March, 04 2012, 09:26am EDT
For Immediate Release
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Protesters to Rally Outside of AIPAC Conference, Oppose War on Iran
While President Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres are speaking at the AIPAC Forum, some 400 Occupy AIPACers and local occupiers will demonstrate outside AIPAC Policy Conference urging Obama to engage in diplomacy with Iran.
Visuals: Giant letters to spell out "NO WAR ON IRAN", puppets, mock checkpoint and Annexation Wall, flashmob, and more.
WASHINGTON
While President Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres are speaking at the AIPAC Forum, some 400 Occupy AIPACers and local occupiers will demonstrate outside AIPAC Policy Conference urging Obama to engage in diplomacy with Iran.
Visuals: Giant letters to spell out "NO WAR ON IRAN", puppets, mock checkpoint and Annexation Wall, flashmob, and more.
The hyperbolic rhetoric promoted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spread to American politicians in an escalating discourse over US Foreign Policy towards Iran. Hundreds of people will be countering this rhetoric with messages of peace in the Middle East.
"After 10 years of war, the American people need a foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy, not military intervention," Medea Benjamin said. "We are rallying to demand that our current leaders not take us down the same path as past leaders did in Iraq."
The Occupy AIPAC coalition is gathering to urge Obama to reject the Israeli administration's push for war on Iran and insist on respect for Palestinian rights. Timed to coincide with the annual AIPAC policy conference from March 3-6, the Occupy AIPAC summit will be a long weekend of events and protests that draw attention to the role of AIPAC as a special interest lobby that maintains a stranglehold over US policies. As the Occupy Movement has focused public ire on the role of large corporations and powerful lobby groups, hundreds will gather in DC to protest AIPAC's push for war.
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Trump Fraud Case Finding Suggests 'Major Tax Evasion': Watchdog
A court-appointed monitor found that a $48 million loan Trump has long claimed he took out "never existed."
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A finding by the court-appointed special monitor overseeing former U.S. President Donald Trump's fraud case in New York placed questions about a loan acquisition—and potential tax evasion—back into the spotlight over the weekend, with a tax attorney saying the Republican appeared to have fabricated the loan.
Former federal judge Barbara Jones wrote to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron Friday about her review of Trump's business dealings through the Trump Organization, the company at the center of New York Attorney General Letitia James' business fraud case against the former president, who is now running for the GOP's presidential nomination in the 2024 election.
Ahead of Engoron's verdict, which is expected this week, Jones included in a footnote her finding that a $48 million loan that Trump has for years claimed he owed to one of his companies never actually existed.
"When I inquired about this loan, I was informed that there are no loan agreements that memorialize the loan, but that it was a loan that was believed to be between Donald J. Trump, individually, and Chicago Unit Acquisition for $48 million," Jones wrote. "However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan never existed."
The loan would therefore be removed from corporate financial statements and forms submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, said Jones.
But previous financial disclosures, including forms submitted to the government as recently as last October, indicated that Trump owed money to Chicago Unit Acquisition—suggesting the disclosures "were intentionally submitted with inaccuracies related to the debt equating to tens of millions of dollars," according toBusiness Insider.
"It would appear, assuming Judge Jones' letter is accurate, that this amounts to tax evasion," Martin Lobel, a tax lawyer, toldThe Daily Beast.
Business Insider noted that Mother Jones theorized about the "mystery loan" in 2019, reporting that Trump's debt was partially forgiven by a hedge fund he owned money to after he paid about half of it off.
Mother Jones suggested Trump may have "parked" his debt, referring to the practice used by "big-time borrowers" to avoid paying taxes on loans that "could be as high as 39%."
"They purchase the debt through a corporation, parking the loan within this entity to temporarily avoid realizing income," wrote Russ Choma at Mother Jones at the time, noting that the practice falls into a "legal gray area" but violates federal tax law if the borrower parks the debt indefinitely with no intention of repaying it.
In Trump's case, Choma hypothesized, "there may have been no loan to buy, no debt to park; Trump might have invented a loan—and then parked it."
