So God Made Trump
Sorry to be late - we've been busy reliving our glorious, bear-spray-tinged Jan. 6 triumph - but good news from on high about our beloved leader's tireless efforts to make us great again and avoid prison. Even as he resolutely persists in declaiming his Truths - Jan. 6 was all FBI, the real insurrection is by migrants, wet magnets don't work, the Civil War was unwarranted, he puts on his own kingly pants - God has now chosen him as our "caretaker" to "work all day, fight the Marxists, shape an axe." Oh God. Save us.
Three years after an unholy insurrection that's seen over 1,230 yahoos charged with federal crimes from assaulting police to seditious conspiracy, Joe Biden wisely chose Jan. 6 as the frame of reference for his first major campaign speech. Standing at Valley Forge and citing George Washington's belief in democracy as a "sacred cause" worth fighting for even as his troops lacked food and blankets, Biden recalled the day "we nearly lost America, all of it," asked voters if democracy is "still America's sacred cause," and argued that question is what "the 2024 election is all about." "America made a vow: Never again would we bow down to a king," noted Biden, yet here we are with a lying, crooked, twice-impeached, Hitler-quoting rapist charged with 91 felonies who still aspires to absolute power and is up-front vowing "a full scale campaign of revenge and retribution" in its name. "An assault on democracy isn't just part of his past," Biden warned. "It's what he promises for the future."
Meanwhile, implausibly, it turns out his past was even worse than we knew. Alas, we're so used to hearing awful things about The Former Guy - who we've decided to rename Bad Orange Guy, or BOG - that awful, newly emerging snippets have gotten criminally little coverage. To wit: The House's recent "White House For Sale" report showing he brazenly raked in at least $7.8 million from foreign governments, mostly China, a figure that reflects just two years of his reign and four of his over 500 businesses; it also ignores the cool $3 billion Jared and "the great Ivanka Trump" got from the Saudis even as BOG sneered about Biden's corruption in China. There's also the new studyshowing that, amidst the first wave of COVID and his first national crisis, Dr. Person Woman Man Camera TV may have facilitated the deaths of some 17,000 people by touting hydroxycholoroquine as a "miracle cure," albeit an evidence-free one, blithely babbling to millions of Americans, "What do you have to lose? Take it."
Then there's Jan. 6. New evidence from Jack Smith, reported by ABC News, reveals a "shockingly derelict" president refusing to act to stop the carnage because he was "just not interested" and glued to Fox News. Finally corralled by a Grand Jury subpoena, his own staffers said BOG's response to Pence being in danger was "So what?", for hours he sat silent, arms crossed, eyes "locked" on the TV: "It was very unsettling," and only after everyone present had freaked out did Jared get him to issue a video: "This was a fraudulent election (but) we have to have peace...We love you. You're very special." As to his claims of "a lot of love" that day, NBC got new video, shot by a rioter, of the screaming chaos. Facing guns aimed at them, the mob yells through shattered glass as they try to breach the House: "Coming for you Pelosi you socialist c**t! We own this house, fuck you! Fucking pedophiles, we know about your pedophilia! Freedom is at hand! Hang that motherfucker Mike Pence!" (Also, our fave, "I never had a ticket in my life!")
Former Capitol cop Michael Fanone, beaten and tasered by the mob to within an inch of his life, marked this Jan. 6 by urging every American to take seriously "the responsibility for upholding democracy" to ensure "the MAGA movement is extinguished." For now, it still oozes and spreads. In that Jan. 6 video, GOP Texas Rep. Troy Nehls confronts rioters, yelling, "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!" He went on to vote against certifying Biden's election, and will be a witness for Trump in his 14th Amendment case. Rep. and House GOP leader Elise Stefanik just declined to commit to certifying the 2024 results: “We will see if this is a legal and valid election." Trump attorney Alina Habba went blatantly beyond saying the quiet part out loud when, asked about the odds of SCOTUS saving Trump from his 14th Amendment case, she cited the kind of pay-to-play loyalty so key to her Machiavellian client. "I have faith in them," she said. "People like Kavanaugh, who the president fought so hard for...He’ll step up."
