March, 03 2019, 11:00pm EDT
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Public Citizen Urges FEC to Close Its Donor Disclosure Loophole
Court Orders Agency to Rewrite Its Faulty Disclosure Rules for Independent Expenditure
WASHINGTON
The U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) must comply with a court order and fix its regulations that allow corporations and groups that raise money for federal candidates to keep their donors secret, Public Citizen told the agency today.
In CREW v. FEC, a federal district court ruled in 2018 that the agency's disclosure regulation that allows independent expenditure groups - which expressly advocate for or against a federal candidate - to conceal their donors violates the intent and plain language of federal campaign finance laws.
Under federal regulations, such groups must disclose donors who make contributions in excess of $200 to "further the purpose" of the independent expenditure campaign. However, the FEC interpreted this provision to put the burden on the donor to specify that the contribution should be subject to disclosure, a type of self-regulation that allows big money donors to easily go unaccounted for.
"No one earmarks their campaign contributions for a specific purpose," said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen's Congress Watch division. "Donors give money to campaigns and expect it to be used for campaign purposes."
The result of this narrow earmarking donor disclosure rule has been devastating for transparency of money in politics, Holman said. Immediately following this rule in 2007, the total amount of "dark money" in federal elections jumped from $5 million in 2006 to $102 million in 2008, and has grown even higher since.
"Dark money has become a scourge in our elections, allowing nondescript groups to raise and spend huge sums of corporate and special interest money for campaign ads, while refusing to tell the public who is paying to influence their vote," said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs for Public Citizen. "Knowing where the money comes from is a valuable voter's cue in judging the merit of the message."
Read Public Citizen's comment here.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Anti-Whaling Activist Paul Watson Arrested in Greenland, May Face Extradition to Japan
The famed campaigner was en route to intercept a new 370-foot Japanese factory whaling ship in the North Pacific when Danish police in Greenland made the surprise arrest, citing an international warrant issued by Japan.
Jul 22, 2024
Danish police on Sunday arrested prominent anti-whaling activist Paul Watson when his vessel came to port in Greenland, citing a warrant issued by Japan, a whaling nation that seeks his extradition.
Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian American who co-founded Greenpeace and founded Sea Shepherd, was traveling with 25 volunteers aboard the 236-foot M/Y John Paul DeJoria on a mission to the North Pacific for the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), which he started after leaving Sea Shepherd in 2022.
When the vessel arrived in Nuuk, Greenland to refuel, the Danish police immediately boarded and arrested Watson.
The CPWF denounced the surprise arrest, which came as Watson planned to intercept a new Japanese factory whaling ship.
"We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request," Locky MacLean, CPWF's ship operations director, said in a statement.
This morning, Captain Paul Watson was arrested in Nuuk, Greenland by Danish federal police, who boarded the M/Y John Paul DeJoria as soon as it docked.
The crew had stopped to refuel while en route to the Northwest Passage as part of #OpKangeiMaru, our campaign aimed at… pic.twitter.com/ANWoRFiR42
— Captain Paul Watson Foundation 🐋🏴☠️ (@CaptPaulWatson) July 21, 2024
Sunday's arrest came as the M/Y John Paul DeJoria was making its way to the North Pacific via the Northwest Passage after setting off from Dublin. The CPWF team aimed to intercept the Kangei Maru, a new 370-foot, $48 million Japanese factory whaling ship that's equipped with state-of-the-art drones that expedite the killing of whales.
CPWF argues that the launch of the new vessel signals Japan's ambitions to restart commercial whaling on the high seas—international waters—in the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean as early as 2025. Japan long whaled the high seas in defiance of international law, under the guise of scientific research, but in recent years it has shifted to whaling in its own territorial waters, which extend 200 nautical miles from its shores.
Watson, who is known for confrontational tactics, was the star of the Animal Planet television show Whale Wars that ran from 2008 until 2015, in which he lead efforts to disrupt Japanese whaling on the high seas.
Over a dozen police and SWAT team members took part in Watson's arrest in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. He was handcuffed and taken to local detention. A judge denied him bail on the grounds that he was a flight risk, citing a 2012 case from Germany in which he fled house arrest; he will be held in Nuuk until August 15 as authorities assess his possible extradition to Japan, where he could face up to 15 years in jail, The New York Timesreported.
The nature of Japan's charges against Watson was not specified in media reports. The Interpol arrest warrant cited by Danish police may be an old one, according to CPWF. MacLean said the warrant had "disappeared" from public view a few months ago and may have been made confidential, possibly as a tactic to lull Watson into a false sense of security when traveling internationally.
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Israel's West Bank Assault Sparks 250% Surge in Killings of Palestinian Kids
"We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the street," said the U.N. agency.
Jul 22, 2024
Three days after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful, the United Nations children's rights agency said that after decades of being "exposed to horrific violence," the number of children who have been killed in the West Bank since last October has skyrocketed.
Since Israel began its bombardment of the Palestinian territories nearly 10 months ago—with Gaza the primary target of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacks, but with West Bank communities also subjected to raids and other violence—143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The number represents a 250% increase compared to the nine months preceding the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, after which the IDF began retaliating in the occupied territories.
"The situation has deteriorated significantly, coinciding with the escalation of hostilities inside Gaza," said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. "We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the streets. The violence needs to stop now."
