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<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"><channel><title>Common Dreams</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/</link><description>Common Dreams</description><atom:link href="https://www.commondreams.org/feeds/feed.rss" rel="self"></atom:link><language>en-us</language><lastBuildDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2024 06:16:48 -0000</lastBuildDate><image><url>https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8zMjEwMDM4OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc0OTE0ODI1N30.nWE-dO3LpGCfrP6HKKrgMGYA-9xT8aazabGiQTfcsrM/image.png?width=210</url><link>https://www.commondreams.org/</link><title>Common Dreams</title></image><item><title>Biden Administration Finalizes Weak Endangered Species Rules</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/biden-administration-finalizes-weak-endangered-species-rules</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>The Department of the Interior and Department of Commerce today finalized their proposed <a href="https://www.fws.gov/project/endangered-species-act-regulation-revisions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">revisions</a> to three sets of regulations that implement the Endangered Species Act’s listing and consultation procedures.</p><p>Of the 31 harmful changes made in 2019 to the Act’s regulations, only seven are fully addressed and corrected in today’s final rules. Those include restoring the precautionary “blanket-rule” for threatened species. Today’s finalized rules restored the long-standing prohibition on consideration of economic impacts when deciding whether to list species as threatened or endangered. The rules also remove barriers to designating as critical habitat unoccupied areas that are vital to the recovery of the nation’s wildlife and plants.</p><p>The new final rules fail to undo changes made in 2019 to the consultation process that ignore cumulative impacts to listed species and in general make it far easier for industries to receive approval for projects that destroy the habitat of countless species nationwide.</p><p>“This was a massive missed opportunity to address the worsening extinction crisis,” said Stephanie Kurose, a senior policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We needed bold solutions to guide conservation as the climate crisis drives more and more animals and plants to extinction. Instead we’re mostly still stuck with the disastrous anti-wildlife changes made by the previous administration.”</p><p>The final rules retain a number of harmful provisions governing the responsibility of federal agencies to avoid jeopardizing protected species or harming their critical habitat.</p><p>In particular, one rule requires federal actions to affect species’ critical habitat “as a whole” before real habitat protections are put in place. This is particularly harmful for wide-ranging animals like the northern spotted owl, polar bear or gulf sturgeon that have large critical habitat designations but are still at risk of extinction.</p><p>The rules also let federal agencies off the hook for past harms to endangered species from things like dam or highway construction by deeming these projects part of the “environmental baseline.”</p><p>In 2022 the Center filed a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/esa/pdfs/Petition-to-Strengthen-the-ESA-Implementing-Regss.pdf?_gl=1*ezwjb3*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MTAxNzU5MTkuQ2p3S0NBancxN3F2QmhCckVpd0ExclU5dzhUQkJNeDM1aEVzaVFyTUxTU0ktb2ZmcFB5MExqLW00dGJ4SFp6SFJtMzY1eEE2U2ZxenZSb0NNMVVRQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_au*MTQ2OTk3ODY3Ny4xNzA4OTgxNjA1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">legal petition</a> urging the wildlife agencies to enact ambitious new regulatory safeguards that strengthen all aspects of the law. The Biden administration has yet to respond to the petition.</p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 17:21:41 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/biden-administration-finalizes-weak-endangered-species-rules</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Defenders Statement on Biden Administration’s Final Endangered Species Act Regulations</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/defenders-statement-on-biden-administrations-final-endangered-species-act-regulations</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>The Biden administration today released final Endangered Species Act regulations that restore several core components of the bedrock conservation law that the previous administration sought to undercut. Defenders of Wildlife, which pursued legal challenges to the 2019 regulations, expressed both appreciation and concern with the newly released regulations. </p><p>“While the regulations restore some essential wildlife protections, we were hopeful for far more than the marginal win the Biden administration delivered today. Our nation’s threatened and endangered species are under constant attack and the Endangered Species Act is the only thing standing between them and extinction,” <strong>said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. </strong>“We appreciate the administration’s work on this matter, but at the end of the day much work remains to be done to ensure the Endangered Species Act can fulfill its critical lifesaving mission.”</p><p>Among the positive changes in the final regulations are the reinstatement of automatic ESA protections for threatened species managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service known as the “blanket 4(d) rule” and the removal of regulations that injected economic considerations when determining whether a species should be listed under the ESA. The ESA requires listing decisions be made using the best available science and specifically prohibits consideration of related economic costs.</p><p>Of concern in the regulations, among other things, is retained 2019 language that allows the piecemeal destruction of critical habitat for threatened and endangered species; invites federal agencies to rely on speculative and unverified mitigation measures when analyzing agency actions that could jeopardize listed species or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat; and, invites federal agencies to ignore existing degraded conditions that have caused serious harm to listed species or critical habitat when considering the modification or relicensing of activities and existing facilities. </p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 17:19:13 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/defenders-statement-on-biden-administrations-final-endangered-species-act-regulations</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens on Corporate Profits Data: “Inflation has more room to fall if corporations stop their excessive profiteering”</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/groundworks-lindsay-owens-on-corporate-profits-data-inflation-has-more-room-to-fall-if-corporations-stop-their-excessive-profiteering</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released new data showing that domestic nonfinancial corporate profits increased $136.5 billion in Q4, compared with an increase of $90.8 billion in Q3. <strong>Groundwork’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens</strong> reacted with the following statement: </p><blockquote> “Even as supply chains have normalized and input costs have fallen, corporations are still padding their profits on the backs of families. Falling inflation has been a welcome sight, but it has more room to fall if corporations stop their excessive profiteering.” <br/> </blockquote> <p><strong></strong>Email <a href="mailto:press@groundworkcollaborative.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>press@groundworkcollaborative.org</u></a> to speak with one of Groundwork’s experts about the role of corporate profits in rising prices.<strong></strong></p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:41:19 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/groundworks-lindsay-owens-on-corporate-profits-data-inflation-has-more-room-to-fall-if-corporations-stop-their-excessive-profiteering</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>No Place For Bad Actors, Thanks</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/further/no-place-for-bad-actors-thanks</link><description><![CDATA[
<img src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/former-rnc-chair-ronna-mcdaniel-speaks-at-2020-gop-convention.jpg?id=51847006&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=327%2C0%2C361%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>Well that was blessedly quick. Less than a week after NBC said it would pay fascist bootlicker and election liar Ronna McDaniel to bootlick and lie on air - and a day after its employees loudly protested the move - NBC, citing their "legitimate concerns," said oops never mind and dropped McDaniel. Along with her colleagues, Rachel Maddow had cogently argued against giving a platform to a low-life hack who is "part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government."</p><p>The righteous revolt by journalists at <em>NBC</em> and <em>MSNBC </em>was swift after the network announced McDaniel's $300,000 hire Friday, two weeks after she was forced out as RNC chair to make room for Trump's even more servile daughter-in-law Lara Trump. At the time, <em>NBC</em> said it wanted to include news contributors representing a "diverse set of viewpoints and experiences," a dumpster-fire of an explanation blasted by enraged reporters who noted that McDaniel aiding and abetting a propaganda campaign intended to overthrow or at least undermine electoral democracy - including telling GOP canvassers in Michigan to not <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2024/03/24/ronna-mcdaniel-defends-pressuring-wayne-county-canvassers-2020-election-certification-donald-trump/73084667007/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em></em>certify </a>2020 election results - is so far above and beyond a "diverse viewpoint" that Trump and multiple co-conspirators have been criminally indicted for it. </p><p>Reporters <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/msnbc-hosts-criticize-nbc-news-hiring-ronna-mcdaniel-rcna145039" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">railed </a>through Monday against McDaniel poisoning what Nicolle Wallace called "our sacred airwaves," from <em>M</em><em>orning Joe</em>'s Mika Brzezinski decrying someone "who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier" to late-night Lawrence O’Donnell advising his network, "Don’t hire anyone close to the crimes." Jen Psaki <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/rachel-maddow-implor..." target="_blank">rejected </a>right-wing comparisons with her own move from politics to reporting. "That kind of experience (only) has value if it's paired with honesty and good faith," she said, especially in this fraught moment. "Our democracy is in danger because of the lies that people like Ronna McDaniel have pushed on this country...This isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats. This isn't about red versus blue. This is about truth versus lies."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Maddow joins colleagues in objecting to McDaniel for legitimizing Trump, attacking democracy</small>
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</p><p>Rachel Maddow <a href="full%20maddow" target="_blank">devoted </a>most of her time on air to joining the backlash, expressing solidarity with her colleagues' "loud and principled objections" to giving a voice to the willing accomplice of an aspiring strongman. En route, she highlighted our “long history of forgettable men" intent on convincing the country we need a "new system of government." “We have had a lot of these guys, but our generation’s version of this guy has gotten a lot farther than all the rest of them," she <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-new..." target="_blank">said.</a> "And why is that? (Trump) would have been as forgotten as the rest of them had he not been able to attach himself to an institution like the Republican Party, and had the leader of that party (decide) she would not just abide him, she would help. She would help with the worst of it." </p><p>Which was, in essence, "priming your people" not to accept the next election results. "In the news business, yes, we are covering an election," she <a href="full%20maddow" target="_blank">said</a>. "We’re also covering bad actors trying to use the rights and privileges of a democracy to end democracy. The chief threat among them now is not the rioters and kooks, but the slick political professionals who are turning their considerable talents to laundering violently revolutionary claims (that) America’s election results aren’t real, and they shouldn’t be respected.” The "inexplicable" hire of McDaniel to report on election news, she suggested, was akin to hiring a mobster at a D.A.'s office or a pickpocket as a TSA airport screener. She ended with a civil, simple plea to the network: "I hope they will reverse their decision."</p><p>And so they did. Tuesday evening, <em>Puck News</em> <a href="https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/1772672463790547271" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a><em> NBC</em> had dropped McDaniel in her second, well-deserved job humiliation - ever classy, even Trump mocked her - in two weeks. <em>NBC</em> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/nbc-news-cuts-ties-ronna-mcdaniel-rcna145155" target="_blank">said </a>chairman Cesar Conde sent staff an email reversing the hire and apologizing to those "who felt we let them down." McDaniel is reportedly, unsurprisingly <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/26/nbc-news-ronna-mcdaniel-commentator?utm_campaign=editorial&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">"exploring </a>her legal options." Still, argues historian Timothy Snyder, a fat check - she may get paid in full, giving her $500 a second for one interview - will be a small price to pay. In what is "not a normal political situation where you can give a little and get a little," he says,<a href="https://twitter.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1772367578788212946" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> appeasement</a> is a lousy option: "If you practise giving things away, if you say, 'Ok, we're gonna practice appeasing a dictator so when the dictator comes we'll be better at it' - is that what you should be doing?"</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 04:24:05 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/further/no-place-for-bad-actors-thanks</guid><dc:creator>Abby Zimet</dc:creator><media:content medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/former-rnc-chair-ronna-mcdaniel-speaks-at-2020-gop-convention.jpg?id=51847006&width=980"></media:content></item><item><title>Community, Environmental, and Animal Welfare Organizations Press EPA to Strengthen Water Pollution Control Standards for Slaughterhouses and Animal Rendering Facilities</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/community-environmental-and-animal-welfare-organizations-press-epa-to-strengthen-water-pollution-control-standards-for-slaughterhouses-and-animal-rendering-facilities</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Forty-five community, environmental, and animal welfare organizations—together representing tens of millions of people across the United States—filed <u></u>public comments<u></u> yesterday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, pressing for strong protections against water pollution from slaughterhouses and animal rendering facilities. The EPA published a proposal to strengthen existing protections in January 2024, following lawsuits from several of the commenting organizations. Yesterday’s comments emphasized that the EPA must improve its proposal to address environmental injustice and reduce harm to people and the environment. </p><p><strong>Food & Water Watch Attorney Dani Replogle </strong><strong>said</strong>: “EPA’s preference for weak slaughterhouse regulations privileges the health of a polluting industry over that of frontline communities and our nation’s waters. To adopt anything less than the most stringent clean water protections in the agency’s final rule would be a missed opportunity and a big mistake.”</p><p>“For decades, slaughterhouses and meat processing plants have benefited from lax water pollution standards, and we are pleased that the EPA is finally taking action to strengthen these standards for some of the largest plants,” <strong>said</strong> <strong>Sarah Kula, Attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project</strong>. “But EPA’s proposal falls far short of what the Clean Water Act requires and exempts thousands of polluting plants that put downstream communities and our waterways in harm’s way. EPA must require that these plants install modern water pollution controls and clean up their act.”</p><p>Nearly 10 billion animals are killed each year in slaughterhouses across the United States—that is, over 18,825 animals every minute. Slaughterhouse byproducts such as fat, bone, and feathers frequently are sent to rendering facilities for conversion into tallow, animal meal, and other products. Both slaughterhouses and rendering facilities require a near-constant flow of water, and every year, these facilities discharge hundreds of millions of pounds of water pollution into rivers and streams. According to EPA, slaughterhouses and rendering facilities, which together comprise the Meat and Poultry Products (“MPP”) industrial point source category, are the largest industrial source of phosphorus pollution and the second largest industrial source of nitrogen pollution.</p><p>“EPA knows that pollution from slaughterhouses and rendering facilities disproportionately harms under-resourced communities, low-income communities, and communities of color,” <strong>said Earthjustice attorney Alexis Andiman</strong>. “Yet EPA’s proposal expressly ignores environmental justice and, instead, champions weak standards that, it claims, are necessary to thwart disruptions to the nation’s meat supply—despite clear evidence that stronger regulations will have virtually no impact on meat producers or consumers. The Agency’s priorities are backwards. We need the EPA to protect people and the environment, not corporations.”</p><p>Pollution from MPP facilities has devastating consequences for human health and the environment, and it disproportionately harms people living in vulnerable and under-resourced communities. Nonetheless, EPA has failed to revise its regulations governing water pollution from the MPP industry for <em>at least</em> 20 years. Some MPP facilities are still subject to outdated and under-protective standards promulgated in the mid-1970s. EPA’s existing regulations fail to impose any restrictions on discharges of phosphorus, and the Agency has <em>never </em>published national standards applicable to the vast majority of MPP facilities, which discharge wastewater indirectly through publicly owned treatment works (“POTWs”), even though EPA has known for decades that—without adequate pretreatment—pollutants in MPP wastewater pass through many POTWs into our nation’s rivers and streams.</p><p>The EPA’s proposal set out three options to strengthen existing standards. The comments made clear that the EPA’s preferred option, which offers the weakest protections for people and the environment, is inconsistent with federal law—not least because it is motivated by a desire to avoid disruptions to the country’s meat supply, even though claims of past disruptions have been resoundingly debunked. Instead, the commenting organizations pressed the EPA to select and strengthen the most protective of the regulatory options presented, which would prevent over 320 million pounds of pollution, reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution by 85%, and help to protect over 22 million people.