United States | News & Politics

https://archive.is/UKTW6

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20099905

Jonah Valdez

September 5 2024, 5:27 p.m.

The Green Party submitted 29,500 petition signatures so its candidates could be included on the ballot, which was roughly three times as many as needed. Nevada Democratic Party then sued, claiming some were signed too far in the past or seem altered, making them invalid.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20132931

An interview with Abbas Alawieh

https://archive.is/lLUzn

What unites them is this: a settled commitment to American global supremacy. That is something far more important to Dick Cheney, the human embodiment of the existing global power structure, than a few points on the tax rate or a little more diversity in government hiring. Kamala Harris, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, promised that “I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” This is enough for Dick Cheney. In this sense, she is a traditional Democrat.

Even among Democrats, the baseline assumption that America must have enough guns to exert our will on the entire world is not questioned. Kamala Harris may push for paid family leave, but she is not going to dismantle the United States intelligence agencies. Kamala Harris may raise taxes on capital gains, but she is not going to meaningfully slash military funding. Kamala Harris may protect abortion, but she is not going to stop sending weapons to Israel, or remove America’s drone bases in Africa, or Give Schools All The Money They Need and Make The Air Force Hold a Bake Sale to Buy a Bomber. The harshest things that America does, its most uncompromising violence, its rawest assertion of pure power over weaker people, is always done overseas, far away from where we can watch it. For generations, there has been a mutual agreement from both major parties to do what must be done to protect America’s ability to militarily dominate the world—the gun that protects our concurrent ability to be richer than everyone else, the velvet fist that allows us to extract trillions of dollars in value from the Global South and use it to raise our own national standard of living. This commitment to maintaining the global order, people like Dick Cheney understand, is more important than all the other, smaller issues that voters get worked up about.

Mostly, Democrats deal with this reality by not talking about it. […] We, as Democratic voters, pretty much just ignore this stuff. We may come out against specific wars that are particularly bad ideas, but we, as a party, have almost zero will to confront the military industrial complex and its global tentacles and the way that it maintains, at gunpoint, the complex system of global economic power that allows us to live nice lives.

It’s not that Donald Trump has any ideological opposition to this commitment, which the Republicans have always embraced with relish. It’s just that he’s insane and an unpredictable egomaniac and therefore cannot be counted on to fulfill his role on this matter. […] They may prefer a Republican, but they need, above all, someone predictable. Someone who will not try to undermine the entire system. In this race, that person is Kamala Harris. And so Dick Cheney and the men like him will support Kamala Harris.

Artists4Ceasefire, the industry collective that has been pushing for an end to the current war in Gaza (and whose pin badges were worn by various attendees at this year’s Oscars ceremony), is spearheading a new initiative calling for a halt to illegal arms sales to Israel.

Through a partnership with artist Shepard Fairey and several humanitarian organizations — including Oxfam America, ActionAid USA and War Child Alliance/Children in Conflict — the group has launched a call to action bearing the message “Ceasefire Now, Stop Weapons, Save Lives” that urges the halt to what it says are “weapons transfers that violate U.S. and international law.” Such laws state it is illegal to supply or use weapons to commit “grave human rights violations,” including striking schools or hospitals, restricting humanitarian aid, and killing children.

The father of Colt Gray, the teen suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting, appeared in a Georgia courtroom Friday to face multiple charges stemming from this week's deadly attack.

Colin Gray, 54, is being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday when the agency announced his arrest. The 14-year-old shooting suspect has been charged with four counts of felony murder.

GBI Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference Thursday night that the charges against Colin Gray stem from "knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon."

After the news of Israel's killing of US-Turkish citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi spread throughout the US and international media landscape, the Biden administration said the news was "tragic", offering condolences to the family while refraining from laying the blame on Israel or condemning the incident.

Instead, the US State Department said it would gather the information about her death and then make further comment at a later point..

"Hey how'd they die, Matt? Was it magic? Who or what killed Aysenur?" Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said on X, in response to a comment on the killing from State Department spokesperson Matt Miller.

Palestinian American political analyst Omar Baddar said that it was likely Israel's killing would be met with few consequences by the US.

"We're about to get another demonstration of who can kill Americans with impunity," Baddar sad.

An interesting poll by the Cato Institute of likely voters in the three states expected to play a decisive role in November's presidential contest shows that not only are Americans paying attention, but have distinct feelings about how hard the U.S. should be leaning in on global conflicts.

— The percentage of those who think the U.S. is too involved in world affairs and conflicts: Wisconsin 53%, Pennsylvania 50%, Michigan 52% (Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to say the U.S. is too involved).

— The percentage who think that U.S. foreign policy does not put American interests first: Wisconsin 62%, Pennsylvania 61%, Michigan 60%

— On Gaza, full majorities support an immediate ceasefire: Wisconsin 80%, Pennsylvania 75%, Michigan 74%.

Interestingly, likely voters in all three states say Tump is more likely to keep the U.S. out of war, Wisconsin 52%, Pennsylvania 51%, Michigan 52%. They said he is more likely to put American interests first in foreign policy, Wisconsin 51%, Pennsylvania 54%, Michigan 56%

But they said the former president is more likely than Harris to get the U.S. into "World War III" : Wisconsin 51%, Pennsylvania 51%, Michigan 53%

On WWIII, most likely voters in these battleground states thought we were approaching a world war: Wisconsin 59%, Pennsylvania 51%, Michigan 54%

If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it must be a duck. My favorite part is : "We are not white trash. That’s what everyone is saying about us, but we’re not." if EVERYONE says it, odds are it is probably true.