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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Why I Took Part in the Biden-Harris Inauguration
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Hollywood Reporter
Abdul-Jabbar writes: "The last year has been like a horror movie in which a terrified family battles relentless brain-eating zombies all night, but finally emerges victorious into the bright sun of the dawn."
"I felt honored to be an active part of the relaunching of the ship of state with a real captain at the helm," says the Hollywood Reporter columnist, who helped introduce the new leaders with words first recited by Abraham Lincoln.
For me, the inauguration of Joe Biden is like that hopeful dawn in which those with brains still intact emerge from the darkness to reclaim our country and everything it stands for.
Being a participant in President Biden’s inauguration ceremony, I felt honored to be an active part of the relaunching of the ship of state with a real sea-worthy captain at the helm (think salty Capt. Lee of Below Deck), not a sea-sick imposter who stole the uniform and bluffed his way into the wheelhouse. My role in the inauguration was simple: I was one of several celebrities who would each read sections of various presidents’ inaugural addresses with the entire compilation presented during the Celebrating America special hosted by Tom Hanks. In 1854, Lincoln spoke of “the monstrous injustice of slavery,” so I couldn’t help but wonder what he might think about a Black man reading his words to the entire nation he so ably defended against insurrectionists.
It’s appropriate that the Biden inauguration takes place in the same week as Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, because Dr. King dared us to dream big by sharing his own dream for a unified and equitable America. Our country has always encouraged dreamers who just want a chance to develop their full potential on an even playing field. Dr. King was optimistic that Americans would continue to strive for a place where everyone had an equal opportunity to follow those dreams. But he was also a realist and knew that even the most well-meaning people sometimes needed a push to do the right thing. I’m hoping the inauguration, with its display of diversity, inclusion and eager hopefulness, will be that inspirational nudge for some skeptics.
For many Americans, the last four years have felt like we were jammed into a tight barrel with a small breathing hole while someone tried to plug up the hole. It was hard to dream, or even encourage others to dream, because the Trump administration worked so hard to suppress the basic rights of so many groups, including women, LGBTQ+, Muslims, Blacks, Latinx and immigrants. Worse, his lies, foot-dragging and incompetence during the pandemic led to 400,000 American deaths, many preventable. Even his economic plan resulted in billionaires (about 200 people) adding $1 trillion to their bloated portfolios while average American incomes languished.
Some are touting the inauguration as a kickstart ceremony to end the divisiveness in America. Even President Biden’s inaugural address emphasized his goal of unifying America. I’m all for that. But in fact, we are already more unified than reported. The so-called “divisiveness” that is chanted at us daily from every media megaphone across the political spectrum is not as wide or as evenly divided as they would have us think. The rioters who attacked the Capitol Building on Jan. 6 didn’t just vandalize property, kill a cop and call for the lynching of the vice president — they created a deep, ideological chasm between themselves and other conservatives who previously had been all lumped together as "Trump supporters." A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that 75 percent of Americans think Trump bears some or most responsibility for the riot. Trump will leave office with the lowest approval rating of his presidency: 29 percent. (By contrast, Barack Obama left office with an approval rate of 57 percent.) Another January survey indicated that nearly half of Americans think Trump will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in history.
To me, these numbers show that the country is not divided in half. Only about a third are true believing MAGA puppets who have been used as unwitting tools by billionaire Republicans and ambitious, unscrupulous Republican politicians looking to shove democracy into a meat-grinder if it means squeezing out a couple more cents of profit or power. It works in their favor to make America believe that they have a lot more popular support and therefore political clout than they actually do. This vocal third is easily manipulated by trigger words like "freedom," "socialist," "radical left" — all so vague as to be meaningless. What freedoms do they lack? Is anyone trying to suppress their voting rights? Are they afraid of getting pulled over by cops who might shoot them or choke them to death? Do they have to Anglicize their names to apply for jobs? Are they afraid their children will be torn from them and put in a cage? Nope. They just want to make sure they can strap a gun to their ankle and go maskless to the grocery store.
This group of election deniers who claim Biden didn’t legitimately win don’t care that Trump picked their pockets for $207 million to fight the election, but spent only a $8.8 million. He keeps the rest, suckers. Refuting the election results may be a matter of blind faith to some, but it was just business strategy to Trump and his cronies. Trump-supporting governors, judges and election officials have all said there was no voting fraud. Yet, that loyal Trump Third still howl at the election-fraud moon because no evidence will convince them. They will always be divided from the rest of the country because they don’t understand what the country actually stands for. They just want a despot to tell them what to think and do. Truth is, I don’t want to unify with those who don’t share the goals the country was founded on.