</p><p>“We call on the EPA to rise above Big Ag’s push to weaken this plan to reduce harms from the millions of gallons of pollution slaughterhouses and animal rendering plants are spewing into our waterways,” <strong>said</strong> <strong>Hannah Connor, deputy director of environmental health at the Center for Biological Diversity</strong>. “This proposal would put very reasonable updates in place that will give critically imperiled fish and mussels the protections they need to survive.” </p>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2024 19:23:04 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/community-environmental-and-animal-welfare-organizations-press-epa-to-strengthen-water-pollution-control-standards-for-slaughterhouses-and-animal-rendering-facilities</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>No Lethal AI Weapons, 14 Groups Tell the Pentagon</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/no-lethal-ai-weapons-14-groups-tell-the-pentagon</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>The U.S. military should clarify that it will not develop or deploy lethal weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI), 14 groups said in a <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/14-civil-society-groups-call-on-the-pentagon-to-clarify-replicator-program-intent/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a> sent today to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. The letter was co-signed by Public Citizen, the Future of Life Institute, Demand Progress, and Win Without War, among others. </p><p>The groups’ letter focuses on the Pentagon’s Replicator program, which proposes to rely heavily on drones to combat Chinese missile strength in a theoretical conflict over Taiwan or at China’s eastern coast. The just-passed appropriations bill includes $200 million in funding for Replicator, with an additional $300 million expected to be devoted to the program.</p><p>According to the groups, the Pentagon has not been sufficiently clear about whether the program involves the development and deployment of autonomous weapons. “This is no place for strategic ambiguity. Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is ‘ultimately’ responsible for the use of force or not,” the letter reads.</p><p>“The United States should state plainly that it will not create or deploy killer robots and should work to advance global treaty negotiations to ban such weapons,” said <strong>Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen</strong>. “At minimum, the United States should commit that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the use of autonomous weapons. Ambiguity about the Replicator program essentially ensures a catastrophic arms race over autonomous weapons. That’s a race in which all of humanity is the loser.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2024 17:22:01 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/no-lethal-ai-weapons-14-groups-tell-the-pentagon</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>UN Special Rapporteur report on Gaza provides crucial evidence that must spur international action to prevent genocide</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/un-special-rapporteur-report-on-gaza-provides-crucial-evidence-that-must-spur-international-action-to-prevent-genocide</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Amnesty International welcomes the new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, which concludes there are “reasonable grounds to believe the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met”. As the UN Human Rights Council holds a meeting today to discuss the report’s findings, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:</p><p>“This is a crucial body of work that must serve as a vital call to action to states. They must uphold their obligations under the Genocide Convention and take concrete measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza today.</p><p>“The time to act to prevent genocide is now. Third states must apply political pressure on the warring parties to implement <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/03/un-resolution-must-pave-way-for-enduring-ceasefire-to-alleviate-mass-suffering-in-gaza/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the UN Security Council resolution adopted yesterday</a> demanding an immediate ceasefire, use their influence to insist that Israel abides by the resolution, including by stopping the shelling and lifting restrictions on humanitarian aid. They must impose a comprehensive arms embargo against all parties to the conflict. They must also pressure Hamas and other armed groups to free all civilian hostages. </p><p>“The report comes two months after the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/israel-must-comply-with-key-icj-ruling-ordering-it-do-all-in-its-power-to-prevent-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its ruling warning of a plausible risk of genocide</a>. In that time, the situation in Gaza has grown exponentially worse, with thousands more Palestinians killed and Israel continuing to refuse to comply with the ICJ ruling to ensure provision of sufficient humanitarian aid to Palestinians as human-made famine edges closer each day and more people starve to death.</p> <blockquote>The time to act to prevent genocide is now. Third states must apply political pressure on the warring parties to implement the UN Security Council resolution adopted yesterday… They must impose a comprehensive arms embargo against all parties to the conflict. They must also pressure Hamas and other armed groups to free all civilian hostages.<br/> <cite>Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard</cite></blockquote> <p>“We echo calls made in the UN Special Rapporteur’s report to ensure that UNRWA is fully funded, and also able to operate across all of Gaza – including in northern Gaza where Israeli authorities are denying entry to UNRWA trucks.</p><p>“Helping to prevent genocide also means supporting accountability efforts including the ongoing investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and exercising universal jurisdiction to bring those suspected of crimes under international law to justice. All states and in particular allies of Israel must press Israel to allow the UN Commission of Inquiry and the Special Rapporteur and other independent human rights monitors access to Gaza. </p><p>“An enduring ceasefire remains the best way to enforce the ICJ’s provisional measures to prevent genocide and further crimes and civilian suffering. In recent days momentum has gathered around calls to halt the fighting, with the European Council demanding a ceasefire last week and a UN Security Council yesterday adopting a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the remaining two weeks of Ramadan. States must now focus their efforts on making these calls a reality.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2024 17:20:35 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/un-special-rapporteur-report-on-gaza-provides-crucial-evidence-that-must-spur-international-action-to-prevent-genocide</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Federal Judge Dismisses Elon Musk’s X Lawsuit Against Nonprofit Researchers</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/federal-judge-dismisses-elon-musks-x-lawsuit-against-nonprofit-researchers</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>A California federal court judge today dismissed Elon Musk-led X’s claims that the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Inc. (CCDH) violated X’s terms of service when it used automated data collection — known as scraping — to inform research criticizing X for allowing what CCDH deemed disinformation to remain on the platform. </p><p>The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing that private companies should not be allowed to wield breach of contract claims as a weapon to punish criticism, and to secure damages stemming solely from claimed reputational harm resulting from that criticism.</p><p>“The court’s ruling reaffirms that vital First Amendment protections apply to researchers and journalists who use digital tools like scraping to inform the public about the practices of powerful platforms,” said <strong>Esha Bhandari, deputy project director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project</strong>.</p><p>In this case, CCDH engaged in scraping to inform the public of instances when X failed to remove posts that CCDH deemed dis- and mis-information, despite evidence the content violated X’s content guidelines. X accused CCDH of obtaining its data illegally, and claimed that its reports drove advertisers away from the site. The ACLU and its legal partners argued in its brief, however, that scraping when done in the context of public interest research is part and parcel of the subsequent public interest speech it enables.</p><p>The court dismissed X’s suit, writing in its opinion that efforts to use an anti-scraping contract term to bypass the high standard for defamation claims was impermissible and noting that the lawsuit was about punishing CCDH for its speech criticizing X.</p><p>“This is an important decision that sees Elon Musk’s lawsuit for what it is—an effort to punish his critics for constitutionally protected speech and to deter researchers from studying his platform,” said Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “Society needs reliable and ethical research into social media platforms, and often that research relies on being able to study publicly available posts. Musk’s lawsuit imperiled that kind of research by threatening it with ruinous liability, but thankfully, the court shut down his case.”</p><p>The speech of research organizations like CCDH. as well as academics and journalists — in many instances made possible only by scraping — has shed necessary light on a panoply of concerns that powerful social media platforms have failed to independently monitor and correct, and has provided crucial information for regulators to take enforcement action. Such public interest research serves as a key accountability mechanism to reveal the platforms’ content moderation choices and privacy policies and practices.</p><p>“The district court rightly saw through X’s chilling attempt to twist the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and contract law to retaliate against a nonprofit that published critical reports regarding hateful content on X,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “The First Amendment and California’s anti-SLAPP statute protect anyone who scrapes publicly available websites and publishes newsworthy information about the data.”</p><p>“This lawsuit was nothing more than a vain attempt to stymie independent research into an influential social media platform. The court’s decision today is a much-needed reminder that free speech includes the right to investigate and criticize Elon Musk and X,” said Jake Karr, deputy director of NYU’s Technology Law & Policy Clinic, which helped prepare the friend-of-the-court brief. “And it serves as a clear example for powerful corporations and individuals in the tech industry—it’s not so easy to abuse the U.S. legal system to silence criticism and evade public accountability.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 20:03:57 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/federal-judge-dismisses-elon-musks-x-lawsuit-against-nonprofit-researchers</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>High Levels of Genetically Engineered Toxins and Glyphosate in GMO Corn Pose Serious Health Risks in Mexico</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/high-levels-of-genetically-engineered-toxins-and-glyphosate-in-gmo-corn-pose-serious-health-risks-in-mexico</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Friends of the Earth U.S. submitted <a href="https://foe.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Friends-of-the-Earth-USMCA-Mexico-Corn-comments.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a brief</a> describing significant new science on health risks of genetically engineered corn, which the U.S. failed to consider as part of its trade dispute with Mexico. These comments were invited by the tribunal and submitted on March 13, and support Mexico’s extensive presentation of the science and rejection of the U.S.’ grossly inadequate safety assessments.<strong></strong> </p><p>The brief was submitted to the dispute resolution tribunal set up under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA), charged with determining whether actions taken by Mexico to keep genetically engineered (GE or GMO) corn out of tortillas and other common corn-based foods violate provisions of the USMCA, as alleged by the U.S. </p><p>The comments highlight that U.S. approval of GE corn is largely based on industry assertions, not science. Assessments of reproductive, developmental, neurological, metabolic, microbiome, or GI tract-related health risks have not been addressed in a meaningful way through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process or via any other process in the public or private sector. U.S. regulatory approval of GMO corn has rested on assertions from technology developers that foods derived from GMO crops are “substantially equivalent” in composition to non-GE foods, which recent findings show are not founded on science. </p><p>“The U.S. government’s submission to the tribunal is seriously deficient. It lacks basic information about the toxins expressed in contemporary GMO corn varieties and their levels. The U.S. submission also ignores dozens of studies linking the insecticidal toxins and glyphosate residues found in GMO corn to adverse impacts on public health,” according to Dr. Kendra Klein, deputy director of science for Friends of the Earth and co-author of the FOE comments. </p><p>“The U.S. government has not presented an ‘appropriate’ risk assessment to the tribunal as called for in the USMCA dispute because such an assessment has never been done in the U.S. or anywhere in the world,” said coauthor Dr. Charles Benbrook.</p><p>The comments show that, since the commercial introduction of GMO corn varieties in the 1990s, there has been an approximate four-fold increase in the number of toxins and pesticides used on the average hectare of GMO corn. Subsequently, the levels of genetically engineered insecticidal toxins found in GMO corn grain are 50-100 parts per million (ppm), up from 2-6 ppm – the average when the limited existing GMO corn food safety studies were carried out up to 30 years ago. These levels exceed maximum food tolerances for widely used corn insecticides by 40- to 2,000-fold. </p><p>The consequences of simultaneous exposures to multiple genetically engineered toxins along with residues of glyphosate and other pesticides used in growing corn have not been evaluated — a massive scientific gap in the ability to accurately assess human health risks of GMO corn as it could be utilized in Mexico. What’s more, health risks would likely be amplified in Mexico, as corn is the caloric backbone of the food supply, accounting, on average, for 50% or more of the calories in the Mexican diet.</p><p>Importantly, the comments summarize scientific data showing human health risks associated with the multiple insecticidal toxins found in GMO corn. While much of the focus of the health harms of GMO corn rightfully center on glyphosate and other hazardous herbicides that the crops have been engineered to withstand, emerging evidence on these toxins is concerning. Data show the potential for risk of adverse impacts on the human <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0940299316302056?via%3Dihub" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">microbiome</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006291X00925841?" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GI tract</a>, risks of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/11/10/999" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">allergenicity</a> stimulating an immune system response “as potent as that elicited by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-3083.2003.01190.x" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cholera toxin</a>,” and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7202568/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">presence of antibodies</a> against Cry toxins in at least 8% of Americans, clear evidence that the toxin remains mostly intact after passing through the human GI tract. </p><p>Finally, the comments summarize scientific evidence linking glyphosate-based herbicides to increased risk of blood cancers, including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1383574218300887?via%3Dihub" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">non-Hodgkin lymphoma</a> and<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2306003120" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> leukemia</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10807039.2023.2256886" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">metabolic syndrome</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12403-021-00451-3#:~:text=Glyphosate%20and%20its%20major%20metabolite,factor%20for%20CKDu%20in%20farmers." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">kidney</a> and l<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6776714/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">iver</a> disease, <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP7295" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">preterm birth</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9101768/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">neurodevelopmental problems</a>, and disruption of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9145961/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bacterial microbiome</a> in humans and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10561581/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">other mammals</a>.</p><p>FOE calls on the U.S. to provide science addressing these concerns in its USMCA response. The tribunal is expected to issue its ruling on the dispute in the fall.</p>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 18:32:45 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/high-levels-of-genetically-engineered-toxins-and-glyphosate-in-gmo-corn-pose-serious-health-risks-in-mexico</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Court Rules 2022 Wyoming Oil and Gas Lease Sale Was Illegal</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/court-rules-2022-wyoming-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-was-illegal</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>A federal court <a href="https://earthjustice.org/document/wyoming-lease-sale-summary-judgment-order" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ruled on Friday</a> that the Bureau of Land Management’s <a href="https://foe.org/news/wyoming-lease-lawsuit/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">decision to lease nearly 120,000 acres of Wyoming federal land</a> for oil and gas development in June 2022 violated the law. The court found that BLM moved forward with the lease sale – one of the largest held by the Biden administration on public lands – despite the known risks to drinking water, wildlife, and the climate. BLM will now be required to reevaluate the environmental impacts of the sale. </p><p>“While BLM is making considerable strides to safeguard critical conservation values, this decision affirms that much work remains,” said <strong>Ben Tettlebaum, director and senior staff attorney with The Wilderness Society</strong>. “BLM must fully account for the serious impacts of its oil and gas program on groundwater, wildlife, and the climate. Importantly, the court’s ruling shows that the agency must factor into its leasing decisions the enormous costs that greenhouse gas emissions stemming from its oil and gas program impose on public land resources and on the communities that depend on them for clean air and water.”</p><p>Before the sale, BLM acknowledged that the greenhouse gas pollution from development of the leases could result in billions of dollars in social and environmental harm – the equivalent of adding hundreds of thousands of cars to the road each year. The agency chose to move forward with the sale anyway, stating that it was not factoring those costs into its decision. The court found that this decision was illegal. The ruling stated that BLM cannot “overlook[] what is widely regarded as the most pressing environmental threat facing the world today.” </p><p>“We are beyond pleased with this outcome,” said Hallie Templeton, legal director for Friends of the Earth. “This ruling underscores that federal agencies simply cannot ignore climate, wildlife, and water impacts when analyzing the myriad risks of oil and gas leasing, whether in Wyoming or across the country. We will keep fighting to ensure that officials heed this mandate to the fullest extent.”