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Orange blow-up garbagemen Donald Trump speaks at Green Bay airportt
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The Hundredth Gale: Farewell To the Twisted Oompa-Loompa

Finally, the sick felon, racist, sexual predator and garbage man lurches and teeters to the finish line. "Swollen, orange and sweaty," ever more vicious and unmoored, he raves to half-empty arenas: Democrats are "demonic," reporters should be shot, hate is a love fest, fluoride is evil, Pelosi is a bitch, the future will be "nasty." America is so done with it. Charlie Pierce: "Dear God, can't this shit just be over already?" Yes, soon. Please vote.

Trump's long plunge into the gutter, his "psychological decompensation," has quickened since his "fascist-themed freakshow" at Madison Square Garden, with its cabal of "master-race misfits": Techno authoritarian Elmo Musk, warning "America can't afford a 'C-Word' in the White House" to earn his gig as Czar of Cost-Cutting; Tucker Carlson, screeching to newly free Steve Bannon (the best people) that abortion is causing hurricanes 'cause, "You can't participate in human sacrifice without consequences"; racist "jackwad" Tony Hinchcliffe, who's "joked" the "best part of having a retarded child is not having to buy it Christmas gifts"; dead-eyed Stephen Goebbels, raging against those "on the wrong side of not being American enough." Sidney Blumenthal noted the sordid spectacle highlighted "the bigotry, cruelty, stupidity, and vulgarity that are Trumpism." It also echoed "early Hitler" with its "bellowing obscenities, racist sneers and violent threats," more chaotic Munich beer hall Brownshirts than the disciplined storm troopers of Nazi rallies that Thomas Mann dubbed "an immense wave of eccentric barbarism."

While minion Steven Cheung insists Trump is "the greatest orator in political history" and we're all too "stupid" to recognize his "achievements," the "not-normal" rhetoric and bizarre unraveling - yes this is a real photo - have prompted questions from even supporters: "It is hard to overstate how terrible morale is inside of this campaign." It's also sparked creativity, with satirical statues popping up in Philly, Boston, Phoenix, DC, Detroit, Madison, Portland OR. The guys who put the faux bronze turd on Pelosi's desk to honor Jan. 6 heroes also made a huge hand gripping a Charlottesville-style Tiki torch to fete "Trump and the very fine people he boldly stood to defend." And they erected a Trump statue "In Honor of a Lifetime of Sexual Assault," one hand obscenely curled, quoting him: "I just start kissing them. When you’re a star, they let you do it." (Sadly, it was quickly beheaded). As part of a "Crooked and Obscene" tour around swing states, others suspended a massive, naked, 6,000-pound Trump from a crane. Madison residents said it's "bringing people together - We all came together to point and laugh."

Still, the orange ghoul keeps trudging to bedraggled, half-filled "rallies." In Georgia, he was introduced by moronic Herschel Walker, now in glasses to look smarter, which must be why, right after Trump puts RFK Jr.'s brain worm in charge of health care, he's gonna put Walker in charge of a new wrap-around nuclear missile shield, "Trump Announces Dumbest Person You Know Will Lead Missile Defense." Walker: "It is time to vote for my friend and your friend Donald Trump Jr...Donald Trump...Jonald J. Trump." Mindless cheers all around. Trump babbles: "Where the hell is Biden? What in hell happened to that guy?...If I don't win this thing after all this talk I'm in trouble - will you please just go and vote?...We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history...It’s going to be so much fun. It’ll be nasty a little bit at times, but it’s going to be something...When I say insane asylums and Doctor Hannibal Lecter, does anybody know? They go crazy. They say, oh, he brings up these names. Well, that’s genius...Silence of the Lambs. Who the hell else would even remember that? I have a great memory." Still, many leave early.