For me, watching and taking part in the Biden inauguration is a return to the Age of Reason, in which decisions are made based on evidence from reliable and expert sources. In which compassion and conscience guide us in our policy-making. In which the cowardly and greedy politicians who have been looting our sacred American ideals for the past four years will be finally seen by the electors for what they are. In which we commit to building an economy that prospers all Americans and not just the already wealthy. In which we foster an education system that isn’t afraid of teaching truth and gives all students an equal opportunity to enrich their lives.
Maybe I’m dreaming too big. But I’m encouraged because a lot of Americans share my dream. Thomas Paine said, "We have it in our power to begin the world over again." But he also cautioned, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must … undergo the fatigue of supporting it." After four years of the fatigue of watching America torn apart, I’m eager to shoulder my share so that we all might reap the blessings of freedom.
Trump supporters stand on the U.S. Capitol Police armored vehicle as others take over the steps of the Capitol. (photo: Bill Clark/Congressional Quarterly/ZUMA)
Far-Right Group Used Facebook Messenger to Hunt for Lawmakers During Capitol Siege, FBI Says
Joshua Zitser, Business Insider
Zitser writes: "Thomas Edward Caldwell, the leader of the far-right militia group known as Oath Keepers, has been accused by the FBI of coordinating an effort to track down lawmakers during the siege of the US Capitol building."
homas Edward Caldwell, the leader of the far-right militia group known as Oath Keepers, has been accused by the FBI of coordinating an effort to track down lawmakers during the siege of the US Capitol building.
Caldwell, 66, was cited with leading the effort to locate members of Congress, The Washington Post reported.
Two others, Donovan Ray Crowl and Jessica Marie Watkins, were also accused of having conspired with the Navy veteran, The Post said.
Caldwell is said to have received Facebook messages updating him of the specific whereabouts of lawmakers while congressional offices were being ransacked, according to an affidavit included in court filings obtained by the George Washington University Program on Extremism.
One message, the FBI said, read: "All members are in the tunnels under capitol. Seal them in, turn on the gas."
While raiding the Capitol, Caldwell shared a post on Facebook. He wrote, "Inside." After, the intelligence agency said, he received a flurry of messages from unspecified senders.
"Tom take that b----- over," one message read.
"Tom, all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3 floors down," another said.
Some of the messages gave specific directions about the locations of lawmakers.
"Go through back house chamber doors facing N left down hallway down steps," court documents reveal of one message.
"Do like we had to do when I was in the core, start tearing out floors, go from top to bottom," another is reported to have said.
The day after the insurrection, Caldwell sent a text to Crowl. It read: "Do you like the pictures of us storming the castle?"
Caldwell was arrested earlier this week on several charges, including conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and conspiracy to impede or injure an officer.
It was the first conspiracy charge filed against any of the rioters, according to the Daily Beast.
The investigation into the insurrection is underway, but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that many lawmakers "still don't feel safe."
A demonstrator holds a sign with the image of Breonna Taylor. (photo: Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images)
Breonna Taylor Grand Jurors File Impeachment Petition Against Kentucky Attorney General
Celine Castronuovo, The Hill
Castronuovo writes: "Three grand jurors from the investigation into the police raid that killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor are now calling for Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) to be impeached over allegations that he mishandled the case."
The jurors on Friday filed a petition with the state House of Representatives, arguing that Cameron breached the public’s trust and also misrepresented key grand jury findings, according to the Louisville Courier Journal, which first reported the complaint.
A press release from the attorney representing the grand jurors, who remained anonymous to protect their identities, said of the jurors, “it is truly a testament to the Kentucky Constitution that they are able to be here today and to expose injustice and demand public accountability.”
Attorney Kevin Glogower added, “I am honored and humbled to serve them.”
“The Grand Jurors did not choose this battle,” Glogower said. “This battle chose them. These are randomly selected citizens who were compelled to sit on a grand jury and were terribly misused by the most powerful law enforcement official in Kentucky.”
According to Louisville, Ky., public radio station WFPL, Friday’s petition states, “Attorney General Cameron deceived the American people and the citizens of this Commonwealth with regard to his office’s handling and involvement in the Breonna Taylor investigation and the resulting legal actions.”
