think that any inroads have been made in terms of the criminal legal system, because I don’t think it’s possible,” said Myriam Gurba, author of the book “Creep: Accusations and Confessions,” which includes essays about gendered violence. “I know that the criminal legal system does not exist to manufacture justice for battered women. I believe that the purpose of a system is what it does.”
The legacy of this case — however inconsistent it may be — advanced national conversations that were rarely visible at such widespread levels.  
Just months after the June 12, 1994, murders of Brown Simpson and Goldman, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The law stands out as the first comprehensive federal legislation designed to stop battery, sexual assault and other forms of violence targeting women. For years, advocates had unsuccessfully pushed to get the law enacted. The awareness Brown Simpson’s murder <a href="https://time.com/2864428/kardashian-oj-simpson-domestic-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">raised about</a> intimate partner violence helped to get VAWA much-needed backing from lawmakers, supporters of the legislation said.
More broadly, advocates <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/13/us/nicole-simpson-death-lifting-domestic-violence-forefront-national-issue.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">reported at the time</a> that the number of donations to battered women’s shelters and other women’s organizations rose nationwide. The number of calls to shelters also increased, indicating that more women were comfortable coming forward about their abuse.
After her murder, the public learned the extent of the abuse Brown Simpson endured. She stored items in a safe deposit box at a bank: It included three photos of herself with a bruised, swollen face, apology letters from Simpson admitting the abuse, a journal that tracked Simpson’s stalking, and newspaper clips from a night in 1989 when she was hospitalized and the police were called. It appeared to be a trail of evidence laid out in case she was killed. Prosecutors discovered the box six months after Brown Simpson’s murder.
Angela Hattery, professor of women and gender studies at the University of Delaware and co-director of its Center for the Study & Prevention of Gender-Based Violence, said that the Simpson trial was a missed opportunity. While the nation debated Simpson’s guilt or innocence, it overlooked the signs of intimate partner violence that his wife had reported before her murder.
“So when we think about the warning signs, especially for progressing to lethal violence, the absolute top early warning sign is strangulation,” Hattery said, referring to reports that Brown Simpson had a <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/03/21/flashback-the-shocking-nicole-brown-simpson-911-tapes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">handprint on her neck</a> after once calling police to protect her from her ex-husband. “Many domestic violence homicides are preceded by strangulation.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Just months after the June 12, 1994, murders of Brown Simpson and Goldman, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).</blockquote></figure>
Brown Simpson and her family members also indicated that her ex-husband <a href="http://simpson.walraven.org/911-1993.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">had stalked</a> her and isolated her, at times, from friends and relatives. These are also <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/101qj2v/nicole_brown_simpson_911_call/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">warning signs</a> of impending lethal violence.
“Also at the top of the list is jealousy,” Hattery said. “He was jealous. He flew into a rage, and she was murdered, whether he did it or he had someone else do it.” 
On October 3, 1995, a Los Angeles jury found him not guilty of murder — a conclusion that outraged Brown Simpson’s supporters due to the evidence pointing at her ex-husband. Fans of Simpson celebrated the verdict. Although he hadn’t played competitive football since 1979 after career highs, including the 1973 Most Valuable Player award as a Buffalo Bill and a 1968 Heisman Trophy as a University of Southern California Trojan, the running back had channeled his fame as an athlete into roles as an actor and sports commentator. This made him relevant to a younger generation.
“O.J. Simpson was a character,” said Earl Smith, professor of women and gender studies at the University of Delaware. “He was the first celebrity athlete. Nobody commanded that much attention in terms of getting paid to sell products. Everybody loved him. He had that kind of personality.”
For critics of Simpson and many survivors of gender-based violence, Simpson’s acquittal sent a painful message. Advocates and attorneys have previously said it was clear that some jurors <a href="https://time.com/2864428/kardashian-oj-simpson-domestic-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">did not understand</a> the connection between domestic violence and Brown Simpson’s murder. Gurba said the outcome of the case and the discussion of the abuse was “instructive” for her as a teenage girl: These taught her that she would not be believed and could also be killed.
Underlying the virality of the case were the inescapable racial dynamics that shape the U.S. court system and the criminalization of Black men. Simpson being a Black man and Brown Simpson being a White woman evokes associations between Black men and danger to women that have repeated throughout the country’s history.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Underlying the virality of the case were the inescapable racial dynamics that shape the U.S. court system and the criminalization of Black men.</blockquote></figure>
Three years before Simpson’s acquittal, a Los Angeles-area jury found a group of White officers not guilty of assaulting Rodney King, a Black motorist they had been videotaped beating during a police stop. In 1991, a Los Angeles judge gave a Korean-American shopkeeper probation instead of prison time for fatally shooting Black teenager Latasha Harlins in her store. Both of these events intensified the racial tensions that ignited in the 1992 Los Angeles rebellion. 
This traumatic history contributed to what law professor Katheryn Russell-Brown refers to as “Black protectionism.”
“I came to think about it as the way that people in the Black community sort of gave O.J. Simpson a collective racial hug, if you will,” said Russell-Brown, who teaches at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. “There was this idea that, ‘One of us is out there in front of the firing squad; we’ve got to embrace him.’” She added that this was not a mindset that all Black people had.
Though media coverage of the Simpson trial widely portrayed Black Americans as being supportive of him, Smith — co-author of “<a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUQ9hXfapmDLivnpdg8WW8SDCFcub6NTllzCPWPwVztk9WWDmaND50sNNCKarunciiB5CuZidgkAL6Ra8WtYY8r9IOy2kXhpgE2xEYVQJXr5Ag4zeORsuQx2KdQu-2Fz-2F8xyDsm46MyQu6uuwSvgT3OVMXUmkyDVkaDVNVYExWTWhayef1EMw9yhjqsRum8SOAVGkuVMVCc2Q3nMfKKOc0UOTNUfL3GriCkC4H9JVkwmTJQZz6rJjlu47Vvefen84rT-2FTi-2FBJ-2FiRT2MDovwOK8-2FRKmPzMw1tw2oLyrRVU8yI3q3aoYcN1sG96AJlM9-2BwtJoPAHTRhZfhhMYeuM-2BO5coQcCD8H3qCPLBd5-2FJuseL3ysRUT-2FoaeADgkoyJXlsv-2BfjEHr8ufv-2BXteyBb9jcmSRTCKpzYJrdTSWR3BLa02DMMZ1tnLzYqSRGt9F29Pu2qkmGg-3D-3DjX-4_bSbaq-2BHdZDht6jq5XqoM8a0j0caSnl2fyHJsRFBbAnYSCcM09ugVjB3ilhf5Eua63HVyVYXWfwr4ZIRp6bDPnZZE0VMBja45quPzZp3XS6CX2RGyd1euZLPl6HNPy5GRHrBfycCmU6kM82kV-2BsrWMtkS-2F-2F4-2Fa5KclzJH0RZmWM3slVRn8Pk0rihfLLvzQcr3V8SSErYmxafDYpytVCRqg9IQFRWw8bmEVE9yAnklxb93HhtBJYL4Z4toeQ99qp6tB6ymdy0lscvOILhRKVqggrjVxUu-2B-2BdMDhKDzNSluVPmfD88JZJi2tYxPfMtULW05JPENhSHPvgZFWJ6DHIzPI3gSmHEzDPJImFkOqwzJRTA-3D" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Gender, Power and Violence: Responding to Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Today</a>” with his colleague Hattery — said that Black people had a complicated relationship with Simpson and that generalizations about the community should be avoided.
“If you remember, Black people had said, ‘Well O.J. is not one of us. He’s not Black. He’s transitioned out of being a Black guy because of who he is, because of the women he dated, because of the women he married, because of where he lives, because of his notoriety,’” Smith said. “So, it couldn’t have been just Black people being happy that O.J. got off.”
Even with this nuance, experts say race factored in others ways. Historically, violence against White women receives <a href="https://19thnews.org/2022/12/black-people-online-shanquella-robinson-death/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">outsized media attention</a>. White women are also depicted as more sympathetic victims, while women of color are portrayed as complicit in the violence against them.
The voices of Black women were sorely missing from the conversations about Simpson, Hattery said. Prior to Brown Simpson, the football legend was married to a Black woman. 
“Nicole was White, but I wonder if there were Black women who had also been abused by him and never could have told the police because that would have been airing the dirty laundry of the Black community,” Hattery said. If he had abused a Black woman, she likely would not have called police because “she’d be inviting the system into her home that she knows is going to mistreat her partner.” 
Society should have been capable of discussing that racism in the legal system hurts Black men and that Black men often harm Black women with impunity. 
