September, 16 2011, 11:52am EDT
One Wisconsin Now Statements on Latest Walker Failure: 2,300 Jobs Gone
Unemployment Rate Rises, Despite Millions of Dollars in Corporate Tax Breaks, Dismantling of Workers’ Rights, Education
MADISON, WI
One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the latest failure from Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature: a total job loss of 2,300 from July to August and the unemployment rate rising to 7.9 percent. The news comes after Walker signed into law $2.3 billion in new tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, while gutting public and higher education and health care, as well as stripping 175,000 workers of their rights.
"Another month, another rise in the unemployment rate under Gov. Scott Walker. Given that the Republican legislature gave Gov. Walker all the tax breaks for corporations, all the tax breaks for the wealthy, all the power grabs and privatization and all the dismantling of voter rights and workers' rights he demanded, it is time for them to admit their way is a failure. Complete and total. We need to immediately scrap what they have done, erase it from the statutes and invest in the people of Wisconsin so that the people of Wisconsin have a fighting chance at undoing the historic economic damage the corporate menace which put Scott Walker into the Governor's mansion caused. If Gov. Walker's schemes were going to work, we would have seen some glimmer of hope by now as we pass nine months of this administration."
Gov. Walker signed over $100 million in new tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy in January in addition to the massive breaks he signed in the state budget. The state's unemployment rate had been holding steady or falling for much of the two years preceding his taking office.
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'Complete Madness': Israel Blocks Food Aid as More Gaza Children Starve to Death
"The starvation of children is a hallmark of genocide and a deliberate political choice by Israel, backed by the Biden administration," said one humanitarian coordinator.
Mar 07, 2024
Gaza health officials said Thursday that the number of Palestinian children who have died from extreme malnutrition and dehydration amid Israel's U.S.-backed genocide on the besieged strip has risen to at least 17, while one humanitarian group condemned the Israeli government for blocking lifesaving food and other aid from reaching starving people.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 21 people in Gaza ranging from 1 day to 72 years old have died from malnutrition and dehydration. However, the humanitarian group Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP) warned that "the true death toll due to starvation is feared to be much higher as many Palestinians, particularly in northern Gaza, face famine and are almost entirely cut off from the limited humanitarian aid entering Gaza through the southern Rafah crossing."
"It is unthinkable that in 2024, in a world that produces more than enough food for all people, that Palestinian children are starving to death."
That's because Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops and civilians are blocking or severely restricting the flow of aid into Gaza. Soldiers stand by while extremist Israeli civilians set up roadblocks and encampments—one replete with a children's bouncy castle—at border crossings. Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on aid convoys and crowds of people waiting for food deliveries, including in the February 29 Flour Massacre, in which more than 800 people were killed or wounded. Israeli civilians attempting to deliver aid to Gaza—including members of the Jewish-Arab solidarity group Standing Together—have been blocked by IDF troops.
"It is unthinkable that in 2024, in a world that produces more than enough food for all people, that Palestinian children are starving to death," said DCIP accountability program director Ayed Abu Eqtaish. "The starvation of children is a hallmark of genocide and a deliberate political choice by Israel, backed by the Biden administration."
"It is complete madness that Israeli authorities continue to prohibit and restrict food and other lifesaving supplies to a starving population while the international community stands by," Abu Eqtaish added.
DCIP noted that "Yazan Kafarneh, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy with cerebral palsy, died on March 4 of malnutrition and lack of healthcare."
"Young children, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of malnutrition and dehydration," DCIP warned.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said Thursday that around 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza are suffering from dehydration, malnutrition, and lack of adequate medical care. Malnourished pregnant mothers can't feed their fetuses; Gaza's youngest starvation fatality was reportedly just 1 day old.
United Nations, Palestinian, and humanitarian officials have called Israel's deliberate starvation of Palestinians a key component of the genocide in Gaza, while limited aid airdrops by Jordan and the United States have been described as woefully inadequate and a "theater of cruelty."
More than 13,400 children and nearly 9,000 women are among the more than 30,800 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the October 7 attacks, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials.
In January, the International Court of Justice in The Hague found that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza and ordered the country's government to prevent genocidal acts. South Africa, which is leading the ICJ case, says Israel is violating the court's order, and on Wednesday asked the tribunal to order additional emergency measures to protect Gazans.
In its plea, South Africa noted that when the ICJ declined to order requested emergency measures during the 1990s Balkan wars, "approximately 7,336 Bosnians in the so-called 'safe area' of Srebrenica had been slaughtered in what this court retrospectively determined to have been a genocide."
No famine has yet been declared in Gaza. However, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative has launched a review of the Gaza crisis. ICP said in December that more than 90% of Gaza's population was experiencing severe food insecurity or worse. That was before children started dying of starvation.
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House GOP Advances 'Death Panel' for Social Security in Election Year
"MAGA House Republicans are demonstrating their hostility to working Americans and retirees," said one critic.
Mar 07, 2024
Congressional Democrats and other defenders of Social Security and Medicare responded with alarm after U.S. House Budget Committee Republicans on Thursday advanced a sweeping resolution that includes support for a fiscal commission intended to gut the crucial programs.
While Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) celebrated the committee's passage of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025, Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) declared that "today, we saw just how backward and extreme House Republicans' vision for the future really is."