In his final, slurring, inglorious days, he's mused that in 2020 he "should have just stayed in office, because we did so well." He pantomimed performing oral sex on a microphone while ranting at it. He called Liz Cheney "a very dumb individual" he envisioned "standing with nine barrels shooting at her." He called Harris "a dumb person," suggesting, "Put Mike Tyson in the ring with Kamala." He threatened to "hit back" at Michelle Obama, because "she said bad about me." Mid-mumble, he suddenly realized, "I won't be doing this anymore...After today, this is, I'm just thinking..." Mid-somnolent fugue state, he blurted, "I'm a pretty smart guy, I have genetic...Fast race horses produce fast race horses. But I'm a very...I'm smart. I'm like...I tell this story. Thank you." A whistleblower "released the information on the 18, on the 800,000 cobs plus." Nancy Pelosi is "a bad person, she's an evil sick crazy b...", mouthes the word "bitch." The crowd brays at his awesome strategy with women voters repulsed by him. J.D. Vance follows in classy lock-step. "Tomorrow we're gonna take out the trash," he said in his final speech, "and its name is Kamala Harris."

Meanwhile, officials are better prepped this time around - Pennsylvania has warned "anyone who thinks it'll be fun to interfere in Tuesday's elections, fuck around and find out - you can have your fun in a jail cell" - and pundits, former Trumpers and a spineless media are finally, finally, what were they waiting for reminding America the real madman is far viler behind closed doors than any of us knew. For the 7,846th time, the bleak message goes out: "When someone tells you who they are, believe them." Tragically, rage at America's funding of and complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza continues to fester; the results in swing states like Michigan, with large Muslim populations, remain uncertain. On that painful score, John Oliver offers a thoughtful, impassioned plea to vote blue, and then keep fighting. Overall, notes a broad consensus, America wants the election, the MAGA horrors, the hell of Trump to be over "to return to a normal we almost can no longer imagine." Some cite Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 visual tone poem Koyaanisqatsi, scored by Philip Glass. In Hopi, it means "life in turmoil, life out of balance, a state that calls for another way of living."

In glad anticipation, activist and filmmaker Michael Moore wrote a "Dear John" letter to Donald John. "How are you? Are you doing okay? You don’t seem to be doing okay," he begins. After suggesting Trump "lay off the the amphetamines," he notes, "It seems like you are getting ready to try to steal another election," a move he calls "pathetic." "Donald, are you the biggest loser?" he asks, citing how many millions of votes he's lost every election by: "They weren’t illegal, Donald. They weren’t 'made up' votes. That’s how much people don’t like you." After listing everyone he maligns - lesbians, immigrants, Blacks, Swifties, the Deep State, his own peeps - and noting they don't like him either, he declares, "I'm showing you the door, Donald. I don't know if you can figure out how to open it, but I promise you: There are tens upon tens upon tens of millions of us who will open it for you." In the same spirit, author and analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés urges Americans to "please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times," or losing hope. “It does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace," she writes, "but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale." Vote.

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A COP16 protest.
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'The Window Is Closing': Fears Grow That World Leaders Will Fail to Protect Nature at COP16

As a major international biodiversity summit approaches its Friday conclusion, environmental advocates fear that world leaders will not make the conservation and financial commitments needed to halt the destruction of nature.

The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity launched in Cali, Colombia on October 21. It is the first international meeting since nations pledged to protect 30% of land and ocean ecosystems by 2030 and generate $700 billion a year to fund the protection of nature, with a smaller goal of $200 billion per year by 2030.

Yet nations are not on track to meet these goals, even as studies released this month warn that vertebrates have declined on average by nearly three-quarters in the last half-century and that over a third of analyzed tree species are at risk of extinction.

"Each passing day without the fulfillment of agreed commitments is a missed opportunity to protect biodiversity."

"The very limited progress we've seen so far in the negotiations at COP16 is insufficient to address the very real implications of getting this wrong," Yadvinder Malhi, a University of Oxford professor of ecosystem science, toldThe Guardian. "Biodiversity is continuing to decline at an alarming rate. I really hope that the crunch discussions this week yield those commitments, for the sake of a flourishing future for people and for our planet."

