COMMON DREAMS: As Death Toll in Gaza Rises, Israeli Officials Fear Possible Genocide Charges at ICJ

 

As Death Toll in Gaza Rises, Israeli Officials Fear Possible Genocide Charges at ICJ

"In general, it's hard to prove an intention of genocide because no public statements to that effect are made during the fighting," said one expert. "But these irresponsible statements about erasing Gaza will require Israel to explain why they don't reflect such an intention."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-icj-genocide

Fossil Fuel Giants to Lavish Shareholders With Record Paydays as Climate Crisis Deepens

"The global energy crisis has been a giant cash grab for fossil fuel firms," said one campaigner. "And instead of investing their record profits in clean energy, these companies are doubling down on oil, gas, and shareholder payouts."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuel-shareholders

'A Giant of Journalism Has Left Us': John Pilger Dead at 84

"He was a fearless challenger of imperialism and colonialism and used his talents behind the camera to expose genocide and war crimes, including the deceit of mainstream media," said one British MP.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/a-giant-of-journalism-has-left-us-john-pilger-dead-at-84

Israeli Forces Fired on Aid Convoy in Gaza: UNRWA

"Our international convoy leader and his team were not injured but one vehicle sustained damage—aid workers should never be a target."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-aid-convoy

OHIO BIGOTRY & IGNORANCE PREVAILS!
This is a MEDICAL DECISION, NOT A POLITICAL ONE!

'Lives Will Be Saved': Ohio Gov. Vetoes Trans Youth Healthcare, Sports Bans
"Thank you to Gov. DeWine for listening to the people of his state and making the right decision for young trans Ohioans," said one advocate.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ohio-trans-ban

Israeli Killing of West Bank Children Hits 'Unprecedented Levels' in 2023

UNICEF says this has been the deadliest year on record for Palestinian children in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/west-bank-children-2666831533

Leonard Leo Allies Lead Effort to Establish Publicly Funded Religious School

A legal clinic at University of Notre Dame has helped represent the school while its officials have maintained ties to right-wing Supreme Court justices.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/oklahoma-charter-school

'He Is Not Qualified': Maine Bars Trump From Primary Ballot

"The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multimonth effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-maine

Bellows Is Right: Use Every Tool Available to Defeat Trump

Trump is too dangerous to the future of the planet for us to play nice with people who never, ever play nice.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/bellows-trump-2024

2023: The Year the Bubble of US Leadership Burst

If Ukraine exemplifies yet another iconic U.S. military failure, and BRICS the changing of the guard in the economic realm, the sadistic savagery in Gaza repudiates the moral right of the U.S. to lead… anything.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/2023-us-leadership-bubble-burst

Keep Church and State Separate to Preserve Reproductive Justice

The principle of the separation of church and state is not just a constitutional provision but a safeguard crucial to preserving the autonomy and well-being of diverse populations.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/church-and-state-reproductive-justice

Haley Shows the GOP Base Is All About Racism and Oligarchy

As Nikki Haley well knows, the Confederacy rose up not simply to preserve slavery and the Southern oligarchy, but to extend that oligarchy to the rest of the United States.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nikki-haley-2024

Have Any Lessons Been Learned in Three Months of Bloodshed in Gaza?

The problem, of course, is that while this dance of death between Israelis and Palestinians continues to unfold, the US has demonstrated that it too hasn’t learned any lessons.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/lesson-since-oct-7-in-israel-palestine

World Leaders Failed Us, But We Have the Power to End the Era of Fossil Fuels

Over 1,600 institutions, including hundreds of faith-based organizations, have now joined the fight to move money away from polluting fossil fuels and toward clean energy solutions—yours should be next.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/divestment-to-fight-climate-emergency

Are Palestinian Men Unworthy of Our Grief?

Centuries of gendered racism have led to the violence enacted against Palestinian men and the Western world’s indifference to their pain.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/palestinian-men-civilians-in-gaza

Corporate Media Keeps Door Wide Open for Trump's Fascist Return

Every time the mainstream media reveal another move by the Republican Party toward authoritarianism, they point out some superfluous fault in the Democratic Party in order to provide “balance.” It's nonsense. And it's dangerous.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corporate-media-trump-fascism

We Deserve Medicare for All, But What We Get Is Medicare for Wall Street

Creating a sane healthcare system will depend on building a massive common movement to free our economy from Wall Street’s wealth extraction.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/medicare-for-all-wall-street

Burying the Future Under the Rubble That Is Gaza

Despite the data showing the devastating impact of violence and war on children, the last decades have been the worst of times for children. And the United States remains a global outlier by refusing to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-children-un-convention

Will the American Psychological Association Ever Join the Gaza Cease-Fire Call?