</p><p>There is a growing body of evidence that BLM frequently puts underground sources of drinking water at risk by failing to enforce its own regulations that require companies to properly construct oil and gas wells to protect those aquifers. In the ruling, the court recognized that BLM violated the law by ignoring evidence of the lack of effectiveness and enforcement of its own regulations. </p><p>Finally, the court held that the agency had not grappled with how drilling on the leases would harm wildlife such as the sage grouse and mule deer. The court noted that BLM is reworking its conservation plans for the sage grouse in order to “stop the bleeding” of this iconic species, yet refused to postpone leasing in the bird’s habitat until those updates were completed and instead proceeded with the lease sale. The agency must now properly consider the harm to these species. </p><p>“We are pleased that the court recognized the harm of moving forward with this lease sale to groundwater, wildlife, and the climate,” said Alexandra Schluntz, senior associate attorney with Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “This should be another wake up call for the Bureau of Land Management to at long last address the damage caused from federal oil and gas development. It is time to make fossil fuel leasing on our public lands a thing of the past.” </p><p>Earthjustice represents The Wilderness Society and Friends of the Earth in this lawsuit, <a href="https://foe.org/news/wyoming-lease-lawsuit/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">filed</a> in June 2022. <br/></p>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 18:21:41 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/court-rules-2022-wyoming-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-was-illegal</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Uptick in Biden DOJ’s Corporate Prosecutions Is Encouraging but Insufficient</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/uptick-in-biden-dojs-corporate-prosecutions-is-encouraging-but-insufficient</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) efforts to ramp up corporate crime enforcement remain insufficient, as the DOJ prosecuted only 113 corporate offenders in 2023, an uptick from the previous year’s 99 prosecutions, according to a new <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/enforcement-uptick-corporate-prosecutions-report-2023" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">report</a> from Public Citizen. </p><p>Federal corporate prosecutions have been trending downward since 2000, when the DOJ prosecuted triple the number of corporations that it does today (304). The number of corporate prosecutions has remained far below the agency’s 25-year average (172) since the end of the Obama administration. </p><p>The report shows that large corporations that break the law continue to receive more lenient treatment – and that small businesses are likelier to face prosecution. According to U.S. Sentencing Commission data, about 76% of the corporations that the DOJ prosecuted in 2023 had 50 employees or less, while only about 12% had 1,000 employees or more. Meanwhile, the majority of corporations that were able to avoid prosecution for criminal misconduct through leniency deals with the DOJ (10 out of 14) had 5,000 employees or more.</p><p>“The increase in corporate prosecutions is a welcome shift from the previous decline, and the new policy of rewarding corporate crime whistleblowers could go further toward restoring enforcement,” said <strong>Rick Claypool, a research director for Public Citizen and author of the report</strong>. “But prosecutions remain far too few, and the ongoing overuse of leniency deals for big corporations that break the law continues to undermine deterrence.”</p><p>The report notes that the DOJ’s newly strengthened policies for punishing corporate recidivists is currently facing a critical test: Boeing.</p><p>The 2021 deal Trump’s DOJ struck with Boeing over misconduct related to the 737 Max crashes, which claimed 346 lives, expired in January, just days before the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 door plug failure. Prosecutors have until June to determine whether Boeing abided by the deal. If Boeing violated its deal with the DOJ, the deal states that the corporation can be prosecuted for any federal criminal violation that prosecutors know about related to the 737 Max crashes. This is separate from any criminal charges that the DOJ might bring related to the Alaska Airlines flight.</p><p>Public Citizen sent a <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/letter-urging-doj-to-investigate-boeing-max-crash-resolution/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a> in February to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and other top officials urging the DOJ to initiate an investigation to assess whether Boeing violated the 2021 deal. A criminal investigation is now underway, according to news reports.</p><p>“If the DOJ finds that Boeing again violated the law, Boeing should be prosecuted both for its original and its subsequent misconduct,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen and co-author of the letter. “Boeing should be charged as aggressively as the facts and the law support, including possibly with multiple counts and manslaughter charges.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 17:07:18 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/uptick-in-biden-dojs-corporate-prosecutions-is-encouraging-but-insufficient</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>On the Blood of the Murdered Mothers and Children</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/further/on-the-blood-of-the-murdered-mothers-and-children</link><description><![CDATA[
<img src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/a-gazan-mother-mourns-her-daughter-killed-in-an-israeli-air-strike-in-deir-al-balah.jpg?id=51808894&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C672%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>Cruelty upon cruelty: Today is Mother's Day in Gaza, and across the Arab world. Still the slaughter, the wounding, trauma, hunger go on. Israel has killed over 12,000 Palestinian children, with many thousands more injured or orphaned ; each day, 37 more mothers are killed. Those who survive battle to keep their children alive, and mourn those they've lost. "The children are always ours," said James Baldwin. But in Gaza, says one mother, "Today, like all mothers, I feel broken."</p><p>This year, the <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/arabs-take-twitter-mark-mothers-day" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mother's Day</a> marked each March 21 is, for Gazans, a bloody travesty. The numbers still numb: More than 31,988 people have been killed in the ongoing) Israeli assault; another 74,188 have been injured, including over 32,800 children and 25,000 women, and 25,000 children have lost one or both parents. The <em>Palestine Red Crescent Society </em>estimates this Mother's Day would have been <a href="Crescent" target="_blank">commemorated</a> by 37 mothers killed; it was also marked by Israeli forces denying 28 Palestinian detained mothers from seeing their children. To date, Israel's "there-are-no-innocents" air campaign has dropped over 29,000 bombs, many of them 2,000-pound munitions that maim or kill within a quarter mile - often in so-called "safe zones" or "safe corridors" where Israel has told Gazans to go. Meanwhile, their relentless blockade has left at least half the population at imminent risk of famine; in recent weeks, at least several dozen <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240321-two-brothers-die-from-starvation-in-gaza/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">children</a> have <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/acute-malnutrition-has-doubled-one-month-north-gaza-strip-unicef" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">starved </a>to death.</p><p>When children are present in a time of genocide, <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/when-children-are-p..." target="_blank">writes </a>pediatrician Sabreen Akhter, they are always the most afflicted. and the most in need of protection. When children are in a place that is <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/3/..." target="_blank">bombed</a>, they die more often than adults due to their smaller bodies and organs: "When you bomb a place with children in it, your primary intention is to kill all the children first." When they're in a place lacking sustenance, they die more quickly: "When you cut off water and food to a population with children, your primary intention is to starve all the children first." When they're without housing and exposed to the elements, they are more traumatized, and die more rapidly. A U.N panel said Thursday Israel appears "calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian children." At least, urges Al-Jazeera, "Know their names." Last month, they <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlCzT9_YE9Y&t=115s" target="_blank">compiled </a>perhaps half the names of the young dead known to them when the total was 11,500; even then, it takes over seven minutes to scroll through.<br/></p><p><br/></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="108584db3d15e288d20655bee06aeb9e" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" lazy-loadable="true" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NlCzT9_YE9Y?rel=0&start=115" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Palestinian children killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza | Al Jazeera Newsfeed</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlCzT9_YE9Y&t=115s" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>For mothers who survive, their daily mission is to keep alive the children who remain to them. A 29-year-old mother of three whose husband was killed in a recent "flour massacre" - while trying to feed his children - <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestin..." target="_blank">struggles </a>to feed her five-month-old, because her breasts have almost no milk from lack of food and "deep sadness": "The baby keeps crying all day and night." A 49-year-old mother hasn't seen her only son, Ahmed, 16, since he rushed to the nearby scene of an Israeli air strike in October; she believes he was killed but has been unable to find or retrieve his body from the rubble. Nada Abu Aita, a 32-year-old "mother missing her mother" - who fled to Rafah - gave birth to her first son a month before the war and is fighting to "keep him alive, or stay alive for him." "I sometimes look into (his) eyes and I want to apologize for bringing him into this life," she says. "I am afraid I will lose him, and I am afraid I will be killed because he would be left alone."</p><p>And Alaa el-Qatrawi, a 33-year-old, PhD-educated poet and teacher,<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/3/21/alaas..." target="_blank"> lost</a> all four of her children in December. Separated from her husband, she saw them only part-time and last heard from them trapped amidst fighting when they called to beg, "Mama, get us out of here" - which she tried, but failed to do. Much later, her brother-in-law found their bodies. Lovingly, she names them: "Yamen, eight years old. The twins Orchid and Kanan, six years old. And Carmel, three years old.” She <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/3/21/alaas..." target="_blank">speaks </a>of them in the present tense: "They're beautiful...They're so smart and funny...Kenan loves fruit...I would put some next to him when he sleeps (for) when he wakes up." She had been trying to arrange to move her children to Dubai "for a better future"; she'd bought Orchid "a princess dress" for summer, "and now summer will come and Orchid isn't here to wear it." In earlier wars, she'd written prose or poetry; in this one, she can't. "What can a grieving mother say about her children?" she asks. No words.<br/></p>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 22 Mar 2024 06:31:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/further/on-the-blood-of-the-murdered-mothers-and-children</guid><dc:creator>Abby Zimet</dc:creator><media:content medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/a-gazan-mother-mourns-her-daughter-killed-in-an-israeli-air-strike-in-deir-al-balah.jpg?id=51808894&width=980"></media:content></item><item><title>CDC Report Underscores Need for Medicare For All</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/cdc-report-underscores-need-for-medicare-for-all</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released a report noting that U.S. life expectancy <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC2nbD2o0oMtto8knpx5PO0ZI7i2F08ZwLhPbl-2BfnwWuac76dKoHy2345W7C196JlpEe-2B-2FuTVqzUrzLJkpgesSw8naGblU0hIyIHcWH0OIGknzb37qaJpMDmOL6PhZQXu5QaOYAREdOgvkSCw1GKlkd7fSzKFEyROIQr2hCn-2FLn8Ab6nJU-2FVBtcYm59ypohNcFoitcvIz2mulgcTJP7byIRhdA-2FU-2Fta3PG7r-2Bk0YwOsKpmdvTm-2FVnJYV8xhiRbZurhKI9vYX21WlJGi3YKjbvjIY1Gx4lplMZlMKhrBgrYPuwJJaA_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3bFhIgBEuMwgkGM3plwVuvv7fqVuZ-2BQZsn6chVsU8kuZi-2FnCsAnkFoucodcJK0kT1yTp2eoaSwVjCESiebKO7cd7ac8otpiUuizyO0V3-2B8lrfA0E-2FeEuIC5cS6oYvFtReoioJsyDNKavUtX-2BVhjhit6yKAsWQmgbQp3sO4JQB28M06Yl3o1u2CuWcTJCQYls8o0p3PFIqbQo6vdm5nmc7o-2Bqg4tlR57FuOxJZXB6m6mM-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rose</a> for the first time in two years, after dropping in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. <br/> <br/> Research <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC70fbR8n3iu48XI7fyiNQRKW6RWXzJxgFCkFQzzaZ-2BQY1bkjBZzN2MjfBoft79hdoA-3D-3DE1Vp_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3bFhIgBEuMwgkGM3plwVuvv7fqVuZ-2BQZsn6chVsU8kuZi-2FnCsAnkFoucodcJK0kT1yTp2eoaSwVjCESiebKO7cS7CtM9HOb8OKVLKc1bJ5LGGyNkSB8EezMFgQow7j-2FXyMMyIsvAMVIThexUpFcMEt6KlTyEjeiQw8ZSSV-2FzcBPbj7uCedTjLzMoAPjGqQmVC2y2vHInp6DxbWR3CRJn-2BGbHzZmXOvKqxCiYy1Km1Qxk-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has shown</a> that lack of universal health care may have exacerbated U.S. mortality rates due to COVID-19, and that Medicare for All would have <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCxXwZR0L9lem-2B5XpAYqIXzOHn3isp9ixsj9nGsr0XoQxRAzHbIfDfuqESYa7xLCXFwK8aUVNJjE-2B5vO0vH9G2JY-3D64AQ_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3bFhIgBEuMwgkGM3plwVuvv7fqVuZ-2BQZsn6chVsU8kuZi-2FnCsAnkFoucodcJK0kT1yTp2eoaSwVjCESiebKO7cam6VHY9H3IIeG691sNJiMsMPh8m-2B-2F8meYC1kLFNoOJy6ha8RWkRLtmQKEPvkblEPp6wKyvjqW9UrgieOXPm3jTdDjQNfpypC-2BJNBI-2BQ2kQbQ5XPxa8yQ6z9BBFkAqczSbCqz8faEq0bSTgKw8z8Y3g-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">better prepared</a> the nation to withstand the pandemic.<br/> <br/> According to the <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC2tQWuvnBopSfGQbOmt3YaE1-2FOaKaSnbwTkDq6BkMSbXzp-2BGEW9M-2F6m8E0qOTdfFnM8sEhww6wcAJ7zcloFmzakaEFq6VVjmcitD0nFpQUtgFjzFe-2B6tetgnobUl6JyO-2FTMO6txlSBbq-2FQ8-2BA1AZEL4r2tHAHxSLq-2BiruOQEJ-2F9H23NqnevAUFaC3Sy9LSvG7Q-3D-3Dbpi-_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3bFhIgBEuMwgkGM3plwVuvv7fqVuZ-2BQZsn6chVsU8kuZi-2FnCsAnkFoucodcJK0kT1yTp2eoaSwVjCESiebKO7cXZIyiAZ0HhK7-2F0iFd801unYhHiEI55rzfL9LbCvQIjewTeAuf7Xk0QAzp76B9zp5OcSOBvNTFuATceZVFgeM9K8kZlYo-2B6Wue4NyT4nZIojRoWjw8rhgr9N6x0hLes6Lh4UkB2BnHbCaHfaYAbjNhI-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Petersen-KFF Health System Tracker</a>, the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy among large, wealthy countries with universal health care. A 2020 study by the <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC-2BoMpmVLbGF439AACxv3SkHsdfaV-2FEEMJV6Ab50VfjIcY-2BWSDC-2FnLeyG4R-2Foqj3i5mXCJ5rETGraaLXXjGEaNUcxFhIH9zG5va-2FTqSO74AAaAiu0nKs-2BFojEUpJFBtsjaEHPiit90d-2BIWB5rHTu62zox7UGsDXp22AJ2QqOpx9pTVIn-2F2AyanQjuS4ZsnI35i-2Bu06a1Z8JQi9i2NqEjDTVo-3Dv8NK_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3bFhIgBEuMwgkGM3plwVuvv7fqVuZ-2BQZsn6chVsU8kuZi-2FnCsAnkFoucodcJK0kT1yTp2eoaSwVjCESiebKO7cWWrlhENeZp9ZS-2BL4kqhWXYAf-2BvH4cAb-2B13lm6-2Bcq692NvfPQAmfTibhzPIhgIRmWCyl82de0eE32BuTsRYqpM-2F-2FttIDG78HxjCukQHzp9ZtjB-2FM4rWXSRx4GrvQQlwUtrGhBrlkZeTeJum0UW91ItQ-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">University of Pennsylvania</a> revealed that a shift to Medicare for All would increase life expectancy by almost two years. The <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCxxsXhPLJRzu-2FpD5G1wfWvYl9r9QLoKELPHR5w-2FX1s6JE98b2DlHYnaaPGj-2Ff-2BezC62heQdmouS-2Fp-2FloZ3iopbxBllg2HMK-2FW6EbDUq1P4e2ckWvHORtP-2B-2F6jTzqC-2FMRn0UCJeewznIxy0mp-2FDhywm8-3DTBNU_ciJuXYfraQrmEXzxHGEcWNeiZKy7tdzQawxB4GG8-2FLPyhKWA4iiF6MSH6OJ2-2BUNtBAHsM9WPS35FVKJVmFTjW3m2IwgUo3u6HhitOgrMHtKgCE9epr3PLoQ3Dbn013y3bFhIgBEuMwgkGM3plwVuvv7fqVuZ-2BQZsn6chVsU8kuZi-2FnCsAnkFoucodcJK0kT1yTp2eoaSwVjCESiebKO7cUFLT2vICf1KoSA-2FF5wb-2FQfRXMK82HdZx64ECeoN-2Bw7nW-2FNV9XW0seGREKQXOfLh3gpbSTYiftrLpzDsWSgj3CfehMu7jqXD-2BzpaTndPY4CD6LF3u0Ucs33QuKYwHyUDVFcp5RXcxs-2BzhgzFbIXRhTI-3D" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Commonwealth Fund</a> has also found that the United States had worse health outcomes despite spending significantly more on health care than its peers.<br/> <br/> <strong>Eagan Kemp, Health Care Policy advocate at Public Citizen, released the following statement.</strong><br/> <br/> “While it is good news that U.S. life expectancy is finally rising again, it is important to remember that despite spending the most per capita on health care, we have a consistently lower life expectancy than our peers in comparably wealthy countries with universal health care. We must keep making the point that profit-driven health care is not only worse for patients – it’s a national embarrassment. Our leaders must act to kick insurance companies to the curb and enact Medicare for All now.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:38:35 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/cdc-report-underscores-need-for-medicare-for-all</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>A Guy Named Me: The More You See It, The More Incredible It Is</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/further/a-guy-named-me-don-t-look-away</link><description><![CDATA[