World leaders failed to meet a single one of the biodiversity targets set for 2020 in Aichi, Japan. There was hope, after nations agreed to a Global Biodiversity Framework during the Kunming-Montreal talks that concluded in December 2022, that the next decade would be different. Yet progress so far has been lagging.

Ahead of COP16, nearly 85% of countries missed the deadline to submit new national biodiversity strategies and action plans, according to an analysis from Carbon Brief. Since the deadline passed, only five more countries had submitted plans as of October 25.

An official progress report published Monday by the United Nations Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Center and the International Union for Conservation of Nature concluded that only 17.6% of land and 8.4% of the ocean are currently protected. To meet the 30 by 30 goal, nations will need to protect a land area the size of Australia and Brazil put together and a marine area larger than the Indian Ocean within the next six years.

"This report is a clear reminder that with only six years remaining until 2030, the window is closing for us to equitably and meaningfully conserve 30% of the Earth," IUCN director general Grethel Aguilar said in a statement. "The '30 by 30' is an ambitious target, but one that is still within reach if the international community works together across borders, demographics, and sectors."

A major stumbling block to meeting any targets is the question of who will pay for it, how, and how much. This has emerged as a central point of contention in the talks, with Global South nations and environmental justice advocates calling on the wealthier nations of the Global North to do more.

Wealthier countries have pledged $20 billion a year in public money by 2025, yet the African delegation said that the idea these countries would reach the goal was "wishful thinking," The Guardian reported.

On Monday, the U.K., Germany, France, Norway, and four other countries promised $163 million. But Alice Jay, Campaign for Nature's director of international relations, said actually meeting the target "would require them to announce $300 million each month from now to 2025, and then keep that up each year until 2030."

"Countries from the Global South expect more from the Global North," Nigeria Environment Minister Iziaq Kunle Salako said. "Finance is key in the context of implementing all the targets."

Brian O'Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature, told The Guardian that progress had been "too slow."

"I think political prioritization of nature is still too low," O'Donnell said. "This is reflected by progress on the targets. Several target[s] are very easy to measure: 30x30 has metrics on area and quality, finance has a dollar figure. We have new data on both that show we're not on pace."

O'Donnell added that it was "disturbing' to approach countries about their finance plans and be received as if making an unrealistic demand, rather than a follow-up on a pledge the country had already made.

"To me, that is a reflection of not a true commitment to this," he said.

As the second week of negotiations began on Sunday, Greenpeace called on wealthier nations to step up and also to offer funds for Indigenous and local communities that are on the frontlines of protecting biodiversity in their territories.

"Each passing day without the fulfillment of agreed commitments is a missed opportunity to protect biodiversity," Estefania Gonzalez, Greenpeace Andino's deputy campaigns director, said in a statement. "Countries with greater resources have both the capacity and responsibility to drive change, by meeting the agreed goals and supporting those facing the greatest impacts of biodiversity loss."

An Lambrechts, a biodiversity politics expert at Greenpeace International, said that progress had partly been held up by lobbying efforts from the private sector, as has notably been the case at international climate talks as well.

"Well-paid industry representatives are doing their worst to undermine progress to ensure they can continue profiting off nature for free," Lambrechts said. "We need less big promo shows for false solutions like 'biodiversity credits' and more of the new money for actual nature protection that is absent so far. What is clear in Cali is the world is ready for global action on biodiversity if governments can deliver a real outcome at COP16."

Indigenous advocates have also called for money to be sent to them directly, rather than through intermediaries.

"Very little reaches the territories," Tabea Cacique, a member of the Asháninka people of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest, said at the talks, as El Paísreported. "Do not look at us as Indigenous peoples who cannot manage the funds; teach us."

Yet even as funding remains illusive, the stakes are high.

"Nature is life," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in an address at COP16 on Tuesday, "and yet we are waging a war against it. A war where there can be no winner."

