Archiv: Democratic Party / Demokratische Partei (USA)


14.11.2024 - 22:16 [ United Nations ]

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

The present report contains information regarding the efforts of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories to implement its mandate and documents human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan from October 2023 to July 2024. The Special Committee was not able to conduct visits to the occupied territories, but did conduct its annual consultations in Geneva and undertook a visit to Amman, and met with government officials, United Nations organizations and mechanisms, representatives of civil society organizations, youth representatives, human rights defenders, and Palestinian families.

The report raises serious concerns of breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including starvation as a weapon of war, the possibility of genocide in Gaza and an apartheid system in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It documents the impact of the conflict escalation since 7 October 2023 on Palestinians’ rights to food; to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; to physical integrity, liberty and security of persons; as well as the disproportionate effects on the rights of women, children, and future generations more broadly. The report also highlights the ongoing attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and refers to developments in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Member States; to the State of Israel; and to businesses operating with Israel, that in any way contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.

(…)

IX. Conclusions

69. The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life-threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid – resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths – and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law. Civilians have been indiscriminately and disproportionally killed en masse in Gaza, while in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli colonial settlers, military and security personnel have continued to violate human rights and humanitarian law with impunity. Senior Israeli government and military officials must be held accountable, including for using dehumanizing language and inciting violence.

14.11.2024 - 22:04 [ Common Dreams ]

As US Keeps Arms Flowing, UN Panel Says Israeli Assault on Gaza ‚Consistent With Genocide‘

Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration said it does not believe Israel is unlawfully obstructing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a United Nations special committee issued a report Thursday arguing that the Israeli military‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave bear „the characteristics of genocide.“

14.11.2024 - 21:01 [ Common Dreams ]

Global Fury After State Dept Claims Israel Not Violating US Law by Blocking Gaza Aid

(November 12, 2024)

Last month, the Biden administration—which has approved tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Israel and provided nearly unconditional diplomatic support since October 2023—sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. arms transfers if it failed to take „urgent and sustained actions“ to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

Asked during a Tuesday press conference if the Israeli government has met the letter‘s demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that „we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law.“

10.11.2024 - 14:44 [ Statista.com ]

1.25 Million Have ‚Top Secret‘ Access in the U.S.

(April 14, 2023)

Peo0le with clearance and access to „Top Secret“ U.S.federal government information, by employee type
Government 605.579
Contractor 472.576
Other 173.803
Total 1.251.958

As of Oct.1, 2019
Source: Office of the Director of National Intelligence via Federation of American Scientists

10.11.2024 - 14:30 [ Washington Post ]

TOP SECRET AMERICA: National Security Inc.

(July 20, 2010)

The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

It is also a system in which contractors are playing an ever more important role. The Post estimates that out of 854,000 people with top-secret clearances, 265,000 are contractors. There is no better example of the government‘s dependency on them than at the CIA, the one place in government that exists to do things overseas that no other U.S. agency is allowed to do.

(…)

Contractors kill enemy fighters. They spy on foreign governments and eavesdrop on terrorist networks. They help craft war plans. They gather information on local factions in war zones. They are the historians, the architects, the recruiters in the nation‘s most secretive agencies. They staff watch centers across the Washington area. They are among the most trusted advisers to the four-star generals leading the nation‘s wars.

10.11.2024 - 13:35 [ New York Times ]

When Did Liberals Become So Comfortable With War?

First, history has shown that governments and bureaucracies tend to become addicted to a war footing, with failure sucking them in further — think of America’s war on terror, or Vietnam. War encourages a perverse cycle of escalation in which huge financial and political gains accrue for governments and the military-industrial complex while the costs tend to be borne by weaker parties — before they start to come home in some shape or form.

We’ve called this bipartisan pattern “wreckonomics” and have found it especially present in wars or conflicts with costs that Western politicians can largely outsource — from fighting terrorism, drugs and smugglers to quasi-colonial interventions during the Cold War.

10.11.2024 - 12:00 [ Middle East Eye ]

Instead of looking inwards, white liberals are blaming Arab Americans for Trump‘s victory

(November 8, 2024)

Democrats actually benefitted from Trump‘s rise, which presented an opportunity for them to win votes freely by positioning themselves as the only alternative to outright fascism.

Yet, instead of looking inwards for answers on why Harris lost to a candidate as problematic as Trump, these liberal Democrats chose to reprimand minorities. Signalling a sense of superiority, they could not hide their racism, implying that it was incumbent upon these minority communities to vote within the guidelines provided by their liberal saviours.