“We were never able to complicate the conversation enough to say, ‘It’s not only about race, this is a gendered crime,’” Hattery said.
If Brown Simpson had been Black instead of White would her murder have led to a media frenzy? Davis doubts it. 
“I see those murders all the time, and they’re not televised,” she said of Black women victims, though she stressed that domestic violence affects people of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. “African-American women do not have the resources that others have, and we have a harder time getting help when we need it. If he had killed an African-American woman, I don’t know that the country would have been outraged.”
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>While the public, policymakers and law enforcement have a better understanding of domestic violence than they had three decades ago, experts told The 19th that progress remains slow. </blockquote></figure>
<a href="https://vpc.org/when-men-murder-women-black-females/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Black women were nearly three times as likely as White women</a> to be murdered by a man in 2020, according to the Violence Policy Center. Although that year, Black women made up 14 percent of women in the United States, they represented 31 percent of women killed by men in incidents involving one victim and one perpetrator. Ninety percent of Black women who lost their lives in such incidents knew their killers.
While the public, policymakers and law enforcement have a better understanding of domestic violence than they had three decades ago, experts told The 19th that progress remains slow. 
Support and protection for men accused of harming women continues and is reflected in a number of high-profile cases — from former President <a href="https://19thnews.org/2023/05/e-jean-carroll-trump-new-law-justice-assault-survivors/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a>, to <a href="https://19thnews-org.webpkgcache.com/doc/-/s/19thnews.org/2021/09/r-kelly-has-been-convicted-of-sex-crimes-against-black-women-why-did-it-take-nearly-30-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">singer R. Kelly</a>, to <a href="https://19thnews.org/2022/12/megan-thee-stallion-testimony-justice/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">rapper Tory Lanez</a> and <a href="https://19thnews.org/2023/12/new-york-adult-survivors-act-sexual-assault/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">beyond</a>.
“I think that for celebrity men who perpetrate femicide, the femicide becomes part of their legend,” Gurba said. “This might sound really strange, but I think that among some people they are admired for having committed murder; they’re admired for having escaped accountability.”
In the political space, nonprofits that serve survivors, such as the Jenesse Center, have to constantly lobby politicians for funding to provide transitional housing and other services, Davis said. Moreover, survivors who call law enforcement for help too often have their children removed from their homes and placed into the child welfare system. 
The Jenesse Center primarily serves women of color, and Davis — who has a doctorate in psychology — said clients have worried that a 911 call for help will lead to their partners dying at the hands of the authorities. Others simply don’t want their children, particularly their sons, to risk a police encounter. Many women who leave domestic violence situations without getting the support they need become unhoused, but there is little recognition that women living on the streets are often survivors.
In the college and professional sports communities, officials still hesitate to take intimate partner violence seriously, so it continues to be a problem, Smith said. Together, he and Hattery manage a database that records incidents of <a href="https://smithandhattery.com/gbv/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">gender-based violence in sports</a>. It includes nearly 450 cases of intimate partner violence specifically, according to Smith. Jovan Belcher, Ray Rice and Kareem Hunt are just a few of the NFL stars who have attacked or even killed women over the past 15 years.
“One of the things you learn when you deal with sports people at the university level, at the professional level, is the last thing they ever want to talk about is domestic violence,” Smith said. “We’ve interviewed women, especially on college campuses, where they’ve been offered money to just go away, especially if one of the athletes was a big name. There’s always a back door for high-profile athletes.”
Although Simpson was acquitted of double murder, he will never escape his association with that crime — even in death, Smith said. 
“He was a fantastic athlete,” Smith said. “I don’t think people are going to remember him as a fantastic athlete. I think he’s going to be remembered as having something to do with the murder of those two people.”
If you or a loved one are a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 for assistance.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-o-j-simpson-trial-forced-us-to-confront-domestic-violence/">The O.J. Simpson Trial Forced Us to Confront Domestic Violence</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>What Price Should Wealthy Nations Pay for Climate Aid?</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/what-price-should-wealthy-nations-pay-for-climate-aid/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-price-should-wealthy-nations-pay-for-climate-aid</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jake Bittle / Grist]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:09:06 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
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<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
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<category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[As COP29 climate talks approach, developing nations are pushing for a huge boost in decarbonization and disaster funding.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/what-price-should-wealthy-nations-pay-for-climate-aid/">What Price Should Wealthy Nations Pay for Climate Aid?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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This story was originally published by <a href="https://grist.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Grist</a>. Sign up for Grist’s <a href="https://go.grist.org/signup/weekly/partner?utm_campaign=republish-content&utm_medium=syndication&utm_source=partner" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">weekly newsletter here</a>.
Last year’s United Nations climate conference in the United Arab Emirates ended on a surprising high note as the world’s countries endorsed a <a href="https://grist.org/international/cop28-climate-agreement-fossil-fuel-transition-al-jaber/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">landmark agreement to transition away from fossil fuels</a>. After weeks of tense negotiation, the conference produced a slew of unprecedented commitments to ramp up the deployment of renewables, adapt to climate disasters, and move away from the use of coal, oil, and gas.
The question at <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/20/cop29-azerbaijan-preview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">this year’s COP29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan</a>, is just how much that massive effort will cost. After years of global debate over the scale of funding that developed countries owe less fortunate nations for decarbonization and disaster aid, negotiators have until the end of the conference in December to agree on a hard-fought financial target for climate assistance over the next few decades. This new target, referred to as the New Collective Quantified Goal by climate negotiators, is critical to upholding the 2015 Paris Agreement and addressing the harm of fossil fuel emissions from industrialized countries like the United States. Without funding, some of the poorest nations in Asia and Africa, which have contributed negligibly to the climate crisis, stand little chance of transitioning their economies away from fossil fuels and adapting to a warmer world.
The last time the world set such a goal, it didn’t work out well. Back in 2009, wealthy countries agreed to send poorer countries<a href="https://grist.org/international/international-climate-finance-adaptation/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"> $100 billion in climate finance</a> every year by 2020. Though the figure was less than half of the annual global need, according to World Bank estimates, rich countries didn’t even come close to meeting their target until last year. Even then, some aid organizations like Oxfam contend that these countries have overstated or double-counted their aid by <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/rich-countries-continued-failure-honor-their-100-billon-climate-finance-promise" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">tens of billions of dollars</a>. In the meantime, international estimates of total aid needs have ballooned into the trillions. As a result, the talks around climate finance are still marked by frustration and mistrust, and diplomats debating the goal over the past two years have made little progress toward consensus.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Without funding, some of the poorest nations in Asia and Africa, which have contributed negligibly to the climate crisis, stand little chance of transitioning their economies away from fossil fuels and adapting to a warmer world.</blockquote></figure>
As dozens of negotiators head to Colombia later this month for the first in a series of pre-conference talks that will lay the groundwork for the new goal, developing countries are trying to use the failures of the $100 billion promise as leverage for a much bigger commitment. After years of advocacy from climate-vulnerable nations, the economic heavyweights of India and Saudi Arabia are making a formal demand for climate aid to reach $1 trillion per year, broaching a number that will send negotiations into uncharted territory.
Increasing climate aid by more than tenfold could alter the life prospects of millions of people staring down imminent climate impacts in poor countries in Africa and Asia, but experts say the astronomical number will be a hard sell for many wealthy nations dealing with inflation and domestic turmoil. Plus, the commitment itself won’t mean much without strong safeguards to ensure the money reaches the vulnerable communities that most need it.
“It’s good that countries are using the t-word because that’s grappling with the scale of ambition that we need,” said Joe Thwaites, a climate finance expert at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. “But the key question is the political one of how you break that up.”
The world has known for years that the $100 billion goal was fundamentally flawed: The target number was far too low to match the mounting toll of climate change in the developing world, which one recent estimate pegged <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/8/global-south-needs-2tn-a-year-to-fight-climate-crisis-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">at around $2.4 trillion per year</a>. And more than two-thirds of the aid from wealthy countries has been through loans rather than grants, forcing poor states to take on higher debt loads to respond to climate disasters. Some countries also tried to count aid to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/climate-change-finance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">seaside hotels and gelato stores</a> as climate assistance, exaggerating their contributions.
The slow pace of United Nations diplomacy has forced developing countries to wait more than a decade for the opportunity to hash out a new number with their counterparts in the United States and the European Union. Now that that chance has arrived, many of these countries are seeking to raise the floor for climate finance by scaling up their demands to a level that once would have sounded ludicrous. 