"Every year, we see temperatures climbing higher," he continued. "Every day, we lose more species. Every minute, we dump a garbage truck of plastic waste into our oceans, rivers, and lakes. Make no mistake. This is what an existential crisis looks like."

In his address, Guterres called for "making peace with nature."

"Biodiversity is humanity's ally," he said. "We must move from plundering it to preserving it. As I have said time and again, making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century."

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Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez
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'Two Genocidaires v. the World': US, Israel Oppose Lifting Cuba Blockade

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday once again overwhelmingly urged the U.S. government to end its decadeslong blockade on Cuba, with just the United States and Israel voting against the measure and Moldova abstaining.

The UNGA's other 187 members present voted to adopt the nonbinding resolution on "the necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States" against the Caribbean island.

This is the 32nd straight year that the U.N. body has approved a resolution against the embargo that began in 1962.

"The U.S. and Israel stand isolated as the only two votes against," Democratic Socialists of America's International Committee said after the Wednesday vote. "The world has spoken—it's time for the U.S. to listen and lift the blockade."

Though a few other nations have opposed the resolution over the years, Michael Galant of Progressive International and the Center for Economic and Policy Research noted that this vote was "two genocidaires v. the world."

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its yearlong assault of the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 43,163 Palestinians and injured another 101,510, according to local officials in the Hamas-governed enclave. The U.S. Congress and Biden administration have given Israel billions of dollars in weapons and opposed U.N. cease-fire resolutions.

CodePink's Medea Benjamin responded to the Wednesday vote with a video shared on social media, saying that Israel "loves blockades, because it's doing its own blockade of Gaza," and "is dependent on the United States to carry out its genocide."

"Now this is not just some idle vote," she said of the approved resolution. "This blockade that the U.S. maintains is a form of economic warfare. It's no exaggeration to say that now, when there is an economic crisis in Cuba, the U.S. blockade, which keeps Cuba from using the financial markets, from having normal trade with countries all over the world, is actually leading to deaths, leading to people going hungry, leading to people lacking food and medicine that are essential for their lives."

"And that's why the United States must be condemned for this ongoing horrific, inhumane, and illegal blockade," Benjamin added.

Cuba's representative delivered similar remarks to the UNGA on Wednesday. As Reutersreported:

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said in a speech before the assembly that what is often referred to as the U.S. trade embargo is a "blockade" because the web of laws and regulations complicate financial transactions and the acquisition of goods and services not just from the United States but internationally.

"The blockade against Cuba is an economic, financial, and trade war which qualifies as genocide," said Rodriguez, charging the U.S. policies were deliberately aimed at promoting suffering among the Cuban people to force change in the government.

Some international observers praised the countries who did condemn the blockade. Middle East expert Assal Rad declared, "This is the real international community."

Manolo De Los Santos, a founder of the People's Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, said that "this overwhelming consensus is in contrast with the indifference of the United States, which continues to deny any responsibility for sanctions while tightening its stranglehold on Cuba."

Earlier this month, the People's Forum published a letter in The New York Times to U.S. President Joe Biden, warning that he has "exactly 90 days to reverse" former Republican President Donald Trump's "brutal policy on Cuba."

Biden was vice president a decade ago when then-President Barack Obama "opened a hopeful new chapter in U.S.-Cuba relations by taking the first steps toward normalization," the letter details. "People in both countries were optimistic that Cuba and the United States could become neighbors rather than Cold War enemies. However, Trump dismantled that policy, imposing pain and suffering on the Cuban people."

"Removing the state sponsors of terrorism designation would allow Cuba to engage in financial transactions and restore its electrical grid, as well as address shortages of food and medicine to alleviate the immense hardship faced by the Cuban people, who have endured over 62 years of economic strife under the embargo," the letter adds. "It's time to act. Let Cuba live!"

Biden faced similar pressure in August, when hundreds of legal experts and groups called on him "to comply with existing international law by ending the use of broad unilateral coercive measures" particularly in "cases such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela."

The U.N. vote comes as early voting is underway for the November 5 election in which Trump is facing Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris.