By this logic, Arabs, Muslims and Latinos must vote for a Democrat no matter what.

07.11.2024 - 18:26 [ Fox News ]

Hollywood director declares it‘s ‚time to abandon‘ the Democratic Party in wake of Trump win

„Who would have guessed lying about Biden’s cognitive health for 2 yrs, refusing to do an open convention for a new nominee, never mentioning public healthcare & embracing fracking, the Cheneys & a yr long slaughter of children in Gaza wouldn’t be a winning strategy?“ he said.

„Anyone with half a brain?“ he continued. „But I thought liberals’ whole thing is being smart? It’s not? They actually just blindly cheer the parade of rickety optics wrapped up in New York Times fonts that is the modern Dem Party?“

07.11.2024 - 16:25 [ Peter Beinart / New York Times ]

Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party

Over the past year, Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinians — funded by U.S. taxpayers and live-streamed on social media — has triggered one of the greatest surges in progressive activism in a generation. Many Americans roused to action by their government’s complicity in Gaza’s destruction have no personal connection to Palestine or Israel. Like many Americans who protested South African apartheid or the Vietnam War, their motive is not ethnic or religious. It is moral.

07.11.2024 - 15:51 [ Common Dreams ]

Israel Bombs Refugee Camps After Inking $5.2 Billion Deal for US F-15 Fighter Jets

The agreement, part of a broader military aid package approved by the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress earlier this year, was finalized hours after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to Republican nominee Donald Trump following a campaign in which she resisted calls to support an arms embargo against Israel.

07.11.2024 - 15:15 [ AmmonNews.net ]

85 thousand tons of bombs dropped by Israel on the Gaza Strip

(November 6, 2024)

According to a statement by the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority today, Wednesday, over 85,000 tons of bombs have been deployed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the conflict on October 7, 2023.

07.11.2024 - 15:10 [ Anadolu ]

Amount of Israeli bombs dropped on Gaza surpasses that of World War II

(June 4, 2024)

Israel dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza Strip since last October, exceeding World War II bombings in Dresden, Hamburg, London combined, according to rights monitor

07.11.2024 - 14:04 [ Les Leopold / Common Dreams ]

Why Did the Democrats Lose? Because They Gave Up on the Working Class 40 Years Ago

The Democrats assumed the working class had nowhere else to go. They were wrong!

07.11.2024 - 10:55 [ theHill.com ]

Sanders: Democratic Party ‘has abandoned working class people’

“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy, which has so much economic power?” Sanders asked.

“Probably not,” he said in response to his own question.

07.11.2024 - 10:41 [ USA Tpday ]

‚The American people are angry and want change‘: Bernie Sanders slams Democrats for loss

Sanders, 83, highlighted several issues he believes the nation has failed to address under the Biden-Harris Administration, from wealth inequality and a worsening standard of living to high prescription drug prices and the lack of guaranteed medical leave.

Though he is an Independent, Sanders caucuses with the Democratic Party, and has long championed policies like Medicare for All and a higher federal minimum wage.

07.11.2024 - 09:55 [ Wikipedia ]

Jaime Harrison

Following President Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election, Harrison was nominated by Biden to be the chair of the DNC, succeeding Tom Perez.[23] DNC members elected him on January 21, 2021.[24]

07.11.2024 - 09:53 [ theNation.com ]

This Time We Have to Hold the Democratic Party Elite Responsible for This Catastrophe

With Trump winning his second term, it is worth noting that there was no absolutely accountability by the Democratic Party when he won in 2016. Losing an election to so dangerous and corrupt a figure as Donald Trump should cause a political party to do some major inward reflection on their own failures of policy and political strategy. Instead, all the Democrats who bore responsibility for the 2016 failure—starting with Hillary Clinton—found a way to blame anyone else but them.

07.11.2024 - 09:41 [ New York Times ]

A Party of Prigs and Pontificators Suffers a Humiliating Defeat

There was also the larger error of anointing Harris without political competition — an insult to the democratic process that handed the nomination to a candidate who, as some of us warned at the time, was exceptionally weak. That, in turn, came about because Democrats failed to take Biden’s obvious mental decline seriously until June’s debate debacle (and then allowed him to cling to the nomination for a few weeks more), making it difficult to hold even a truncated mini-primary.

