In recent weeks, as Israeli colonial forces escalated the brutal violence against the occupied Palestinians in East Jerusalem, many expected a sharp backlash from the new Biden administration.
But that didn’t come. Instead, we heard again that the U.S. State Department is “very concerned” about “unilateral steps that increase tensions” and that Israeli and Palestinian officials must “act decisively to increase tensions”.
Some Palestinians also expected more from “progressive” members of the U.S. legislature. But they also covered the words with euphemisms. Representative André Carson said he was “terrified of Israel’s efforts to forcibly expel Palestinians from their homes.” Representative Marie Newman called on the State Department to “immediately condemn these violations of international law.” Representative Mark Pocan wrote the letter along with others, expressing “intense concern about Israel’s immediate plan to expel nearly 2,000 Palestinians b
Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian man, as they crack down on a protest in solidarity with Palestinian families who face forced eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, on May 4, 2021 [AFP/Ahmad Gharabli]
Over the past few weeks, as the Israeli colonial forces escalated their brutal violence against the Palestinians of occupied East Jerusalem, many hoped for some kind of a sharp reaction from the new Biden administration.
But that did not come. Instead, we once again heard about how “deeply concerned” the US State Department is about “unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions” and that both Israeli and Palestinian officials need “to act decisively to de-escalate tensions”.
Jordan, Cheney, Stefanik, Trump voting scores: Darcy cartoon
Updated May 07, 10:07 AM;
Posted May 07, 7:00 AM
Rep. Liz Cheney actually voted with former President Trump more often than Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep Elise Stefanik, who Trump wants to replace Cheney as House Republican Conference Chair.
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FiveThirtyEight gave Cheney a ‘Trump Score’ of 92%, Jordan 88% and Stefanik 77%.
Voteview had rated Rep. Stefanik more liberal than 98% of Republicans in Congress.
When Rep. Stefanik was first elected in 2014 to her upper New York district she was considered moderate to liberal. The Adirondacks district had previously been represented by Democrats. 30 at the time, Stefanik was the youngest female Rep. in Congress until Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez had been elected.
What threatens press freedom today?
While the most obvious threat to press freedom emanates from oppressive politics, democracies like Germany have been downgraded by RSF because media professionals have met with increasing violence from angry mobs of polarized readers
By Jan-Werner Mueller
Former US president Donald Trump’s presidency was bookended by the White House pushing “alternative facts” about the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration at the US Capitol and his violent supporters scrawling “Murder the Media” on the Capitol’s doors. While Trump is gone (for now), professional media remain at risk and not just in the US. The watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) considers the state of press freedom “good” in a mere 12 countries fewer than ever before.
Monday, February 22, 2021
AOC with Mariana Mazzucato
Think again.
An establishment-connected lefty professor says that in “the near future, the world may need to resort to lockdowns again this time to tackle a climate emergency.”
“Under a ‘climate lockdown,’ governments would limit private-vehicle use, ban consumption of red meat, and impose extreme energy-saving measures, while fossil-fuel companies would have to stop drilling,” writes Mariana Mazzucato, a professor at the Economics of Innovation and Public Value Center at University College London, in a paper titled “Avoiding a Climate Lockdown.”
The title of her paper is very misleading. She believes climate lockdowns will be necessary unless we overhaul our economic structures and do capitalism differently.