Neither campaign provided details on each candidate's position when contacted by Reuters earlier this week, though Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokesperson for Harris, said that the Democrat "stands with the people of Cuba as they fight for their rights after decades of repression and economic suffering at the hands of the communist regime" and "will stand up to all authoritarians—including the very leaders that Trump has praised and embraced."

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Ohio Senate Candidates Campaign On Eve Of Election
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Crypto Industry's $40 Million Defeat of Pro-Worker Sherrod Brown Called 'Obscene'

The Republican Party's capture of the U.S. Senate this week was made possible in part by massive spending from the nascent but increasingly influential cryptocurrency industry, which pumped more than $40 million into a successful effort to topple pro-worker progressive Sen. Sherrod Brown in favor of luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno.

Crypto industry spending helped make Ohio's closely watched Senate race the most expensive in the state's history, with Moreno's campaign boosted by around $40.1 million from the super PAC Defend American Jobs—part of what OpenSecrets described as the "triad" of allied pro-crypto groups pouring cash into the 2024 election.

The Washington Postnoted that Moreno "founded a blockchain firm called Ownum in 2018" and "has long immersed himself in blockchain technology, a registry of ownership that essentially underpins all cryptocurrency."

A spokesman for Fairshake, another member of the crypto PAC triad, took credit for Moreno's victory in a statement after the election was called in the Republican's favor and condemned Brown's support for regulating the industry. Fairshake received tens of millions of dollars in donations from the cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase—some of which may have been illegal spending, according to the watchdog group Public Citizen, given that the company is a federal contractor.

"Sherrod Brown was a top opponent of cryptocurrency and thanks to our efforts, he will be leaving the Senate," said Fairshake's Josh Vlasto. "Senator-elect Moreno's come-from-behind win shows that Ohio voters want a leader who prioritizes innovation."

Crypto executive Tyler Winklevoss boasted in a social media post, "The crypto army is striking!"

"Sherrod Brown—crypto public enemy, Elizabeth Warren co-conspirator, and Gary Gensler crony—was just ousted by Bernie Moreno for Ohio Senate," wrote Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini.

Labor reporter Steven Greenhouse wrote Wednesday that it is "obscene" that Brown lost his seat because "the billionaire-backed crypto industry donated $40 million to his right-wing opponent."

"Sherrod Brown is one of the most pro-worker, pro-middle-class members of the U.S. Senate," Greenhouse added. "He truly fights for workers."

"The strategy was a brazen attempt to buy influence while keeping the public unaware of what they were supporting."

While the Ohio Senate contest was "the biggest single target of crypto money this cycle," as CNBCput it, the industry spread its money widely, backing both Republicans and Democrats in races across the country—underscoring its attempt to gain influence over future regulatory fights in Congress.

Overall, crypto groups spent more than $130 million in support of candidates for federal office this cycle. A tracker created by the Stand With Crypto Alliance estimates that 263 "pro-crypto candidates" were elected to the House and 18 to the Senate in Tuesday's contest.

Former President Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris was also seen as a win for the industry, with Bitcoin's price spiking to a new all-time high on Wednesday. During his campaign, Trump vowed to make the U.S. "the crypto capital of the planet."

"Tonight the crypto voter has spoken decisively—across party lines and in key races across the country," gushed Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase. "Americans disproportionately care about crypto and want clear rules of the road for digital assets. We look forward to working with the new Congress to deliver it."

But one critic, Better Markets president Dennis Kelleher, cast doubt on the industry's self-serving narrative that the 2024 results amounted to a ringing endorsement of cryptocurrency.

In an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Kelleher pointed out that pro-crypto PACs adopted "generic anodyne names" and bankrolled ads that didn't even mention cryptocurrency.

"It's as if Ford ran an ad campaign and never mentioned its cars," Kelleher wrote. "The strategy was a brazen attempt to buy influence while keeping the public unaware of what they were supporting. This way, the industry can claim the now-elected officials they backed have a mandate from the public to support crypto interests—even though they don't."