<img src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/trump-supporters-rally-in-california-after-he-was-arraigned-on-fraud-charges.jpg?id=51837137&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=673%2C0%2C33%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>So the sick kingpin of "Red America's fever dreams" is still here - jabbering, menacing, whining, unraveling, what Biden calls "weak and desperate" and hazardous to our health. Lately, he's been busy going to court, misspelling "Biden," likening himself to Jesus, paying Nazi tribute to "the J6 hostages," shrieking "WITCH HUNT!", claiming migrants aren't people, and, in his newest ungodly grift - "Happy Holy Week!" - hawking God-Bless-the-USA Bibles to "make America pray again." By all means pray. But advice from the wreckage: "Don't look away."</p><p>As if the staggering transgressions now coming due - rape, lies, defamation, theft, decades of fraud, a deadly insurrection to overthrow the democracy he was ostensibly leading - aren't enough to showcase his overweening shamelessness, even at feckin' <a href="https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/03/youve-given-me-fame-and-fortune-and-everything-that-goes-with-it" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">golf</a>, new revelations still churn up from the ugly past. The first public testimony about the tattered final days of his so-called presidency <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/white-hou..." target="_blank">reveal</a> a White House that had "let down all guardrails," grasping at frenzied, bonkers conspiracy theories - “smart thermostats" manipulated voting machines! - as he struggled to cling to power. And his campaign's baffling decision to go with the apocalyptic strategy of asking, "ARE YOU BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO?" - thus recalling a once-in-a-century pandemic that cost a million American lives, many unnecessarily - has <a href="https://digbysblog.net/2024/03/26/four-years-ago-t..." target="_blank">given </a>Biden the chance to attack his "predecessor's" grievous crimes against science, reason and competence. "Remember when he said, 'inject bleach’?” Biden said at a recent fundraiser. "Think I’m making this up?”</p><p>The tottering party he's wrangled into submission, meanwhile, has "stepped on rake after rake" in the effort by James Comer and House Republicans to impeach Biden, or find <em>any trace </em>of his supposed corruption. After many thousands of pages of (fruitless) records and testimony, the hearings have become so renowned for their "<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4554133-the-cosmic-ineptitude-of-house-republicans-biden-impeachment-inquiry/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cosmic ineptitude"</a> the White House <a href="https://twitter.com/IanSams46/status/1770577655798091802" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">responded </a>to the latest with a succinct "LOL," face-palm emoji and, "Call it a day, pal"; one Democrat suggested it dug up more evidence to impeach Trump a third time than anything on Biden. Some sordid <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1770522604513755483" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">witnesses </a>spoke from prison; the most astounding testimony came from former Giuliani crony Lev Parnas, of Zelensky-phone-call-fame, who asserted, "I have never wavered from saying there was no evidence of the Bidens’ corruption in Ukraine - because there truly <em>was none</em>." He added everyone who said there was knew there wasn't, and that the bogus info was "spread by the Kremlin." In nearly a year of traveling the globe in search of evidence, "I found precisely zero proof of the Bidens’ criminality."</p><p>A do-nothing, right-tilting GOP has floundered in most other endeavors. Running short on funds being rapidly shoveled into her father-in-law's legal messes, the party led by personal trainer and Nepotism Chair Lara Trump just ditched its already paltry efforts to recruit minority, largely Latino voters, evidently sticking with the persuasive tagline," Make the RNC White and Rich Again." Its new entrants are high-end, Jewish Space-Laser freaks like Hitler-quoting, Christian nationalist Mark Robinson, North Carolina's GOP <a href="https://digbysblog.net/2024/03/05/choking-on-my-own-blood/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nominee </a>for governor, and to run that state's schools, or nascent "socialism centers," QAnon's anti-Satan Michele Morrow, who once <a href="https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1768635518630203708" target="_blank">urged</a> "Death to all traitors" with an<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200514183159/https://twitter.com/_stand_firm/status/1260752149052624896" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> image </a>of Obama in the electric chair. And as their 91-felony-laden leader implausibly preps to return to power, his former cranks, crooks and "best people" - Stone, Miller, Manafort, Lewandowski - are scurrying out from their caves and cells to join him. Two hold-outs: Pence and Dick Cheney, who says "there has <strong></strong>never been (a) greater threat to our republic," except maybe him.</p><p>Lately he's mostly in court or playing golf or seething online, but he <em>has</em> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGJwCUHVgc0" target="_blank">held</a> two recent "rallies," in Ohio then Georgia. They were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/14..." target="_blank">not pretty</a>. As he sputtered and gabbled and lied through increasingly brutish, unintelligible speeches - "We have becrumb a nation," "our president Barack Hussein Obama," "Joe Biden's dissss...ervice speech" - the awful spectacle makes it "almost impossible to believe he exists," <a href="https://twitter.com/acitrano" target="_blank">writes </a>Anthony Citrano. "It's as if we took everything that was bad about America, scraped it up off the floor, wrapped it up in an old hot dog skin, and taught it to make noises with its face." Nancy Pelosi is more<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-trump-telling-completely-170118316.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> succinct</a>: "You wouldn’t allow him in your house, much less the White House." It's not even word salad; it's word mush. He can't <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1769107735054880829" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pronounce </a>"bite" or "largest." He <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1768084611798626519" target="_blank">says,</a> "They released Hillary Clinton who used bleach bit and Bill took it out in his socks." If he's not elected "it's gonna be a bloodbath." Migrants are "animals...saying 'I'm going to use your kitchen'...They're not people." On his call with Zelensky, Dems "were taped and they got caught." Nope. A complete fabrication. </p><p>Because "the next bottomless pit is always just around the corner," he's now also channeling Goebbels et al, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/j6-choir-trump-national-anthem-capitol-riot-79618f1f2a689c308dfdc34d54d327ea" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">opening</a> rallies by honoring "the horribly and unfairly treated Jan. 6 hostages" with a booming rendition of "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2023/trump-j6-prison-choir/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Justice For All</a>," a mutilated national anthem that celebrates the thugs who committed violence in his name. In this, <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/attytood/trump..." target="_blank">writes </a>Will Bunch, Trump alarmingly replicates "<a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-horst-wessel-song" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Horst Wessel Song</a>," the tribute to a young <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horst-Wessel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">brownshirt </a>and martyr killed in 1923's Munich beer hall <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/adolf-hitler-coup-prison-beer-hall-putsch-180983207/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> putsch</a> that became a Nazi Party anthem saluting those who "offer (themselves) up as a sacrifice" for the greater fascist good. Leni Riefenstahl'<em>s</em> <a href="https://museums.nuernberg.de/documentation-center/nazi-party-rallies/triumph-of-the-will" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Triumph of the Will</em></a>, which glorifies Hitler's massive Nuremberg rally, opens with the Wessel song as a swastika-adorned plane swoops in carrying the beloved Führer. The propaganda value of that not-so-long-ago song and rally, enshrining and ritualizing victimhood, <a href="writes:" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">makes</a> a through, scary line to the Jan. 6 Chorus and Trump's grotesque embrace of it. The message of both: Violent insurrection is patriotism, so stand by.</p><blockquote class="rm-embed twitter-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1767279721774244167">
<div style="margin:1em 0"></div> — (@)
<a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1767279721774244167"></a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/i-listened-to-trumps-rambling-unhinged-vituperative-georgia-rally-and-so-should-you" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>In Georgia, more of the same: J6 Chous, frenzied lies, much slurring, goat milk ads, America a drug-infested, crime-ridden abyss where "they're weaponizing law enforcement (against) Joe Biden's top and only political appointment (sic) - a guy named me." The wind blew down the teleprompters, so it was mostly gibberish: "Our great member of center of stage, and then I got angry because I said, no, I want to be in the center, those guys don't come close, so we had to have a different number, it didn't have to be 10, it had to be 9 or 11, it had to be something...Pundits say the attacks on me will be violent, they say, uhhh, they say...Biden said it, he said, you know what their whole plan is? It was just released the other day, their whole plan is to go after Trump in every way possible...And another 6 million dollars that they got for hostages from us...and 10 billion dollars for electricity to Iraq...and all comploymants (sic) of... an incompetent...Cognitively impaired? Heh, you'll know when I'm cognitively impaired....You'll be the first ones to know....."</p><p><em>The New Yorker</em>'s Susan Glasser wrote a piece <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/i-listened-to-trumps-rambling-unhinged-vituperative-georgia-rally-and-so-should-you" target="_blank">titled,</a> "I Listened to Trump's Rambling, Unhinged, Vituperative Georgia Rally, and So Should You." She argues too many of us ignore the "insane <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1767279721774244167" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">oration</a>" and "flamboyant new set of untruths" from a candidate "whose greatest political success has been to acclimate a large swath of the population to his ever more dangerous alternate reality." Contrasting Biden's SOTU critiques of Trump's "offenses to American democracy," she noted Trump's nearly 5 dozen Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/14/trump-crazy-new-claims-fact-checked/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">references</a> were epithets - stupid, weak, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/us/politics/trump-biden-georgia-rally.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">stutter</a> - of "a puerile bully" with too many grievances and enemies to count attacking a guy alternately portrayed as "a drooling incompetent (and) a corrupt criminal mastermind" whose hellish reign has given us "rampaging migrants" and an economy “collapsing into a cesspool of ruin." Our "simple, apocalyptic choice": Doomsday with Biden, or "liberation from these tyrants and villains" with him. Bonkers bullshit, all. See it for yourself, however queasily, she advises: "Watch his speeches. Share it widely. Don’t look away."</p><blockquote class="rm-embed twitter-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1772703096545710583">
<div style="margin:1em 0"></div> — (@)
<a href="https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1772703096545710583"></a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p>This week, he was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/nyregion/trump-.." target="_blank">in court</a>, still <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-melts-down-new-york-fraud-bond-deadline-1234993724/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> ranting </a>and whining - "I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG! HOAX! WITCH HUNT!" - even as he got an undeserved break when his $464 million bond for fraud got trimmed to $175 million. He <a href="https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1772267373090799821" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">babbled b</a>riefly to the press: "You can't have an election in the middle of a political season...We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already... We''ll bring crime back to law and order." Online comment: "The cheese is sliding off his cracker at an ever-increasing rate." It was so bad Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/Jemsinger/status/1772333099096965299" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">responded </a>to the wheezy gobbledegook:"Trump is weak and desperate, both as a man and a candidate." Facing off against the shell of an already crazed and loathsome con man, Biden has reportedly long been "<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/biden-trump-stop-steal-election-2024-1234993149/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">preparing</a> for every insane scenario that anyone could think of" in the upcoming election - crafting a legal and political "superstructure," partnering with a vast network of attorneys to conduct "doomsday-style" war games," drafting emergency pleadings and legal motions for swing states and otherwise exploring "a range of authoritarian possibilities."</p><p>For now, Trump keeps<a href="https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-truth-social-s..." target="_blank"> grifting.</a> In "some truly bizarre stock market shenanigans," he managed to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-truth-social-nasdaq-stock-106d7c423174ca1d7cc3cc9a3f3897a0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">merge </a> his "dorky little fake Twitter clone"<em> Truth Social</em> with a "gloriously sketchy" Digital World Acquisition Corp and list a new-born DJT stock on <em><em>Nasdaq</em></em> - <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/25/politics/fact-check-trump-nyse-truth-social-story/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">telling</a> a "mind-bogglingly nonsensical" story about why it's not on the <em>New York Stock Exchange</em> - for over $6 billion, though <em>Truth Social </em>had "microscopic" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-social-media-company-valued-5-billion-merger-2024-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">revenue</a> of $3.5 million while losing $49 million to do it. The <em>Wall Street Journal</em> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/who-is-fueling-the-surge-in-shares-of-the-trump-spac-fcfb6f92?st=iifspykt4c82w8y" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported </a>the price has soared <em>not </em>thanks to institutions trading it - they're not - but to MAGA cultists who argue "This is a Truth Movement" and "are absolutely hellbent on handing Donald Trump all their money." Just as logically do they <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-suggests-hes-jesu..." target="_blank">liken </a>to Jesus a thrice-married, multi-philandering crook, rapist and slum landlord in court for decades of fraud, per the fan who <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112156804755767402" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wrote,</a> "It's ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you...We love you." Maybe that's what sent him scurrying, also this very week, to hawk an obscene <a href="https://godblesstheusabible.com/?sld=trump" target="_blank">God Bless the USA Bible </a>to "make America pray again."<br/><em></em> </p><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-suggests-hes-jesus-hearing-164507905.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><blockquote class="rm-embed twitter-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1772658279908253974">
<div style="margin:1em 0"></div> — (@)
<a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1772658279908253974"></a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p>Which he does, of course, so often and so devoutly. Who can forget the time in June 2020, after the police murder of George Floyd, when Trump boldly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/donald-trump-church-photo-op-evangelicals" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">marched </a>out of the White House, across a LaFayette Square beset by more godly police beating the crap out of peaceful protesters for racial justice, and posed for the cameras outside historic St John’s Church, lifting into the righteous air a sacred Bible, upside down. A reporter asked, "Is that your Bible?” He responded, "It's a Bible." Lordy and hallelujah. Never mind that, in Trump's teeny hands, the Bible is a PR tool to help him lie and cheat. That hateful, racist cult members with no use for Jesus' woke "welcoming the stranger" rubbish<a href="attendees" target="_blank"> welcome,</a> instead, his mocking of poor, brown, homeless or stuttering people. That self-described evangelicals rarely <a href="https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/new-data-suggests-over-40-percent-of-self-identified-evangelicals-attend-church-once-a-year-or-less/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">go to </a>church but go on TV, like MAGA preacher Lance Wallnau, to <a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1770873525835829639" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">compare </a>"leftists" to the Nazis on trial at Nuremberg: "I don't think it's people anymore - you're dealing with demons. So just remember this, Christian: You're gonna listen to demons talking through people."</p><p>Happily, it's just plain, God-fearing, migrant-hating, money-grubbing people like Trump and his "very good friend" Lee Greenwood who have now recycled a 9/11 commemorative Bible from 2021 into a cheesy, profane, nationalist screed, dubbed the <em><a href="https://leegreenwood.com/product/god-bless-the-usa-bible/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">God Bless the USA Bible</a>,</em> for a quick 60 bucks a shot. "Happy Holy Week!" Trump wrote Tuesday while urging people to buy his latest hustle "for your heart, for your soul." Citing yet another "very sad thing going on in our country," he claimed "Christians are under siege (but) we're gonna get it turned around" by peddling these crappy Bibles with a wildly inappropriate American flag on its cover and, inside, the equally jingoist "Founding Father (sic) documents" - the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance<em> and </em> chorus to Greenwood's tinny, mawkish "patriotic anthem," <em>God Bless The USA. </em>"Easy-to-read, large print and (suspiciously) <a href="https://kingjamesbibledictionary.com/BibleFacts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slim </a>design<em>, </em>this Bible invites you to explore God’s Word anywhere, any time (in) an easy reading experience," says the website. "The perfect gift! Order now!"</p><blockquote class="rm-embed twitter-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1772721673550086249">
<div style="margin:1em 0"></div> — (@)
<a href="https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1772721673550086249"></a>
</blockquote>
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<p>For any skeptics - cynics, really - among you, the website also clarifies that money from purchases of God's and Lee Greenwood's word will not go to Trump's presidential campaign, or presumably his current, 91-count, very expensive legal issues, though it "uses Donald J. Trump's name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC," which was <a href="https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/corporationsearch/SearchResultDetail?inquirytype=EntityName&directionType=Initial&searchNameOrder=CICVENTURES%20M210000044030&aggregateId=forl-m21000004403-3a3d1546-28ce-4220-adee-cbeb943dd850&searchTerm=CIC%20VENTURES%20LLC&listNameOrder=CICVENTURES%20M210000044030" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">established</a> by a former Trump aide and a Trump-linked lawyer in Palm Beach, and its address is Trump International Golf Club, and it also made Trump digital training cards and those preposterous fake gold sneakers, but otherwise, nope, no money will go to Trump. The website's FAQs also generously addresses another sticky issue: "What if my Bible has sticky pages?" "No worries," it says. "This is very common with new Bibles that have gold gilding around the edges of the paper. For your convenience, we have provided links to a <em>Youtube </em>video that does a wonderful job of explaining how to break your new Bible in." And don't forget: It's "the perfect gift for family members, friends, special occassions (sic) and much more!"</p><p>Sadly, the new Bible has been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os4Hb3fD_B0&t=467s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">criticized </a>in some misanthropic liberal circles as "utterly craven and debased." This response is confounding, given what is clearly Trump's long, deep, devout engagement with and knowledge of scriptural teachings as seen in multiple videos and speeches. To wit: "There are so many things, so many things you can learn from the Bible," he has said. "Actually, it's an incredible book. There are so many things you can learn from it." While he says "the Bible is the most special thing," he remains understandably reluctant to name favorite verses: "I wouldn't want to get into it, because that's very personal, the Bible means a lot to me." However, he will name a favorite author - Tom Wolfe - though there's some confusion whether he has or hasn't read <em>Bonfire of the Vanities</em>. Still, he definitely knows "an eye for an eye," and having to choose between the Old or New Testament he'd pick, "Probably...equal." "I just think the whole Bible is an incredible..." he says. "The Bible, the more you see it, the more incredible it is." Can we get an Amen?</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>"But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away." </em>- <a href="https://biblehub.com/nkjv/psalms/37.