Shamelessly leading the goose-stepping-up is - new name alert! - the Fanta Fuhrer, a prattling, yapping sociopath facing so many legal and political threats - moral or spiritual don't enter the equation - he'll veer as far into the indefensible or incoherent as needed to escape. Registering in Illinois' state primary, he refused to sign a pro forma oath not to try (again) to overthrow the government. Raving after Letitia James' called for a $370 million fine in his fraud case and a lifetime ban from New York real estate, he (again) went ALL CAPS: "NO VICTIM, CORRUPT A.G., WITCH HUNT!" To the bewilderment of Seth Meyers, he boasted about putting on his pants each day. Still "relentlessly stupid," he evidently confused magnetic with electrical fields and claimed magnets don't work when wet (don't ask). After a(nother) shooting, he tsked-tsked and told grieving residents to "get over it." No longer pretending, he said he hopes the economy - which he did his best to wreck - crashes in the next 12 months to make him look good.
Prepping for the first caucuses, he campaigned last weekend in Iowa, viewed by some as "the heartbeat" of both old-school evangelicals and new-guard Christian nationalists for whom religion is a means to Mike-Johnson-style power. Without mentioning the date, he said of Jan. 6, "There was Antifa, there was FBI - there were a lot of other people leading the charge," as ads for My Pillow popped up. "All of that stuff is gonna be written out on Day One." On "the J6 hostages": "Nobody has ever been treated in history so badly as those people. (Umm, slaves?) They've suffered enough. Release the J6 hostages, Joe. You can do it real easy." He deemed migrants on the southern border the real villains: “When you talk about insurrection, what they’re doing, that’s the real deal. Not patriotically and peacefully." He attacked Biden as "the real threat to democracy - be very careful, Joe" - Nikki Haley as a "globalist" - “Nikki will sell you out just like she sold me out" - and, one more time 'cause Grudges 'R Us, the late John McCain.
Alongside ads for a "free" Trumpbook.com, he also blundered and drug-sniffed through a memorable take on the Civil War, which he could have prevented: "It was so horrible but so fascinating. I dunno, it was just so different, I'm just so attracted to it. See, there was something that could have been negotiated...You had so many people die. No legs, no arms...Nothing nice about it...But Abraham Lincoln, you probably wouldn't even know who Abraham Lincoln was, he wouldn't have been the Abraham Lincoln, he would have been different, but that would be okay. It woulda been a thing...Uh...I know it very well. The whole process they went through...It was a hell of a time." (Kinda like now, maybe?) Often, he signed hats - and at least one Playboy with him on the cover - for fans. Dick Green wept after BOG autographed his "Trump Country" hat and shook his hand; a pastor in Brighton, Iowa, Green prayed for four years to meet Trump. "It'll never get sold," he said, gesturing tearfully to his sacred hat. "It will be in my family."
On Tuesday, BOG got a wee reality check when judges at D.C's Appeals Court seemed skeptical of what legal experts deem his "utterly unsustainable" claim of immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election results. While his lawyers argue it was part of his job as president, judges suggested it was "paradoxical" to say his Constitutional duty to ensure that laws are obeyed allows him to violate those laws - especially when his lawyers waffled awkwardly when asked if a president could, say, sell military secrets or "order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival." Unhappy to see his megolomania and delaying tactics questioned, he later doubled down, resorting to the usual "most people" who in this case "agree we're entitled to immunity" because he was "working for the country." For his trial, he reportedly still has plans, "outlandish and feral," to stage a "MAGA freak show," from dragging in Nancy Pelosi to "unmasking" the nefarious lawyers hounding him to blaming it all on Hezbollah. (Sure, ok.)