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​A student is arrested during a pro-Palestine demonstration
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Rights Groups Demand End to 'Heavy-Handed' Crackdowns on Pro-Palestine Campus Protests

Three leading human rights groups on Thursday responded to U.S. university and college crackdowns on pro-Palestine campus demonstrations by jointly calling on higher education presidents and administrations to respect and protect "the right to protest under the First Amendment and other international human rights law," citing potentially unlawful uses of force.

"Universities are responsible for protecting both physical safety and free expression on campus," Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program, said in a statement. "It's deeply concerning to see universities needlessly expose students to police violence for peacefully expressing their political opinions. We're urging schools once again to exercise restraint, practice de-escalation, and protect free speech and dissent on campus."

In the open letter, the ACLU, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote that "we are exploring claims of heavy-handed and excessive responses by some university and college administrators and police following campus protests in support of Palestinian rights. In many cases, peaceful protests were met with use of force by campus police or local law enforcement summoned by university officials."

"Universities have a responsibility to protect academic freedom and the rights to freedom of expression, and to peacefully protest, and we will be watching to ensure they do."

Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice over its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, launched after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. As the U.S. Congress and Biden administration have backed the Israeli campaign with billions of dollars in weapons and by blocking United Nations cease-fire resolutions, students and professors at campuses across the United States have gathered to call on their government and educational institutions to divest from the war.

While student demonstrations have occurred over the past year, they escalated last spring, when protesters from Columbia University in New York City to the University of Texas at Austin faced police violence. Meanwhile, Biden and federal lawmakers in both major parties smeared all the protests as antisemitic‚ even as Jewish students have often led the events. After cracking down on anti-genocide actions this spring, New York University even kicked off the current academic year in August with a new policy equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

The rights groups wrote that "we have serious concerns about the violent consequences when university officials call in police to quell protests, and the impact on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly. Based on news reports, student protesters were often met with police in full body armor who used physical force, including batons, kinetic impact projectiles such as rubber bullets and foam-tipped rounds, and chemical irritants such as pepper spray and, in at least three instances, tear gas."

"Media reported witness accounts of injuries such as bleeding puncture wounds, head injuries, broken teeth, and suspected broken bones, most notably at the University of California Los Angeles, Columbia University, and the City College of New York, among others," the coalition highlighted.

The groups noted that "criticism of summoning law enforcement to disperse protests has been widespread, including from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, and a number of U.N. human rights experts, including the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to education."

"While privately owned universities do not have the same obligations as state-owned universities, all universities have a responsibility to respect human rights," they explained. "Though not bound by the First Amendment, private universities are bound by their policy commitments to freedom of expression and academic freedom."

Tanya Greene, director of the U.S. program at HRW, stressed that "instead of resorting to police action that both shuts down free speech and heightens the risk of injuries, universities need to do more to protect student speech from violence and intimidation, and actively ensure that peaceful student expression continues without interference."

Amnesty International USA researcher Justin Mazzola said that "the information we have gathered on excessive use of force against student protesters is extremely worrisome and we are still in the beginning of our investigation."

"With the continuation of the Israeli military's assault on Gaza and the risk of U.S. complicity through the sending of weapons, campus protests in favor of stopping the violence and destruction will continue," Mazzola added. "Universities have a responsibility to protect academic freedom and the rights to freedom of expression, and to peacefully protest, and we will be watching to ensure they do."

The rights groups' letter and remarks came after a federal judge in Austin determined on Monday that pro-Palestinian student groups can sue multiple Texas universities' presidents and board members for alleged discrimination and First Amendment violations.

The judge's decision is "a major win for anti-genocide protestors across the country," said the Council for Islamic American Relations (CAIR), which is representing plaintiffs in Texas.

"The court's ruling confirms what we already knew," said Gadeir Abbas, a national deputy litigation director at CAIR. "The government cannot make special rules insulating Israel from criticism, and pretending those rules are about antisemitism does not save them from constitutional scrutiny."

