How Many More Massacres Must We Palestinians Endure Here in Gaza?

We want to live. As we mourn the lives lost, we think about how much worse it has to get before the world finally says enough is enough.

Al Nuseirat refugee camp is in the middle of the Gaza Strip, where Mediterranean waves brush up against one of our urban centers of life. Even before the Israeli invasion forced many to shelter there, causing Al Nuseirat to expand to a breaking point, the camp was already crowded with people just trying to survive. It is a camp full of children, who wander the open-air markets in the morning looking for food and trying to create a semblance of joy through play against the backdrop of rubble.

But in the blink of an eye, Israel turned Al Nuseirat refugee camp into another living hell for its young civilian population. The dreadful roaring sounds of raining missiles and bullets reached far outside of the camp, signaling yet another air raid. This one, we would soon learn, was targeting the perimeter of Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al Balah. Could the hospital withstand another influx of injured people fighting for their lives? Would the ambulances even be able to reach them?

We Palestinians don't stop asking ourselves where to go next, and we are running out of options.

The doctors working at Shuhada al-Aqsa—intimately aware of the Al Shifa hospital massacre—were terrified that history could repeat itself in one of the last functioning medical centers in the Gaza Strip. Just like at Al Shifa, Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital had become a refuge for not only patients, but also for the many who had found shelter there, tents pitched in the hospital yard. The hospital grounds were crowded with people, including journalists—they emptied out in seconds just as Israel was about to bomb one of the tents. It was one of the last "safe" places in Gaza.

We Palestinians don't stop asking ourselves where to go next, and we are running out of options.

Central Gaza has endured relentless airstrikes, ground bombardment, and naval assaults—countless civilians lost in the streets because they didn't know where to go in the so-called "safe zone." They had evacuated to camps like Al Nuseirat after Israel started targeting Rafah, the previous "safe zone." However tired, sick, and angry we are, we still go from one "safe zone" to the next and back again—because we want to be safe and we want our families to be safe.

We want to live.

It adds insult to injury that influential governments are trying to frame this operation—this massacre against a refugee camp—as a "rescue mission."

Some Israeli forces entered Al Nuseirat camp under the disguise of a U.S. aid truck, after the U.S. built a humanitarian pier to provide basic aid to Gaza. It is hard enough to know that the U.S. is supporting Israel's military attacks against us by sending them funds and weapons. And it is harder still to see "humanitarian" infrastructure used to enact massacres in which the U.S. is complicit. In this way, even the international health sector is sustaining and profiting from the genocide in Gaza.

It adds insult to injury that influential governments are trying to frame this operation—this massacre against a refugee camp—as a "rescue mission." Murdering more than 270 displaced and innocent people living in unthinkable conditions can never justify a rescue mission. Such could have been achieved instead by accepting ceasefire resolutions linked to reasonable demands.

We often wonder: how many more people will be murdered before Israel feels it has defeated us enough to feel victorious? The Israeli attack on Al Nuseirat happened in an instant, killing some 270 people and injuring at least 700 more in about an hour. The local market was instantly turned into a graveyard with bodies and body parts strewn across the pavement. They were murdered in cold blood.

Mohammed Jehad, a civil engineer working for UNRWA, was servicing the displacement shelters when the attack occurred. "It suddenly got dark under the sun of broad daylight," he recalled. "I saw nothing but blood on the ground after tens of missiles were dropped over the space of a kilometer and buildings were smashed to the ground over the heads of the families living inside."

We often wonder: how many more people will be murdered before Israel feels it has defeated us enough to feel victorious?

When the tanks started approaching, the people of Al Nuseirat ran in opposite directions, staying low to the ground in an attempt to escape the Apache and quadcopters that hovered overhead. But they soon realized that they were encircled by Israeli forces. Mohammed was among those trapped in the area. "I was moving away from the tanks, but then two missiles dropped in the middle of the street," he explained, adding, "people fell dead and injured all around me. It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and I still can't believe I am alive."

The forces finally retreated, leaving nothing but carnage in their wake. And the people of Al Nuseirat loaded their injured and dead loved ones onto donkey carts, bound for Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital. Here in Gaza, we are all broken and we are all martyrs to be. As we mourn the lives lost, we think about how much worse it has to get before the world finally says enough is enough. How many more people must die? How many more children have to lose their mothers, fathers, and body parts? How many more hospitals need to be turned into killing fields?