07.11.2024 - 08:45 [ Associated Press / Youtube ]

LIVE: Kamala Harris concession speech (FULL STREAM)

Streamed live 12 hours ago #kamalaharris #election2024 #usa
Watch live as Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech after Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States.

06.11.2024 - 12:31 [ ABC News ]

Harris doesn‘t speak as tearful supporters leave watch party

The mood at Howard University had dampened after the evening started out with music pumping and crowds dancing.

As the night wore on, muted crowds watched with eyes glued to screens showing the results.

06.11.2024 - 12:00 [ DetroitNews.com ]

Detroit Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib gets easily reelected

Tlaib, an attorney and former state lawmaker, has sharply criticized the Biden administration‘s support of and arming of Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza following the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack. She is among the few Democratic members of Congress who have not endorsed the party‘s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

06.11.2024 - 12:00 [ Middle East Eye ]

US elections 2024: After not endorsing Harris, Rashida Tlaib secures win in Michigan

The Associated Press called the race with just 18 percent of the votes counted.

Tlaib secured 77 percent of the vote, defeating the Republican Party‘s James Hooper who received just 19 percent of the vote.

06.11.2024 - 11:46 [ Middle East Eye ]

US elections 2024: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar defeats pro-Israel Republican opponent

Omar, who represents Minnesota‘s fifth district, faced Republican challenger Dalia al-Aqidi, an Iraqi-born immigrant who describes herself as a „secular Muslim“ and is pro-Israel, in contrast to Omar, who is a vocal proponent of Palestinian rights.

Omar won 76.4 percent of the vote compared to Aqidi’s 23.6 percent, according to the Associated Press, which called the race with 87 percent of the votes counted.

Prior to the November 2024 election, Omar faced an offensive by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a pro-Israel lobbying group, during her August primary.

06.11.2024 - 11:46 [ MinnPost.com ]

AP Race Call: Democrat Ilhan Omar wins reelection to U.S. House in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District

Omar will get a third term representing the heavily Democratic 5th District, which includes Minneapolis and some suburbs. She’s one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and a sharp critic of Israel’s conduct in its war with Hamas.

When Omar first ran in 2018, she became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. Her Republican challenger was Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who called Omar pro-Hamas.

06.11.2024 - 11:23 [ CBS News ]

House elections live balance of power for 2024

3:01 AM
Control of the House in limbo as votes continue to be counted

Control of the House is still in limbo early Tuesday as votes in many states continue to be counted. CBS News has yet to project dozens of critical races.

Republicans have picked up two seats in North Carolina, while Democrats have picked up one in Alabama. The gains for both parties came after redistricting.

06.11.2024 - 11:15 [ ABC News ]

Republicans clinch Senate control with key flips

With Democrats currently holding a 51-49 majority in the Senate, these wins will now at least deliver a 51-seat majority for Republicans, barring any upsets.

29.10.2024 - 23:10 [ Umair Malik / Twitter ]

this is the biggest blunder in American history. Mark my words

(December 9, 2023)

28.10.2024 - 03:41 [ theHill.com ]

Democrats look to quash threat from Green Party’s Jill Stein

(October 18,2024)

Kennedy, who has become a top surrogate for Trump since dropping out, posed a specific threat to Democrats in that he had a famous name attached to their party but aligned politically with the right on many issues. Stein, however, is to the left of most progressives and, in Democrats’ estimation, comes with her own unique baggage.

That lingering, eight-year-old resentment has prompted an uptick of activity across the party, with Harris’s allies strategizing multiple ways to cut off any support she has in states where 1 and 2 percent support could be decisive.

22.10.2024 - 14:20 [ Antiwar.com ]

Harris Campaign Says She Denies Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza

A spokesperson for Harris’s campaign said Sunday that the comments made by the protester “don’t reflect the position of the Biden-Harris administration or the vice president’s stance.”

The spokesperson added that Harris “didn’t agree with defining the war as a genocide, and she has not expressed such a stance in the past, as this is not her position.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that its “plausible” Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population of Gaza. There have been massive civilian casualties in the onslaught, and Israeli forces have purposely targeted children.

21.10.2024 - 10:10 [ France24.com ]

Arab League to appeal for Gaza ‚no-fly zone‘

(April 10, 2011)

The Arab League request for a no-fly zone over Gaza may have been inspired by a UN-sanctioned aerial blockade for Libya to halt forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi harming civilians.

