2024s
The US is increasingly on its own with Israel.
Britain drops its challenge to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders | The Guardian
Labour has announced its biggest step yet in overhauling the UK’s approach to the Middle East, dropping its opposition to an international arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu despite pressure from Washington not to do so.
Downing Street announced on Friday that the government would not submit a challenge to the jurisdiction of the international criminal court, whose chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is seeking a warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
The Majority Report discusses Kamala Harris' response to the protests of Netanyahu’s visit to Congress. They also dig into Netanyahu’s various lies, his denial of the humanity of Palestinians and the fucked up warm welcome by many in Congress including many Democrats.
The Congress people there to cheer him on are complicit in his war crimes as is Biden. I’m guessing her policies in this area will be better than Biden but only a little. Time will tell.
Of course, much of Gaza is now rubble and uninhabitable. While the official death toll is now around 40,000, recent reporting on a Lancet study suggests the number is much higher, likely above 186,000 and still going higher this very moment.
The Guardian reports on her meeting with Netanyahu stating that she “pressed him on the ‘dire’ humanitarian situation in Gaza in talks that she described as frank, adding ‘I will not be silent’.”
In comments that were closely watched for signs of a shift from Joe Biden’s policy approach, the US vice-president said after the meeting: “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time.”
War criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, met with a standing ovation by the US Congress, appealed for more weapons which would enable Israel to “finish the job faster” in Gaza.
I’m sure it’s on record who in Congress continues to support Israel’s war crimes and genocide.
“Netanyahu drew one of the clearest lines yet between the supply of U.S. weapons and Israel’s genocidal assault of Gaza, essentially straight out saying that the slaughter has been made possible by U.S. assistance — and that the speed of Israel’s genocide is scaled to how many U.S. weapons they receive.”
The Kamala Harris Campaign launch video is so good:
The freedom to be safe from gun violence. The freedom to make decisions about your own body. We choose a future where no child lives in poverty, where we can all afford health care, where no one is above the law.
Electing Kamala Harris is essential but we can’t stop there. That’s just our job for the fall of 2024.
Like many I went to bed Sunday night with increased hope that we had a real chance to beat Trump and Project 2025. That hope has only grown each day this week. This looks like it will be a crushing wave. Good. Fantastic. Let’s get to work.
But.
But let’s remember, due to OUR negligence and OUR lack of effort we have many crises to deal with beyond the 2024 election. OUR WORK is only beginning. Our political system is fundamentally broken. Our society is deeply fractured. Our planet is burning and our economy rooted in ever-increasing, unnecessary over-consumption. Our foreign policy is based on violent interventions and conflict profiteering. Our domestic policing is out of control. We have a real oligarchy to bring down.
Electing Kamala Harris is just what we do next. But then it’s on us to keep going. We’ve got decades of neglect to deal with. We the People have not been doing our job in regards to our various governments. We’ve not been nearly as active as we should be. Citizenship is not just voting for representatives that we hope will fix our problems for us. Voting is only one part of our job. Real and meaningful citizenship is what we can do any day of the week in our communities, where we live.
Truthout reports on a potential Polio Outbreak in Gaza:
Advocates for Palestinian rights are demanding that the Biden administration take urgent action to stop a potential outbreak of polio in Gaza after the virus that causes the deadly disease was found in Gaza’s wastewater, threatening an epidemic that would be nothing short of catastrophic.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that Biden bears responsibility to respond to the crisis after funding Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems, which has created conditions ripe for a deadly epidemic.
Another summer of uncontrollable wildfires, another year towards a run-away climate emergency.
Large-scale and intense wildfires carrying smoke across northern hemisphere | The Guardian
The northern hemisphere has had a large number of intense wildfires in the first half of summer, carrying vast amounts of smoke across Eurasia and North America…
Emissions from Russian wildfires in June and July were higher than for the preceding two years, and fires in the region of Amur Oblast led to the estimated release of 17.2 megatonnes of carbon for the two-month period, the highest in 22 years.