Remaining silent any longer casts doubt on the APA’s avowed commitment to “respect and promote human rights.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/apa-cease-fire-in-gaza

New Massachusetts 'Tax the Rich' Law Raises $1.5 Billion for Free School Lunch and More

"Taxing the rich, it's good," said one progressive advocate in the state.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/tax-rich-massachusetts

In Rebuke to Far Right, Israeli Supreme Court Strikes Down Autocratic Judicial Reforms

The historic follows massive street protests against the measures last year and amid Israel's ongoing Gaza onslaught.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-supreme-court-judicial-reforms

Dr. Sidney Wolfe's Towering Life of Public Service

For Sid, outrage was a moral imperative; the only humane response to inhumane policies and practices.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/sidney-wolfe-public-health-advocate

Saving Israel by Ending Its War in Gaza

The Israeli government argues that it is in a mortal fight for survival against Hamas, and therefore must take every measure, including the very destruction of Gaza, to survive. This is false.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/saving-israel-by-ending-gaza-war

From America’s Guantánamo to Saudi Arabia’s Guillotine

Many former detainees who have been repatriated to their home country or resettled in a third country have found themselves in either another prison or in what we call Guantánamo 2.0.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-guantanamo-to-saudi-guillotines

A New Year’s Letter to President Biden

My wish for you in 2024 is to imbibe this wisdom and act on it: What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/new-year-s-letter-to-biden

How US Media Fed the Stream of Militarism in 2023

The fourth estate is a key pillar that buttresses America’s dependence on aggression abroad.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-media-militarism-2023

The Moral Injuries of Witnessing Genocide in Gaza

To see what is being done to the people of Gaza is to witness the kind of genocidal action we have said must never be allowed to happen again.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-genocide-moral-injury

Haley Shows the GOP Base Is All About Racism and Oligarchy

As Nikki Haley well knows, the Confederacy rose up not simply to preserve slavery and the Southern oligarchy, but to extend that oligarchy to the rest of the United States.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nikki-haley-2024

Yes, Western Powers Are ‘the baddies’ in Gaza

There is nothing humanitarian about bombing trapped civilians in Gaza, turning their tiny prison enclave into rubble, reminiscent of earthquake disaster zones but this time an entirely man-made catastrophe.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/west-genocide-gaza

Fascism Is an Underestimated Threat to US Democracy

The American Experiment in democracy is being tested to its outward limit.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/fascism-threat-us-democracy

Israel’s Long History of Ethnic Cleansing

“Transfer,” often presented as the encouragement of voluntary emigration either by providing material incentives or making the conditions of life impossible, has become increasingly mainstreamed in Israeli political life.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-history-ethnic-cleansing

Israel Told the People of Gaza to Go South and Then Bombed the South

"Every night we die 10 times, only we aren't buried."

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-committing-war-crimes-in-gaza

POLITICO Nightly: How the right toppled Harvard's president

 