How many more massacres must we endure?

Relatives of Palestinians, who died after the Israeli strike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, mourns over the dead body of a beloved one after being brought to the morgue of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on June 18, 2024. 

(Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

 THIS DESERVE TO STAND ALONE! 

THE US MILITARY WAS INVOLVED IN THE MASSACRE OF PALESTINAINS! 

WHEN ACTS OF TERRORISM ARRIVE ON US SOIL, IT'S PREDICTABLE! 

STOP SUPPORTING ISRAELI GENOCIDE!

THIS IS BEING REPORTED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES

US Involved in Israeli Massacre of 274 Palestinians

June 13, 2024

Robert Inlakesh goes over press evidence countering U.S. government denials that its forces were directly involved in Israel’s deadly operation in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

Israeli forces with hostages they rescued during the Nuseirat refugee camp massacre in Gaza on June 8, 2024. (IDF, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

By Robert Inlakesh
MintPress News

Officials in Washington praised Israel’s military operation that freed four Israeli captives from the Gaza Strip but refrained from commenting on the approximately 274 Palestinians killed during the mission, which involved U.S. collaboration.

While Israelis celebrated the extraction of the captives from Gaza’s Nuseirat, Palestinian refugees in the area were left to collect the remains of their loved ones. An eyewitness described seeing “mangled bodies of men, women, and children strewn around a marketplace and a mosque,” while a paramedic likened the scene to “a horror movie.”

A headline in The Washington Post read, “For Israel, a rare day of joy amid bloodshed as 4 hostages are rescued alive,” referring to the event that resulted in the deaths of 274 Palestinians and hundreds of others wounded. Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan praised the operation as “daring,” and President Joe Biden expressed his joy over the rescue without addressing what was one of the largest civilian massacres in Gaza since October.

During the Israeli military operation, which successfully extracted four captives, three others were reportedly killed, including a U.S. citizen, according to a statement from Hamas. Shortly after, information surfaced that the U.S. had played a significant role in the operation, which was hailed as a great success.

A New York Times article reported that “a team of American hostage recovery officials stationed in Israel assisted the Israeli military’s effort to rescue the four captives by providing intelligence and other logistical support.”

Another report from Axios cited an unnamed U.S. official claiming that a “U.S. hostage cell in Israel supported the effort to rescue the four hostages” but did not provide details on the support provided.

Compounding issues for the American government, a video seemingly filmed by Israeli soldiers was widely shared on social media, showing a helicopter taking off next to the U.S.-built temporary pier meant to facilitate the transfer of much-needed aid to Gaza. The aircraft was used in Israel’s military operation to transport the four freed captives.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) quickly released a statement on the issue, claiming:

“The humanitarian pier facility, including its equipment, personnel, and assets, was not used in the operation to rescue hostages today in Gaza. An area south of the facility was used by the Israelis to safely return the hostages to Israel. Any such claim to the contrary is false.”

However, contrary to the spirit of CENTCOM’s statement, the video of the helicopter used to evacuate the Israeli captives shows it clearly next to the pier. The vehicles used to transfer the four released detainees likely used the nearby causeway attached to the pier.

Following further denial from the U.S. government that its forces were directly involved, the Pentagon released a statement describing the area used by the helicopter as “near” the pier. This contradicts reports from The New York Times, Axios, and CBS, which cited American officials claiming that U.S. and U.K. intelligence information was used by Israel to conduct the military operation.

Additional reports indicated that U.S.-operated drones were used for surveillance to support the operation. While there are no allegations that U.S. forces were on the ground or participated in armed action, they were clearly involved in other ways.

Despite Washington’s insistence of innocence, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) remained unconvinced that the close proximity of the Israeli-operated aircraft did not imply the pier’s use in the military operation. WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain announced the organization had “paused” its planned distribution of aid from the pier due to security concerns for its staff. This decision came after two of its sites were attacked during the Nuseirat massacre.

The U.S.-built temporary pier was initially estimated to cost American taxpayers $320 million. Contributions from the United Kingdom and lower rates for contractors allegedly reduced that figure to $230 million. However, the pier suffered damage after U.S. forces failed to account for sea conditions, adding another $22 million in damages to the bill.