In a letter to fellow negotiators in February, India <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/202402131316---India_NCQG%20submission%20%281%29.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">argued</a> that “developed countries need to provide at least USD 1 trillion per year, composed primarily of grants and concessional finance,” or very low-interest loans. Saudi Arabia, writing on behalf of a group of countries in the Middle East, <a href="https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202402150845---20240702_Arab_Group_NCQG_Workplan_2024_Final.pdf?_gl=1*9mohgc*_ga*MTkzMDA5Nzg0LjE3MTE2MjkwOTE.*_ga_7ZZWT14N79*MTcxMjU5NjU3Mi4xOC4wLjE3MTI1OTY1NzguMC4wLjA." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">said just a few days later</a> that “we set a [target] of USD 1.1 trillion from developed to developing countries,” plus arrears for the failure of the last goal. There are just 19 countries in the world whose economies are larger than $1 trillion, according to <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">data from the International Monetary Fund</a>.
The fact that India and Saudi Arabia have endorsed this number is significant. India is the world’s most populous country and one of its largest emitters, and it has significant political clout in climate talks as the largest country that still needs aid to finance its energy transition. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and it has faced immense pressure to join the United States and the European Union in sending aid to poorer countries. They are the only two countries to name a number so far.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“It’s good that countries are using the t-word because that’s grappling with the scale of ambition that we need.”</blockquote></figure>
Setting such an ambitious goal comes with pros and cons, experts say. On the one hand, shooting for the moon with a very high target provides poor countries with some cushion against the possibility that rich countries may fail to meet their promises. On the other hand, if voters and political leaders in wealthy countries don’t back the goal, the strategy might backfire and poor countries may end up receiving very little aid. 
The United States Congress, for instance, has fought for months over whether to send around $60 billion in new aid to Ukraine, and it’s a safe bet that many lawmakers would balk at helping with a trillion-dollar global commitment. Mobilizing climate aid in a divided Congress has proven to be a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/18/barack-obama-transfers-500m-to-green-climate-fund-in-attempt-to-protect-paris-deal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">challenging endeavor in previous years</a>. Endorsing a new goal could even become a liability for President Biden and other climate-forward leaders as they stare down an election year.
Developed countries like <a href="https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202403301144---USA_TED9%20MAWP1%20Submission.pdf?_gl=1*1mnlfus*_ga*MTkzMDA5Nzg0LjE3MTE2MjkwOTE.*_ga_7ZZWT14N79*MTcxMjY3MzA5Mi4yMi4wLjE3MTI2NzMxMDMuMC4wLjA." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">the United States</a>, <a href="https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202404021706---NCQG%20UK%20-%20TED9.pdf?_gl=1*12nbkoz*_ga*MTkzMDA5Nzg0LjE3MTE2MjkwOTE.*_ga_7ZZWT14N79*MTcxMjY3MzA5Mi4yMi4wLjE3MTI2NzMwOTQuMC4wLjA." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">the United Kingdom</a>, and those within <a href="https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202401301702---BE-2024-01-30%20EU%20submission%20on%20the%20NCQG%20workplan%20for%202024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">the European Union</a> haven’t proposed a numerical target for the goal in their missives to fellow negotiators. Instead, they’ve urged a broader conversation about how to mobilize private money and how to ensure aid contributions are reaching the right communities, with Canada for instance <a href="https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202402201432---NCQG%20February%202024%20Canada%20EN.pdf?_gl=1*1mnlfus*_ga*MTkzMDA5Nzg0LjE3MTE2MjkwOTE.*_ga_7ZZWT14N79*MTcxMjY3MzA5Mi4yMi4wLjE3MTI2NzMxMDMuMC4wLjA." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">advocating</a> a “pragmatic approach to establishing a quantum [goal size].” The U.S. has shied away from discussion of the size, focusing in its letters on questions about which nations should contribute aid money and which nations should receive it.
“Although this [trillion] number better reflects the needs of developing countries, it will be a difficult outcome to achieve given the current constraints of developed countries — shifting geopolitics, energy security concerns, stagflation, and internal politics,” said Aman Srivastava, a climate finance expert at the Centre for Policy Research, an India-based think tank.
But negotiators and climate advocates told Grist that the structure of the new goal matters just as much as the eventual size. The $100 billion goal was too low, but it was also too vague about what counts as “climate finance,” and many wealthy countries focused on doling out loans and private investment rather than no-strings-attached grants. These countries also tended to provide much more assistance for renewables and energy projects rather than the flood and drought aid that many countries have demanded.
“We don’t need to talk only about the quantum in terms of the money, but also about the quality of the money,” said Sandra Guzmán Luna, the founder of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean, which helps developing countries in the region track and access climate aid money. 
The most likely outcome is a structure that some negotiators liken to an onion with multiple concentric layers. The United States, the European Union, and other wealthy countries would contribute a chunk of public funding in the form of grants for unprofitable projects like sea walls and drinking water systems. The other layers could include additional grants from new contributors like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have ample wealth but have never donated much climate aid, or private loans from investors and banks. This approach would mimic the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/gbf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework</a>, a 2022 agreement to protect nature and endangered species that also featured a “layered” set of commitments.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>With COP29 just seven months away, negotiators still haven’t even put their ideas to paper, and drafts of the potential text likely won’t appear until the summer.</blockquote></figure>
But creating such a complex structure for climate aid ahead of COP29 will be a Herculean task. Despite new endorsements for a $1 trillion goal, rich and poor countries still have huge disagreements about who should contribute to the goal, how much money should come from grants and loans, and how rich countries should be held accountable for their share. Rich countries are advocating a broader group of contributors that would include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as more flexibility to include private money in their aid contributions. Countries like China and Saudi Arabia, which have huge economies but account for a low share of carbon emissions historically, are pushing for the U.S. and the E.U. to bear the greatest burden.
With COP29 just seven months away, negotiators still haven’t even put their ideas to paper, and drafts of the potential text likely won’t appear until the summer. From there the world’s climate leaders will sprint to settle as many details as possible before the conference clock in Baku runs out. Thwaites likened the process to the puzzle game <a href="https://www.thinkfun.com/rush-hour-online-play/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Rush Hour</a>, where a player has to move several cars around on a grid in order to clear space for one car to escape.
“Even when you think that it’s a done deal, things can fall apart, so it’s hard to make predictions,” said Eleonora Cogo, a climate finance expert at ECCO, an Italian think tank. (Cogo has negotiated on behalf of the European Union in previous climate finance talks.) 
Given how far apart the sides are right now, Cogo says that she doubts countries will be able to work out all the details by the end of COP29. The most likely outcome is a basic agreement on “some core elements” like an approximate size and a promise to work the rest out later. This could produce any number of commitments — a strong promise from rich countries to scale up their grants, a weakened framework like the $100 billion goal, or something in between.
“The asks on the table are so different, and the points of departure are so far away,” said Cogo. “It’s all open.”
Editor’s note: The Natural Resources Defense Council is an advertiser with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/what-price-should-wealthy-nations-pay-for-climate-aid/">What Price Should Wealthy Nations Pay for Climate Aid?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Israel and Iran’s Long Shadow War Escalates to Direct Conflict</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/israel-and-irans-long-standing-shadow-war-escalates-to-direct-conflict/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=israel-and-irans-long-standing-shadow-war-escalates-to-direct-conflict</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Javed Ali / The Conversation]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:03:06 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wounds of War]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[idf]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.truthdig.com/?p=295330</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Conflict between the two countries has crossed a new threshold. Is there any going back?
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/israel-and-irans-long-standing-shadow-war-escalates-to-direct-conflict/">Israel and Iran’s Long Shadow War Escalates to Direct Conflict</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
For decades, Iran and Israel have been engaged in a “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/world/middleeast/iran-attacks-israel-history.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">shadow war</a>.”
Falling short of direct military confrontation, this conflict has been characterized by war through other means – <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-irans-axis-of-resistance-and-why-is-it-uniting-in-fury-against-the-us-and-israel-222281" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">through proxies</a>, <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/ics-ot-security/iran-israel-cyber-war-goes-global" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">cyber attacks</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-weighs-sanctions-against-iran-over-israel-hamas-war/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">economic sanctions</a> and fiery rhetoric.
Events over the last few weeks in the Middle East have, however, changed the nature of this conflict. First, Israel – it is widely presumed – broke diplomatic norms by <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-embassies-off-limits-ecuadorian-and-israeli-actions-suggest-otherwise-and-that-sets-a-dangerous-diplomatic-precedent-227398" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">bombing an Iranian mission in Syria</a>. The operation, in which 12 individuals were killed – including <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68708923" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">seven officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp Quds Force</a> – ratcheted up the stakes.
It also crossed a new threshold. Never before had that many Quds Force or other Iranian military officials been killed in a single attack by Iran’s adversaries. Almost immediately, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-says-it-will-retaliate-israels-attack-its-damascus-consulate-2024-04-02/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">rhetoric from leaders in Tehran</a> indicated Iran would respond swiftly and dramatically.