The petition also reportedly claims that Cameron improperly used public funds by joining a lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results, and also supported unlawful actions as a member of the National Association of Attorneys General’s executive committee, which helped fund robocalls telling people to participate in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump march on the Capitol.
Cameron’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the impeachment petition.
The grand jury had investigated Louisville police’s execution of a no-knock search warrant at Taylor’s apartment in March 2020, during which several shots were fired, some of which hit and killed Taylor.
Cameron announced in September that the grand jury only levied three charges of wanton endangerment against one of the officers, with none of the officers faced with charges specifically related to Taylor’s death.
Since the grand jury ruling, however, multiple jurors in the case have come forward saying their findings were misrepresented.
In a press conference, Cameron had claimed there were six possible homicide charges brought before the grand jury in their investigation. But multiple grand jurors have claimed they weren’t given the opportunity to deliberate on additional charges outside of the counts of wanton endangerment.
Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Taylor’s family and previously called the grand jury’s September decision “outrageous and offensive," said in a statement shared with The Hill Friday that the impeachment petition from the grand jurors "is an extremely courageous and admirable action."
"They should be applauded for taking a valiant stand for justice and transparency within our institutions, along with reclaiming their voices that AG Cameron attempted to stifle during the grand jury proceedings," said the statement from Crump, along with co-counsels Sam Aguiar and Lonita Baker.
The attorneys argue that Cameron "placed an impossible burden on these citizens when he skewed the circumstances of Bre’s death and failed to present the possibility of homicide charges."
"We hope at the very least, this sends the message that no one has the right to take the law into their own hands and manipulate our processes for their own devious purposes," they added.
The petition to impeach Cameron comes amid similar actions against other Kentucky public officials in recent weeks.
Four citizens of the state have called on the state House of Representatives to impeach Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for executive actions implemented to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, with another against state Rep. Robert Goforth (R) for an incident in which he allegedly attempted to strangle a woman, according to The Associated Press. The case on the alleged assault is pending, and Goforth has pleaded not guilty.
A mother and her child. (photo: IWPR)
Senior Democrats Drafting Plan to Give Parents at Least $3,000 Per Child in Biden Stimulus
Jeff Stein, The Washington Post
Stein writes: "Senior Democratic lawmakers are moving to fulfill President Biden's desire to expand the child tax credit by drafting legislation that would direct the IRS to send recurring monthly payments to tens of millions of American families, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share knowledge of the internal discussion."
Under one draft of the plan being discussed, the IRS would be tasked with depositing checks worth $300 every month per child younger than 6, as well as $250 every month per child age 6 to 17. That would amount to $3,600 over the course of the year for young children, as well as $3,000 a year for older children, the officials said.
Unlike with the stimulus checks, the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers are hoping to make these child benefits a permanent government program that would continue in future years, according to three senior Democratic officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. The current proposal calls only for the expanded benefit to be enacted for one year, after which Democrats widely hope political pressure will force Congress to extend them. The benefit would be phased out for affluent Americans, though the precise income level has not been determined.
The benefit could prove costly, increasing the federal deficit by as much as $120 billion for one year, according to estimates by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group. But it could curb child poverty in the United States by more than 50 percent, researchers at Columbia University have found.
Congressional Republicans are expected to oppose the measure because of its price tag. Similar plans have garnered pockets of Republican support, however, with Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) among the GOP lawmakers who have pushed for dramatically increasing the child tax credit. All but one Senate Democrat endorsed legislation to expand the child tax credit in the previous Congress.
Biden earlier this month announced his intention to push for an expansion of the child tax credit as part of his $1.9 trillion economic relief package, and congressional Democratic staffers have made significant headway in drafting the legislation.
Under the plan, the IRS would send these payments automatically to American families, similar to how the $1,200 stimulus payments were disbursed last year. This approach would not require taxpayers to wait until they file their taxes to receive the credit. Families would receive the monthly benefits even if they owe the government more in taxes than the value of the credit.
“This will have more collective buy-in if a broader swath of the population directly receives the payment,” one senior Democratic aide involved in drafting the legislation said, citing the popularity of the stimulus payments.
Democratic lawmakers are also exploring whether the Treasury Department can set up an online portal for parents to manage the disbursal of the new credit, these people said. The plan would be aimed at giving taxpayers the option of receiving a year’s worth of the tax credit at filing season, rather than every month, should they so choose. Aides cautioned it may take time for Treasury Department officials to successfully set up a site that could handle millions of such requests. Other Democrats worry about whether the IRS will have the capacity to disburse the payments efficiently.