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Psalm 37:20</a>, New King James Version<br/> </p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 17:47:55 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/further/a-guy-named-me-don-t-look-away</guid><dc:creator>Abby Zimet</dc:creator><media:content medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/trump-supporters-rally-in-california-after-he-was-arraigned-on-fraud-charges.jpg?id=51837137&width=980"></media:content></item><item><title>DOJ’s Apple Lawsuit Is Significant Step To Rein in Corporate Misconduct</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/dojs-apple-lawsuit-is-significant-step-to-rein-in-corporate-misconduct</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Apple for alleged anti-competitive practices in the smartphone market. <br/> <br/> <strong>Lisa Gilbert, the executive vice president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:</strong><br/> <br/> “The Justice Department alleges that Apple uses numerous unlawful tools to lock its customers into using its products and force competitors out of the market — stifling innovation, hurting workers, and increasing costs for consumers. If the allegations are proven true, this lawsuit will be crucial to ensure that Apple does not create a smartphone monopoly. <br/> <br/> “With this lawsuit, the Justice Department and 16 attorneys general have taken a significant step to rein in alleged rampant corporate misconduct that, if true, hurts consumers. The allegations suggest that Apple is not dominating due to the superiority of its products, but as a result of exclusionary behavior intended to tighten its grip on the smartphone market, including degrading non-Apple smart watches, making it harder to message non-Apple smartphones, limiting third party digital wallets, and more.<br/> <br/> “Public Citizen applauds this move from the DOJ to make clear that, no matter how popular, no company is above the law.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 17:46:22 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/dojs-apple-lawsuit-is-significant-step-to-rein-in-corporate-misconduct</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Statement on Department of Justice Suing Apple for Maintaining of iPhone Monopoly</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/statement-on-department-of-justice-suing-apple-for-maintaining-of-iphone-monopoly</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) joined 16 states and the District of Columbia to file an antitrust <a href="https://demandprogress.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=473283de10f9c69c998b8e3cd&id=15aac6b381&e=d347305a45" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> against Apple for its practices relating to the iPhone. The lawsuit includes five claims on monopoly maintenance: blocking super apps, mobile cloud streaming services, excluding cross-platform messaging apps, degrading non-Apple smart watches, and limiting third party digital wallets.<br/> <br/> <strong>In response to the news out of the DOJ, Demand Progress Corporate Power Director Emily Peterson-Cassin issued the following statement:</strong> </p><p>“The Department of Justice’s announcement today marks a significant moment in the ongoing commitment of the Biden administration to safeguard consumer wellbeing and promote fair competition. The Department of Justice's decision to file a lawsuit against Apple is a testament to this dedication and a clear signal that the interests of the people and small businesses are at the forefront.</p><p>“This action is particularly crucial for small businesses, many of which have long voiced their concerns about being unable to access the App Store due to restrictive practices. By challenging these barriers, we are taking a step towards creating a more equitable playing field where innovation and competition can thrive without undue hindrance.</p><p>“We commend the Department of Justice and look forward to seeing more aggressive steps taken by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to rein in the monopolistic practices of Apple and other Big Tech companies. Furthermore, we encourage Congress to examine ways to prevent monopolies like this from forming in the future, ensuring a competitive and diverse market that benefits consumers and businesses alike.</p><p>“The Biden administration remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering an environment where competition can flourish, and consumers are protected. Today's legal action is a crucial step in that direction, and we applaud the Department of Justice for its unwavering dedication to these principles.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 17:14:47 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/statement-on-department-of-justice-suing-apple-for-maintaining-of-iphone-monopoly</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>The Justice Department & 16 State AGs Sue Apple in Order to Improve the Internet Economy for Businesses & Consumers</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/the-justice-department-16-state-ags-sue-apple-in-order-to-improve-the-internet-economy-for-businesses-consumers</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>In an landmark lawsuit today, the Department of Justice announced it is suing Apple for a wide range of unfair competition practices and its monopoly over smartphone markets and applications. </p><p>Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn responded with the following statement: </p><p>“The Justice Department and 16 state attorneys general have once again shown up for America’s consumers and independent businesses, and the protection of our personal liberties and democratic rights, by taking on one of the world’s largest corporations. </p><p>“For more than a decade, Apple has engaged in unfair competition designed to entrench its monopoly control in the smartphone market and in multiple closely related marketplaces such as wireless apps. By deploying a complex suite of intertwined practices that collectively restrict the availability of alternative services, Apple stifled the development of rival businesses, reduced consumer choice, imposed higher prices for consumers and developers, and piled up vast wealth for a tiny collection of people. In recent years, Apple has also increasingly engaged in conduct designed to restrict access to essential communications and entertainment markets in ways that further only its own private interests. </p><p>“Today’s groundbreaking lawsuit seeks to fully pry open Apple’s restrictive practices so that fair competition can thrive in ways that deliver the public real choice and opportunity, and improve the quality of both hardware and software products.” </p>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 17:10:54 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/the-justice-department-16-state-ags-sue-apple-in-order-to-improve-the-internet-economy-for-businesses-consumers</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>New EPA Rule Slow-Rolls Climate Progress, Caters to Big Auto</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/new-epa-rule-slow-rolls-climate-progress-caters-to-big-auto</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new rule to regulate vehicle tailpipe emissions that will prevent more than seven billion tons of carbon pollution by 2055 but also gives automakers substantial leeway to determine when and how they reduce pollution from their vehicle fleets.<br/> <br/> For context, some estimates show that US light duty vehicle sales would need to be as much as 95-100 percent zero-emission vehicles by 2030 to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius per year. <br/> <br/> <strong>Public Citizen senior policy advocate Chelsea Hodgkins released the following statement in response:</strong><br/> <br/> “Under the EPA’s updated clean car standards, more vehicle pollution will be avoided and more lives saved than would have been under current regulations. That is important to celebrate.<br/> <br/> "But this rule falls far short of what is needed to protect public health and our planet. EPA is giving automakers a pass to continue producing polluting vehicles. <br/> <br/> "We are in a crisis, and clean vehicle technology that will help solve it is here and available now. The Biden Administration had the opportunity to shift the automotive industry away from a model that’s driving record profits for automakers while literally killing us, toward one that still provides strong profits but keeps the world safer for humans. It made improvements but is coming up well short, which is deeply disappointing at a time when we need ever-stronger climate leadership."</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 17:21:15 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/new-epa-rule-slow-rolls-climate-progress-caters-to-big-auto</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Stop big oil influence & protect human rights at Azerbaijan climate summit, over 150 organizations demand</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/stop-big-oil-influence-protect-human-rights-at-azerbaijan-climate-summit-over-150-organizations-demand</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>A large coalition of over 150 civil society organizations is calling out oil industry participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in a bid to rid the process of a <strong>serious conflict of interest</strong> that could threaten the success of COP29, the UN climate summit due to take place in Azerbaijan in November.</p><p>The <a href="https://azertag.az/en/xeber/the_order_of_the_president_of_the_republic_of_azerbaijan_on_amending_order_no_4264_dated_january_13_2024_on_the_establishment_of_the_organizing_committee_regarding_the_29th_session_of_the_conference_of_the_parties_to_the_united_nations_framework_convention_on_climate_change_cop29_the_19th_session_of_the_conference_of_the_parties_serving_as_the_meeting_of_the_parties_to_the_kyoto_protocol_and_the_6th_session_of_the_conference_of_the_parties_serving_as_the_meeting_of_the_parties_to_the_paris_agreement-2931289" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recent announcement</a> that Azerbaijan will include state oil boss, Rovshan Najaf, in the organizing committee, continues a worrying trend of increased oil industry influence on the host countries of the UN climate summits.</p><p><em>“The climate movement has steadfastly held the line at climate negotiations, COP after COP after COP, pushing political leaders to drive the transformational change in climate policy we urgently need to see. But for three years in a row, these UN climate talks are hosted in countries where the interests of the fossil fuel industry are given precedence over those of people and the planet. Worse still, they exercise their authority to deliberately exclude the voices of the people most directly impacted by climate change, and threaten our right to push for the solutions we need,” </em>said Namrata Chowdhary, Head of Public Engagement at 350.org.<em> “Inviting the heads of oil companies and the secret service onto the organizing committee sends a clear signal to civil society – that we will be held at a distance, and our influence limited. Must we wait until the ‘people’s climate summit’ that President Lula promises to host next year in Brazil before our demands are heard? We simply do not have that kind of time!”</em></p><p>A global coalition led by <a href="https://350.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">350.org</a> and <a href="https://priceofoil.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oil Change International</a>, comprising over 150 organizations, have detailed their concerns in an <a href="https://350.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OpenLetter_COP29.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">open letter</a> to COP29 President, Mukhtar Babayev. The letter, originally signed and sent by the Executive Directors of 350.org, Oil Change International, ActionAid, and CIEL still hasn’t received a response from the COP29 presidency. Organizations including youth, environmental, human rights, and indigenous groups from over 50 countries and six continents have since signed on.</p><p>The organizations demand the removal of Rovshan Najaf, president of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), from the COP29 organizing committee, to address the conflict of interest. Last year, SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state oil company announced plans<a href="https://totalenergies.com/media/news/press-releases/totalenergies-announces-start-production-absheron-gas-field-azerbaijan-0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> to expand fossil fuel production</a> which is incompatible with the Paris Agreement – the cornerstone of the COP climate negotiations.</p><p>The open letter further expresses deep concerns over civil society’s freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and human rights in the COP29 host country Azerbaijan. The organizations are asking Babayev to clarify the role of Ilgar Musayev, the Head of the country’s Service of Special Communication and Information Security, who has also been appointed as a member of the organizing committee.</p><p>Romain Ioualalen, Global Policy Manager with Oil Change International, said:</p><p><em>“The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference must be the COP that starts implementing a full, fast, fair, and funded transition away from fossil fuels, after the promises made in Dubai. Yet, this will be the second COP in a row that is run by someone with deep ties to the oil and gas industry, which has a deep stake in seeing climate action fail. The recent inclusion of the President of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) on the core COP29 team sends yet another profoundly negative signal on the potential capture of crucial climate talks by the oil and gas industry. The COP29 presidency was heavily criticized for failing to ensure gender balance on its organizing committee and should therefore know that its choices will be scrutinized globally. But, like with their correction of adding women to the committee, after introducing an all male panel earlier this year, it is not too late to separate oil company interest from the most important climate change conference of the year.</em>” <br/></p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:51:22 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/stop-big-oil-influence-protect-human-rights-at-azerbaijan-climate-summit-over-150-organizations-demand</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>EPA Caves to Industry Pressure, Finalizes Weaker Auto Pollution Rule</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/epa-caves-to-industry-pressure-finalizes-weaker-auto-pollution-rule</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-strongest-ever-pollution-standards-cars-position" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">finalized</a> new tailpipe emissions standards for model years 2027 to 2032 that allow far more pollution than the strongest alternative it considered. The standards fail to prevent massive carbon pollution from millions of new gas-powered SUVs, pickup trucks and cars.</p><p>The EPA estimates the rule’s emissions requirements would result in up to 67% electric vehicle sales by 2032. But the rule requires fewer emissions reductions in the early years compared to the agency’s alternative proposal. That will pump long-lived carbon pollution into the atmosphere sooner and do more damage to the climate than would have been allowed under stronger versions the administration analyzed.</p><p>“This rule could’ve been the biggest single step of any nation on climate, but the EPA caved to pressure from Big Auto, Big Oil and car dealers and riddled the plan with loopholes big enough to drive a Ford F150 through,” said Dan Becker, director of the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>’s <a href="https://safeclimatecampaign.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Safe Climate Transport Campaign</a>. “The weaker rule means cars and pickups spew more pollution, oil companies keep socking consumers at the pump, and automakers keep wielding well-practiced delay tactics.”</p><p>“In exchange for making EVs, the rule allows automakers to produce tens of millions of new gas-guzzlers with few or no carbon cuts,” said Becker. “These cars, SUVs and pickups will dominate sales through much of this decade, guzzling and polluting into the middle of the century.”</p><p>Stronger standards would have helped consumers, especially those with low incomes, because <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/electric-vehicle-charging-price-vs-gasoline/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EVs save money compared to gas-powered vehicles, even in California where electricity is expensive.</a> They would make economic sense.</p><p>“BYD, a Chinese EV manufacturer, and other foreign companies will be happy to seize the EV market as Detroit falls behind,” said Becker. “The U.S. automakers never recovered the huge market share they lost to Japanese companies in the 1970s and ‘80s, yet here we go again.”</p><p>“All automakers have safe, affordable gas-saving technology,” said Becker. “This is auto mechanics, not rocket science. Unfortunately, industry lobbying turned this process into a race between loopholes and the climate, and the loopholes won.”</p><p>“The government recognizes climate change as an existential threat, but this modest step fails to rise to the challenge,” Becker said. “So next we’ll urge California to exercise its authority to set tougher new standards to protect its people from the auto pollution that will continue to spew after the EPA standards are implemented.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:10:25 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/epa-caves-to-industry-pressure-finalizes-weaker-auto-pollution-rule</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Clean Cars Standards Deliver Cleaner Air</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/clean-cars-standards-deliver-cleaner-air</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>The Environmental Protection Agency released its latest set of clean car standards that will cut carbon emissions and other tailpipe pollutants starting in 2027. These final standards will deliver major carbon reductions, save drivers money on fuel and maintenance, and reduce asthma attacks, heart disease and other illnesses. </p><p><strong>The following is a statement from </strong><a href="https://www.nrdc.org/bio/manish-bapna" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Manish Bapna</strong></a><strong>, president and CEO of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):</strong></p><p>“This is where the rubber meets the road on climate. These commonsense standards will slash the source of a fifth of the nation’s carbon footprint. <br/> <br/>“Over time, these rules will prevent more carbon pollution than the entire U.S. economy coughs up in a year. They’ll save drivers money at the pump and cut tailpipe pollution that endangers public health.<br/> <br/>“In the longer journey to confront the climate crisis, these standards take us in the right direction. They signal a commitment to stay the course, build on gathering momentum and see the mission through to its finish. That’s what confronting the climate crisis demands.”</p><p><strong>Background:</strong></p><p>Transportation is the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. and cars and trucks contribute more than 80 percent of those emissions. These car, SUV and pickup truck standards will cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than <strong>7 billion tons over 2027-2055;</strong> that’s more than the total greenhouse gas emissions of the entire U.S. in one year. </p><p>The standards will also save drivers money on fuel and maintenance: EPA estimates that drivers will save <strong>up to $6,000</strong> over the lifetime of the vehicle. A <a href="https://atlaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Comparing-the-Cost-of-Owning-the-Most-Popular-Vehicles-in-the-United-States.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recent analysis</a> from Atlas Public Policy found that buying, fueling and maintaining an electric vehicle is less expensive than a similar gasoline model across all light-vehicle types. In many cases, the EV sticker price is about the same as that of a gasoline vehicle.</p><p>These EPA pollution standards will be followed in the coming weeks by the Department of Transportation’s fuel economy standards. These two separate rules do different things and have different goals, but they also work in tandem to ensure that cars are cleaner and are less reliant on oil.