Despite....everything, MAGA-ites stay true. It's what cults do: See Sunday's chilling spectacle of hundreds of Italian fascists, here in the year of 2024, giving the "Roman salute." America's fascists, Jordan Klepper finds, are much more ludicrous, like the BOG fan holding a goofy, stoned-looking little dog and wearing an "I Could Shit A Better President" hat who says today's Trump is "more elevated, more mature." Others insist Trump is still president, "this Biden person doesn't have the presidential seal - it's pretty obvious," Trump is in charge of the military but just the good one, and "God has plans for Trump he doesn't even know about yet." "We Elect Presidents, Not Kings," read a protester's sign outside court today. But what about (shitty, profane) sons of God? We regret to inform you we have now arrived at the truly messianic, batshit-crazy, low-as-you-can-go end-times of America, wherein a sick, crass, moronic TV has-been and wannabee tyrant is heralded, per Paul Harvey's "So God Made a Farmer," as God's chosen one, with "arms strong enough to wrestle the deep state and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild" (WTF?!) who's "willing to go into the den of vipers." Go. Please. Right now.
Supreme Court Rejects Bid by API, Exxon, and Koch to Kill Climate Case
For the third time in less than a year, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed a key case against the fossil fuel industry to proceed in state court, delivering a win for the movement to make polluters pay for driving the climate emergency.
"This decision is another step forward for Minnesota's efforts to hold fossil fuel giants accountable for their climate lies and the harm they've caused," said Center for Climate Integrity president Richard Wiles, pointing to the previous denials of other cases last April and May.
"Big Oil companies will continue fighting to escape justice, but for the third time in a year, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied their desperate pleas to overturn the unanimous rulings of every single court to consider this issue," he continued.
"It's time for these polluters to give up their failed arguments to escape state courts."
As legal leaders of dozens of U.S. states and municipalities have launched climate lawsuits in recent years, the fossil fuel industry has attempted to evade accountability by shifting the cases to federal court—a strategy that's proven unsuccessful.
Wiles argued that "after three strikes, it's time for these polluters to give up their failed arguments to escape state courts and prepare to face the evidence of their climate deception at trial."
The U.S. Supreme Court's Monday decision came in a case filed in 2020 by Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute (API), based on the state's consumer protection laws.
"The fraud, deceptive advertising, and other violations of Minnesota state law and common law that the lawsuit shows they perpetrated have harmed Minnesotans' health and our state's environment, infrastructure, and economy," Ellison said at the time.
The justices declined Big Oil's request to review the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' March decision that the case belongs in state court. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of former GOP President Donald Trump, would have taken the case, in line with his position last year.
"I appreciate the court's consideration and decision," Ellison said in a statement Monday. "It aligns with 25 federal court decisions across the country, all of which have found that cases like ours rest on these defendants' failures to warn and their campaigns of deception around their products' contributions to the climate crisis. The court's decision confirms these cases are properly filed in state courts."
"Taken together, the defendants' behavior has delayed the transition to alternative energy sources and a lower-carbon economy, resulting in dire impacts on Minnesota's environment and enormous costs to Minnesotans and the world," he stressed. "Now, the case can move forward in state court, where it was properly filed, and we can begin to hold these companies accountable for their wrongful conduct."
Cassidy DiPaola, communications director for Fossil Free Media and the Make Polluters Pay campaign, declared Monday that "today's decision is an important step forward for accountability and justice."
"The Supreme Court has now laid out an unmistakable path forward," she added, "for not only Minnesota's consumer protection case against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and API, but the dozens of cases against the fossil fuel industry popping up across the county."
This post has been updated with comment from Keith Ellison.
$8.5 Trillion in Untaxed Assets: Data Shows Why 'We Need a Billionaire Income Tax'
An analysis released Wednesday shows that in 2022, the wealthiest people in the United States collectively held a "staggering" $8.5 trillion in wealth that is not—and might never be—subject to taxation.
Examining recently released data Federal Reserve data for 2022, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the roughly 64,000 U.S. households with at least $100 million in wealth—less than 0.05% of the population—controlled more than one in every six dollars of the country's "unrealized gains," profits that aren't taxable until the underlying asset, such as a stock position, is sold.
"But the ultra-wealthy don't need to sell to benefit: They can live off low-cost loans secured against their growing fortunes. And once inherited, such gains disappear completely for tax purposes," ATF's Zachary Tashman and William Rice explained in the new analysis. "While most Americans predominantly live off the income they earn from a job—income that is taxed all year, every year—the very richest households live lavishly off capital gains that may never be taxed."