The Democratic staffers, who cautioned that discussions were ongoing and that the proposal had not yet been finalized, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations not yet made public.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) is closely involved in the effort to write the expansion of the child tax credit, which also draws significantly from legislation spearheaded by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), the staffers said. House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) has also been closely involved in efforts to expand the credit.
The United States spends less than almost any other developed nation on child benefits as a share of its economy. Only a handful of industrialized nations, such as Romania and Chile, rank behind the United States on measures of child poverty kept by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The tax credit proposal is also meant to, in part, address the skyrocketing burden of raising children during a pandemic and the widespread economic struggles millions of families are facing. Researchers at Columbia University have found the Biden plan would dramatically reduce the number of children in poverty, by as much as 54 percent, the equivalent of 5 million children. More than 1 million African American children would be lifted out of poverty by the plan, the researchers found.
Under current law, the child tax credit diminishes in value for Americans who do not earn enough money to use the credit to offset their tax obligations to the IRS. That means that millions of the lowest earners do not make enough to receive the full benefit. Democrats hope to scrap that requirement as part of sending monthly payments, a process known as making the benefit “fully refundable.”
The Democratic proposal is also expected to phase out above a certain income, meaning affluent families would not receive it. Eligibility would be based on family income in the prior year, much like eligibility for the stimulus payments. Taxpayers could use the new Treasury Department portal to update their status if they experienced dramatic income declines, according to the people familiar with plans, who stressed that these decisions had not been finalized.
“This credit is an extremely effective tool in combating child poverty, and Democrats are working to make the expanded version fully refundable and be provided to eligible individuals on a monthly basis,” Neal said in a statement.
The fate of the expanded child tax credit will be wrapped up in broader negotiations in Congress over the relief package. Biden is pushing a $1.9 trillion measure that would include expanded stimulus payments, unemployment insurance and aid to state and local governments, and it is unclear when the measure might get passed.
Some Republican lawmakers have argued that proposed expansions of the child tax credit give too much federal assistance to people who are not working. The Wall Street Journal editorial board has criticized prior plans to expand the child tax credit, calling the benefit a “form of income redistribution — a special favor for some taxpayers that costs the Treasury a bundle.”
Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said of the Democrats’ plan: “This clearly is something they want to make permanent policy, rather than just for covid relief.”
Even if the legislation can pass, it may prove difficult in practice to successfully disburse the credit to millions of Americans.
The IRS demonstrated that it could send out stimulus payments to hundreds of millions of American within a few months after Congress passed the Cares Act last year. But IRS officials have already told Democratic Senate offices that the agency would probably struggle to send monthly payments this year, particularly amid the busy tax filing season, said two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told The Washington Post that lawmakers are trying to make the credit go out monthly, but he also alluded to the difficulty the IRS may face.
“This ties into our bigger challenge in rebuilding the IRS,” Wyden said. “We can’t ask the IRS to do more and more and not provide adequate resources over the long term.”
Other concerns about the program have surfaced. Prior versions of the plan would structure the monthly child benefit by deducting it from a family’s existing tax liability. Some welfare experts have pointed out that millions of working-class families would earn too much — and owe the IRS too much — to receive a monthly $300 check if it must first be used to offset their tax burden.
Under that scenario, for instance, a single mother with one child earning about $46,000 a year would receive only about $1 a month, according to estimates by the People’s Policy Project, a left-leaning think tank. That could diminish the program’s political popularity and its ability to help families cope with volatile swings in income. Matt Bruenig, founder of the People’s Policy Project, went as far as to say that approach would be a “train wreck.”
Bruenig also called for the payments to be made universal, rather than be cut off for the affluent, pointing out that sending it to everyone would make the program easier to administer, ultimately benefiting poor and middle-class families. That approach is viewed as a political nonstarter among Democrats.
“If all this does is reduce your tax liability, there’s much lower visibility — people won’t see it as the federal government doing something new to help build your family,” said J.W. Mason, an economist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “For this to build a political constituency, people need to see that they are benefiting from it.”