The U.S. only managed to reconnect the floating pier to Gaza on June 7, less than a day before the Israeli military operation. This has sparked speculation about the true intended nature of the pier, as it is only operable in conditions with waves smaller than 1.25 meters and has delivered minimal aid for such a costly project.

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

This article is from MPN.news is an award winning investigative newsroom.  Sign up for their newsletter.

Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.

CONSORTIUM NEWS

 

Is Anyone Accountable? The U.S. military needs oversight DAN RATHER AND ELLIOT KIRSCHNER APR 18 Credit: sorbetto So it seems that a 21-year-old National Guard member trying to impress his teenage buddies in an online chatroom was responsible for one of the most significant and damaging leaks of classified military and intelligence information in years.  There are a lot of questions around what happened and why, but three big ones stand out: How the heck could someone of this man’s rank get access to this information? How was he able to leak it for months, without anyone in authority noticing? And, who, if anyone, is going to be held to account for this damaging mess other than the leaker himself? The United States spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars trying to protect this nation. We have some of the best and brightest minds managing security measures so our most sensitive information is kept out of enemy hands. Our military, diplomats, spies, and civilian leaders need to be able to conduct the business of national defense confident that their deliberations and findings will not be breached.  By these standards, what happened was a failure. And while explanations for why it was possible may exist, none of them should be considered acceptable. This soldier will undoubtedly face the full weight of the American justice system. But it shouldn’t stop there. People higher up — including those at the very top — should have to answer hard questions and face punishment, including potentially the end of their careers. No amount of stonewalling and backside-covering should obscure the fact that this case is serious stuff. But this incident also highlights a deeper challenge: The American military requires far more accountability.  This is not exclusively a Republican issue or a Democratic one; sadly, neglect of meaningful oversight of our armed forces and intelligence agencies is a rare area of bipartisan consensus.  You never met anyone who has more respect for the men and women of our armed forces and intelligence agencies. And by no means do we suggest that what the Pentagon, the CIA, and other national security organizations are called upon to do isn’t important. On the contrary, it is vital. And it is expensive. And it often means working on the margins of unproven technology and uncertain risks.  We can all wish these measures weren't necessary, but recent events from Ukraine to China demonstrate how fraught the current global security situation is.  That said, the Biden administration is seeking $842 billion for the next Department of Defense budget. That’s $26 billion more than was allocated for this year. And $100 billion more than FY 2022. That’s a lot of money, no matter how you cut it.  Perhaps the clean round numbers don’t effectively convey scale. Consider this: $842 billion comes to more than $26,000 dollars spent every second of every day for a year. Hold your breath for 20 seconds. There goes half a million dollars.  We can and should have meaningful debates over whether this money represents an appropriate balance for our tax dollars, considering all our other needs. But even if you think this level of spending is warranted, surely we can agree that it should come with a lot more oversight.  “What’s a billion dollars here or there,” should not be an acceptable mindset.  However, from weapons systems that are outdated or under delivered to cost overruns to bloated contracts to arms companies with packs of lobbyists and little competition, there is a general culture of impunity around our military and intelligence services. And there’s a haughtiness and “how dare they” attitude when journalists or the public start to ask questions.  Maybe it's partly because politicians from both sides appear hesitant to conduct effective supervision. Republicans love to run on national defense and attack Democrats for being weak. Democrats, who fear living up to that stereotype, often try to be even more “pro-military.” But being truly pro-military should be about effectiveness and not just racking up dollars spent.  These topics attracted attention recently when comedian/social commentator Jon Stewart conducted an interview with Biden’s number two at the Pentagon, Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks. Stewart asked a series of hard questions and follow-ups that should make journalists proud.  The context is that the Pentagon has failed several consecutive audits, although they claim they are making progress getting a handle on a massive and complex organization. Stewart sought a little more commonsense clarity. One should hear the tone as well as the substance of the exchange (part of a larger interview).  Initially it might feel like a stretch to link this interview with the leaked top secret documents. Yes, they are fundamentally different: what appears to be a reckless rogue actor on the one hand and the creakings of institutional inertia on the other, the willful damaging of our national interests vs. public servants working to further our national security.  But what the two situations have in common is also significant. Both are about accountability and a true system of checks and balances.  We have a massive slice of our federal budget funding sweeping initiatives with not nearly enough oversight. And that is a state of affairs that is also precarious to our national defense. Would it really be political suicide for members of Congress to take a tougher line on asking questions and holding the Pentagon, like any other office of government, at least a bit more accountable? As President Eisenhower famously warned in his farewell address: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” We can support our troops without blindly saluting the institutions they serve and we fund. Indeed, insisting that our defense dollars be well spent is a form of support for our service men and women.  With all the dollars at stake, the bucks have to stop with someone: the military chain of command, Congress, and President Biden. We are entitled to know about corruption and incompetence — and where our money goes.