"We saw just how willing Republicans are to sell out American families in order to continue giving trillions in tax cuts to price gouging corporations and the ultrarich," Boyle said. "And we saw just how hellbent they are on gutting critical programs—raising the cost of living and pushing the middle class out of reach for hardworking families."
"Budget Committee Democrats know who we're fighting for. That's why we proposed amendments that would have protected Social Security and Medicare, prevented Republicans from raising healthcare costs, and defended American families against the devastating cuts in this budget resolution," he continued. "By voting for this dangerous budget and by rejecting our amendments today, committee Republicans have made it clear who they're fighting for—the wealthy and the well-connected."
"The commission is designed to slash vital earned benefits through a fast-track, closed-door process, intended to allow Republicans to avoid political accountability."
The committee vote came as President Joe Biden prepared to deliver his third State of the Union speech at 9:00 pm ET. The Democrat is a fierce critic of the GOP's proposed "death panel," as the White House and other opponents call the commission. He is seeking reelection in November and is expected to face former Republican President Donald Trump.
"After hearing Budget Committee Republicans tell us how they'll take us backward, I look forward to hearing President Biden tell us how he'll keep America moving forward at the State of the Union tonight," said Boyle. The congressman was not alone in referencing the Thursday night address in remarks about the GOP attack on key programs.
Social Security Works president Nancy Altman said that "at tonight's State of the Union, President Joe Biden has a golden opportunity to slam the Trump-Arrington death panel. In addition, Biden should renew his promise to protect and expand Social Security—and pay for it by taxing the ultrarich. Then the American people will know which party stands with them and which party stands with the billionaire class."
"The commission is designed to slash vital earned benefits through a fast-track, closed-door process, intended to allow Republicans to avoid political accountability," Altman stressed. "Every Republican who voted for this budget voted to cut Social Security and Medicare."
"This markup comes two days after Donald Trump enthusiastically endorsed Chairman Arrington," she noted. "Arrington is a fervent supporter of the death panel commission, and wants to attach it to must-pass government spending bills. By endorsing Arrington, Trump has endorsed the Social Security death panel."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, also took aim at not only the committee's Republicans but also Trump, referencing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that he signed into law in 2017.
"MAGA House Republicans are demonstrating their hostility to working Americans and retirees via their fiscal year 2025 budget resolution," he said. "The MAGA budget includes trillions of dollars in cuts to domestic spending while extending the Trump/GOP tax giveaways to the wealthy and profitable corporations that swelled the debt."
Richtman called the commission "equally troubling," adding that "we fiercely oppose such a commission as a scheme for cutting seniors' earned benefits while shielding members of Congress from accountability."
"Social Security and Medicare Part A do not contribute to the debt. Seniors' earned benefits should be protected from a commission that would fast-track benefit cuts," he argued. "If MAGA Republicans really want to reduce the debt, they should start by letting the Trump tax cuts expire. Current and future seniors on fixed incomes should not be punished for the GOP's fiscal recklessness."
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House Democrat Accuses GOP Colleague of 'Calling For Genocide'
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is one of several Republican lawmakers who have openly called for genocide in Gaza in recent months.
Mar 07, 2024
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, a Vermont Democrat, on Thursday said the latest rant by a Republican lawmaker about Israel's ongoing U.S.-backed slaughter of civilians in Gaza should be recognized for what it is: "a member of Congress calling for the genocide of the Palestinian people."
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) was confronted by campaigners with the anti-war group CodePink on Wednesday in a corridor at the U.S. Capitol where he repeatedly told them he "will never support" the Palestinians and "will support Israel forever."
Fleischmann refused to answer the protesters as they asked if he would make an exception if Israel was found to be guilty of war crimes and genocide, which the International Court of Justice found was "plausible" in an interim ruling in January.
"Why do you support the genocide and all the war crimes and collective punishment?" asked one campaigner. "Are you concerned about all the children dying in Gaza?"
Fleischmann replied that "they are not guilty of genocide and I will support Israel forever."
When one organizer told Fleischmann that he is Palestinian and asked if he supported the killing of his cousins who live in Gaza, the congressman replied: "I will never support you. I will tell you to your face, goodbye to Palestine."
Jack Allen, a Democrat who is running for Fleischmann's seat in Congress, condemned the congressman's "hostility" toward the campaigners and said, "We are well past the need for a cease-fire in this conflict."
Fleischmann's comments came as the far-reaching effects of Israel's blocking of nearly all food aid since October became increasingly clear. Defense for Children International - Palestine reported Thursday that at least 17 children have starved to death so far in the enclave, which has been relentlessly bombarded by Israel for five months.
The deliberate starving of civilians is "a hallmark of genocide," the organization said.
Fleisc hmann is one of at least two Republican lawmakers to openly call for the destruction of Gaza and its population of more than 2 million people in recent weeks.
Last month, Rep. Andy Ogles, also of Tennessee, responded to an activist who told him: "I've seen the footage of shredded children's bodies. That's my taxpayer dollars that are going to bomb those kids."
"You know what? So, I think we should kill 'em all," Ogles replied.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also called for Israel to "level the place" in the first days of the bombardment of Gaza.
On Wednesday, Libyan-American writer Hend Amry remarked that the refusal of the Democratic Party, particularly President Joe Biden, to stand firmly against Israel's attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and its blockade on humanitarian aid "is also teaching Republicans how much they can get away with."
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