</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:08:32 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/clean-cars-standards-deliver-cleaner-air</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>New EPA Light Duty Vehicle Standards Will Reduce Climate-Endangering Emissions</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/new-epa-light-duty-vehicle-standards-will-reduce-climate-endangering-emissions</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the strongest standards to date to limit emissions from light-duty passenger cars and trucks. Starting in 2027, these rules will require emissions reductions in all new cars sold, which automakers can achieve by implementing cleaner technologies for gasoline engines or by adding more zero-emission electric vehicles to their offerings. This rule will reduce transportation pollution, an important step in a broader effort to create a cleaner transportation system, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). </p><p>Below is a statement by Steven Higashide, director of the Clean Transportation Program at UCS.</p><p>“Today’s announcement will shift the trajectory of the automobile market and put us on a path to real emissions reductions, with an estimated 7.2 billion tons of global warming pollution avoided by 2055. These rules are the strongest standards ever finalized and vital for meeting U.S. climate goals. This rule is technology-neutral and won’t mandate electric vehicles, but it will encourage this growing market. New cars sold in the coming years will be on the road for a decade or more, so it’s vital that these rules cut emissions from gasoline cars as well as encourage zero-emission electric cars.</p><p>“However, EPA should have gone even further because we have the technology to be more ambitious. The science is clear on both the urgent need to cut climate-endangering emissions and the fact that we can make the cuts we need. We don’t have many opportunities to reduce transportation pollution and it’s disappointing that this rule falls short of what’s possible. We’ll continue to push the administration to create, implement and enforce the strongest rules possible.</p><p>“These standards will help clean up emissions from transportation—the biggest source of global warming pollution in the U.S. To achieve their full potential, these rules must be accompanied by other investments in a cleaner, more accessible transportation system. These investments—many of which are already underway—must build out charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, boost domestic manufacturing, put more renewable power on the electric grid, and expand transit, walking and bicycling options. We need to use every policy tool available to reduce the dangers of climate change and build the transportation system of the future.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:06:31 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/new-epa-light-duty-vehicle-standards-will-reduce-climate-endangering-emissions</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Taking Major Action on Climate and Health, Biden Administration Finalizes Clean Car Pollution Standards</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/taking-major-action-on-climate-and-health-biden-administration-finalizes-clean-car-pollution-standards</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-strongest-ever-pollution-standards-cars-position" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">finalized federal standards</a> to strengthen the nation’s emissions requirements for light-duty vehicles that will encourage the production of cleaner passenger cars and light- and medium-duty trucks.</p><p>The standards cover model years 2027 to 2032 and build on the agency’s decades-long arc of action to cut vehicle pollution. The standards will avoid 7.2 billion metric tons of climate pollution from 2027-2055 and help clean the air for millions of Americans living near freeways and roads from coast to coast.</p><p>According to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/carbon-pollution-transportation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EPA’s own analysis</a>, the transportation sector accounts for 29 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions—more than any other sector in the U.S.—and is the fastest-growing emitter of GHG emissions. It is also <a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories/2020-national-emissions-inventory-nei-data" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a significant contributor to air pollution</a> for communities across the nation, with passenger cars and trucks making up 44 percent of PM2.5 pollution and 76 percent of sulfur dioxide pollution from the nation’s vehicles. </p><p>Due to the legacy of redlining, communities of color are often most vulnerable to traffic pollution from highways and highly-trafficked corridors. Exposure to air pollution comes with an increased risk of many health problems, including increased risk of asthma attacks, strokes, heart attacks, cancer and premature deaths. By requiring automakers to reduce the emissions of their vehicles and deliver cleaner cars, the EPA is carrying out its statutory mandate to prevent toxic air pollution that threatens Americans’ health – especially our lung and heart health.</p><p><em><strong>In response to the final rule, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous released the following statement:</strong></em></p><p>“Every single day, millions of Americans suffer under the weight of vehicle pollution, unsustainable gas prices, and the climate crisis, all fueled by tailpipe emissions spewing from gas cars throughout our communities. Today, President Biden, in one of the most significant actions his administration can take on climate change, has put forward standards with benefits extending far beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions. </p><p>“The Biden Administration’s new clean car standards will save lives and money for families. And with investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act underway, these new standards will only further help U.S. manufacturers in building American-made and union-built zero-emission vehicles.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:05:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/taking-major-action-on-climate-and-health-biden-administration-finalizes-clean-car-pollution-standards</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Spitting On A Kid's Grave: We Don't Want That Filth</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/further/spitting-on-a-kid-s-grave-we-don-t-want-that-filth</link><description><![CDATA[
<img src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/transgender-rights-advocates-gather-at-a-vigil-for-nex-benedict-in-oklahoma-city.jpg?id=51780997&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=784%2C0%2C0%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>At the first school board meeting since the assault and death of non-binary student Nex Benedict in Oklahoma, parents and advocates blasted a culture of rampant bullying of LGBTQ+ students - predictably, in a state run by GOP bullies - especially after a dubious medical report declared Benedict's death a suicide. With both a federal probe and effort to remove their hateful school superintendent underway, enraged parents told the tepid, complicit board, "You have failed...Do better."</p><p>A 2STGNC+ (Two Spirit, transgender, gender nonconforming+) student of Choctaw descent, Nex, 16, died the day after a fight in a school bathroom at Owasso High School in which three girls harassed Nex for using the bathroom; Nex poured some water on the girls, who then knocked and beat Nex to the floor, where they blacked out. After the school declined to notify police, Nex' family took them to the hospital, where they told police they'd endured a year of bullying by other students. Nex went home that day, but was rushed back to the hospital the next day and was soon pronounced dead. A few days later, Owasso police declared Nex had not died from trauma and their death "wasn’t directly related to the fight"; soon after, an interim, one-page report was released by the state's long-unaccredited medical examiner asserting, with no evidence or explanation, that Nex likely died of suicide from the “combined toxicity” of two common medications, the anti-histamine Benadryl and the anti-depressant Prozac - a cause of death medical experts said would be "very, very, very rare."</p><p>Nex' death came in a deep-red state with a GOP super-majority where anti-trans hysteria is <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2024..." target="_blank">flourishing. </a>Nationwide, GOP lawmakers have already passed or proposed over 500 transphobic bills this year; Oklahoma leads the dystopian race with 54. Now they're considering bills to bar residents from changing sex designation on birth certificates, require schools to forbid alternative names or pronouns and assert gender an “immutable biological trait,” and ban, under a <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/07/oklahoma-hb-3217-could-ban-pride-flags-events-from-state-property/72508539007/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">Patriotism Not Pride Act</a>, dreaded rainbow flags. Their state school superintendent, Ryan Walters, a 38-year-old Christo-fascist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/23/us/oklahoma-non..." target="_blank">culture warrior,</a> fits right in. He's slammed "groomer" teachers and their promoting "pornography"; <a href="https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-regional/education/state-superintendent-ryan-walters-rubs-elbows-with-moms-for-liberty/article_70dd99d2-1770-11ee-8cb0-5ff2a9a3ba7e.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">joined</a><em> Moms For L</em><em>iberty</em> while billing taxpayers for events; appointed <em>Libs of Tik Tok'</em>s homophobic Chaya Raichik to help censor library books; and repeatedly <a href="https://glaad.org/gap/ryan-walters/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">denied </a>the existence of non-binary people: "There’s not multiple genders. There’s two. That’s how God created us." Schools "treat every student with dignity and respect," he insists, but "we won't go into the transgender ideology by accepting all of those premises."</p><p>With Walters having created "a devastatingly hostile environment" for gay, trans or non-binary students, other officials have fearlessly followed suit. Thus did state Sen. Tom Woods feel free, <a href="https://kfor.com/news/local/state-senator-calls-2slgbtq-oklahomans-filth-after-question-on-legislation-and-nonbinary-students-death/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">asked </a>at a public forum after Nex Benedict's death about connections between her assault and "some of the things Ryan Walters has said," to <a href="https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/senator-calls-lgbtq-oklahomans-filth-says-constituents-dont-want-them/article_c8979398-d260-11ee-9823-973bf20c3730.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spew </a>his venomous take on what he called "filth." "A child losing their life is horrible," he blathered, but "I represent a constituency that doesn’t want <a href="https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/state-senator-tom-woods-calls-lgbtq-members-filth-pro-tem-treat-responds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">that filth</a> in Oklahoma...We are going to fight to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state, we are a moral state." They're also a state evidently intent on perpetuating the sins of the ignorant cretins, bigots and bullies who "lead" their schools, from a board that allegedly echoes them or turns the other way to a district superintendent who opened last week's <a href="https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/03/13/parents-protesters-disrupt-school-boards-1st-meeting-after-nex-benedicts-death/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">meeting </a>by prattling she was proud "that in times like this, our school community continues to come together to reflect, support one another and ensure that every student feels a sense of safety, security and belonging" - a statement that drew loud boos.</p><p>It especially drew the ire of "comedian" Walter Masterson, a political prankster who relishes <a href="https://twitter.com/waltermasterson" target="_blank">bursting </a><a href="https://twitter.com/waltermasterson">t</a>he bubble of hypocrisy around many right-wing stances. He's smilingly greeted Matt Gaetz by calling him a pedophile and noted, "Racism is screaming WHAT ABOUT THE WHITE PEOPLE? every time a black person gets shot"; joining <em>Planned Parenthood</em> protesters, he tried to hand out adoption applications and yelled, "I hate women! Can I stay now?"; trolling <em>Moms For Liberty, </em>he said he brought "a book filled with sexual acts, violence and mass killings to indoctrinate our children" and began reading aloud, "So the Lord tried to kill Moses..." "Apparently, people don’t feel safe here - I can’t imagine why," he <a href="https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/03/16/now-hear-this-3/" target="_blank">began </a> at the board meeting before citing Woods' obscene remark. "A more woke school board would see the death of a child and work to make sure it never happens again," he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GejyQV46Vps&t=54s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">went on</a>. "Not this board. This board sees a dead kid and says that's a good start...We'll spit on a kid's grave...We'll call children filth. Even the dead ones because, you know, we’re the good guys..."</p><blockquote class="rm-embed twitter-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1768687970008150091">
<div style="margin:1em 0"></div> — (@)
<a href="https://twitter.com/TizzyEnt/status/1768687970008150091"></a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p><br/></p><p>Many community members likewise <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/former-students-parents-sp..." target="_blank">decried </a>what alum Madison Hutton called Owasso High School's longstanding "culture of cruelty." "The story needs to be told and somebody needs to be held accountable," she said. "This is an opportunity to unlearn bigotry, to relearn acceptance. I refuse to accept this is who we are." The mother of a senior described printing out the district's safety policies and showing them to a group of teenagers, who laughed at them: "They were like, 'None of that happens.'" She helped organize a vigil "to show students there are people standing with them against hate...The adults in the room need to step up as the adults in the room." Several mothers said their kids had been bullied with no school response: “Our children are hurting. They are screaming for help. When will you hear them?” "Everyone out there deserves a voice. Nex deserved a voice," <a href="https://boingboing.net/2024/03/18/at-first-meeting..." target="_blank">said </a>a mom who was "outraged as a parent." "You take away the name, you take away the photos splashed across the media, and it's my child dying on that bathroom floor. It's everyone's child."</p><p>Collective anger grew when medical experts <a href="https://www.advocate.com/news/nex-benedict-drugs-t..." target="_blank">questioned</a> the finding that Nex died from an overdose of Prozac and Benadryl, which pose an "extraordinarily low" risk of death. One toxicology expert said complications could lead to seizures or heart arrhythmia "but that would be very, very, very rare." Nex' family is challenging the report with new information about the assault - trauma to Nex’s head and neck, hemorrhages, scalp lacerations, bruising on the torso. GLAAD is publicizing their doubts with <a href="https://glaad.org/nex-benedicts-family-releases-st..." target="_blank">questions</a> of their own: Why has the examiner's office, with a history of misconduct allegations, operated without <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2009/07/02/oklahoma-medical-examiner-loses-rank-by-national-group/61391098007/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">accreditation</a> for 14 years? Why did the school not call police after a student was beaten unconscious? Where are written protocols for this non-response? Have there been other attacks? What are schools doing about them? Etc. The federal Department of Education has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/department-education-inv..." target="_blank">opened</a> an investigation, and over 350 advocacy groups have called for Ryan Walters' removal for "fostering a culture of violence and hate." He says "the radical left (will) stop at nothing to destroy the country" and he will "not back down to a woke mob."</p><p>"Nex deserved so much better," a fiery Nicole Gray <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GejyQV46Vps&t=1551s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told </a>the school board at that meeting. "It was your job to protect them, and you failed. There is no denying of that fact. You allowed the prejudice and hate so <em>sadly </em>prevalent in what should be a neutral, and dare I say sacred, place of learning (to) end the life of one of your students." A nonbinary Oklahoman who "barely survived" public school 20 years ago - their eloquent tirade <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GejyQV46Vps&t=1551s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">starts </a>at 17.58 -- Gray recalled an apathetic system's "lip service" to stop the hate "but rarely any real measurable action taken, no matter how often it was reported." Bullying, Gray insisted, is not "a fact of life" but "a choice people make, a deliberate behavior people choose to engage in. To defeat it, kids must be taught that "other people deserve to be treated with care and respect, just as we wish to be ourselves" - and adults must affirm the lesson. Despite their supposed zero-tolerance policy, LeaAnne Wilson told the board, her three kids in Owasso schools and many others say they're regularly bullied, and the schools do nothing. "It took a student dying," she said, "for y’all to see that something is wrong.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 05:19:03 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/further/spitting-on-a-kid-s-grave-we-don-t-want-that-filth</guid><dc:creator>Abby Zimet</dc:creator><media:content medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/transgender-rights-advocates-gather-at-a-vigil-for-nex-benedict-in-oklahoma-city.jpg?id=51780997&width=980"></media:content></item><item><title>Supreme Court Allows Anti-Immigrant Texas Law to Go into Effect</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/supreme-court-allows-anti-immigrant-texas-law-to-go-into-effect</link><description><![CDATA[