The impact of the credit on reducing poverty could also depend on its administrative simplicity, said James Ziliak, an economist at the University of Kentucky who studies welfare policy. Policymakers have discussed disbursing the monthly benefit payment based on what taxpayers predict their income will be for the upcoming year. Under that scenario, some families could underestimate how much they will make — and then have to come up with additional money to pay back the IRS at the end of the year. That is an approach some welfare experts want Democrats to avoid.
“The design of these things needs to be made transparent to the taxpayer and try to minimize any sense of confusion,” Ziliak said.
Biden officials have not said how the credit would be structured or allocated, and the plan they released last month was light on details. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.
Advocates for the poor say there is a lot riding on whether congressional Democrats and Biden can smoothly execute the new benefit. Diane Rosenwald, 70, a volunteer tax preparer in Minneapolis, said that for 15 years she has listened in horror to the stories of poor Minnesotans who have struggled to navigate the complex paperwork required to receive the child tax credit.
“I could just weep. I could just scream. It’s so maddening,” said Rosenwald, a volunteer at the Minneapolis branch of the Urban League. “These returns are incredibly complicated, including the child tax credit. They should do whatever they can to get out this money directly.”
A man using a cellular phone. (photo: Nazar Abbas/Getty Images)
Military Intelligence Is Gathering Americans' Location Data Without a Warrant, Memo Shows
Kate Cox, Are Technica
Cox writes: "The Defense Intelligence Agency, which provides military intelligence to the Department of Defense, confirmed in a memo that it purchases 'commercially available' smartphone location data to gather information that would otherwise require use of a search warrant."
A long and growing list of agencies are using money to bypass Carpenter ruling.
The DIA "currently provides funding to another agency that purchases commercially available geolocation metadata aggregated from smartphones," the agency wrote in a memo (PDF) to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), first obtained by the New York Times.
The Supreme Court held in its 2018 Carpenter v. United States ruling that the government needs an actual search warrant to collect an individual's cell-site location data. "When the Government tracks the location of a cell phone it achieves near perfect surveillance, as if it had attached an ankle monitor to the phone’s user," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in his opinion. "The retrospective quality of the data here gives police access to a category of information otherwise unknowable."
The reality of the market, however, has created a big fat loophole: There are countless entities on the private market that scoop up, collate, and resell all kinds of personal data from basically everyone in the country. So instead of doing their own searches, law enforcement agencies are just buying the data they want.
Last summer, for example, media reports found that Customs and Border Patrol buys license plate scanner data to track individuals' movements. Later reports also revealed that CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement buy cell phone location data—information the agencies would otherwise be required to get a search warrant to obtain. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general in December opened an investigation to determine if these tactics "adhered to policies related to cell-phone surveillance devices."
The Secret Service, IRS, and other agencies have also purchased mobile location data, according to media reports.
The DIA explains in the memo that it simply does not think the Carpenter ruling applies to it. "DIA does not construe the Carpenter decision to require a judicial warrant endorsing purchase or use of commercially-available data for intelligence purposes," the agency wrote. "DIA's acquisition, use, and storage of commercial geolocation data is governed" not by these civilian law enforcement rules but by the DoD's own "Attorney General-approved data handling requirements."
An Israeli fighter jet. (photo: AFP
In Lebanon, Israeli Warplanes Terrify a Traumatized Population
Anchal Vohra, Al Jazeera
Vohra writes: "Over the last month, Israeli jets have carried out some of their biggest air raids yet in Syria, apparently striking Iranian targets. It may have been the Lebanese next door, though, who trembled with greater fear. Some took cover under a table or a sink, others hid in their cars."
Violation of Lebanese airspace by low-flying Israeli jets brings back memories of the deadly explosion at Beirut’s port.
The roar of low-flying jets flying in from the Mediterranean over Beirut is especially tormenting to those who experienced the August 4 port blast that left nearly 200 people dead, thousands injured, and hundreds of thousands homeless.
Rana al-Dirani’s 10-year-old son shudders every time he hears an Israeli plane and wraps his arms around her.
“He asks me, ‘What is it, Mama – another explosion or is Israel bombing us?’ He gets scared and so do I, but I have to be strong in front of him,” said Rana. “I mean what do the Israelis want from us? Aren’t we suffering enough?”
Rana’s life has not escaped any of her country’s many crises.
She is a co-owner of an Arabic language school that became financially inoperable as the economy collapsed last year and the local currency devalued by more than 80 percent.