Then, on April 13, 2024, Iran responded by crossing a line it <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-iran-strikes-live-coverage/card/iran-s-direct-attack-on-israel-is-a-first-en8xu0SA0JzuAXQMx1TL" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">had, to date, not crossed</a>: launching a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/13/israeli-army-says-iran-has-launched-drones-at-israel" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">direct attack on Israeli soil</a>.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Tehran’s leaders are conveying the message that should Israel conduct more aggressive actions against Iranian interests, they are willing to escalate.</blockquote></figure>
Iran’s attack against Israel was also qualitatively and quantitatively different than anything Tehran had directly attempted before. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that it consisted of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-hamas-latest-04-14-2024-42c5166c1df7d871a2302ade55cf7179" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">at least 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and 120 surface-to-surface missiles</a>. The attack was launched from positions in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
In physical terms, the barrage caused little damage. Hagari said that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/14/middleeast/israel-air-missile-defense-iran-attack-intl-hnk-ml/index.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">99% of the projectiles sent by Iran were intercepted</a> by air and missile defenses, and that only one person was injured. For now, it appears that Tehran is content with its own response; the Iranian Mission to the United Nations <a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/article-796872" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">posted a message on social media</a> following the attack indicating that the operation had concluded.
But as an <a href="https://fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/javed-ali" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">expert on national security and the Middle East</a>, I believe the Iranian attack was not about inflicting physical damage on Israel. It was more about Iran attempting to restore deterrence with Israel following the Damascus incident and showing strength to its domestic audience. In so doing, Tehran’s leaders are also conveying the message that should Israel conduct more aggressive actions against Iranian interests, they are willing to escalate.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Friends, then longtime foes</h2>
Iran and Israel have been adversaries virtually since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when the Shah of Iran fled the country to be replaced by a theocracy. New leader <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/revenge-geopolitics-and-ideology-why-did-iran-attack-israel/ar-BB1lBa9O" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini broke the former regime’s ties with Israel</a> and quickly adopted a strident anti-Israel agenda both in words and policy.
In the decades since, Israel and Iran have inflicted harm on the other’s interests in both the physical and virtual worlds. This has included major terrorist attacks backed by Iran against <a href="https://apnews.com/article/argentina-1994-jewish-center-bombing-iran-investigation-36b4f9cbe20900d39d8f28477589a444" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Israeli interests in Argentina</a> in 1992 and 1994, Tehran’s backing of <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/rise-and-growth-hezbollah-and-militarization-sunni-shiite-divide-lebanon" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Hezbollah’s grinding insurgency against Israel</a> in southern Lebanon, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-10-10-23/h_8c4e2392d4398a8af723e09392db4494" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">the major operational support provided to Hamas</a> that in part enabled the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Iran and Israel have been adversaries virtually since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when the Shah of Iran fled the country to be replaced by a theocracy.</blockquote></figure>
Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-s-supreme-leader-vows-retaliation-assassination-leading-scientist-n1249190" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Iranian officials have blamed Israel</a> for the killing of senior <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55128970" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">military officials and scientists related to Iran’s nuclear program</a> in Iran or elsewhere in the region.
The lack of open acknowledgment by Israel of the killings was to create <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/world/middleeast/iran-us-war.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">the illusion of plausible deniability</a> and implant doubt about who was actually responsible.
In recent years, Iran has relied heavily on its “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/briefing/iran-israel-war-taiwan.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">axis of resistance</a>” – militant groups in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza that share some of Tehran’s goals, notably in regard to countering Israel and weakening U.S. influence in the region. In the monthslong conflict sparked by the Oct. 7 attack, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-iran-syria-jordan-strikes-us-2f235ac0d00edc266576ef0d76fa33e4" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/29/us-troops-jordan-iraq-militias/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">the Islamic Resistance in Iraq network</a> have repeatedly attacked Israeli and U.S. interests.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘A clear message’</h3>
So what comes next? A lot will depend on how Israel and the U.S. respond.
Officially, U.S. President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/13/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-irans-attacks-against-the-state-of-israel/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">has stated</a> that in repelling the Iran missiles and drones, Israel had sent “a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten [its] security.”
But there are reports that <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Biden has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a> Israel should “take the win” and could not rely on the U.S. supporting any offensive operations against Iran.
A number of factors will determine whether Iran and Israel continue to launch more attacks against each other out in the open, or revert to shadow warfare.
These include how each side reads domestic sentiment. Netanyahu is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68705643" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">already facing pressure</a> based on his handling of the war in Gaza and previous domestic concerns regarding attempts to influence the Israeli Supreme Court, among other matters.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>There are reports that <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Biden has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a> Israel should “take the win” and could not rely on the U.S. supporting any offensive operations against Iran.</blockquote></figure>
Likewise, inside Iran, the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147681" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">United Nations reports</a> that two years after major public protests inside the country based on socio-economic conditions, the regime in Iran continues to ruthlessly suppress dissent.
Apart from domestic considerations, both Iran and Israel will also weigh the risks of more open confrontation against their current operational capabilities. Here, it seems clear that neither Iran nor Israel can decisively win a prolonged military campaign against each other.
Israel’s powerful military certainly has the ability to launch air and missile strikes against Iranian interests in the region, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/29/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news#israel-strike-syria-aleppo" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">as they have already demonstrated in Syria and Lebanon</a> for many years. And Israel probably <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-security-assessment-drill-netanyahu-says-idf-can-handle-any-threat-on-our-own/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">could do the same for a short period of time</a> directly into Iran.
But Israel would face major challenges in sustaining a prolonged combined arms campaign in Iran, including the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2023/10/14/idf-explainer-on-israeli-defense-forces-idf/71133855007/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">relatively small size of the Israel Defense Forces</a> compared with Iran’s military, and the physical distance between both countries. <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-wraps-up-major-drill-focused-on-multi-front-war-with-iran-middle-east-proxies/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Israel has openly conducted military exercises</a> for years <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-air-force-simulates-widescale-strike-on-iran-nuclear-facilities/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">that seem more focused on simulating air strikes and perhaps special operations raids</a> against a smaller number of targets inside Iran, like nuclear facilities.
Moreover, launching a new front by directly attacking Iran risks diverting Israeli resources away from more immediate threats in Gaza, the West Bank and its northern border with Lebanon.
Of course, Israel has fought and won wars with its regional adversaries in the past.
But the conflicts Israel fought against its Arab neighbors in <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/real-lessons-yom-kippur-war" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">1967</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/october-1973-war-redux-lessons-todays-middle-east-policy-challenges" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">1973</a> took place in a different military age and prior to the development of drone warfare, cyber operations and support to Iranian-backed proxies and partners in Israel’s immediate neighborhood.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Wary of further escalation</h3>
A similar type of campaign against Iran would be unlike anything Israel has faced. Israel would no doubt find it difficult to achieve its objectives <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/01/us-israel-iran-war-plan/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">without a high-level of support</a> from the United States, and probably Arab countries like Jordan and Egypt. And there is no indication that such backing would be forthcoming.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>A similar type of campaign against Iran would be unlike anything Israel has faced. </blockquote></figure>
Iran, too, will be wary of further escalation. Tehran demonstrated on April 13 that it <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2021009/iran-military-power-report-statement/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">possesses a large – and perhaps growing – inventory</a> of ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles.
However, the accuracy and effectiveness of many of these platforms remains in question – as evidenced by the seeming ease in which most were shot down. The Israeli and U.S. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/14/middleeast/israel-air-missile-defense-iran-attack-intl-hnk-ml/index.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">air and missile defense network</a> in the region continues to prove reliable in that regard.
Given the realities and risks, I believe it seems more likely that Iran will seek to revert back to its unconventional warfare strategy of supporting its proxy axis of resistance. Overt attacks, such as the one carried out on April 13, may be reserved for signaling resolve and demonstrating strength to its domestic audience.
The danger is now that war has come out of the shadows, it may be hard to put it back there.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/israel-and-irans-long-standing-shadow-war-escalates-to-direct-conflict/">Israel and Iran’s Long Shadow War Escalates to Direct Conflict</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>Trump on Trial: Will the Former President Go Down in New York?</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-on-trial-will-the-former-president-go-down-in-new-york/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trump-on-trial-will-the-former-president-go-down-in-new-york</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bill Blum]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 15:07:13 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Column]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Courts & Law]]></category>
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<category><![CDATA[TD Column]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[TD Original]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[alvin bragg]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have a date with history.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-on-trial-will-the-former-president-go-down-in-new-york/">Trump on Trial: Will the Former President Go Down in New York?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Barring a last-minute judicial reprieve or an act of God, Donald Trump will become the first former or sitting U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges when jury selection begins Monday in his “hush-money” case in New York City. Not even Richard Nixon, who was saved from <a href="https://www.archives.gov/files/research/investigations/watergate/roadmap/docid-70105876.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">an indictment</a> for his role in the Watergate scandal by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_of_Richard_Nixon" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">presidential pardon</a>, achieved such ignominy. Whatever its outcome, the trial will make history.