BY CALDER MCHUGH Harvard President Claudine Gay speaks during a hearing of the House Committee on Education, Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP COORDINATED ATTACK — Conservatives who have long been at war with elite academic institutions have pointed to these universities’ responses to the conflict between Israel and Hamas as the latest example of the ivory tower’s skewed values. Today, the right got a strong dose of satisfaction by engineering the departure of the head of the most influential university in the world. Almost a month after a widely panned congressional hearing where she said it was context-dependent whether calls for genocide against Jews violated Harvard’s code of conduct, President Claudine Gay announced that she was resigning, a coda that followed a pronounced pressure campaign led by conservatives in Congress, prominent donors and right-leaning media and activists. Gay’s departure marked the rare exit that occasioned widespread congressional comment . House Speaker Mike Johnson argued “the resignation of Claudine Gay is long overdue.” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) was even more unvarnished, giving voice to the deep disdain held for Harvard and other elite institutions by an increasingly populist Republican Party: “She was a total disgrace to her profession.” Gay became the second president to step down after the Dec. 5 hearing; when University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned on Dec. 9, her chief antagonist in Congress, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), responded “One down.” STEFANIK WAS BOOTED FROM HARVARD DUE TO HER ELECTION DENIAL AND OTHER EXTREMISM! Stefanik, the Harvard grad whose line of questioning with three university presidents during the congressional hearing produced the viral moments that doomed Gay and Magill, took a victory lap today. “TWO DOWN,” wrote Stefanik in a post on X. Yet it was the conservative media ecosystem, not Stefanik, that struck the crowning blow leading to Gay’s resignation. Gay managed at first to escape Magill’s fate with the support of the Harvard Corporation, the smaller and more powerful of Harvard’s two governing boards. But a sustained pressure campaign that focused on allegations of plagiarism in her scholarship ultimately led to her downfall. It began Dec. 10, when conservative activists Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet published a newsletter on Substack titled “Is Claudine Gay a Plagiarist? ” Rufo occupies a unique place in the culture wars. He describes himself as a policy scholar and a political combatant, a polemicist and a journalist ; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him as a trustee of New College of Florida as part of his efforts to eliminate what he calls the “ideological conformity” of higher education. (Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) refers to Rufo as “a right-wing propagandist” on a “campaign to destroy public education in America .”) Rufo, who has spent much of his career fighting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and advocating for bans on teachers discussing LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms, compiled a provocative piece featuring evidence from Gay’s dissertation that wasn’t easily dismissed. Aaron Sibarium, a reporter at the conservative Washington Free Beacon, followed with a Dec. 11 article in which he spoke with scholars about the plagiarism accusations and uncovered new allegations — Sibarium has since reported on additional charges of plagiarism. On the heels of a hearing that had Gay on the ropes, Rufo was frank about his intentions. “We launched the Claudine Gay plagiarism story from the Right. The next step is to smuggle it into the media apparatus of the Left, legitimizing the narrative to center-left actors who have the power to topple her. Then squeeze,” Rufo posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Dec. 19. Rufo says it took a three-pronged attack to force Gay’s hand — with Stefanik leading from Congress, financier Bill Ackman (who continually posted about Gay on X ) galvanizing the university’s donor class and his own efforts, along with Brunet and Sibarium. “We executed it to a really stunning degree of perfection,” Rufo said in an interview today. Sibarium, for his part, says that it was a natural reporting process that led him to the story. “I was not sitting there twisting my thumbs asking ‘how do I time this exactly to cause maximum damage?’” he said. “I got a tip and I tracked it down.” Questions about plagiarism involving Gay have swirled since before she assumed the job of Harvard president in July. An anonymous post on the online discussion forum econjobrumors from June 11 reads “Claudine Gay plagiarized several sources nearly verbatim… in her dissertation, according to a 100-page report circulated to the Harvard Board of Overseers.” A commenter responds “send it to chrisbrunet @ protonmail dot com.” Brunet had his own history with Gay, dating back to at least April 2022, when she was dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. He published a newsletter on Substack entitled “The Curious Case of Claudine Gay ,” where he opined on her connection to various scandals at Harvard and elsewhere. But Brunet’s writing and various anonymous posts, though often filled with venom, included few verifiable facts and made little to no impact outside of conservative media at the time. The more rigorous reporting — actual reporting that more closely adhered to mainstream media standards — made the allegations harder to overlook. “The right has excelled at and outperformed the left when it comes to television and radio opinion… where the right has always lagged is in reporting,” Eliana Johnson, the editor-in-chief of the Free Beacon, said (Johnson formerly worked at POLITICO). By Dec. 20, mainstream news outlets were reporting on plagiarism allegations against Gay. The Free Beacon’s continued reporting during the holidays — as well as reporting and op eds in The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper — kept the spotlight on Gay, who began to bleed support among former allies who had to that point stood by her. “Her support behind the scenes really had collapsed,” Johnson said. Ian Ward and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.  Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh . WHAT'D I MISS? — Feds add allegations of Qatari influence against Menendez: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) spoke kindly of Qatar during official proceedings in exchange for bribes from a developer friend, new legal filings report. Menendez and his wife, who was also charged, plead not guilty. The new indictment is the latest allegation that has all but cost the former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee his political career. Menendez has already been accused of accepting bribes and using his chair position to help Egypt, all of which he has denied. —Trump appeals Maine decision deeming him ineligible to run for president: Former President Donald Trump today appealed the Maine secretary of state’s decision that he is ineligible to run for president because he engaged in an insurrection. This is the first step in his fight to remain on the ballot in the state. Trump’s legal team filed the appeal in state court five days after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, determined Trump would be removed from the state’s ballot for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. The intense national dispute over whether the Constitution bars Trump from returning to the White House is likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court. — Authorities expanding investigation into Florida GOP chair accused of rape: Sarasota authorities are expanding their investigation into Florida Republican Chair Christian Ziegler to probe whether he broke any laws when he allegedly recorded a sexual encounter with a woman accusing him of rape, according to a search warrant affidavit. The Dec. 8 search warrant, obtained by POLITICO through a public records request, seeks access to Ziegler’s Instagram messages, videos and photos, including those that were under the “vanish” mode that makes them disappear from the app. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 "R" VOTERS ARE CONSPICUOUSLY UNINFORMED!  NO ONE IS SCRUTINIZING THE HISTORY OF "R" CANDIDATES! NO SHOW — Former President Donald Trump will skip the next GOP debate held by CNN and instead will participate in a town hall with Fox News , POLITICO reports. Trump has skipped the four previous GOP debates. Trump, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, and Florida Gov. Ron Desantis were the only three GOP presidential candidates to qualify for the debate, CNN announced today. The CNN debate, the first hosted by an organization independent of the Republican National Committee, will take place in Des Moines on Jan. 10 ahead of the Iowa Caucus. Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will moderate the Fox News town hall, which will take place in Des Moines at the same time. Baier and MacCallum hosted a previous RNC debate in August that Trump also skipped. THE IOWA AIR WARS — Republican presidential candidates and outside groups have blanketed the Iowa airwaves ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses, spending nearly $105 million on ads there in 2023 , NBC News reports. And that figure is set to grow by at least another $7.5 million before the Jan. 15 caucuses, according to upcoming ad reservations tracked by the firm AdImpact. It’s being driven by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s late push for a strong finish in Iowa, after former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent most of 2023 polling first and second there. While Trump has held consistent leads over the rest of the Republican field in recent Iowa polling, recent shifts in ad spending in the state also reflect broader shifts in the GOP race. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s campaign and an aligned outside group dominated the Iowa airwaves over the summer and early fall. But after Scott dropped out of the race in November, ad spending to boost Haley jumped, along with spending to support Trump and DeSantis. SCALISE BACKS TRUMP — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced his endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid today , becoming one of the highest-ranking Republicans to formally support Trump, POLITICO reports. Trump questioned Scalise’s health as he sought the speakership last fall following the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Scalise ultimately dropped his pursuit of the gavel amid internal GOP infighting. Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) are among the other senior House GOP lawmakers to endorse Trump’s 2024 bid. AROUND THE WORLD People stand outside a building after an explosion in southern Beirut, Lebanon today. | Hussein Malla/AP TOP HAMAS OFFICIAL KILLED — An explosion in Beirut today killed Saleh Arouri, a top official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and three others , officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah said. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone. Israeli officials declined to comment. If Israel is behind the attack it could mark a major escalation in the Middle East conflict. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon. Hamas official Bassem Naim confirmed to The Associated Press that Arouri was killed in the blast. A Hezbollah official speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations also said Arouri was killed. Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, had headed the group’s presence in the West Bank. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on Oct. 7. ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT — South Korea’s tough-speaking liberal opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck by an unidentified knife-wielding man who attempted to kill him during his visit to the southeastern city of Busan today, police said. Lee, 59, the head of the main opposition Democratic Party, was airlifted to a Seoul hospital after receiving emergency treatment in Busan, reports The Associated Press. Lee’s party later said he was recovering at an intensive care unit at the Seoul National University Hospital following a two-hour operation. The attack happened as Lee walked through a crowd of journalists and others after a tour of the proposed site of a new airport in Busan. The attacker approached Lee, saying he wanted his autograph, then stabbed him in the left side of his neck, senior Busan police officer Sohn Jae-han said in a briefing. Sohn said Democratic Party officials quickly subdued the attacker before police officers detained him. He said 41 police officers had been deployed to the area for crowd control and traffic management. NIGHTLY NUMBER More than 22 million The number of households that could be cut from internet aid ahead of the 2024 election . The Affordable Connectivity Program currently helps these households with internet bills, but Congress may end the program as Democrats and Republicans clash over its renewal. PARTING WORDS On this date in 1960: Senator John F. Kennedy announces his formal entry into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. | AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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