RSN: FOCUS: Nick Turse | Soldiers in Cameroon, a Close US Ally, Commit Mass Rape, Report Says

 

27 February 21

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27 February 21

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WE HAVE A FUNDING CRISIS ON OUR HANDS — We have donors, many good ones in fact. But the the overall response rate — at a fraction of one percent — is just too low. It is absolutely causing a crisis. If we did not need the funding we would not spend this much time raising money — would not happen. What we need really are a few good donors. See what you can do. — Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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FOCUS: Nick Turse | Soldiers in Cameroon, a Close US Ally, Commit Mass Rape, Report Says

Nick Turse, The Intercept
Turse writes: 

The atrocity-filled raid on a village in Cameroon included the rape of at least 20 women, according to Human Rights Watch.

n the predawn hours of March 1, 2020, more than 50 Cameroonian soldiers entered the village of Ebam and conducted an atrocity-filled raid that included the rape of at least 20 women, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. Over three hours, the soldiers systematically broke into 75 homes, looting money and goods, arrested 36 men, and later tortured a number of them. The soldiers also executed one of those men.

This raid appears to be the worse case of mass rape committed by a U.S. ally in Africa in recent years. Over the last decade, the United States aided Cameroon’s security forces to the tune of almost $224 million, according to Security Assistance Monitor, which tracks U.S. security aid and arms sales. Over that same span, U.S. troops trained elite Cameroonian forces and even saw combat alongside them. The U.S. military also built up a network of outposts integral to drone operations in the region.

In the wake of revelations of atrocities by Cameroonian forces in recent years, the U.S. government continued to voice strong support for its military partners there. More recently, however, the U.S. scaled back security assistance due in part to Cameroon’s troubled human rights record. Documents obtained by The Intercept via the Freedom of Information Act also show that two U.S. bases in Cameroon may be closed. The documents show that U.S. Africa Command recommended the closure of the outposts in the north of the country — a drone base at Garoua and a separate outpost in Maroua. The documents are vague about the reasons, noting only that the bases were “no longer operationally required” due to a “termination of activities or lack of requirements.”

Ebam, where the 2020 attack took place, lies about 570 miles south of Garoua. The Human Rights Watch report provides graphic evidence from survivors.

“One of them removed my dress and raped me on the ground,” a 45-year-old woman from Ebam told HRW. “He abused me for over 15 minutes. He searched my clothes, took my phone and money, and left.” She was one of 35 people — 20 of them rape survivors — with direct knowledge of the crimes to speak to HRW. There has reportedly been no Cameroonian government investigation, much less accountability, for these atrocities.

“Sexual violence and torture are heinous crimes that governments have an obligation to immediately, effectively, and independently investigate and to bring those responsible to justice,” said Ida Sawyer, deputy director of HRW’s Africa division. “One year on, survivors of the Ebam attack are desperate for justice and reparations, and they live with the disturbing knowledge that those who abused them are walking free and have faced no consequences whatsoever.”

The Cameroonian government did not respond to questions from HRW about the abuses. The Cameroonian Embassy in Washington, D.C., similarly ignored The Intercept’s repeated requests for comment.

The attack on Ebam occurred in Cameroon’s South-West region, which, like the North-West, has been engulfed in violence since 2017, when armed separatists from the nation’s minority Anglophone regions launched a war for independence.