That small, ultra-rich fraction of U.S. society is sitting on more unrealized capital gains than the bottom 84% of the country—roughly 110 million households—combined, Tashman and Rice noted.
Most of the typical U.S. household's unrealized capital gains are in the form of their homes, which face state and local property taxes. But 93% of the unrealized gains of America's wealthiest are tied up in businesses, stock portfolios, and mutual funds, ATF found. As a result, mega-rich individuals such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk—the wealthiest man on the planet—wind up paying little to nothing in federal income taxes.
Between 2013 and 2018, leading U.S. billionaires paid an average federal tax rate of just 4.8%, according to a previous ATF analysis.
"This is why we need a billionaire income tax," the group wrote on social media Wednesday, pointing to legislative proposals reintroduced late last year in both chambers of Congress.
Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) Billionaires Income Tax would tax the tradable assets of individuals with more than $100 million in annual income or more than $1 billion in assets for three consecutive years, according to a summary released by the Oregon Democrat's office.
In the House, Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) unveiled a bill that mirrors President Joe Biden's call for a minimum income tax for billionaires. The legislation would require ultra-wealthy households to pay a 25% annual tax rate on their income, including unrealized gains.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case backed by right-wing groups aiming to preemptively outlaw any tax on unrealized gains. The justices—with the notable exception of Samuel Alito, who was urged to recuse from the case due to his connection to a lawyer representing the plaintiffs—appeared unlikely to issue the kind of sweeping ruling demanded by right-wing organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"Without this necessary reform to our system of taxation, the growth of untaxed income at the very top of our economy will continue to accelerate."
ATF's analysis found that the wealth of America's billionaires and centimillionaires has exploded in recent years as Republicans have enacted massive tax cuts for the rich while wealth tax proposals have languished in Congress.
"The cumulative $8.5 trillion of unrealized capital gains held by America's billionaires and centi-millionaires in 2022 has jumped by more than half–or $3.2 trillion–just since the last Fed survey year of 2019," Tashman and Rice wrote. "That increase continues a decades-long upward trend among the richest households in the United States."
To begin reversing the trend and addressing the extreme and dangerous stratification of U.S. society by wealth, Tashman and Rice argued that Congress must "curb the economic and political power of the richest households by annually taxing their investment gains–whether realized or not–just as workers' wages are taxed now, every year, all year round."
"Without this necessary reform to our system of taxation," they warned, "the growth of untaxed income at the very top of our economy will continue to accelerate, to the benefit of a tiny few and the detriment of everyone else."
Illinois, Massachusetts Voters Join Fight to Bar Trump From Ballots
Just two days away from the anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, voters in Illinois and Massachusetts on Thursday joined the nationwide effort to boot former Republican U.S. President Donald Trump off state ballots on constitutional grounds.
Since Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden culminated in his supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol three years ago, a growing number of scholars, lawyers, advocacy groups, and voters have argued that the Republican is disqualified from holding office again under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The amendment bars anyone who has taken an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding "any office, civil or military." Despite that, and his various criminal cases—including two related to 2020 election interference—Trump is the Republican front-runner to challenge Biden, who is seeking reelection this year.
"Our predecessors understood that oath-breaking insurrectionists will do it again... so they enacted the insurrectionist disqualification clause to protect the republic from people like Trump."
"Donald Trump violated his oath of office and incited a violent insurrection that attacked the U.S. Capitol, threatened the assassination of the vice president and congressional leaders, and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation's history," Free Speech for People (FSFP) legal director Ron Fein said in a statement.
"Our predecessors understood that oath-breaking insurrectionists will do it again, and worse, if allowed back into power, so they enacted the insurrectionist disqualification clause to protect the republic from people like Trump," he added. "Trump is legally barred from the ballot."
FSFP has joined with local attorneys to represent voters behind previously filed 14th Amendment cases in Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon as well as the objections filed Thursday with the Illinois State Board of Elections and Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission.
"Our country faces a crisis in Trump's bid for reelection. We cannot let a candidate who revels in undermining the rule of law continue his candidacy in clear violation of a constitutional mandate," said Illinois attorney Caryn Lederer. "In Illinois, the electoral board has a mandatory duty to keep disqualified candidates off the ballot. As the growing consensus of legal decisions show, Trump engaged in insurrection; he cannot run for president."