Then came the blast. Her school was barely 200 metres from the port and was fatally damaged in the explosion. Now she and her children are infected with the coronavirus. On top of all that, Israel’s planes spark the memories of the blast and terrify her children.
Israeli jets were heard in Beirut days before the explosion, too, leading many to first suspect the country, which is still technically at war with Lebanon and has a mortal enemy in Hezbollah, was behind the explosion.
“I was so sure that the pre-port explosion sounds were jets, so now when I hear that sound I rationalise that this time it truly is jets,” said Niamh, who runs Aaliyah’s Books, a cafe in Gemmeyzye, which was among the worst-hit neighbourhoods in the explosion.
“When I’m alone, especially if the sound is particularly loud, I’ll decide to err on the side of safety and tuck myself under a sink or table, feeling irrational as I do so – but also calmer.”
‘State of panic’
Rudeynah Baalbaky was celebrating with her friends on Christmas Eve in Dahiye, a suburb in southern Beirut and stronghold of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed political party and militia in Lebanon.
When she heard the jets swish through the sky to bomb Masyaf, a city in northwestern Syria that is home to a military academy and a scientific research centre, she thought the bombs were intended for Hezbollah.
“I felt the raid [on Lebanon] was very imminent, very close. I hid in the car at that moment,” said Rudeynah. “I spent the past few days in a state of panic, very worried about securing medicine for my mother and father.”
The planes reminded her of the port explosion but also took her back in time to 2006 when she was a teenager. She used to live with her family in the western Bekaa Valley in a village that witnessed heavy bombing by Israel. She said her whole family has been struggling with severe post-traumatic stress disorder ever since.
“I have no illusions about Lebanon’s sovereignty and I am not surprised by Israel’s criminality and its violation of international law,” added Rudeynah.
Israel has been invading Lebanese airspace for more than 10 years. But as former US President Donald Trump lost the election in November and new President Joe Biden said he would rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran, Israel intensified bombings in Syria to inflict maximum damage on alleged Iranian shipments, which it says are intended to strengthen Hezbollah.
Sami Nader, a Lebanese political analyst, said while Israel could bomb these alleged shipments through Syrian airspace, it is easier to go through Lebanon.
“Israel does not violate any bilateral agreement with any regional power if its planes invade Lebanese airspace, whereas in Syria it has an agreement with Russia and it’s more complicated for them,” Nader said.
“On the one hand Israel is violating Lebanese sovereignty,” he added. “But on the other Lebanon has not adhered to its international commitments either, because according to the UN resolutions Hezbollah is supposed to be unarmed but it very much has its weapons.”
Scars may never heal
Not every Lebanese faults Israel. Carmin, who spoke on the condition of anonymity fearing her political views might land her in trouble, was at her home, also in Gemmeyzye, when 2,750 tonnes of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the nearby port in August.
Her house shattered around her and shards of glass slashed her head. She was soaked in blood that day when Al Jazeera first met her.
Carmin is slowly refurbishing her flat but the scars the explosion carved on her psyche are deeper, and may never heal if the Israelis keep flying their jets above her head.
And yet she blames Hezbollah more for dragging Lebanon on a path of conflict rather than peace with its neighbour.
“So many countries have normalised ties,” she said of the deals inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Sudan, and Bahrain in the last few months. “But this group won’t let Lebanon sign peace.”
Gemmeyzye is a Christian-dominated neighbourhood lined with restaurants and bars and most of its inhabitants are Western-leaning Lebanese or expatriates. Neither group feels much support towards Hezbollah, which describes itself as the “resistance” to Israel. In fact, people here often speak of a rapprochement.
But a few kilometres away, in places such as Dahiye, Israel is seen as an enemy, and even talking peace is treated as treason.
Trump’s exit from the White House has seen fears of an all-out war recede. He backed Israel more than any American president before him, and gave support to Israeli assaults against Iranian proxies with its own military and diplomatic power. Biden, however, is expected to try to ease tensions, notably by rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
But no one in Lebanon imagines Israel will stop flying its planes over their skies any time soon.
Activists protest the Dakota Access Pipeline outside the Army Corps of Engineers Office. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
'No More Broken Treaties': Indigenous Leaders Urge Biden to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline
Nina Lakhani, Grist
Lakhani writes: "Indigenous leaders and environmentalists are urging Joe Biden to shut down some of America's most controversial fossil fuel pipelines, after welcoming his executive order canceling the Keystone XL (KXL) project."