The raid was apparently a reprisal for perceived support of separatists by villagers and is one of a long series of atrocities by Cameroonian forces that have been detailed in previous Intercept stories, including systemic torture of detainees, massacres of civilians, and executions of women and children. The raid on Ebam came just 15 days after soldiers in the North-West region killed 21 civilians, including a pregnant woman and 13 children in the village of Ngarbuh. On January 10, Cameroonian soldiers also looted Mautu village and killed at least nine civilians, including a woman and a child.

Four men from Ebam who were arrested by government forces said they were taken to a military base in Besongabang, about five miles from their village, and tortured by soldiers in an effort to force them to admit to supporting the armed separatists. “The military beat us with their hands and other objects,” one of the victims told HRW. “I was hit many times. While they beat us, they accused us of sheltering the Amba boys [separatists]. We had no answers to give about the Amba, so they beat us even more strongly. I had bruises on my back and buttocks for over two weeks and was in pain.”

The testimony echoes a 2017 investigation conducted by The Intercept and the London-based research firm Forensic Architecture which found that a Cameroonian military base known as Salak, which was home to American personnel and drones, was also the scene of illegal imprisonment, brutal torture, and even killings by Cameroonian troops. Nearly 60 victims held there described being subjected to water torture, beaten with electric cables and boards, or tied and suspended with ropes, among other abuses.

Last year, the U.S. Department of State issued a report that chronicled “unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings” by Cameroon’s security forces as well as atrocities by separatists. After this article was published, a State Department spokesperson told The Intercept via email, “We are aware of a number of military operations in early 2020 that resulted in allegations that government forces killed and/or raped civilians and destroyed homes or other properties. We condemn in the strongest terms any targeting of civilians with violence and extend our condolences to all those who may have been affected. Such behavior by security forces undermines both public faith in authorities and efforts to end this conflict. We strongly urge the government of Cameroon to investigate allegations of human rights violations and hold those responsible to account.”

According to the spokesperson, the U.S. has “significantly reduced security assistance because the government of Cameroon had not responded to credible accusations of gross violations of human rights by its security forces.” Nonetheless, between fiscal years 2019 and 2020, the State Department still earmarked $7.2 million in military assistance for Cameroon, including support for intelligence activities, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, and small boat training. “We continue to review security assistance on a case-by-case basis so that assistance we provide aligns with U.S. interests, including promotion of human rights,” the spokesperson said. “U.S. law requires those receiving our security assistance be vetted prior to receiving assistance.”

According to HRW, more needs to be done. “We call on the United States, as well as on Cameroon’s other international partners, to express concern about the human rights abuses we documented, including sexual violence, and urge Cameroon’s government to ensure a rights-respecting counterinsurgency strategy in the Anglophone regions,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, the senior Central Africa researcher at HRW. “As a member of the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. should press to add the situation in the Anglophone regions as a priority item into the agenda of the Security Council so that human rights abuses committed by soldiers and by armed separatists can be addressed and perpetrators held accountable.”

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RSN: William Boardman | Trump's Not Conceding! No One Should Care!!

 

 

17 November 20

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RSN: William Boardman | Trump's Not Conceding! No One Should Care!!

William Boardman, Reader Supported News
Boardman writes: "The era of Trump irrelevancy has dawned, and too many people are slow to see the light."

No matter what Trump has the nerve to do now, none of it is likely to matter much, since the man has so little real nerve. The presidential election is effectively over, and now we’re going through the formalities. So get Trump out of your head! He had no business being there in the first place.

Two important provisos: (1) Keep an eye on what he and his family steal between now and January. The Biden administration should be prepared to try to recover the millions (or billions) of ill-gotten Trump gains from public pockets. (2) And keep an eye on his destructive appointments and policies. For now, he can do whatever any president could do, but all of it (or most) can be easily reversed soon after January 20. The Biden administration has to have the will and the courage to make the undoing quick and thorough.

And there’s the greater problem: What level of grit do the Biden people have? How clear is their vision? Actually, what IS their vision? Is there any vision? “The soul of America” is not a vision. It’s not even a real thing. It’s feel-good, pious language garbage that takes no one anywhere. The “soul of America” is not a governing principle, it’s a deceitful conceit designed to mislead any observer into imposing any random meaning on value-free rhetoric. But that’s where we are, waiting to see what the next president and his team will do to define their idea of America’s soul.

They’re off to a bad start.