Arab League backing for that no-fly zone was seen as crucially important by the United States when it pressed for a UN resolution that authorised it and other countries to keep Libyan planes grounded.

17.10.2024 - 00:05 [ CNN ]

Who supplies Israel with weapons?

The United States is overwhelmingly the biggest supplier of arms to Israel. In 2023 69% of Israel’s arm imports came from the US, according to a report into international arms transfers by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Germany was the second largest, providing 30%, followed by Italy with 0.9%. The UK, France and Spain were among other minor contributors.

15.10.2024 - 04:27 [ New York Times ]

In a Tight Presidential Race, Third-Party Candidates Present a Wild Card

With a month to go before what is widely expected to be an extraordinarily close election, an extra element of unpredictability looms: In every battleground state, there is at least one third-party or independent presidential candidate on the ballot.

None of these candidates will come anywhere close to winning the presidency. Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, is polling at about 1 percent nationally, according to New York Times polling released last week. Same with Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party candidate.

15.10.2024 - 04:16 [ Democracy Now ]

Harris Vows to Create Bipartisan Advisory Council as DNC Runs Ad Attacking Jill Stein

In other campaign news, the Democratic National Committee has released an ad attacking Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, claiming a vote for Stein is a vote for Trump. Democrats are planning to run the ad in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. In August, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, published a survey that showed Stein is leading Harris among Muslim voters in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. Stein has criticized Harris for refusing to cut off arms sales to Israel.

15.10.2024 - 03:59 [ RealClearolitics.com ]

Kamala Harris Proposes Presidential „Bipartisan Council Of Advisors“ To Preserve „Healthy Two-Party System“

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I am gonna actually announce — we have press in the room — that I have decided, not only will I have a Republican in my cabinet — I was talking to my team about it — I want to create some structure around the following, which is: I love good ideas, wherever they come from. I love good ideas! Right?

So part of what I intend to do and put some structure around is creating a bipartisan council of advisors, who can then give feedback on policy as we go forward.

Because here‘s the thing I also understand, and feel strongly about. In order for us as America to maintain our status as the strongest democracy in the world, we need a healthy two-party system. We have to have a healthy two-party. We have to! It‘s in the best interest of all of us.

14.10.2024 - 10:19 [ Newsweek ]

Jill Stein: How and Why I Will Stop Kamala Harris Winning the White House

(September 30, 2024)

„The Democrats cannot win without the support of the Muslim American community. And that community has left the station and is not coming back unless the Democrats decide that it‘s more important to them to win the election than it is to conduct the genocide,“ Stein said in an interview with Newsweek.

„So they have to do a 180 on the genocide and they don‘t appear willing to do that. They could win those votes back, but it doesn‘t look like that‘s on the cards. So it looks like they are sacrificing several swing states.“ Israel denies it is conducting genocide.

13.10.2024 - 02:04 [ Washington Post ]

Democrats attack Green Party’s Jill Stein amid spoiler fears

(October 11, 2024)

“The Kamala Harris campaign is looking for a scapegoat,” Stein said Thursday in an interview, about the Harris campaign’s concern about her candidacy. “They could change their policy right now. The problem is they would rather lose the election than end the genocide.”

Stein is one of three independent candidates who have been registering at least 1 percent in recent public polls, along with the left-leaning scholar Cornel West, who is running on a “truth, justice and love” platform, and libertarian candidate Chase Oliver.

13.10.2024 - 02:00 [ Democracy Now! / Youtube ]

Green Pres. & VP Candidates Jill Stein, Butch Ware on Gaza & Fighting „Two Zombie Political Parties“

(September 25, 2024)

Democracy Now! speaks with the Green Party‘s presidential ticket, Jill Stein and her running mate Butch Ware, after the Green Party suffered a setback Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request to put Stein on the ballot in Nevada. The Democratic Party had sued to keep Stein off the ballot for failing to submit the proper forms. In this campaign cycle,

10.10.2024 - 03:10 [ Reuters ]

U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia

(March 27, 2019)

Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (…)

Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.

10.10.2024 - 02:51 [ CommonDreams.org ]

Senators Express Concerns Over Reports That Saudis Want US Support for Nuclear Program

(Oct 04, 2023)

Amid reports that Saudi Arabia is seeking United States support for its nuclear energy program—whose capacities critics fear could be utilized to develop nuclear weapons—a group of 20 U.S. senators on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to „seriously consider“ whether such a move is in the national interest as the administration brokers a possible normalization deal between the kingdom and Israel.