More than half of the killings have been reported in the cities of Nablus, Tulkarm, and Jenin, the latter of which was the site of a major raid by Israeli forces earlier this month, in which 12 Palestinians were killed. All three cities have seen a rise in "militarized law enforcement operations" over the last two years, said UNICEF, as Israeli soldiers and settlers have stormed parts of the territory " to scare Palestinians out of" their homes, as the International Crisis Group reported last year.
Some of the killings of children in the West Bank over the last 10 months have received international attention, like the Israeli forces' shooting of two children, Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa and Adam Samer al-Ghoul, during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in November.
Al-Ghoul, who was nine, was shown on CCTV footage trying to run away from IDF soldiers when he was gunned down.
"Children's right to life must be upheld and children should never be the target of violence, no matter who or where they are," said UNICEF in a statement, noting that more than 440 Palestinian children have also been injured by live ammunition in the West Bank since last October.
The agency said that as the death toll has risen in the West Bank, children have reported being afraid to walk through their own neighborhoods or attend school.
The children killed there since October are among more than 500 Palestinians killed in IDF raids and settler attacks over the last 10 months—more than three times the number killed there in 2022.
Since October, two Israeli children have been killed in fighting the West Bank, said UNICEF.
"The true cost of the violence in the state of Palestine and Israel will be measured in children's lives—those lost and those forever changed by it," said Russell. "What the children desperately need is an end to violence and a lasting political solution to the crisis, so that they can reach their fullest potential in peace and safety."
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Harris Urged to Take 'Clear Stance' Against Weapons Sales for Israel
"Vice President Harris can start the process to earn back trust by turning the page from Biden's horrific policies in Gaza," said one organizer.
Jul 22, 2024
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris faced swift calls to support cutting off arms transfers to Israel after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race on Sunday, leaving her the heavy favorite to take his place at the top of the Democratic ticket in November.
Advocates who organized the movement that urged voters to mark "uncommitted" on their ballots to protest Biden's military and diplomatic support for Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip said Harris should publicly demand an end to weapons sales for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has repeatedly used American arms commit atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.
"For months, we've warned that Biden's support for Israel's assault on Gaza would hurt his electability," Layla Elabed, the leader of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement Sunday. "Now, it's crucial for Vice President Harris to take a clear stance against weapons for Israel's war and occupation against Palestinians."
"Supplying weapons to Netanyahu's regime makes a mockery of Democrats' claims to fight against MAGA authoritarianism," Elabed added. "By funding a government committing human rights abuses, we undermine our party’s stance against far-right extremism and contradict our commitment to democracy and justice. It's time to align our actions with our values. Vice President Harris can start the process to earn back trust by turning the page from Biden's horrific policies in Gaza."
Harris has spoken forcefully against the Israeli government's attacks on civilians and obstruction of humanitarian aid in Gaza. In a March speech in Selma, Alabama, Harris said that "what we are seeing every day in Gaza is devastating," pointing to "reports of families eating leaves or animal feed."
"Women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care," Harris said at the time. "And children dying from malnutrition and dehydration. As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."
The vice president called for a cease-fire of at least six weeks in that speech, which officials at the White House National Security Council reportedly watered down. The original draft of Harris' speech "was harsher on Israel about the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the need for more aid than were the remarks she ultimately delivered," NBC Newsreported, citing an unnamed U.S. official and former official.
"The Democratic nominee must immediately change course by calling for an arms embargo on the Israeli government and establishing a foreign policy centered in human rights."
The Biden administration has signed off on billions of dollars worth of weaponry for Israel since the Hamas-led October 7 attack. Earlier this month, the administration faced backlash for lifting a pause on a delivery of 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel's military.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action argued in a statement Monday that the "tireless work of the movement for Palestinian freedom that has organized from the streets to the ballot box to demand a cease-fire and an end to this genocide has played a key role in bringing us to this moment," referring to Biden's decision to exit the presidential race.
"For nine and a half months, President Biden has funded and armed the brutal Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, making the U.S. government directly complicit in the killing of at least 39,000 people, including over 15,000 children," the advocacy group said. "The Democratic nominee must immediately change course by calling for an arms embargo on the Israeli government and establishing a foreign policy centered in human rights."
Calls for the eventual Democratic nominee to break from the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza came as Netanyahu traveled to Washington, D.C. ahead of a scheduled address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday. Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on Tuesday ahead of the address, which many Democratic lawmakers are planning to boycott.
Some expressed hope that a Harris presidency would mark a significant improvement over Biden's administration on Gaza.
"While by no means a champion of the cause, I've heard numerous people note that Vice President Harris exhibited a deeply different emotional reaction to the stories of Palestinian suffering than President Biden," Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, toldThe Intercept on Sunday.
"While the vice presidency is limited, many feel that she would be an improvement from Biden's severe lack of empathy for Palestinians and his ties to the AIPAC old guard in the party," Shahid added. "However, challenging AIPAC's power within the Democratic Party establishment remains a formidable task regardless of who the nominee is."
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the lone Palestinian American in Congress, notably did not join many of her progressive colleagues in endorsing Harris after Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday.
In a statement to The Detroit News, Tlaib expressed support for an open Democratic convention and said she was "eager" to talk with Harris about "an end to the funding of genocide in Gaza" and a cease-fire.
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