More than a week after Biden’s winning vote-count reached an irreversible (almost surely) level, Biden still hasn’t assumed a presidential demeanor. He IS the President-elect in every known reality. But he’s still acting more like the presidential-wannabe. What are the Biden people thinking, spending time and energy trying to rebut Trump’s various election-fraud claims? Those claims are a house of cards that have begun collapsing from their own insubstantiality. A presidential team would simply ignore them. When reporters ask about them, just ask back: What gives them any credibility? Get Trump out of your head!

The vote fraud scam is just another Trump distraction that draws focus away from the continuing criminality of the Trump administration and its effort to destroy as much of effective government as it can in the time it has left (see provisos above).

The Biden people need a counter-narrative, but they don’t even seem to be thinking in those terms, even though they have an excellent, reality-based counter-narrative staring them in their faces.

That would be voting. That would be the absence of voter fraud.

Right now the Biden transition team is mostly a figment of media imagination rather than an actual, organized, public entity. Transition news is scattershot, usually of unevaluated importance, with no central focus. No incoming president should want two months of political blur, dominated by his opponent, to precede his taking office. No doubt the Biden people know that perfectly well, but they’re still in the fuzzy wuzzy stage of development, and the longer it lasts the harder it will be to cure.

Voting is obviously the thing of the moment, and the Biden people haven’t taken advantage of that. Right now (late, but still not too late), the Biden people should be pushing back with their own narrative centered on having won the national vote by any rational assessment. The Trump administration reports that this “election was the most secure in American history.” There should be a daily Biden election report that covers the latest positive developments, that discusses state issues, and that undermines Trump’s claims, albeit obliquely, by citing facts without reference to Trump himself.

The effect of this Biden effort (should they undertake it) would be like a long-running seminar on a core element of a healthy American democracy (an aspect of its soul, if you will). There seems to be widespread popular ignorance about how our election system works. The Biden Voting Seminar, sustained at least through Congressional certification in January, would be a civics lesson carried into public consciousness by the Trojan Horse of phony controversy. A daily affirmation of specific instances where the system worked might actually have some impact over a two-month span. The credibility of this seminar would rest on its willingness to examine any and every slightly credible claim of irregularity, and even discussing the ones that turned out to be real even though the number of votes at stake was immaterial to the election outcome. By January, this seminar might well persuade most Americans that the integrity of our voting system is real. It might even cut into the impact that twenty years of dishonest Republican claims of voter fraud have had despite their lack of evidence. (Real voter fraud has taken the form of such Republican scams as voter caging, extreme gerrymandering, and voter suppression over the past 20 years).

The moral basis of a serious voting seminar – reinforcing voting integrity – is essentially unassailable, as long as the approach is factual, low key, honest, comprehensive, reality-based, and sustained. And the beauty part of this approach is that it requires no mention of Trump or any of his distractions, except perhaps on occasion, obliquely, to underline their meaninglessness. Structurally, in terms of the election, everything Trump is up to is irrelevant and best expressed by ignoring it. This should be happening now, it should have been happening at least since November 7, and it should continue till the process is complete.

Voting issues reach deep into other areas of serious concern. Voting issues are, among other things, issues of race, issues of economic inequality, and especially issues of truth in media. Biden could, if he would, lay out a new paradigm for both government and media honesty/accuracy/clarity. These are Big Picture issues. There’s little sign of Big Picture thinking among Bidenites, despite their many decent qualities. The assumption seems to be that America’s soul only needs to be restored, which is a mirror image of Trump thinking. Insofar as there is an American soul, it’s steeped in white supremacy and begs for transformation, not restoration.

The reality that the Biden team is not making transformative efforts is a horrible harbinger of future shortcomings. A conscientious continuing voting seminar is relatively easy. How will the Biden folks manage with the hard stuff?