On Mastodon, Joshua Holland shares the current state of Congressional support of war crimes and genocide:
A foreign leader invited to address the United States Congress is just shitting all over Americans who don’t support his far-right government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and Republicans are giving him standing ovations for it.
Earth just set its hottest days on record in thousands of years
“We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years,” Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said.
The records, which exceeded the old milestone set last July, very likely stands as the hottest day in thousands of years, based on tree ring records, ice cores and other so-called paleoclimate data.
US policing is broken and out of control.
The family of Sonya Massey is demanding justice after they say authorities tried to cover up her fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy in Springfield, Illinois, by initially claiming it was “self-inflicted.” Police body-camera footage showed this was a lie. The 36-year-old mother of two was shot dead in her own home on July 6 after she called 911 for help. “This is the worst police shooting video that I’ve seen. It is so senseless.
Inviting a war criminal to speak to Congress was a mistake. Of course, given the US and its current president is a full partner and arms supplier in those war crimes I suppose it fits. The US is a partner in a current, ongoing genocide.
A “disruptive” Capitol protest spikes security fears around Netanyahu speech
A large, raucous pro-Palestinian protest Tuesday at a U.S. House office building is spiking lawmakers' concerns about security around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech.
YES. THIS. This is everything. We are the solution we need.
Joan Westenberg: Fuck Looking for the Helpers. Be One.
We distance ourselves from the problem. By focusing on identifying those swooping in to save the day, we subconsciously categorize ourselves as separate from the solution. We become observers rather than participants. It’s a subtle but insidious form of learned helplessness.
We absolve ourselves of responsibility. If our job is simply to notice and appreciate the helpers, we don’t have to grapple with our own potential role in addressing whatever clusterfuck is unfolding.
How Kamala Harris and Donald Trump compare on climate change » Yale Climate Connections
Harris has made clear throughout her career that she views climate change as a significant threat…
If elected president, Harris is “widely expected to try to protect the climate achievements of the Biden administration,” according to the New York Times.
In contrast, Trump has falsely called climate change a hoax
I just felt a sting on my arm and looked down to see this little critter, smaller than a dime. I’d guess 10 mm. Left an easy to see bite and quickly swelling welt!
Zelus luridus, also known as the pale green assassin bug, is a species of assassin bug native to North America.
I’m not a Democrat but will vote for whatever Democrat is on the ticket. His stubbornness and insistence on remaining in the race is ridiculous at this point.
At This Rally, Everyone Loves Biden—and Wants Him to Drop Out – Mother Jones
“Young people have been shutting down streets, lobbying Congress, pressuring the White House, organizing for a chance to save our democracy, beat MAGA fascism, and win November’s presidential election with a new democratic presidential nominee,” said speaker Claudia Nachega, a 19-year-old college student and reproductive justice activist.
Navigating Another False Binary - ZNetwork
To my old fuzzy eyes and my old bent ears the two tasks at hand that I hope to aid a little in these troubling times are to Stop Trump and to Advance The Long March Toward A Truly Desirable Society. To my still I hope young mind, however, the two are not separate because to crown Trump would at best make the Long March much longer. So to Stop Trump and to Advance the Long March are really one task. But if they are one task then why the hell did I say “two tasks”?
World Court Finds Israel Responsible for Apartheid | Human Rights Watch
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion on July 19, 2024, with significant consequences for human rights protections in Palestine under Israel’s 57-year occupation.
“In a historic ruling the ICJ has found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid.” -Tirana Hassan, Human Rights Watch Executive Director
CrimethInc. : Ahead of Another Summer of Climate Disasters, Let’s Talk about Real Solutions
In cooperation with Freedom, we present a short text from Peter Gelderloos exploring why the strategies that mainstream environmental movements are currently employing to halt industrially-produced climate change are failing—and what we could be doing instead…
The mainstream climate movement begins from a premise that guarantees failure.
Not just failure. Catastrophe. And the more effective it is, the more harm it will cause.
Let’s explore why.