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Progressive Groups Call on Senate to Pass $3.6 Billion for Election Assistance Funding Before Recess
WASHINGTON
Today, Stand Up America issued the following joint statement with Common Cause, Fair Fight Action, Indivisible, Let America Vote / End Citizens United Action Fund, MoveOn, Public Citizen, and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights demanding that the Senate immediately approve additional election assistance funds allocated by the House in the HEROES Act:
"With just four months until the November election, we are calling on the Senate to immediately provide states with an additional $3.6 billion in federal funds to help preserve our democracy during this pandemic.
"For over six weeks, the Senate has failed to take up a bill that would give states the resources to expand in-person and no-excuse absentee voting, extend early voting, keep polling places open, train poll workers, and implement other reforms to keep voters safe.
"No American should have to risk their health to cast their ballot--but Mitch McConnell's continued inaction will ensure that voters across the country are forced to make that choice this November. Democrats and Republican should be outraged by this abdication of responsibility and should force McConnell to take immediate action.
"The cost to help save our democracy is $3.6 billion, and that bill is far past due. Mitch McConnell must stop holding our democracy hostage and bring this funding to a vote before congressional recess begins next week."
Stand Up America is a progressive advocacy organization with over two million community members across the country. Focused on grassroots advocacy to strengthen our democracy and oppose Trump's corrupt agenda, Stand Up America has driven over 600,000 phone calls to Congress and mobilized tens of thousands of protestors across the country.
LATEST NEWS
Media Justice as The Onion Buys Infowars From 'Hateful' (and Bankrupt) Alex Jones
"This is going to be our answer to this no-guardrails world where there are no gatekeepers and everything's kind of insane," said the CEO of The Onion.
Nov 14, 2024
In what one journalist called an "insane twist" to the long saga of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' use of his online platform to spread rampant disinformation, satirical newspaper The Onion on Thursday announced it had won an auction to buy Infowars, Jones' bankrupt publication.
Jones declared bankruptcy in 2022 after the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting won nearly $1.5 million in damages in lawsuits they filed over Jones' repeated claims on his show that the shooting had been a hoax.
Jones claimed the families and victims—20 first graders and six educators—were crisis actors, inciting his supporters to threaten the grieving families.
The auction included everything from Jones' desk and production studio to his diet supplement line, and the Sandy Hook families supported The Onion's effort to take control of Infowars, which the company said would be relaunched as a parody of itself.
"The Onion's goal with the acquisition is to end Infowars' relentless barrage of disinformation for the sake of selling supplements and replace it with The Onion's relentless barrage of humor for good," said the company in a press release, which did not state how much The Onion paid for Infowars.
Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion's parent company, Global Tetrahedron, toldThe New York Times that he and other leaders at the newspaper initially thought purchasing Infowars "would be a hilarious joke" to play on Jones.
"This is going to be our answer to this no-guardrails world where there are no gatekeepers and everything's kind of insane," he told the Times.
Collins, who previously reported on misinformation for NBC News, reached out to a lawyer representing Sandy Hook families and asked for their input on The Onion's auction bid. The families approved.
"By divesting Jones of Infowars' assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones' ability to do more harm."
"From Day One, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt business," said Chris Mattei, the families' lawyer. "Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones' ability to spread lies, pain, and fear at scale... By divesting Jones of Infowars' assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones' ability to do more harm."
Mattei added that the families rejected Jones' offer "for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air because doing so would have put other families in harm's way."
Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed at Sandy Hook, said in a statement that the families had been "told this outcome would be nearly impossible, but we are no strangers to impossible fights."
"The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability—the dissolution of Alex Jones' assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for," said Parker.
The Onion has "made an indelible mark on the public response to school shootings," said the company, pointing to its repeated printing of the headline, "'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens," which has appeared in the newspaper 37 times following school shootings.
Advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety plans to work closely with The Onion on the new Infowars parody site, which Collins said would mock "weird internet personalities" who traffic in misinformation. Everytown has signed a multiyear advertising deal with the company.
"Alex Jones has profited off the pain of Sandy Hook families," said Everytown, "and his brand of hateful disinformation has seeped into mainstream American culture.We're excited to join them as they turn the page on this toxic chapter of misinformation and begin the next chapter of InfoWars, turning it into a tool to combat disinformation and extremism through humor. Not only will this new venture staunch the flow of hurtful misinformation, but it also holds significant potential for us to reach new audiences in the fight for gun safety."
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As US Keeps Arms Flowing, UN Panel Says Israeli Assault on Gaza 'Consistent With Genocide'
"Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation, and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war, and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population."
Nov 14, 2024
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."
"Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life—food, water, and fuel," said the U.N. committee. "These statements, along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid, make clear Israel's intent to instrumentalize lifesaving supplies for political and military gains."
"Through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated U.N. appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice, and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation, and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war, and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population," the panel added.