Massachusetts litigator Shannon Liss-Riordan stressed that "today's legal action is not about partisan politics but about upholding our Constitution, and that is why Massachusetts voters across the political spectrum have joined together to challenge Donald Trump's wrongful placement on the Massachusetts ballot."
"As two other states have already recognized, Donald Trump's instigation of and participation in the insurrection three years ago provide overwhelming cause for his disqualification from holding office in the United States," Liss-Riordan added.
Thursday's filings come as the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court—which has three Trump appointees—has already been asked to review the Colorado Supreme Court's December decision to kick him off the state primary ballot. Last week, Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also removed Trump from her state's primary ballot.
Both of those decisions are on hold pending court review. Trump has filed appeals and blamed disqualifications on Biden, who is not involved in any 14th Amendment cases—a trend campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung continued in response to the new voter objections.
"These shams are all part of a coordinated election interference... campaign designed to disenfranchise millions of American voters by depriving them of the right to vote for the candidate of their choice because Crooked Joe's allies see the writing on the wall, President Trump is winning and Biden is losing," Cheung toldWBEZ Thursday.
WBEZnoted that "Illinois could be a politically hospitable legal venue" for a battle similar to the one which led to the Colorado disqualification, explaining that "if the State Board of Elections sidesteps the question, the dispute could move into a state court system governed by the Illinois Supreme Court, where Democrats hold a 5-2 majority."
The Colorado case was launched in September by the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and law firms representing six GOP and unaffiliated voters, who filed a response to Trump's appeal on Thursday.
"The facts and the law are clear: Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office under the 14th Amendment after he incited the January 6th insurrection following his loss in the 2020 election," said CREW president and CEO Noah Bookbinder. "The Supreme Court of Colorado came to the right conclusion in favor of our clients, and the U.S. Supreme Court must now uphold it."
This post has been updated with comment from CREW.
Biden DOL Finalizes Independent Contractor Rule to 'Help Protect Workers'
Democrats in Congress and unions were among those applauding on Tuesday as the U.S. Department of Labor announced its final rule to provide guidance on when employers can treat workers as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
"Misclassifying employees as independent contractors is a serious issue that deprives workers of basic rights and protections," acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement. "This rule will help protect workers, especially those facing the greatest risk of exploitation, by making sure they are classified properly and that they receive the wages they've earned."
Welcoming the rule—set to take effect in March—the Teamsters said on social media that "it's long past time for American employers to recognize and respect their employees, to stop exploiting loopholes to pay workers less and deprive them of benefits, and to honor every worker's right to organize and collectively bargain a union contract."
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Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz highlighted that the rule rescinds a Trump-era
policy and, like Su, stressed how "employer misclassification of workers as independent contractors robs workers of labor rights and threatens their economic security."
"Many workers are harmed by employer misclassification—particularly those in the lowest-wage and most difficult jobs, such as nail salon workers, truck drivers, and construction workers," Shierholz said. "A previous EPI analysis found that in 11 commonly misclassified occupations, workers misclassified as independent contractors lose out on thousands of dollars in earnings and benefits per year, compared with workers doing the same job with employee status."
"Since this rule was proposed, opponents of this rule have waged an all-out misinformation war, claiming that independent entrepreneurs and business owners will now be forced into employee status against their will," the economist noted. "The reality is that if the Trump administration's rule was allowed to stand, workers with far less power to actually set the terms and conditions of their employment—not bonafide contractors—would have continued to lose out on basic worker protections, earnings, and benefits to which they should be entitled."
The Washington Postreported Tuesday that "the rule is expected to face an onslaught of legal challenges from companies. It has faced extensive criticism from businesses and industry groups, including those representing Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other ride-share and delivery platforms. But labor officials say they have carefully considered possible litigation and are confident that the rule would withstand a court challenge."
Some Republicans in Congress are already taking aim at the policy, with U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) threatening to challenge it under the Congressional Review Act.