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William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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President-elect Joe Biden speaks to the media Monday in Wilmington, Delaware. The General Services Administration hasn't given Biden's team the resources yet that a presidential transition team traditionally receives. (photo: Joe Raedle/Getty)

'More People May Die' Without Smooth Transfer of Power and Vaccination Plan, Biden Says
Bailey Aldridge, McClatchy DC
Aldridge writes: "The Biden-Harris transition team has moved forward with the transfer of power process."
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (photo: Paul Snacka/AP)

AOC Is Standing Up for the Left
Lichi D'Amelio, Jacobin
D'Amelio writes: "The party's leaders, rather than taking the opportunity to do some much-needed soul-searching, are focusing their crosshairs on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and the party's left wing."
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A small memorial decorates a lamppost near where a 17-year-old shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, two supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August. (photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Getty)

Facebook Has a Rule to Stop Calls to Arms. Moderators Didn't Enforce It Ahead of the Kenosha Shootings.
Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed
Excerpt: "In August, following a Facebook event at which two protesters were shot and killed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mark Zuckerberg called the company's failure to take down the event page asking militant attendees to bring weapons 'an operational mistake.'"
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One of the companies involved in selling location data says it tracks 25 million devices inside the U.S. every month and 40 million elsewhere. (photo: Getty)

Report: US Military Buys Location Data of Popular Muslim Apps
Al Jazeera
Excerpt: "The US military is purchasing private information gathered from apps around the world, including several used by Muslims that have been downloaded nearly 100 million times, a news report says."

An investigation by the online magazine Motherboard found the US military was procuring location data from several popular apps, including Muslim Pro.

 

An investigation by the online magazine Motherboard published on Monday found the US Special Operations Command was procuring location data from several companies.

The most popular app among those targeted was a Muslim prayer and Quran app called Muslim Pro, with more than 98 million downloads worldwide. Others included a Muslim dating app.

Based on public records, interviews with developers, and technical analysis, the Motherboard investigation noted some companies obtain app location data when advertisers pay to insert their ads into peoples’ browsing sessions.

The US military confirmed the news report.

“Our access to the software is used to support Special Operations Forces mission requirements overseas,” Navy Commander Tim Hawkins was quoted as saying. “We strictly adhere to established procedures and policies for protecting the privacy, civil liberties, constitutional and legal rights of American citizens.”

‘US military customers’

One of the companies involved in selling the location data, X-Mode, has said it tracks 25 million devices inside the United States every month and 40 million elsewhere – including in the European Union, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Motherboard installed the Muslim Mingle dating app onto an Android phone and watched as it repeatedly sent exact geolocation coordinates along with the WiFi network name to X-Mode.

The investigation found other apps relaying location data include a step-counter app called Accupedo, the weather app Global Storms, and CPlus for Craigslist.

US Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard that X-Mode also admitted selling data it collected to other “US military customers”.

The company defended the practice.

“X-Mode licenses its data panel to a small number of technology companies that may work with government military services, but our work with such contractors is international and primarily focused on three use cases: counter-terrorism, cyber-security and predicting future COVID-19 hotspots,” X-Mode told the online magazine.

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A demonstrator tries to stop clashes during an anti-government protest as lawmakers debate on constitution change, outside the parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, November 17, 2020. (photo: Arhit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

More Than 40 Injured by Live Ammunition and Teargas in Thailand's Pro-Democracy Protests
Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat, Reuters
Excerpt: "At least 41 people were hurt, some with gunshot wounds, when demonstrators marching on the Thai parliament clashed with police and royalist counter-protesters, in the worst violence since a new youth-led protest movement emerged in July."
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Law enforcement and fire personnel wait on the Enterprise Bridge during the Bear fire in Oroville, California, on 9 September. (photo: Josh Edelson/Getty)

What a Republican Senate Really Means for the Climate
Emily Holden, Guardian UK
Holden writes: "Climate advocates rejoicing at Joe Biden's presidential victory are also quietly absorbing the blow of Republicans possibly keeping control of the US Senate - which would kneecap significant efforts to fight globe-heating pollution."

Spending on green infrastructure likely under Biden, but any hopes for climate requirements for businesses much farther off

If Joe Biden is president and Congress is still divided, there will probably still be large-scale spending on green infrastructure, like renewable power, electric vehicles and transit. But any hopes for climate requirements for businesses, like a clean energy standard, would feel much farther off.

Publicly, environmental groups have claimed success, saying this election was the most focused on climate of any in history and that Biden’s plan is solid. Privately, they know that much hinges on the two undecided Senate seats in Georgia, which will decide whether Republicans or Democrats have a majority.