The letter sent to Engoron on Friday suggests that "Jones has apparently confirmed what Mother Jones theorized," said Roger Sollenberger of The Daily Beast.
"While the reasons behind claiming this fake loan are still unknown, at the very least he misled the government for years about his finances," Jordan Libowitz, communications director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Daily Beast. "It appears that Trump knowingly and intentionally broke the law."
Lobel noted that Jones' letter points to the kind of conduct that the Republican Party aims to stop the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from penalizing wealthy tax evaders. Earlier this month, the GOP secured concessions from Democratic leaders for a budget deal that would include an acceleration of funding cuts to the IRS.
"This explains why the Republicans have been so intent on cutting the IRS's budget," Lobel told The Daily Beast, "because they don't want it to be able to audit transactions like this."
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Progressives on Saturday urged U.S. President to halt his immigration-related appeals to "a voter who doesn't exist" as he promised voters at a campaign event in South Carolina that he would immediately "shut down the border" between the U.S. and Mexico if Congress passes a bipartisan immigration bill.
Senators are expected to release the legislative text of the bill this week, but Capitol Hill sources have said the bipartisan deal—negotiated chiefly by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and James Lankford (R-Okla.)—would include a new executive authority to halt asylum screenings on days when border crossings by undocumented immigrants reaches 5,000 over the five-day average.
Under the provision, migrants would be expelled indefinitely until crossings decreased to 3,750 per day. A set amount of asylum claims would be granted at official ports of entry, but the standard for migrants making an asylum claim would be raised, making it harder for people—many of whom have been arriving at the border after fleeing violence and poverty—to get approval to stay in the United States.
"A bipartisan bill would be good for America and help fix our broken immigration system and allow speedy access for those who deserve to be here, and Congress needs to get it done," Biden said in South Carolina, a day after the White House released a written statement on the legislation. "It'll also give me as president the emergency authority to shut down the border until it could get back under control. If that bill were the law today, I'd shut down the border right now and fix it quickly."
Immigrant rights advocates were quick to denounce Biden's promise to eliminate asylum protections for thousands of people, while U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the bill would be "dead on arrival" if it arrives on the House floor and demanded that Biden close the border immediately with his executive authority—something Biden cannot do under federal and international law, said American Immigration Council (AIC) policy director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick.
Although Republicans have insisted on border restrictions in exchange for more military aid for Ukraine and Israel, Oklahoma Republicans passed a resolution condemning Lankford for working with Democrats on the deal.
Johnson complained that the deal would allow "as many as 150,000 illegal crossings each month (1.8 million per year) before any new 'shutdown' authority could be used. At that point, America will have already been surrendered."
"How weak do you have to think the USA is if you're claiming that adding 1.8 million undocumented immigrants a year would "surrender" the nation?" asked Reichlin-Melnick.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Acer, refugee protection director for Human Rights First, warned that former Republican President Donald Trump's anti-migration Title 42 policy already proved to "be a human rights and migration management fiasco."
The U.S. turned away migrants under Title 42 more than 2.8 million times between March 2020—when it was imposed as the coronavirus pandemic began, ostensibly to protect public health—and May 2023. Human Rights First tracked more than 10,000 cases of migrants being kidnapped or physically or sexually assaulted after being expelled under Biden's continuation of Title 42 after he took office. The Kaiser Family Foundation also reported that the policy contributed to the separation of families.
"There are real challenges at the border, and now is the moment that we need our leaders to move forward effective policy solutions that will improve port processing, support communities receiving migrants, and create lawful pathways to citizenship for Dreamers and others," said Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer at the ACLU, on Saturday. "But let's be clear: Cruelty is not a policy solution—and barring people from seeking protection is both callous and unworkable."
"We've already had an expulsion authority before—Title 42—and we know that it did not stop people from coming to the U.S.," added Schifeling. "Instead, we saw record numbers of families and individuals arriving at our border seeking protection, and Title 42 caused tremendous harm to people fleeing danger."