<p><strong></strong>The U.S. Supreme Court today <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/supreme-court-decision-on-application-to-vacate-stay-in-las-americas-v-mccraw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ruled</a> to leave in place an appeals court administrative stay on a preliminary injunction blocking Texas Senate Bill 4 (88-4), an extreme anti-immigrant law. Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh emphasized that they were not addressing the merits, but concluded Supreme Court intervention was premature at this early stage. The ruling will allow the law to go into effect immediately. </p><p>The legislation is one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed by any state legislature in the country and would permit local and state law enforcement to arrest, detain, and remove people they suspect to have entered Texas from another country without federal authorization. The law’s implementation would lead to racial profiling, separate families, and harm Black and Brown communities across the state. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/las-americas-v-mccraw-complaint" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">filed a lawsuit</a> on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, American Gateways, and El Paso County, arguing that S.B. 4 violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and is preempted by federal law.</p><p>Earlier this month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay that suspended a lower court decision to block S.B. 4 from going into effect while the case is litigated. In response, civil rights groups filed an <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/application-to-vacate-stay-of-preliminary-injunction-entered-by-the-united-states-court-of-appeals-for-the-fifth-circuit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">application </a>to the Supreme Court to vacate the stay. The Fifth Circuit has stated that it will expedite consideration of the appeal, and oral arguments have been set for April 3 in New Orleans.</p><p>Quotes from co-counsel and plaintiffs are as follows:</p><p><strong>Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said: </strong></p><p>“Today’s decision is disappointing and threatens the integrity of our nation’s immigration laws and bedrock principles of due process. But it is only preliminary and turned on the specific posture of the case. We’ll continue to fight against S.B. 4 until it is struck down once and for all.”</p><p><strong>Rebecca Lightsey, co-executive director of American Gateways, said: </strong></p><p>“While today’s Supreme Court decision is another setback for immigrants and refugees, we will continue to advocate for civil rights and dignity for people fleeing persecution. We all recognize that our current immigration system is broken. It’s past time to take a look at realistic solutions that will help not only those coming and seeking protection, but also the communities that are receiving them.”</p><p><strong>Jennifer Babaie, director of advocacy and legal services Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, said: </strong></p><p>“Make no mistake, this decision does not change our commitment to this fight. Everyone, regardless of race or immigration status, has the freedom to move and the freedom to thrive. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure this anti-immigrant and unconstitutional law is struck down for good, and Texans are protected from its inherent discrimination.”</p><p><strong>Tami Goodlette, director of the Beyond Borders Program at TCRP, said:</strong></p><p>“Today’s decision is unfortunate. Allowing this law to be implemented as the case makes its way through the legal process needlessly puts people’s lives at risk. Everyone, no matter if you have called Texas home for decades or just got here yesterday, deserves to feel safe and have the basic right of due process. We remain committed to the fight to permanently overturn S.B. 4 to show the nation that no state has the power to overtake federal immigration authority.”</p><p><strong>Adriana Piñon, legal director at the ACLU of Texas, said:</strong></p><p>“We disagree with the court’s decision and the implementation of this unconstitutional and extreme anti-immigrant law will likely be disastrous for both Texans and our legal system. S.B. 4 threatens our most basic civil and human rights as citizens and non-citizens alike and we recommend anyone threatened by this, including people who fear racial profiling, <a href="https://www.aclutx.org/en/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-under-texas-deportation-scheme-sb4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">to remember their rights</a>. We will continue our efforts to halt this hateful law.”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:09:01 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/supreme-court-allows-anti-immigrant-texas-law-to-go-into-effect</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Landmark ruling: The Peruvian Court of Nauta recognizes the rights of the Marañón River and the Indigenous communities as its guardians</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/landmark-ruling-the-peruvian-court-of-nauta-recognizes-the-rights-of-the-maranon-river-and-the-indigenous-communities-as-its-guardians</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>In a landmark decision in favor of rivers in Peru, the Mixed Court in the City of Nauta ruled that the Marañón River, one of the country’s most significant rivers and water sources and the first source of the Amazon, has an intrinsic value and it is recognized as a Subject of Rights codifying a series of inherent rights. The triumph marks the culmination of efforts led by the Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana Federation, an Indigenous Kukama women’s group rooted in the Parinari district of the Loreto province and region. Since 2021, they have spearheaded a legal battle against the State and Peruvian authorities, demanding protection for the Marañón River from the constant oil spills from the Norperuvian oil pipeline operated by Petroperu. The communities that make up this federation are still dealing with the aftermath of the Saramuro oil spill in 2010. </p><p>The Marañón River is one of the most important rivers and freshwater sources in Peru and its headwaters are high in the Andes Mountains before the river flows through the Andean valley to become one of the mainstem sources of the Amazon River. The river has been impacted by <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1owDSRASTwZCmfIAXSmwvO51c4wGM0Xzn/view" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more than 60 oil spills</a> caused by Oleoducto Norperuano between 1997 and 2019. The river is also being harmed by impacts from infrastructure projects – such as hydroelectric dams and the Amazon Waterway – considered a risk by multiple agencies and organizations including the <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/resrecfiles/WCC_2020_RES_111_ES.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)</a>. The river is also contaminated by mercury and other hazardous materials as a consequence of illegal gold mining.</p><p>In the constitutional protection process initiated in 2021 and supported by Instituto de Defensa Legal, International Rivers, and Earth Law Center, the Kukama women sought not only redress for environmental damages but also the fundamental recognition that the Marañón River and its tributaries be granted rights holder status.</p><p>The lawsuit targeted key actors, including the petroleum company, Petroperú; the Ministry of the Environment, the Institute of Research of the Peruvian Amazon (IIAP), the National Water Authority (ANA), and the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Also included are representatives of regional entities, such as the Executive Directorate of Environmental Management and the General Management of Indigenous Affairs of the Regional Government of Loreto.</p><p>In the ruling, the judge of the Mixed Court of Nauta recognized the intrinsic value of the Marañón River, codifying a series of intrinsic rights, among them: the right to exist; right to ecological flow; the right of restoration; the right to be free of pollution; right to exercise its essential functions with the ecosystem; right of representation. The court also went further to name the Peruvian government and the Indigenous organizations as guardians, defenders and representatives of the Marañón River and its tributaries. The Court further ordered that the regional Government of Loreto must take the necessary steps before the National Water Authority to create a water resource basin organization for the Marañón River and its tributaries; and ordered the oil company to prepare and present an updated environmental management instrument within six months to evaluate all the impacts of transportation and hydrocarbon activities on the river.</p><p>For <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/news/indigenous-leader-and-river-defender-mariluz-canaquiri-murayari-receives-the-2023-terre-de-femmes-international-award/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mariluz Canaquiri Murayari</a>, president of Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, the Federation of Kukama Indigenous Women, “We are truly happy and grateful to everyone who has supported us. We also want to thank God for what we have achieved. It won’t end here; we will continue. It encourages us to fight to defend our territories and rivers, which is fundamental. The recognition made in this decision has critical value. It is one more opportunity to keep fighting and claiming our rights. Our work is fundamental for Peru and the world: to protect our rivers, territories, our own lives, and all of humanity, and the living beings of Mother Nature.”</p>Over the past years, the Kukama women, along with their lawyer Martiza Quispe Mamani, have navigated the justice system fighting for the protection of their fundamental right to health, sanitation, social, cultural, environmental, and economic rights and a dignified life. Now, their long wait for resolution may finally be nearing an end. <br/><br/><p>“This historic ruling is an important achievement of the Kukama women, Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, who have fought for the protection and defense of their rivers due to constant oil spills for many years,” says <strong>Martiza Quispe Mamani</strong>, the attorney representing the communities. “The fact that the judge of the Nauta Court has declared the Marañón River as a subject of rights represents a significant and transcendental milestone for the protection not only of the Marañón River but also of all rivers contaminated by extractive activities.”</p> <p>To the international community, the decision by the Peruvian court can represent important progress for environmental restoration and the fundamental right to water. This case has progressed towards justice thanks to the work of Instituto de Defensa Legal, International Rivers, Earth Law Center, Forum Solidaridad Peru, Quisca, Radio Ucamara, Radio Voz de La Selva, WCS Peru, Instituto Chaikuni, the parish of Santa Rita de Castilla and the Bishop of Iquitos, Monsignor Miguel Ángel Cadenas, Father Manolo Berjón, Vicariato Apostólico de Iquitos, Mesa Regional de Lucha Contra La Pobreza (Regional Committee for the Fight Against Poverty), Broederlijk Delen, and Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.</p><p>The recognition of the rights of the Marañon River and the Indigenous communities as its guardians represents a very important step toward addressing the persistent threats to the river and is a significant milestone for Peru and for the global community that has closely followed the struggle of the Kukama people.</p> <blockquote> The Nauta court’s decision marks a major win for river conservation in Peru, affirming the intrinsic value of the Marañón River and granting it the status of a Subject of Rights. This milestone underscores the vital impact of community-led advocacy in safeguarding river ecosystems and sets a crucial precedent for river conservation efforts globally. By recognizing the Marañón River as a Subject of Rights, this decision is significant not only in terms of environmental protection but also in advancing the rights of nature and the rights of rivers. It establishes a groundbreaking legal framework that acknowledges the inherent rights of natural entities, paving the way for similar legal recognition and protection of rivers worldwide.<br/> <cite>Monti Aguirre, Latin America Director of International Rivers</cite></blockquote> <blockquote> “The recognition of the rights of the Marañón River and the indigenous communities as its guardians is the first step to restore many cumulative impacts that affect the Mranonriver basin. This historic decision is crucial for Peru and the international community that has closely followed the struggle of the Kukama people. This groundbreaking decision vindicates the rights and culture of the Amazonian populations in Peru.”<br/> <cite>Javier Ruiz, Earth Law Center Expert in Environmental Policy and Climate Change</cite></blockquote>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 17:28:04 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/landmark-ruling-the-peruvian-court-of-nauta-recognizes-the-rights-of-the-maranon-river-and-the-indigenous-communities-as-its-guardians</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Israeli Assurances to Use US Arms Legally Are Not Credible</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/israeli-assurances-to-use-us-arms-legally-are-not-credible</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>The Biden administration should follow US law and immediately suspend arms transfers to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/north-africa/israel/palestine" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Israel</a>, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam said today<strong>. </strong>The organizations on March 19, 2024 submitted a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/18/israeli-forces-conduct-gaza" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">joint memorandum</a> to the US government regarding Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law including with US weapons and the blocking of US-funded humanitarian assistance. </p><p>“There are good reasons why US law prohibits arms support for governments that block life-saving aid or violate international law with US weapons,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting US legal requirements are not credible.” </p><p>The Oxfam-Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/18/israeli-forces-conduct-gaza" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">memorandum</a> summarizes a wide range of Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, deprivation of services critical to the survival of the civilian population, and arbitrary denial and restrictions of humanitarian aid since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Examples include: </p> <ul><li>Use of US-supplied white phosphorus in military operations in Lebanon and Gaza in October;</li><li>Indiscriminate or disproportionate strikes on or near several major hospitals between October 7 and November 7, as well as a strike on a marked ambulance that reportedly killed 15 people and injured 60;</li><li>Systematic blocking of assistance, including aid substantially provided by the US, from reaching about 300,000 Palestinians remaining in northern Gaza;</li><li>The bombardment and significant destruction of Oxfam and partner organizations’ water infrastructure, rendering much of it inoperable.</li></ul><p>Oxfam and Human Rights Watch said in their memorandum that they “are confident that the examples we cite here reflect a broader pattern of conduct than is currently being assessed by the US Government.” </p><p>On March 15, the Israeli government submitted its most recent “assurances” to the US State Department that it is not arbitrarily blocking US humanitarian assistance and not violating international humanitarian law as part of its compliance with National Security Memorandum-20 (NSM-20).</p><p>NSM-20 establishes that foreign security partners such as Israel submit assurances to the Departments of State and Defense that they are not arbitrarily blocking US humanitarian assistance and not violating international humanitarian law. The secretaries of state and defense then need to determine whether these assurances are credible. </p><p>“Oxfam has repeatedly sounded the alarm that Israel’s ongoing bombardment and siege, and its actions to prevent access for humanitarian aid, have escalated a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” said Scott Paul, associate director for peace and security at Oxfam America. “We have laid out clearly for the Biden administration why any assurances from Israel that they have not delayed, restricted, and impeded aid into Gaza cannot be relied upon. Despite this, the United States has continued to provide Israel with deadly weapons. The time has long passed for the Biden administration to end lethal arms sales to Israel, and we call on them to do so now and work to end the death and suffering in Gaza.”</p><p>The joint submission is being released as famine is imminent in northern Gaza and a high risk for the rest of the strip if Israel persists in its hostilities and restriction of humanitarian access.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>The United States and other countries have resorted to airdrops and a temporary seaport – a product of Israel blocking aid from entering via more effective and safe land routes, the groups said.</p><p>Oxfam and Human Rights Watch urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to consider expected future violations when determining the credibility of the Israeli government’s assurances. “Oxfam and Human Rights Watch believe a suspension of arms transfers to Israel is necessary so long as there is an overriding risk that they are being used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and US law and policy,” the groups said in their report. </p><p><strong>To read the National Security Memorandum on Safeguards and Accountability with Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services (NSM-20), please visit:</strong><br/><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/02/08/national-security-memorandum-on-safeguards-and-accountability-with-respect-to-transferred-defense-articles-and-defense-services/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/02/08/national-security-memorandum-on-safeguards-and-accountability-with-respect-to-transferred-defense-articles-and-defense-services/</a></p> <strong>To read the IPC Hunger Report in Gaza, please visit</strong>:<br/><a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/</a>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:25:54 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/israeli-assurances-to-use-us-arms-legally-are-not-credible</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Indigenous Leaders and Environmental Groups Deliver Petitions Urging Army Corps of Engineers to Address Line 5 Pipeline Impacts</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/indigenous-leaders-and-environmental-groups-deliver-petitions-urging-army-corps-of-engineers-to-address-line-5-pipeline-impacts</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Last week, the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance and environmental groups delivered <a href="https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0403588" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a petition</a> with 9,000+ signatures calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a robust environmental review of the Line 5 crude oil pipeline reroute. The petition builds on growing momentum to shut down Line 5 permanently. Two weeks ago, leaders of 30 Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes region <a href="https://narf.org/2024-tribal-line-5-biden-letter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sent a letter to President Joe Biden</a> urging the United States to take action against the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline’s trespass on the Bad River Band’s sovereign territories.</p>
<p>The petition delivery comes ahead of the Washington D.C. premiere of the <a href="https://www.badriverfilm.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>BAD RIVER </em>documentary film</a><em>, </em>which will be attended by Bad River Tribal leaders, community advocates, environmental groups, and Congressional and government leaders and officials. The film will be released in 15 AMC and local theaters throughout the country on March 15th, many of which will run through the weekend, with 50% of ticket sales going to the Bad River Band. </p>
<p>Enbridge’s Line 5, <a href="https://www.enbridge.com/projects-and-infrastructure/public-awareness/line-5-michigan/about-line-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a 645 mile and 70-year-old oil pipeline</a>, has continued to operate illegally through the Bad River Band’s land in northern Wisconsin and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. The existing infrastructure poses a serious threat to the Great Lakes region which holds one-fifth of the world's surface freshwater. Enbridge's proposed reroute will still impact the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s sovereign land and watersheds. Despite the Bad River Band’s request that Enbridge immediately shutdown the existing illegal pipeline, the company is moving forward seeking permits for the reroute.</p>
<p>During the petition delivery, the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance brought attention to the cultural and environmental impacts of the Line 5 pipeline, the need for a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Line 5 reroute, and the urgent calls to shutdown and decommission the pipeline permanently. Ahead of the delivery, members of the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance and allies met with the Army Corps and Congressional leaders. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=314063311318641" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">See a livestream of the delivery and rally here</a>.</p>
<p>While the unprecedented Great Lakes Tunnel Project in the Straits of Mackinac aims to replace only a small segment of the overall degrading pipeline, <a href="https://www.interlochenpublicradio.org/2023-12-22/four-michigan-tribes-appeal-line-5-tunnel-permit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">four tribes</a>, environmental groups, and numerous Great Lakes advocates continue to object to the high-risk project that would encase the pipeline in concrete beneath the Lake. This unusual pipeline mechanism introduces an entirely new and <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2024/02/10/enbridge-line-5-tunnel-great-lakes-mackinac-straits-underwater-explosion/72427476007/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">extremely dangerous set of explosion risks</a> to the Lakes and surrounding communities. </p>