“Even though there might be obstructionism coming from Republican leadership in the Senate, we think that there will be many opportunities for Democrats and Republicans to come together to pass strong legislation,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.

“Everything doesn’t start and stop with the US Congress. In order to win on climate change we will need to continue to see leadership everywhere across society, in our schools, in our private sector, in our states across the country,” he added.

If Biden could convince Congress to spend $1.7tn on a green recovery, that would reduce US emissions in the next 30 years by about 75 gigatonnes, avoiding a temperature rise of 0.1C by 2100, according to the Climate Action Tracker. That may seem small, but it could significantly lessen the harms of the climate crisis and also encourage pollution reductions in other nations. Already the world is more than 1C hotter than before industrialization. International agreements aim to keep that to 1.5C to 2C.

Outside of Congress, Biden could pursue climate progress with agency regulations – stopping new oil and gas drilling on public lands, tightening air pollution rules that will also help with climate change and backing out of Donald Trump’s fight with California over standards for cars.

But those measures are likely to be challenged by industry and could ultimately make their way to a final decision by the conservative supreme court, which Trump and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, were able to lock in weeks before the election. Plus, the new president could for some time have his hands full just reversing Trump’s cuts to environmental protection.

Pushing for emissions reductions through executive authority could also make moderate Republicans less likely to support bipartisan efforts.

Even some Democrats could be hesitant to significantly increase the federal deficit for the purpose of climate stimulus spending, said Ben Pendergrass, senior director of government affairs for Citizens Climate Lobby.

While a progressive Green New Deal is not in the cards, inaction also won’t be tolerable for most lawmakers, Pendergrass said. He believes people who care about climate change “should view this as an opportunity”.

Under a moderate president who is concerned about climate change, Republicans could have more space to support the expansion of renewable energy and green infrastructure, even if they won’t vote to penalize fossil fuels.

“We really need bipartisan dialogue and cooperation on climate to create lasting solutions,” Pendergrass said.

Biden’s first climate work will be through stimulus funds aimed at lifting the economy out of the pandemic downturn. Climate change is one of four crises spotlighted on his government transition website, along with the pandemic, the economic recovery and racial equity. The focus of the Biden climate plan is to “create union jobs by tackling the climate crisis,” the website says.

Rhiana Gunn-Wright, climate policy director at the liberal thinktank the Roosevelt Institute, said every dollar of stimulus funding will either help or hurt climate action.

“Even things that are very good for people are not necessarily carbon neutral because they’re going to spend that money on gasoline, on power that’s coal-fired and natural-gas-fired. And that’s not their fault,” Gunn-Wright said.

Fossil fuel companies have sought and claimed about $5.8bn in pandemic assistance, according to her group. Easy-to-fund, shovel-ready projects like expanding highways threaten to lock in emissions.

Wright said although a stimulus package will not include big decarbonization measures, like additional legal authorities for agencies, it will be a significant start.

“There are a number of big new laws we’re going to need,” she said.

Kate Larsen, a director at the economic research firm Rhodium Group, said a Democratic majority in the Senate would be critical to getting a good portion of the way toward the goals the US agreed to in the international Paris climate agreement, but without that majority, stimulus spending is the “fastest way a Biden administration can jumpstart clean energy efforts”.

The firm found the US spent just 1.1% of its stimulus dollars on green measures. The EU and its member countries, by comparison, spent 18.8% on pro-environment efforts.

Many states and businesses too will be trying to reduce their climate footprints, although some are clinging to a fossil-fuel based economy. Democrats saw losses in state legislatures that will probably hamper climate efforts.

A Biden administration could aim to help states cut emissions, but the pandemic has critically injured already weak state budgets and resources.

A group representing state clean air officials in October stressed the importance of getting “significant increases in federal grant funding” to protect public health. The National Association of Clean Air Agencies represents the state departments that regulate the pollution that makes people sick and also causes climate change.

Paula DiPerna, a special adviser to CDP (the Carbon Disclosure Project), said businesses are more likely to be on board with climate action because they have suffered from the lack of regulatory continuity and certainty that comes from the pendulum swing of American elections.

“If you marry the climate change challenge with the infrastructure improvement, I think you have a trigger for economic recovery. That’s Biden’s strength,” DiPerna said.

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