Meanwhile, Senate HELP Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime labor rights advocate, praised the administration's new move to "stop unscrupulous employers from deliberately misclassifying their workers and cheating them out of hard-earned wages," adding that "when 60% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, workers need labor laws that protect them, not allow them to be ripped off."
Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also offered praise, saying that "I am thrilled to see the Biden administration continuing to put its pro-worker commitment into action with this new final rule."
"With gig work playing a larger role in our economy, it's more important than ever that workers are protected under federal law and have access to all the rights to which they're entitled," she said. "This new policy will
ensure that the workers who have fallen through the cracks—from rideshare and delivery drivers to janitors and home care workers—will finally be able to access Social Security benefits and unemployment insurance and be guaranteed overtime and minimum wage pay."
"The rule is also an essential check on large, wealthy corporations who have skirted their obligations to these workers even as their labor makes the companies" profits possible," she continued, adding that the CPC looks forward to working with President Joe Biden and Su to ensure it "is implemented fairly and equitably across the country and industries."
The department's announcement came a day after Biden renominated Su as labor secretary—a decision also celebrated by progressives, including Jayapal and Sanders, who called on the Senate to stop stalling.
"Julie Su has spent her career as a dedicated public servant, fighting tirelessly for working people, especially the lowest-wage workers, domestic workers, immigrant workers, and workers of color," Jayapal pointed out. "She deeply understands how the Department of Labor should work and the needs of our modern economy."
"There is so much work still to do to raise wages, lower costs, and fight for the working people of this country, and we need Labor Secretary Su to achieve it," the CPC leader added. "We urge the Senate to move swiftly and finally confirm this extremely qualified nominee."
Sanders said that "I strongly support Julie Su's renomination to serve as Secretary of Labor. Her strong pro-worker track record as acting Secretary shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is the right person for the job. Her tireless and consistent work for working families across the country should continue as secretary of labor and I urge my colleagues to support her nomination."
Nations Urged to Back ICJ Case Against Israel After Experts Confirm Genocide Underway
Human rights advocates are ramping up pressure on nations to formally back South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice after a panel of experts determined that the Israeli military's actions in the Gaza Strip—paired with officials' overt statements of intent to wipe out the Palestinian population—constitute sufficient evidence that a genocide is underway.
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) convened the expert roundtable last month, before South Africa submitted its 84-page ICJ application accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention, which also requires signatories to prevent genocide.
"We have to be clear that this is a very unique case, indeed textbook, in the way that intent is articulated openly and explicitly in an
unashamed way," Raz Segal, associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, said during his December presentation, pointing to
remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials signaling genocidal war aims.
South Africa's ICJ filing, submitted to the 15-judge United Nations court on December 29, features page after page of quotations from Israeli officials and lawmakers voicing what the document calls "genocidal intent against the Palestinian people." The first public hearing on the case is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
"Expert analysis of Israeli government statements revealing their intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, combined with military actions on the ground, including mass killings, forced displacement, and the deprivation of items essential to life in Gaza, suggest that the crime of genocide is being committed against the Palestinian population," Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN's executive director, said Tuesday. "South Africa's charging Israel with genocide before the International Court of Justice underscores the need for decisive international action to compel a cease-fire and hold the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable."
Francis Boyle, the first human rights lawyer to ever win an order from the ICJ under the Genocide Convention, toldDemocracy Now! last week that based on his "careful review of all the documents so far submitted" by South Africa, he believes the country "will win an order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Palestinians."
Thus far, at least seven national governments and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—which includes 57 member states—have issued statements supporting South Africa's case against Israel. But only Jordan has signaled that it plans to officially back South Africa's case with a Declaration of Intervention.
Such declarations allow countries to "formally express their support for the case and contribute to the legal proceedings, enhancing the case's legitimacy and impact," DAWN explained, noting that more than 30 nations—including the U.S., Israel's top ally and arms supplier—submitted Declarations of Intervention in Ukraine's genocide case against Russia at the ICJ.
"South Africa's application to the International Court of Justice, invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel, represents a pivotal moment in the pursuit of global justice and accountability," said Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director. "It is time for the international community to support this process and speak with one voice to stop the genocide against the Palestinian people."