The new report examines in detail Israel's relentless and large-scale aerial assault on the Gaza Strip, which Israeli missiles and bombs—many of them provided by the United States—have rendered a "wasteland of rubble, garbage, and human remains," as one U.N. expert recently put it. Women and children have made up nearly 70% of those killed by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past 13 months.
The near-constant bombing since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 has devastated Gaza's civilian infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, sparking a massive public health crisis that has compounded the humanitarian impacts of the military assault.
Israeli forces have also systematically targeted Gaza's agricultural land and infrastructure, which along with Israel's suffocating blockade has created famine conditions across the enclave.
"By destroying vital water, sanitation, and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a lethal mix of crises that will inflict severe harm on generations to come," the U.N. committee said in a statement Thursday.
"It is the collective responsibility of every state to stop supporting the assault on Gaza and the apartheid system in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem."
It is rare for a U.N. body to characterize a member nation's actions as genocidal, a fact that underscores the severity of the special committee's description of Israel's war on Gaza as "consistent with genocide."
"It is the collective responsibility of every state to stop supporting the assault on Gaza and the apartheid system in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem," the committee said Thursday. "Upholding international law and ensuring accountability for violations rests squarely on member states. A failure to do so weakens the very core of the international legal system and sets a dangerous precedent, allowing atrocities to go unchecked."
The panel's report comes days after the Biden administration said it has not assessed that Israel is illegally obstructing American humanitarian aid following a 30-day period in which the U.S. demanded improvements to conditions on the ground in Gaza. The latest U.S. assessment allows American military aid to continue flowing to Israel.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza didn't just not improve during the 30-day period—it deteriorated further, according to aid groups.
"Israel not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response, but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza," a coalition of aid groups said earlier this week. "That situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago."
Continued U.S. military assistance is enabling what Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called "war crimes and crimes against humanity" across the Gaza Strip. The group pointed specifically to the "massive, deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians," which has "caused grave harm" without any "plausible imperative military reason."
"The United States, Germany, and other countries should immediately suspend weapons transfers and military assistance to Israel," HRW said. "Continuing to provide arms to Israel risks complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave human rights violations."
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Sanders Plans Vote on Resolutions Blocking US Arms Sales to Israel
"There is no longer any doubt that Netanyahu's extremist government is in clear violation of U.S. and international law as it wages a barbaric war against the Palestinian people in Gaza."
Nov 13, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Wednesday his intention to bring a floor vote on resolutions aimed at blocking a series of proposed arms sales to the Israeli government as it wages a war on Palestinians in Gaza that is the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case.
In September, Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced half a dozen joint resolutions of disapproval—which were backed by Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)—to stop an approved $20 billion arms sale package to Israel. Sanders explained at the time that "there is a mountain of documentary evidence demonstrating that these weapons are being used in violation of U.S. and international law."
The resolutions could block transfers of U.S. weapons to the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs), tanks, and artillery shells, which have been linked to indiscriminate and disproportionate Palestinian civilian casualties.
Although the Biden administration has repeatedly determined that Israel's use of U.S.-supplied arms does not violate the law, numerous rights groups and legal experts around the world, progressive U.S. lawmakers including Sanders, and some State Department officials have vehemently rejected these findings. Israel's 13-month assault on Gaza has left more than 156,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing. Millions more are suffering starvation, disease, and forced displacement, and much of the embattled coastal enclave has been reduced to ruins.
"There is no longer any doubt that Netanyahu's extremist government is in clear violation of U.S. and international law as it wages a barbaric war against the Palestinian people in Gaza," Sanders said Wednesday. "Out of a population of 2.2 million, over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and 102,000 injured—60% percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. Israel has destroyed 70% of the housing in Gaza, the civilian infrastructure, the healthcare system, and hundreds of schools. It has bombed every one of Gaza's 12 universities."
Sanders continued:
As horrific as the last year has been, the current situation is even worse. Today, Israel continues to restrict the flow of food and medicine to desperate people. Tens of thousands of Palestinians face malnutrition and starvation. The volume of aid reaching Gazans is lower than at any time in the last year. Blocking humanitarian aid violates the Foreign Assistance Act as well as the Geneva Convention.
This war has been conducted almost entirely with American weapons and $18 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars. Israel has dropped U.S.-provided 2,000-pound bombs into crowded neighborhoods, killed hundreds of civilians to take out a handful of Hamas fighters, and made little effort to distinguish between civilians and combatants. These actions are immoral and illegal.
"The United States cannot continue to be complicit in this war by supplying more military aid and weaponry to the Netanyahu government," Sanders stressed. "Congress must act to block these arms sales."
As of Wednesday, nearly 100 groups urged Democratic U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer—the majority leader—and Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, to "co-sponsor and vote in favor" of the Sanders-led resolutions.
"The Senate will soon have the opportunity to demonstrate that it opposes further suffering and stands for the rule of law and the protection of civilians by supporting the joint resolutions," the groups argued.
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