Trump <a href="https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">was indicted</a> in New York on March 30, 2023 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public during the 2016 presidential campaign about their alleged sexual encounter a decade earlier. In a “<a href="https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-04-04-SOF.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Statement of Facts</a>” filed along with the indictment and in a <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">press release</a> issued the day of Trump’s April 4 arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg explained that the payment to Daniels was part of a larger “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_and_kill#:~:text=Using%20a%20legally%20enforceable%20non,it%20from%20ever%20being%20published." rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">catch and kill</a>” scheme Trump initiated in August 2015 “to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects.”
In addition to the Daniels disbursement, the scheme involved a $150,000 payment to former Playboy magazine “Playmate of the Year” <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_McDougal" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Karen McDougal</a> to cover up an alleged extramarital affair, and a $30,000 payment to Dino Sajudin, a former <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/04/trump-doorman-story-indictment-money/11601908002/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">doorman</a> at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, who allegedly was trying to sell a story about a child Trump had fathered out of wedlock.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>What makes Trump’s scheme unlawful, according to Bragg, is that Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels was actually a contribution to Trump’s election campaign.</blockquote></figure>
The scheme was carried out by Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cohen_(lawyer)" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Michael Cohen</a>, who made the payment to Daniels on Trump’s behalf and was later reimbursed by Trump. The payments to McDougal and Sajudin came from American Media, Inc., the former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, whose then-chairman and chief executive officer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pecker" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">David Pecker</a>, is a long-time Trump associate.
Although evidence of the larger scheme will come before the jury to show Trump’s intent to use the payments to enhance his election prospects, the indictment only charges him with offenses related to Daniels.  
There is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/04/12/trumps-hush-money-payment-isnt-illegal-in-itself-heres-why-hes-actually-on-trial/?sh=2015cac337f3" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">nothing illegal per se</a> about making hush-money payments. The wealthy often use them to secure nondisclosure agreements to keep embarrassing or confidential information private. 
What makes Trump’s scheme unlawful, according to Bragg, is that Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels was actually a contribution to Trump’s election campaign that was both <a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/using-personal-funds-candidate/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">undisclosed</a> and exceeded the <a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/archived-contribution-limits/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">2016 $2,700 limit</a> on individual contributions set by the <a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/candidate-taking-receipts/contribution-limits/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Federal Election Campaign Act</a>. In addition, the reimbursement checks written to Cohen in 2017 were “illegally disguised [in the records of the Trump Organization] as…payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement” to hide their actual purpose. Eleven of the 34 counts lodged against Trump involve checks written to Cohen (<a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/6/18253467/trump-michael-cohen-checks-legal-stormy-daniels" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">nine signed by Trump himself</a>); 12 concern false invoices Cohen submitted; and 12 involve false entries in records maintained by the Trump Organization.
Although New York prosecutors <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/08/falsifying-business-records-charges-trump-hush-money-case/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">routinely litigate business-record frauds</a>, such cases are usually handled as misdemeanors. Offenses become felonies when the intent to defraud includes an <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/85831/the-broad-scope-of-intent-to-defraud-in-the-new-york-crime-of-falsifying-business-records/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">intent to commit or conceal another crime</a>. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/donald-trump-trial-what-to-know.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=c&pvid=8543E9AA-BB72-4C1E-81EB-8660BA00992D&sgrp=c-cb" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">other crimes implicated in Trump’s scheme</a> include federal election campaign finance violations, parallel state-election law crimes and tax fraud.
As in all criminal cases, Bragg’s legal team will have the burden of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The team has named <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/trump-hush-money-trial-potential-witness-list-released-208831557522" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">11 potential witnesses</a>, headed by Cohen, Daniels and Pecker. Also named are Trump administration operatives <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Hicks" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Hope Hicks</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_Westerhout" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Madeleine Westerhout</a>, and Trump Organization insiders <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_Westerhout" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Rhona Graff</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/21/politics/mcconney-trump-org-testimony-fraud-trial/index.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Jeffrey McConney</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/witnesses-trumps-hush-money-trial-include-former-members/story?id=108901965" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">Deborah Tarasoff</a>, who presumably will be called to help establish Trump’s knowledge of the scheme and his criminal intent.
In addition to the witnesses, the prosecution will present a trove of documentary evidence, including the reimbursement checks written to Cohen, the phony business ledger entries and a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/24/politics/michael-cohen-donald-trump-tape/index.html" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">taped telephone conversation</a> between Cohen and Trump that Cohen secretly recorded in September 2016. The pair can be heard on the recording discussing how to hide the payments to McDougal.
None of this means that the case is a slam dunk. Cohen will be particularly easy prey on cross examination as a convicted felon. In 2018, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/michael-cohen-pleads-guilty-manhattan-federal-court-eight-counts-including-criminal-tax" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">he pleaded guilty</a> in federal court to tax evasion, making false statements to banks and campaign finance violations for the Daniels and McDougal payments. He was subsequently sentenced to serve three years in prison.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>Each of the 34 counts carries a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/04/11/donald-trump-new-york-hush-money-trial/72943245007/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">potential four-year prison term</a>, with a <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/70.30" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">maximum cap of 20 years</a> for convictions on five or more counts. </blockquote></figure>
Trump was never charged with a federal crime, but was named in the <a href="about:blank" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">pleadings filed against Cohen</a> as “individual 1,” on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/2/27/18243038/individual-1-cohen-trump-mueller" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">whose behalf Cohen allegedly acted</a>.   
All of this has Trump alarmed that his strategy of delaying his day of reckoning in a criminal trial is coming to an end. The <a href="https://progressive.org/magazine/how-long-can-donald-trump-evade-justice-blum-20240206/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">strategy</a> has worked thus far in the two cases brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith for <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23893902/trump-indictment.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">election subversion</a> and <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Just-Security-Mar-a-Lago-Trump-Clearinghouse-%E2%80%94-Superseding-Indictment-charging-Carlos-De-Oliveira-adding-two-charges-against-Trump-and-four-charges-against-Nauta-July-27-2023.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">mishandling classified documents</a>, and in the <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/just-security-fulton-county-da-indictment.pdf" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">case brought by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis</a> for election interference.
But the strategy has run aground in Trump’s former hometown, where he rose to fame as a real estate mogul and a “reality TV” huckster. Last week, his attorneys lost <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4591226-judge-rejects-trump-bid-rules-hush-money-trial-will-begin-on-monday/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">four last-ditch motions</a> to delay the trial. 
From a political standpoint, the hush-money prosecution may not be as significant as Trump’s other criminal cases, but apart from its embarrassing and salacious details — all of which will be laid bare in open court — it is no laughing matter. Each of the 34 counts carries a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/04/11/donald-trump-new-york-hush-money-trial/72943245007/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">potential four-year prison term</a>, with a <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/70.30" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">maximum cap of 20 years</a> for convictions on five or more counts.
We can’t peek inside Trump’s fevered mind, but it’s safe to assume, <a href="https://thehill.com/elections/4090479-christie-trump-goes-to-bed-every-night-thinking-about-the-sound-of-the-jail-cell-door-closing/" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said</a>, Trump “goes to bed every night, thinking about the sound of that jail cell door closing behind” him.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-on-trial-will-the-former-president-go-down-in-new-york/">Trump on Trial: Will the Former President Go Down in New York?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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<title>The Dam and the Bomb: An Appreciation of Cormac McCarthy</title>
<link>https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-dam-and-the-bomb-an-appreciation-of-cormac-mccarthy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-dam-and-the-bomb-an-appreciation-of-cormac-mccarthy</link>
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<dc:creator><![CDATA[Walker Mimms / n+1]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 13 Apr 2024 15:59:43 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[McCarthy and his characters inherited a world where the sum of all intellect proves fatal to its parts.
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-dam-and-the-bomb-an-appreciation-of-cormac-mccarthy/">The Dam and the Bomb: An Appreciation of Cormac McCarthy</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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In 1937, Cormac McCarthy’s father, Charles Joseph McCarthy, a Rhode Island trial attorney just a few years out of Yale Law, packed up his wife, young son, and the boy’s siblings, and drove from Newport down to Knoxville. He was taking a position with a new government organization called the Tennessee Valley Authority. “Those were depression days,” he explained in a late interview. “The salary was much more than I was making.”