<p>The petition delivery and rally was led by the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance (IWTA) with support from the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) and Sierra Club. Please see quotes below from leaders of the IWTA, which is facilitated by the <a href="https://www.wecaninternational.org/stop-line-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network</a>:<br/><br/></p><p>Rene Ann Goodrich, Bad River Ojibwe, Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice MMIW Task Force Member: “Line 5 crosses over tribal treaty territory and one of those ceded territories is my own reservation of Bad River. The dangers that Line 5 brings to the water and environment is a huge and immediate concern. As a Bad River tribal member our way of life, historical homelands, cultural resources, subsistence, wild rice, medicines, fisheries, and water are in direct jeopardy of an imminent catastrophic oil spill. We call for the Line 5 shutdown and decommissioning, not simply re-routed, whereas it would still put the entire Great Lakes ecosystem at great risk and cause irreparable destruction. As sacred water carriers, we stand with the water and are calling for the Army Corps to conduct a proper EIS on Line 5 which will demonstrate that this pipeline is not ecologically feasible and should be immediately decommissioned, and for the Army Corps to reject permits for a re-route of Line 5.” </p>
<p>Aurora Conley, Bad River Ojibwe, Anishinaabe Environmental Protection Alliance: “As a Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe member, I join the calls from tribal leaders to immediately shutdown the existing Line 5 pipeline and conduct a proper EIS on the new Line 5 proposal. Our territories and water are in imminent danger, and we do not want to see irreversible damage to our land, water, and wild rice. We do not want our lifeways destroyed. The Ojibwe people are here in Bad River because of the <em>manoomin</em>, the wild rice. A rupture from this oil spill will irreversibly harm the Great Lakes and wild rice beds. That is unacceptable. That is something we will not stand for. I will continue this call to action until Line 5 is decommissioned and removed from our lands. We object to any reroute. Line 5 should not exist here.”<br/></p><p>Gaagigeyaashiik - Dawn Goodwin, Gaawaabaabiganigaag, White Earth-Ojibwe, Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition, Representative of Indigenous Environmental Network: “As a member of the Wolf Clan I have an inherent responsibility to protect the environment and the people. I have seen first hand what happens when the government fails to protect the water as they so unfortunately did with Line 3. Now Enbridge is looking to push through a new re-route for the Line 5 pipeline, and it must be stopped. The Army Corps has an opportunity here and now to protect the Great Lakes before irreparable damage occurs. It is time to honor and respect the treaties as the supreme law of the land, and to listen to Tribes and Indigenous leaders calling for a comprehensive EIS and for the Army Corps to reject permits for a re-route of Line 5.”</p>
<p>Nookomis Debra Topping, Nagajiiwanong, 1854 Treaty Fond du Lac, Co-founder of R.I.S.E. Coalition: “Nibi (water) is sacred. Manoomin is sacred. The wild rice is the reason why my people, the Anishinaabe, are located in the regions we currently reside in. I am inherently a caretaker of these lands and resources. I have said No to line 3 and now to line 5, and will forever say No to the rape of our Mother Earth. No means No. “No” is a full sentence. This work is exhausting and, yet, we don't give up on this. I have my community and grandchildren to answer to. Who do you answer to? Does your family mean enough to you to protect our mother earth and her resources? Or is dirty money, power and oil your priority?”</p>
<p>Alexus Koski, Bad River Ojibwe Youth Leader, Water Protector, Stop Line 5 Advocate:</p><p>“As a Bad River Youth Leader, I fear the continued and imminent threats to our sacred water. As a young person, unable to yet vote, it is sometimes difficult to remain hopeful about our future but it is far too important and far too dangerous to remain silent, to allow this pipeline to continue operating another day— my future is at stake, my culture is at stake, our climate is at stake. Please join us to stand in solidarity with Bad River and all other tribes calling for the immediate removal of this pipeline from our lands, to finally shut down line 5 once for all. We do not want a reroute. We want to protect the water. We owe that much to young people and to future generations. Shut down Line 5! Water is Life!”</p>
<p>Since 2022, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) has been honored to facilitate the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance. In response to the petition delivery and rally, Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) stated: “Not only are we in an escalating climate crisis, we are also facing a water crisis. We cannot risk poisoning the Great Lakes, which hold one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater. To be climate leaders, it is necessary to listen to Indigenous leadership, protect biodiversity, and end the expansion of fossil fuels. Shutting down Line 5 means being a climate leader. The Army Corps must conduct the most thorough environmental review possible of the proposed reroute, and through this effort, we are calling for Line 5 permits to be rejected and the entire pipeline permanently shut down."</p>
<p>Elizabeth Ward, Sierra Club - Wisconsin Chapter Director: “We’re here today in support of Indigenous sovereignty and to elevate the demands of the Bad River Band and dozens of tribal nations with President Biden – end the trespass of the existing Line 5 pipeline on sovereign land and deny the permits for the proposed reroute upon completion of a full environmental impact statement”</p>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2024 20:18:40 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/indigenous-leaders-and-environmental-groups-deliver-petitions-urging-army-corps-of-engineers-to-address-line-5-pipeline-impacts</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>Religious Leaders Call for Global Health Equity as Nations Gather to Finalize Pandemic Agreement</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/religious-leaders-call-for-global-health-equity-as-nations-gather-to-finalize-pandemic-agreement</link><description><![CDATA[
<p>Today, over 100 religious leaders and faith-based organizations globally called on leaders of the World Health Organization to secure equity commitments to protect all populations everywhere from future pandemics. The <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/religious-leaders-faith-based-organizations-call-for-equity-commitments-in-the-who-pandemic-accord/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a> was delivered on the opening day of the intended final <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2024/03/18/default-calendar/ninth-meeting-of-the-intergovernmental-negotiating-body-(inb)-for-a-who-instrument-on-pandemic-prevention-preparedness-and-response" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nine-day negotiating session</a> in Geneva for the <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/Pandemic_Agreement_Backgounder_Text_Suggestions.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pandemic Accord</a>, a new international agreement of UN member states to bolster pandemic prevention, preparedness and response efforts. </p><p>“The sanctity of human life often seemed forgotten in the pandemic, with the lives of people in wealthy nations appearing to be valued over those in low- or middle-income countries,” states the letter. “As you enter the final stage of negotiations, we implore you to deliver an agreement that ensures every life is valued equally.”</p><p>Millions of people lost their lives during the Covid emergency due to late and inequitable access to tests, treatments and vaccines. The letter urges negotiators to reach an agreement that ensures that everyone, everywhere can benefit from scientific advancement and that the tools needed to fight the next pandemic are shared equally, including necessary knowledge and technology.</p><p>It also urges negotiators to ensure that intellectual property barriers are removed when necessary, and that people in the Global South are “treated not as mere samples for pandemic monitoring, but as equal partners in a collective endeavour towards a healthier world.” Over the course of the pandemic, despite the sharing of genetic information that enabled production of effective vaccines, these products were not accessible to many. The proposed pathogen access and benefit sharing (PABS) mechanism in the agreement aims to remedy this by ensuring that sharing of pathogen data also enables equitable access to resulting medical tools.</p><p><strong>Letter signatory Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa said</strong>, “As the world prepares for future pandemics, it is essential that it plans to give equal protection to all people, everywhere, not only for moral reasons but to protect one another. Covid-19 showed us that none of us are safe until all of us are safe, and that only a comprehensive response that covers the world can bring pandemics under control.”</p><p>The letter was organized by Public Citizen, in collaboration with the ACT Alliance, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice and the People’s Vaccine Alliance.</p><p>The final text of the Accord is slated for presentation to the World Health Assembly in May.</p>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:45:55 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/religious-leaders-call-for-global-health-equity-as-nations-gather-to-finalize-pandemic-agreement</guid><dc:creator>Newswire Editor</dc:creator></item><item><title>I'm A Cook: Feeding Hope In Gaza</title><link>https://www.commondreams.org/further/i-m-a-cook-feeding-hope-in-gaza</link><description><![CDATA[
<img src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/a-barge-filled-with-200-tons-of-food-arrives-in-gaza-from-world-central-kitchen.png?id=51754905&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C644%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>As children in Gaza starve and rapacious capitalism, fractured governments and toothless international groups all fail to act, let it not be said that one person - albeit with extraordinary grit, heart, political will, clarity of vision - cannot make a difference. This week, chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen, working with Jordan, UAE and Cyprus, made the first maritime delivery of food to Gaza. Please give this man his Nobel Peace Prize already. Also send him some money.</p><p>Since moving to the U.S. decades ago, the Spanish-born, award-winning Andrés, 54, has opened multiple restaurants in D.C and then across the country, including in New York, Chicago, Orlando and Las Vegas. In 2010, after volunteering at D.C.'s Central Kitchen helping repurpose food for those in need, he <a href="World%20Central%20Kitchen" target="_blank">founded</a><em> World Central Kitchen,</em> whose chefs and first responders bring meals to people hit by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies around the globe. Since his first mission to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, he and a worldwide "Chef Corps" of local cooks have made and distributed over 350 million meals - to Puerto Ricans devastated by Hurricane Maria, COVID-trapped cruise ship passengers in California, flooded-out Houston and, in 2022, in their first active war zone, to Ukraine, where, when a Russian missile hit the Kharkiv restaurant they were working in, injuring four <em>WCK</em> workers, team members <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chef-jose-andres-on-serving-meals-in-ukraine-war-zone-world-central-kitchen/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">insisted, </a> "We wanna keep cooking. We wanna keep fighting.'"</p><p>"We all are Citizens of the World. What's good for you, must be good for all," reads <em>WCK's </em>website. "If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger...You will find who you are." Blunt, droll, reportedly merciless on the basketball court and seemingly tireless, Andrés views food as "the great connector" and his mission as both plain and existential: "Feeding humanity, feeding hope." "Without empathy, nothing works," he says. "A meal in a time of crisis is so much more than a plate of food - it's hope, it's dignity, it's a sign that someone cares." He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APN57-e2xrw" target="_blank">argues </a>that, in any dire situation, people must be treated with respect, "and the way you do that is being next to them in their darkest hour" - when, he adds, "you make magic happen...and you see the best of humanity." Deemed by many "a light in the darkness," Andrés often seems to be everywhere - he also<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91056471/chef-jose-and..." target="_blank"> has </a>a podcast<em> Longer Tables</em><em>,</em> a new cookbook, an upcoming show <em>Dinner Party Diaries</em> (Bryan Cranston!) - and now he's in Gaza.</p><p>With Israel's savage siege trapping over two million Gazans, the U.N. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-agenc..." target="_blank">says </a><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-agenc..."> </a>over a million children, one in three, are now "acutely malnourished" - aka very hungry. Grotesquely, Israel has still <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/16/world/isra..." target="_blank">attacked</a> at least 26 starving crowds waiting for rare aid convoys; Thursday, they killed at least 20 people and wounded over 150. Since October, <em>WCK</em> teams have been <a href="https://wck.org/en-us/news/gaza-aid" target="_blank">in Gaza;</a> often working with Jordan, they've served over 35 million meals, 350,000 a day; sent (or tried to send) 1,400 aid trucks across the Rafah crossing; and opened 60 kitchens, with ten more in the works. Meanwhile, for two months Andrés met with Israeli, Egyptian, Jordanian officials to get permits, mainly from Israel's COGAT, to approach Gaza from the sea in what he calls "the most politically complex environment WCK has operated in." Their goal: To establish a maritime highway so boats can continuously deliver food to a devastated people, especially children<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/16/..." target="_blank">, pleading,</a> "We want to eat, we want to live...God willing."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9db3a28fbbc5a728924f6a138af3b17a" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" lazy-loadable="true" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g-xlAL7mlBM?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Palestinian child asks Egyptian soldiers for food in a letter</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-xlAL7mlBM" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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</p>As widespread famine looms and the two sides skirmish and stall, the deadly stalemate brought Andrés back to <em>WCK'</em>s origin story, of people in need facing "bureaucracy’s failures, inefficiencies, and prioritizing risk aversion over human lives." "This is a time for action, not for hollow promises," he says. "Our job is to feed people in crisis, no matter what." With food potentially "the difference between life and death" for millions, "the greatest failure now would be failing to try." Still, the task was <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-03-1..." target="_blank">daunting.</a> Working with King Abdullah II of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates - which co-financed the mission with WCK - the government of Cyprus as a departure point, and the Spanish rescue charity <em>Open Arms,</em> they encountered a host of technical and political issues. For starters, Israel has so completely razed Gaza there are no working ports left; for weeks a team from <em>WCK</em> and <em>Open Arms </em>has been building a jetty with rubble from bombed buildings and whatever machinery they could salvage.<p>The location remains secret; citing other "security" concerns, Israel blocked the effort at almost every turn. For permission to build the jetty, Israel insisted international crews have no contact with Gazans. The result was a complex, months-long delivery system: In February, the <em>Open Arms</em> rescue ship set sail from Spain for the port of Larnaca on Cyprus, 280 miles from Gaza, in <em>Operation Safeena -</em> boat in Arabic. Last week, Cyprus crews <a href="https://twitter.com/WCKitchen/status/1767443235033..." target="_blank">loaded</a> 200 tons of food - rice, flour, legumes, canned goods - on pallets onto a larger cargo barge, strapped to the <em>Open Arms,</em> that can only sail slowly in relatively calm waters; after three days at sea, it neared Gaza, where two tugs pushed it to the jetty; there, WCK crews <a href="https://wck.org/" target="_blank">unloaded</a> the pallets, re-loaded them on trucks, and drove them to WCK kitchens and other distribution points. Weather already delayed the first shipment; Andrés also cited, "The sand, the tide, the wind, the machines, the permits, having enough cement for the jetty, having enough fuel for the cranes..."</p><p>On Friday, he jubilantly<a href="https://twitter.com/chefjoseandres/status/17687540..." target="_blank"> announced </a>the first delivery from "Chefs For the People" had safely arrived: "We did it!" He noted the load included dates for Ramadan, and that 500 more tons of food await in Cyprus, along with ships to haul it and machinery to load it. Andrés stresses this is "a test, a pilot" <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jose-andres-aid-gaza-..." target="_blank">designed</a> to inaugurate a maritime corridor to deliver thousands of tons a week to Gaza, and inspire other multi-national humanitarian initiatives: "Let's have less diplomacy by meetings and more diplomacy by action - today, not in a month." But he's also adamant this is a stopgap measure in a crisis that shouldn't be happening. His 200 tons is equivalent to 10 or 12 truckloads; before the war, 500 trucks a day brought in aid that still wasn't enough to meet the needs of stricken Gazans. As long as Israel persists in occupying Gaza, land crossings should be open and human decency should prevail: "Everyone has the power to help or feed the many. We all have the power to move the needle."</p><p>Once word of <em>World Central Kitchen'</em>s mission began to spread, news coverage followed. In one post, Andrés mockingly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wckitchen/" target="_blank">quoted</a> a <em>Washington Post</em> headline that read, "Who Is José Andrés, the Chef Behind the First Aid Ship to Gaza?" He responded with, "Really? 30 years in DC and my favorite newspaper asks who I am? I'm a cook. Thanks." Still, the poignant, often heartbroken thanks that <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldCentralKitchen/" target="_blank">poured in</a> from those who heard of, donated to, felt a deep need to acknowledge the project reflected the common grief and rage and gutting sense of helplessness so many have felt watching the horrors in Gaza unfold. "Heartfelt thanks to the warrior angels," wrote one. Also: "Thank you thank you thank you for respect to Palestine," "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish you all safety and Allah bless you more a thousand fold," "You are the change we need to see in the world," and, "May the Almighty reward you, may the Almighty grant Palestinians peace. Amen." Until then, donate<a href="https://donate.wck.org/give/499865/#!/donation/checkout" target="_blank"> here.</a><br/></p>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 17 Mar 2024 03:01:32 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://www.commondreams.org/further/i-m-a-cook-feeding-hope-in-gaza</guid><dc:creator>Abby Zimet</dc:creator><media:content medium="image" type="image/png" url="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/a-barge-filled-with-200-tons-of-food-arrives-in-gaza-from-world-central-kitchen.png?id=51754905&width=980"></media:content></item></channel></rss>
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