Marisa Limón Garza, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas, accused Biden of playing "political games" and demanded that he keep his campaign promises to "restore a humane and orderly asylum and immigration system."
"The idea that 5,000 or even 10,000 people might overwhelm us trivializes both what our government is capable of and our nation's capacity to welcome. Those of us living at the border know this," said Limón Garza. "One's commitment to their children is a powerful force that drives parents and children to seek a better life in the U.S... Here in the Borderland we believe in supporting families and keeping them together, not turning our backs on them or tearing them apart.
“We call on Congress and the Biden administration to reverse course and turn away from the political games that drive us toward these reckless immigration proposals," she added.
Author and historian Dan Berger compared Biden's push for new anti-immigration authority to his enthusiasm for a "tough on crime" approach by the Democratic Party three decades ago.
Biden has "won no one over" with his statements on immigration since Friday, said author and podcaster Kate Willett. "It's cruelty for recreation."
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'Dear Children of Gaza,' Says Viral Letter, 'I Am Sorry'
"You may ask the world why there was swift action when trade routes and economic interests were at risk but deafening silence when 10,000 children were killed," wrote a British lawmaker. "The world might not like your questions, but you deserve your answers."
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In a viral video released Friday, British member of Parliament Naz Shah, who represents the Labour Party, issued an apology to the roughly 1 million children of Gaza on behalf of world leaders who—despite Palestinian journalists' live-streaming of Israel's assault on the enclave and an international court's finding that Israel is plausibly committing genocidal acts—refuse to see the impact the bombardment is having on civilians, including its youngest residents.
The video shows Shah writing a letter addressed to the "children of Gaza," along with images of children being treated in hospitals, buried under rubble, and living in shelters since Israel began bombarding the enclave in retaliation for Hamas' attack on October 7. Children are also seen gathered on a playground prior to the air and ground assaults that have so far killed more than 13,000 children.
"We hear about your dreams and aspirations, to learn, to travel, to visit your beaches with clear blue water or play in playgrounds with swings and slides," wrote Shah. "To become astronauts, teachers, and doctors. And every day we see how those dreams are no more."
"You may ask the world, 'Where were these international values of freedom, justice, and equality when the world could not even protect the right to life for a Palestinian child?'" she added.
The letter was released the same day the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a preliminary ruling in South Africa's case against Israel, in which the country argued Israeli officials and military officers have committed genocidal acts in Gaza. The ICJ found that South Africa's case was plausible and ordered Israel to "take all measures within its power" to uphold its obligations under Article II of the Genocide Convention.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that there had been 174 people killed in the enclave in the previous 24 hours.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to meet next Wednesday to discuss the ICJ ruling at the request of the Algerian government, which said it would give a "binding effect to the pronouncement of the International Court of Justice on the provisional measures imposed on the Israeli occupation."
Al Jazeera reported that, according to diplomatic sources, Algerian officials are likely to call for an immediate truce.
Georgios Petropoulos, director of the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, told the outlet Saturday that nearly the entire population—2.2 million people—is now at risk of starvation and the agency can meet the clean drinking water needs of just a third of Gazans.
"Everyone in Gaza needs aid now and the war must stop," he said.
The ICJ ruling, said Shah, may give "hope to the children of Gaza. But without an immediate ceasefire we will be letting them down."
The lawmaker's viral letter was released nearly three months after about 20 children held a press conference outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, asking world leaders to protect them.
Now, said Shah, addressing the children of Gaza, "you may ask the world why there was swift action when trade routes and economic interests were at risk but deafening silence when 10,000 children were killed, when your mothers' hearts were torn and your fathers clung and kissed your lifeless bodies farewell... The world might not like your questions, but you deserve your answers."
"The world sees your innocence and bravery, your suffering and endurance, and despite the horror, you still continue, with the world on your shoulders," Shah continued. "Whilst we raised our voices, filled the streets, and called for an end, it was not enough. When the world should have been your inspiration, you became ours. I am sorry."
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