One of the most famous legacies of the New Deal, the TVA was established in 1933 to electrify the South through a system of hydroelectric dams. But that infrastructure altered the landscape by flooding rivers, exacting a human price that is less well known. First, having chosen the site for their flood reservoir, the TVA notified residents that a dam was coming, sometimes giving only two weeks’ notice. Next, the government offered “fair market value” for the plot. Rarely did this fee compensate the cost of relocation, let alone the emotional loss of a homestead, farm, and graveyard. Last came force. Those who refused to sell had their property condemned in court, which is where McCarthy Senior came in.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>One of the most famous legacies of the New Deal, the TVA was established in 1933 to electrify the South through a system of hydroelectric dams.</blockquote></figure>
“Condemnation has many disadvantages,” he admitted in a 1949 journal article justifying the practice. “It is expensive and it takes away from the acquiring agency the determination of the amount to be paid. More important still, it is likely to leave a residue of ill will.” Roosevelt’s New Deal would bring many social amenities to the rural Southern poor, but in these first years, with the Confederacy still in living memory, suspicion clung to anything federal—in this case, with cause. Nevertheless, only 3 percent of all land obtained thanks to the efforts of the Rhode Island lawyer came through condemnation, as compared with voluntary sale. This, the elder McCarthy said, was because Roosevelt’s team stipulated in the TVA Act of 1933 that a judge, not a jury, would hear land suits brought against the organization—a loophole that kept locals from avenging their disgruntled neighbors with great and variable sums of money. While his superiors handled the bigger corporate suits that reached the Supreme Court, in district courts, wherever the next reservoirs were about to be flooded, Assistant General Counsel McCarthy oversaw the rest of that 3 percent: smaller suits, the kind brought by local families. Disadvantageous, he believed, but necessary. As he told his interviewer, “you’re looking at the best damn trial lawyer in the government service.”
* * *
This origin story found its reckoning in Cormac McCarthy’s final books, The Passenger and Stella Maris, two very timely, funny novels published in the months before his death. Where he used to describe a kind of primordial American past, McCarthy now peers through the thin curtain of the Cold War to weigh in on the Trump years: cryptocurrency (“And every transaction will be a matter of record. Forever”), transgender rights (he’s pro), the metaverse (which he calls, without elaborating, “the final abridgement of privilege”), conspiracy theories (the truth is out there, Lee Harvey Oswald was a pawn). These novels are also McCarthy’s richest. Where earlier he narrated each of his themes in tidy order—cars and cops in The Orchard Keeper (1965), horses and Spanish in his Border Trilogy (1992–98), parenting in The Road (2006)—he crams The Passenger and Stella Maris with every other interest you might imagine for a man of his roots and years: Formula Two racing, prewar Patek Phillipes, 1970s Maserati Boras, the Manhattan Project, bluegrass, JFK, aeronautics, Amati violins, animal taxonomy, psychotherapy, mathematics, quantum physics. A life’s deskwork scraped into a trunk.
But these books are also confessions, and confession is what McCarthy’s father has to do with it. Confession can free you: just ask the guilt-wracked veteran Sheriff Ed Tom Bell of No Country for Old Men. It can also set the record straight, as late-life memoirs are wont to do. Now the notoriously taciturn McCarthy wants both: these two books shed remarkably clear light on the moral concerns and aesthetic arc of his career, particularly his most philosophical works, Suttree (1979) and Blood Meridian (1985). For comfort, McCarthy sends The Passenger’s quiet loner Bobby Western. For the truth, he sends Bobby’s poor sister, Alicia.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>These books are also confessions, and confession is what McCarthy’s father has to do with it. </blockquote></figure>
In McCarthy’s novels, people commit terrible acts—necrophilia, infanticide, cannibalism—and often with reason. His villains are symbols of that dark reason: the trio of swampland marauders in Outer Dark (1968), the dream-curdling scalp-hunter in Blood Meridian, the frigid bounty hunter stalking No Country. In The Passenger and Stella Maris, McCarthy tops this rap sheet with his worst crime yet: nuclear Armageddon. And the perp is one of American history’s finest minds, the porkpie-hatted architect of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Though it isn’t Armageddon exactly. The Passenger is a historical novel set in 1980, and the world is still very much alive. The mere possibility of apocalypse by human means is crime enough. Throughout the novel, Bobby Western, a 36-year-old salvage diver and racecar driver, is haunted by his upbringing near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, and in Los Alamos, New Mexico, two places where his physicist father, a protégé of Oppenheimer, helped design the device that would devastate Hiroshima in 1945. As we trail Bobby through the American South, the Midwest, Mexico, and Europe, we see the deep unsettlement of the atomic era in the mounting mysteries of his life: freak accidents, disappearances, detectives. “Shit that makes no sense,” as Bobby’s friend puts it. Or as another explains: “My understanding of it is not what makes it so.”
Above all the book is haunted by the ambiguous past of Bobby’s late father, whose papers have suddenly disappeared. Apparently the subject of a high-level investigation, these missing documents tease Bobby with what he should have asked about the physicist in life, and what it is now too late to learn. (The Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe, who died just a few months before McCarthy, also depicted a lost trove of paternal papers in Death by Water, another novel of nuclear dread published toward the end a similarly unsparing career.) Near the end, Bobby imagines the 1945 Trinity Test in New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was exploded:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Two. One. Zero. Then the sudden whited meridian. Out there the rocks dissolving into a slag that pooled over the melting sands of the desert. Small creatures crouched aghast in that sudden and unholy day and then were no more. What appeared to be some vast violetcolored creature rising up out of the earth where it had thought to sleep its deathless sleep and wait its hour of hours. . . .
His father. Who had created out of the absolute dust of the earth an evil sun by whose light men saw like some hideous adumbration of their own ends through cloth and flesh the bones in one another’s bodies.
</blockquote>
Whatever the immediate objects of Bobby’s stumbling quest for understanding, they all lead back to this originary paternal infamy. Looking back over McCarthy’s career from this endpoint, we feel the urge to do as Bobby does in his obsessive readings in math: try “to trace his way back. Find a logical beginning.”
* * *
In McCarthy’s masterpiece, Suttree, the Ulysses of the American South, we observe a few years in the life of Cornelius Suttree, who seems about 35 years old, living in 1950s Knoxville, where the TVA is headquartered. A catfish trader estranged from his family after jilting his wife and child, Suttree has moved into a houseboat on the Tennessee River to carouse with drunks, ragpickers, and prostitutes. Like Bobby Western, Suttree has a problem with his dad, who speaks only once, in a letter in the book’s opening pages. “If it is life that you feel you are missing, I can tell you where to find it,” Suttree’s father pleads to his wayward son. “In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent.”
This fragment is enough to conjure the cold legal mind of McCarthy Senior, and the next 450 pages of vividly slummed, unconscious-driven, magnificently sensory life are enough to prove him wrong. Suttree bumps into John Randolph Neal, Jr., an eccentric lawyer who in real life defended John Scopes in the scandalous Scopes “Monkey” Trial of 1925 and defended the promise of the TVA in the ’30s, and someone surely known to McCarthy Senior. In the novel, Neal knew Suttree’s father, he says, “quite honorably.” In Suttree’s tavern haunt, the tables are fashioned from gravestones salvaged from TVA floodland: “Whole families evicted from their graves downriver by the damming of the waters,” Suttree imagines one night, as he fingers their inscriptions:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
Hegiras to high ground, carts piled with battered cookware, mattresses, small children. The father drives the cart, the dog runs after. Strapped to the tailboard the rotting boxes stained with earth that hold the bones of the elders. Their names and dates in chalk on the wormscored wood. A dry dust sifts from the seams in the boards as they jostle up the road.
</blockquote>
The Tennessee River was dammed in the 1930s. Twenty years later, as told in Suttree, Knoxville endured a new phase of development: the razing of McAnally Flats, a neighborhood decrepit in infrastructure but rich in Black and queer community and an organic barter economy. Instead of power lines, this time it’s Interstate 40, which by 1956 would run from Tennessee and other Southern states all the way to California.