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Footage shows a Palestinian man being used by the Israel Defense Forces as a human shield. ​
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New Reporting Details 'Large Scale' Use of Human Shields by Israel in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces routinely use detained Palestinians as human shields in Gaza, according to testimony from four Palestinians and one IDF soldier shared withThe Washington Post.

Their stories, published on Sunday, build on other accounts from Haaretz, Al Jazeera, the international press, and Defense for Children International to reveal a pattern of Israeli soldiers forcing Palestinians—including children—to enter buildings or tunnels ahead of them to check for militants or explosives, in clear violation of international law.

"This wasn't something that happened just here and there but rather on a large scale throughout a number of different units, at different times, throughout the war and in different places," Joel Carmel, advocacy director of Breaking the Silence, told The Washington Post.

"My hospital was turning into rubble, and they were asking me to demolish it with my own hands."

The incidents recounted to the Post occurred between January and August. One man, 20-year-old Mohammed Saad, said he was detained by the IDF in June and interrogated for several days. Then, a new pattern began. Every day, he and two other Palestinian men were blindfolded and taken to a different location. They were made to wear IDF uniforms, given cameras, and told to enter buildings ahead of the Israeli soldiers to film and check for explosives. On the second day, an explosion went off after Saad had made his forced investigation.

"They tied my hands and threw me on the sand," he recalled. "They took turns beating me. I still don't know where the explosion came from."

Another time, the captain of the unit he was detained by showed him an image of his family home destroyed by bombing.

"If you do not cooperate with us, we will kill all your family members like this," the captain said.

On the 15th day of Saab's ordeal, he was given civilian clothes and told to walk. As he did so, he felt a pain and realized he had been shot in the back.

The other three Palestinians interviewed by the Post were detained during the IDF's raid on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City in March. One was a surgeon at the hospital, while the other two were taken from their homes nearby. They were made to enter the hospital building ahead of IDF troops, remove any barriers, and take pictures of each room they entered.

"I was telling them that my hands are precious for my work; I am the only vascular surgeon here," the surgeon, Omar al-Jadba recalled to the Post. "My hospital was turning into rubble, and they were asking me to demolish it with my own hands."

The IDF soldier, who spoke anonymously, said that two Palestinian detainees were placed with his unit to make sure that buildings were safe to enter. One of them was only a teenager. His commander said the two men were terrorists, but then later said they could be released after the mission was over.

"At this point we understood that if we could release them, then they were not terrorists," the soldier, a reservist, told the Post. "The officer just lied to us."

"Every one of their accusations is a confession."

Another group of soldiers questioned the use of human shields, telling a higher-level commander that it was against international law.

"He told us that international law is not important and the only thing that simple soldiers need to think about is the ethical code of the IDF," the soldier told the Post.

However, the IDF said in a statement that its orders prohibit the use of human shields.

Breaking the Silence, a group that records testimonies from Israeli soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the reservist's account was in line with others they had received.

"The earliest testimony we have on it is from a soldier who was aware of it just a few weeks after the ground invasion began," Carmel said. "The latest testimony we have on this is from the summer."

The Post reporting came the same day as a major Associated Press investigation into Israeli raids on three hospitals in northern Gaza at the end of 2023. Israel has often justified its hospital raids with the claim that Hamas operates from the inside, turning all the patients and doctors into human shields. However, the AP concluded that
"Israel has presented little or even no evidence of a significant Hamas presence at the three" hospitals it considered: the al-Awda, Indonesian, and Kamal Adwan hospitals.

"What do [former U.S. President Donald] Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu have in common?" asked journalist Mehdi Hasan in response to the Post's reporting. "Many things but especially... projection. Every one of their accusations is a confession."

Other commenters responded to the clear violations of international law and questioned why the U.S. continues to provide weapons and funding to the IDF while it engages in war crimes.

The Austin for Palestine coalition shared a quote from the article, noting that what it described was "paid for by our tax dollars."

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