Activists praised the president’s decision to stop construction of the transnational KXL oil pipeline on his first day in the White House, but they stressed that he must cancel similar polluting fossil fuel projects, including the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), to stand any chance of meeting his bold climate action goals.
The KXL order was issued on Wednesday as part of the first wave of Biden’s promised environmental justice and climate action policies, which include rejoining the Paris Agreement and halting construction of the southern border wall.
Rescinding the Canadian-owned KXL pipeline permit, issued by Donald Trump, fulfills a campaign promise Biden made in May 2020 and comes after more than a decade of organizing and resistance by Indigenous activists, landowners, and environmental groups.
“The victory ending the KXL pipeline is an act of courage and restorative justice by the Biden administration. It gives tribes and Mother Earth a serious message of hope for future generations as we face the threat of climate change. It aligns Indigenous environmental knowledge with presidential priorities that benefit everyone,” said Faith Spotted Eagle, founder of Brave Heart Society and a member of the Ihanktonwan Dakota nation.
“This is a vindication of 10 years defending our waters and treaty rights from this tar sands carbon bomb. I applaud President Biden for recognizing how dangerous KXL is for our communities and climate and I look forward to similar executive action to stop DAPL and Line 3 based on those very same dangers,” said Dallas Goldtooth, a member of the Mdewakanton Dakota and Dine nations and the Keep It In The Ground campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Donald Trump sanctioned the KXL and DAPL pipelines soon after taking office — which paved the way for scores of executive actions and rollbacks favoring fossil fuel allies while violating Indigenous rights and environmental standards.
The KXL pipeline was set to go through the heart of the Oceti Sakowin territory. It was the final section of a vast pipeline network transporting tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to ports on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Most of the network was built during the Obama administration and is already operational.
The 2020 elections saw a historic turnout of Native Americans, who helped deliver victory for Biden in key states including Arizona and Wisconsin.
The new president has so far been praised for assembling a top team of climate and environmental justice experts to lead his government’s efforts and undo some of the damage inflicted over the past four years — and during previous administrations.
But pressure is already mounting on Biden to take action on similar pipelines that campaigners say were sanctioned without conducting legally required consultations with Native communities, and which threaten to pollute land and water and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global heating.
Last week, 75 Indigenous female leaders from across the country sent a letter to the incoming administration calling on it to immediately halt fossil fuel projects which threaten their land, water, health, culture, and security. They wrote: “No more broken promises, no more broken Treaties … We urge you to fulfill the United States promise of sovereign relations with Tribes, and your commitment to robust climate action.”
On Tuesday, tribal leaders wrote to Biden urging him to shut down the DAPL. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and the legal non-profit Earthjustice released a video message to Biden voiced in the Lakota language called Tȟokáta Hé Miyé /My Name Is Future.
Biden has not spoken publicly about DAPL, but last May, Kamala Harris signed an amicus brief and joined tribes in calling on a judge to shut it down while an environmental impact study is conducted.
Shutting down DAPL, which crosses through communities, farms, tribal land, sensitive natural areas, and wildlife habitat across North Dakota to Illinois, would be more complicated than canceling KXL as it is already being built and is transporting about 500,000 barrels of crude oil each day.
“It is a more complex legal scenario, but they could do it tomorrow as it’s operating without a permit and has been declared illegal by federal courts,” said Jan Hasselman, a lawyer at Earthjustice, which represents the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in ongoing legal action. “It’s crazy to continue investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure when we need to be abandoning it.”
The proposed expansion of another huge Canadian-owned tar sands oil pipeline crossing Indigenous lands, Line 3, is also under the microscope. In Minnesota, police have arrested scores of peaceful protesters trying to stop construction.
At the heart of Biden’s climate plan is ensuring the U.S. achieves a 100 percent clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050 — which experts say is not possible if investment in oil and gas continues.
“[Today’s] great win comes after a decade of organizing — and since the scientific and human rights principles are exactly the same for DAPL and Line 3, we assume we’ll hear similar good news on them soon,” said Bill McKibben, co-founder of the environmental group 350.org.
Nick Estes, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux nation and assistant professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, said: “Biden has the right people in his team, but we don’t know yet if he’s going to break from Obama’s policy of domestic energy production. If he’s genuine about climate action, it makes no sense not to cancel the Dakota Access and Line 3 pipelines, even if it’s harder to do. We need to see bold maneuvers.”
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