Even after he left the South, McCarthy couldn’t shake the inherited moral specter of dispossession. (His greatest interpreters, Joel and Ethan Coen, who directed No Country for Old Men, also made the greatest TVA film, O Brother Where Art Thou.) Even The Road, the cash-in McCarthy promoted on Oprah, and supposedly one of the great placeless novels, is infused with a subtle geographical specificity, which the scholar W. G. Morgan has meticulously mapped. From the first pages, amid the novel’s probably post-nuclear wasteland, a SEE ROCK CITY advertisement on the side of a barn sets us near the Tennessee–Georgia border. After passing this sign, father and son cross a “high concrete bridge over the river” (the Henley Street Bridge, under which Suttree lived in his houseboat) and gawk at the “long concrete sweeps of the interstate exchanges like the ruins of a vast funhouse” (a couple blocks from Suttree’s bridge, the knot of Interstates 40 and 275 that wiped out McAnally Flats). Then they stop at the remains of the father’s childhood home to study the pinpricks left in the mantle by the Christmas stockings of his youth. (The model for this house, McCarthy’s own childhood home in the suburbs of Knoxville, burned down three years after the book’s publication.)
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>“In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent.”</blockquote></figure>
The kicker is the dam. When the two spot a lake “in the scavenged bowl of the countryside,” the father explains that it is a dam that used water “to make lights. . . . It will probably be there for hundreds of years. Thousands, even.” Completed in 1936 on the Clinch River, not far from Knoxville, the Norris Dam was the TVA’s first big project. Six years later, thanks to the site’s isolation and cooling waters, and the abundant cheap energy from its turbines, the Army Corps of Engineers chose a small plot twenty miles to its north to build the secret laboratory, Oak Ridge, and enrich the ten pounds of uranium required to destroy Hiroshima.
In The Passenger, Oak Ridge is where Bobby’s mother, an area native displaced by the dam, found the most livable wage. (Placing third in the local beauty pageant, she had missed her shot at a scholarship.) The government kept her and thousands of her coworkers ignorant of the technology they were building. It was at the factory that she met Bobby’s father, a Princeton physicist passing through town to oversee the progress of the uranium. Now, in 1980, with both parents long gone, Bobby is a walking symbol of the TVA (and the McCarthy) land crisis. In a scene adapted largely from Suttree, Bobby is in East Tennessee visiting his “Granellen,” the definitional Southern grandma. She tells Bobby of the evictions she witnessed first for the Norris Reservoir in the ’30s and again, in the ’40s, for Oak Ridge: “They was some of em wound up just livin in the woods like animals.” She tells of the house she lost in the first round, with its mighty floor planks three feet wide, hand-planed from native walnut by Bobby’s great-great-grandfather in the 1870s.
From eviction to dam to war to bomb, late McCarthy leaves no reading to chance: “Western fully understood that he owed his existence to Adolf Hitler. That the forces of history which had ushered his troubled life into the tapestry were those of Auschwitz and Hiroshima, the sister events that sealed forever the fate of the West.” It’s almost too neat a summary, and it betrays a view of the world in which causation and heritage bind us to destinies we are powerless to comprehend, or divert. Caught in that painful discovery, Bobby finds himself in a New Orleans church, where he tries to exorcise his intrusive thoughts of Hiroshima:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
He went there after the war with a team of scientists. My father. He said that everything was covered with rust. There were burnt-out shells of trolleycars standing in the streets. The glass melted out of the sashes and pooled on the bricks. Seated on the blackened springs the charred skeletons of the passengers with their clothes and hair gone and their bones hung with blackened strips of flesh. Their eyes boiled from their sockets.
</blockquote>
It is not here, though, but with his Granellen, in the sleepy Tennessee holler where the father and son of The Road will one day stop to examine the vestigial monument of their doom, that Bobby’s inherited guilt crests into full view. Strolling down Granellen’s country lane, he looks around: “The rolling hills and ridges to the east. Somewhere beyond that the installation at Oak Ridge for enriching uranium that led his father here from Princeton in 1943 and where he’d met the beauty queen he would marry.” A driver stops him to have a word. “I know who you are, he said. As if he’d identified a Nazi war criminal hiking the roads round Wartburg Tennessee. Then he drove on.”
* * *
The southern town is a small place. Reputations grow large, yielding ritualized gossip on its front porches and Oedipal resentments in the souls of its young men. This is why the Southern gothic is so rich and so stereotypable a genre, and also why McCarthy wove into his books the paternal problem—down to his pen name, Cormac, for which he abandoned the hand-me-down “Charles” when he left the Air Force in 1957—that all of Knoxville knew led to his father’s eldest son. In his flight from patrimony, McCarthy asserted himself in a widening trail of territories: from the native East Tennessee gothic of his debut Orchard Keeper he escaped to the desert of the Border Trilogy, then fled even further, to the alleged nowhere of The Road and the remotest Spain of The Passenger. Yet the total itinerary bent to the pull of the Oak Ridge turbines, keeping the laboratory ever in view the farther he went. Speaking as another son of a Tennessee industry lawyer—a country music lawyer; it was TVA power that helped turn Nashville into a radio and recording mecca—I think the prime darkness at the heart of Cormac McCarthy’s fiction, always precariously perched over oblivion, began with his father, a fixer behind the laboratory that powered the possibility of human extinction.
Extinction never seemed nearer than in McCarthy’s final act, but neither Oppenheimer nor Bobby’s fictional father are the actual villains. While the engineers of Los Alamos spilled something into the world that can never be rebottled, what saddens McCarthy most is intellect itself. Alicia Western, Bobby’s younger sister, a mathematical genius and a schizophrenic, suffers accusatory, hyperrealistic hallucinations. A prisoner of her photographic memory, she is so alienated from society that she seeks refuge in an incestuous devotion to her brother, who has a keen mind for physics. (Like McCarthy, Bobby studied physics but never finished his degree.) The siblings’ love is mutual but anguished and unconsummated. It drives Alicia to suicide after a racing accident lands Bobby in a coma from which he wakes too late.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>I think the prime darkness at the heart of Cormac McCarthy’s fiction, always precariously perched over oblivion, began with his father, a fixer behind the laboratory that powered the possibility of human extinction.</blockquote></figure>
Stella Maris is a sort of prequel to The Passenger. It consists of six interviews between Alicia and the psychiatrist preparing her case study that explore Alicia’s life and family history, the ambitions of mathematics, and the devil’s bargain of intelligence. Though science skepticism is unwelcome in the age of Covid, for this daughter of Oak Ridge, “intelligence is a basic component of evil.” In her bratty, tortured, hard-earned way, Alicia is convincing. She has agreed to these interviews having already chosen suicide. (Worth the read alone is her calculation of the effects of drowning, a method of she has ruled out.) Pessimism like hers might have agreed with Alexander Grothendieck, the century’s most influential mathematician and, in the novel, one of Alicia’s correspondents. By 1972, the time of McCarthy’s novel, the actual Grothendieck had quit math to protest the military-academic complex, resigning from a lab Oppenheimer helped to found, to become a bearded hermit in the woods. In the novel, dejected and disillusioned with the field, he has stopped returning Alicia’s letters. “Grothendieck says somewhere,” Alicia narrates, “that twentieth century mathematics has begun to lose its moral compass.” Certainly Alicia’s own pessimism belongs to McCarthy himself. Characters aren’t their authors, but Alicia seems his spokeswoman in so much of Stella Maris. She has read ten thousand books, she says. At 22? A freak. But at 89? A writer.
Alicia recalls that when she started high school, at the ripe age of 12, she found the philosopher George Berkeley. “I sat in the floor and I read A New Theory of Vision,” Alicia says. “And it changed my life. I understood for the first time that the visual world was inside your head. All the world, in fact.” She ruminates on Berkeley’s contention in that book and elsewhere that only a sensory experience of an object can be said to be real, and therefore that the actual material existence of the object cannot be determined. “I sat there for a long time. Just letting it soak in,” she says. “It was hard to avoid the sense that the visual world is the creation of beings with the eyes to do so.” Unlike his empiricist predecessors John Locke or Thomas Hobbes (whom Bobby reads in The Passenger), Berkeley suspected that things aren’t real at all, and that we find “order and regularity” in the world only because an objective witness, an “infinite mind”—a God—stands watch over the universe when we blink or sleep or die.
Born in 1685 and raised during the political upheavals of the Glorious Revolution, Berkeley became fascinated, as McCarthy would, by the weaknesses of human perception and the psychological reasons for our dependence on God. Even as he transformed sensation into analytical argument, chiefly in his proto-novel Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonus (1713), Berkeley delighted in the tastes and smells that would fill that century’s later, thicker novels. McCarthy kept the sense-love but herded the prose in the reverse direction: from the ornate 18th-century Latinisms of Suttree and Blood Meridian back to the bare script of ideas. (McCarthy’s introduction to literature, he claimed, came at the University of Tennessee, where an English professor asked him to modernize the punctuation in a volume of Georgian prose.)
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>His first great novel before reaching the desert, Outer Dark, is a study in the limitations imposed by human sight.</blockquote></figure>
Subjective idealism—Berkeley’s belief that reality is unknowable beyond our private perception—is one way to understand McCarthy’s escape from Tennessee to El Paso in the mid-1970s, and why he set his next six books, philosophical novels disguised as westerns, out there on the range. His first great novel before reaching the desert, Outer Dark, is a study in the limitations imposed by human sight. There, we grope our way through the “gathering dark” of some coastal swampland, “darker in some places than in others,” “from dark to dark” into “warm and breathing dark,” then into “right dark,” “nigh total dark,” “soaring darkness,” “full dark,” “depthless black,” “hopeless dark,” “constant dark,” and finally into “outer dark.” The title phrase describes the two-layer human depth of field at night: the foreground one can vaguely make out and then the pitch black beyond it. “Outer dark” is close to Milton’s hellish “darkness visible” but has more to do with what we can’t see: the unknowability of evil in a reality to which we are visually and morally blind.
Where the South is full of trees and bends and SEE ROCK CITY signs and post-TVA highways and pylons and wires, the desert is silent and flat. In a geometry with few obstructions, events leap into and out of reality as if hallucinated. Venturing as far into that terrain as possible, the first of McCarthy’s westerns, Blood Meridian, offers raw sense data of the kind that got Berkley thinking. That novel retells John Joel Glanton’s scalping expedition through Mexico in the late 1840s, a benumbing saga of settler genocide. In one scene, Glanton tests his pistol on an unsuspecting animal: “The explosion in that dead silence was enormous. The cat simply disappeared. There was no blood or cry, it just vanished.” Glanton’s crew loses a mule: “It went skittering off down the canyon wall . . . into a sink of cold blue space that absolved it forever of memory in the mind of any living thing that was.” Figures spring onto the horizon and into being at once: “They’d not been there, then they were there.” And when the hot horizon swallows them again, it does so in the language of Berkeley’s successor in Prussia, Immanuel Kant: “All lightly shimmering in the heat, these lifeforms, like wonders much reduced. Rough likenesses thrown up at hearsay after the things themselves had faded in men’s minds.” The “thing-in-itself” being Kant’s phrase for an essential unknowable reality. In the desert, we see not things but forms “roughly reproduced,” “shapes of mortal men,” and silhouetted “paper birds” instead of buzzards. The terrain gave McCarthy a stage for an allegory of human perception, of the simplicity, weakness, and gullibility of our understanding. Land is more than an asset repossessable by government, or even an inscription of history and memory. It becomes the sensorium itself. It is the kind of wild west wrought by Berkeley, who was also an influential proponent of colonial expansion and author of the pioneer motto “Westward the course of empire takes its way.” It was at Berkeley’s namesake campus of the University of California, believed at its founding to be the westernmost reach of Anglophone intellect, where Oppenheimer was teaching when the government asked him to start building their weapon.
But McCarthy’s Texas has none of the philosopher’s “order and regularity.” Instead, McCarthy writes, what you believe is what you get: “the order in creation which you see is that which you have put there, like a string in a maze, so that you shall not lose your way.” If there is no world beyond what we can sense, then perception itself seems an inseparable piece of that world. McCarthy expresses this most clearly in Blood Meridian, where he writes that perception is “no third thing” between self and matter “but rather the prime, for what could be said to occur unobserved?” In some transitive way, one’s small corner of the earth includes those billions of others who see, hear, and feel their own—and this network, rather than God, is where McCarthy leaves Berkeley behind. One big “common witness” is how McCarthy describes the roving band of scalpers: a “collective cognizance,” an “optical democracy,” a “communal soul,” an “egality of witness.” Judge Holden, Glanton’s second-in-command in Blood Meridian, puts it vividly: “every man is tabernacled in every other and he in exchange and so on in an endless complexity of being and witness to the uttermost edge of the world.”
Yet Judge Holden crafts this philosophy of oneness to justify the slaughter of every “savage” in his path. “War was always here,” he explains. “Before man was, war waited for him.” To question violence, he says, one might as well “ask men what they think of stone.” It also fuels his vendetta against the book’s protagonist, a teenager simply called “the kid,” whom Holden accuses of taking “witness against” him by harboring “some corner of clemency for the heathen.” (Similarly Suttree, in the quiet moral climax of his own novel, admits he has transgressed against the fact that “all souls are one soul.”) Judge Holden’s logic disturbs even more when set beside McCarthy’s own beliefs. “I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea,” McCarthy said in a 1992 interview. “Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire that it be that way will enslave you and make your life vacuous.” Human perception both reveals and constitutes a world soaked in blood.
* * *
The genocides and expulsions of the American frontier would be reason enough, but the violence of McCarthy’s books stems largely from a more recent catastrophe, the threat of nuclear destruction. By 1982, when McCarthy was working on Blood Meridian and Bobby was fleeing his father’s legacy into rural Spain, the old doyens against the bomb—such as or Bertrand Russell, or Oppenheimer himself after Hiroshima—were gone. A new generation steeled by the Cuban Missile Crisis could now ask, at a scholarly remove, what the atomic age had done, and why. That year the New Yorker serialized the three essays of The Fate of the Earth, Jonathan Schell’s plainspoken consideration of the atomic threat soon republished as a bestselling book. In nontechnical language, Schell explains the probability that should a nuclear war happen now, in 1982, the death of our species might well come to pass. “‘Come to pass,’” Schell observes, catching himself, “is a perfect phrase to describe what extinction cannot do. It can ‘come,’ but not ‘to pass,’ for with its arrival the creature that divides time into past, present, and future—the creature before whose eyes it would ‘pass’—is annihilated.” With a language of vision and witness that feels like a model for Blood Meridian, Schell narrates the unthinkable waste of extinction, writing that “when extinction is reached, all the ‘spectators’ have themselves gone to the grave, and only the stones and stars, and whatever algae and mosses may have made it through, are present to witness the end.” Extinction means an end to the sensory universe that God watches for Berkeley, and that settlers watch for McCarthy. “In extinction, a darkness falls over the world not because the lights have gone out,” Schell explains, “but because the eyes that behold the light have been closed.”
The Passenger is a book about guilt. Not guilt for Hiroshima, but for participating in a meritocracy of mind that could have allowed a Hiroshima in the first place. Oppenheimer wrote in 1947 that “physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.” Too young for such primary blame, Bobby (born in 1945) and his fellow baby boomers must instead confront what Ian Buruma calls “the wages of guilt”: a society’s inheritance, at a generational remove, of a crime’s moral fallout. Today we tend to locate the United States’ original sin in chattel slavery or indigenous land theft, both of which McCarthy touches on in his work. But these late McCarthy books aim at a global wrongdoing, the point where the highest reaches of human intellect culminate in humanity’s self-destruction. It is for this legacy that McCarthy felt some vague but nagging charge of accessory, and against this legacy that Bobby, in the episodic closing pages of The Passenger, wins a final sense of quiet.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote alignleft has-text-align-left"><blockquote>The Passenger is a book about guilt. Not guilt for Hiroshima, but for participating in a meritocracy of mind that could have allowed a Hiroshima in the first place.</blockquote></figure>
McCarthy “wasn’t that good” at physics, he recalled in an interview. “I didn’t want to do anything unless I could be the best at it.” In that admission some might hear his high-achieving father. And in the premonitions of his great villain Judge Holden—“the man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will by the decision alone have taken charge of the world”—some might hear the desert hubris of the soft-spoken, poetry-loving Oppenheimer. In the early 1700s, by contrast, Berkeley laughed at Robert Hooke’s new microscope, the quantum innovation of the day, claiming that it brought us no closer to discovering God’s reality. McCarthy’s books both seek the clarity and accept the blindness.
If Alicia’s curse is intelligence, her author seems to have fancied the same in his own gifts: a direct line to immediate sensory prose, a bottomless store of fresh figurative language, and the stamina required to chart an inquiry into human perception, in storybook form, across the better part of a century. “I will say one thing: you’ve opened my eyes,” an outraged small-town sheriff tells Suttree, the college-educated fuckup who has abandoned his wife. “I’ve got two daughters, oldest fourteen, and I’d see them both in hell fore I’d send them up to that university.” An old family home lost in the advancing flood of technological mastery, a village steamrolled by the highway of progress: McCarthy and his characters inherited a world where the sum of all intellect proves fatal to its parts.<a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/subscribe/?affid=housead" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank"></a>
The post <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-dam-and-the-bomb-an-appreciation-of-cormac-mccarthy/">The Dam and the Bomb: An Appreciation of Cormac McCarthy</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.truthdig.com">Truthdig</a>.
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