With national and grassroots support for South Africa's case growing, Israel has been pressuring governments around the world to speak out against the filing as it continues to wage war on Gaza's desperate and starving population. On Tuesday, as Common Dreamsreported, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed South Africa's case as "meritless" even as the Biden administration refuses to formally assess whether Israel has adhered to international law.
Since South Africa submitted its application to the ICJ late last month, Israel has killed more than 2,100 people in the Palestinian enclave and injured thousands more, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
"How many more alarm bells have to ring and how many more civilians must unlawfully suffer or be killed before governments take action?" Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, asked Wednesday. "South Africa's genocide case unlocks a legal process at the world's highest court to credibly examine Israel's conduct in Gaza in the hopes of curtailing further suffering."
Ocean Heat, Sea Surface Temperatures Shattered Records in 2023
"The ocean is the key to telling us what's happening to the world, and the data is painting a compelling picture of warming year after year after year," one study author said.
2023, the hottest year on record overall, was also the hottest year on record for the world's oceans.
A study published Thursday in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences found that the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean warmed by 15 zettajoules in 2023 compared to 2022, according to one dataset. To put that in perspective, the world's economy only requires half a zettajoule to run every year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained in a statement. Fifteen zettajoules would be enough to boil 2.3 billion Olympic-sized swimming pools or roast 260 trillion turkeys.
"The ocean is the key to telling us what's happening to the world, and the data is painting a compelling picture of warming year after year after year," study co-author John Abraham, a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, toldThe Guardian.
Ocean heat content has been on the rise since the late 1950s, and, for the past decade, each year has been the warmest on record, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The ocean is an important indicator of human-caused climate change because around 90% of the excess heat produced by the burning of fossil fuels is absorbed by its top 2,000 meters, according to United Press International.
"As long as the level of greenhouse gases remains relatively high in the atmosphere, the oceans will keep absorbing energy, leading to the increase of the heat in the oceans," study lead author Cheng Lijing, an oceanographer at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, toldNature.
"We're already facing the consequences and they will get far worse if we don't take action."
The study was the latest in a yearly effort led by the IAP; this year's installment had contributions from 34 scientists in 19 research bodies in China, France, Italy, New Zealand, and the U.S., according to Nature and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The researchers looked at two datasets for ocean heat content: the IAP's dataset and one compiled by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The 15 zettajoules figure came from the IAP dataset, while the NOAA dataset gave a lower increase of nine zettajoules. Lijing explained on social media that both organizations used the same raw data, but had different methods of quality control and spatial interpolation. Sometimes, accurate high temperature measurements can be mistakenly discarded as inaccurate, the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out.
"This means that the warming might be greater than the numbers reported here," Lijing said in a statement.
NCEI oceanographer and study co-author Tim Boyer told Nature that "the important point in the paper and for scientific understanding is that the ocean is warming consistently, year over year to new record levels of ocean heat content."
In addition, the paper documented a record rise in sea surface temperature. It was higher than 2022's by 0.23°C for the entire year and by what the authors called an "astounding" 0.3°C for the second half of the year.
Another measurement that reached record levels in 2023 was ocean stratification, which occurs when the warmer water floats near the surface and does not mix as much with the cooler water below, The Guardian explained. This can harm ocean life by reducing the amount of oxygen available to it. It also decreases the ocean's ability to absorb both heat and carbon dioxide.
Another point raised by the study authors is that what happens to and in the ocean does not stay in the ocean.
"Ocean warming has far-reaching consequences on physical, human, and biological systems in the Earth system, which is expected to be much more severe in the future because of the irreversibility of ocean warming in the following centuries," Lijing wrote on social media.
Warmer oceans increase sea-level rise, fuel extreme weather events such as storms or droughts, and impact marine life by forcing some animals to move in search of cooler waters or changing the time when migrations or reproduction occur, Nature explained.
"We're already facing the consequences and they will get far worse if we don't take action," Abraham told The Guardian. "But we can solve this problem today with wind, solar, hydro, and energy conservation."
"Once people realize that, it's very empowering," Abraham continued. "We can usher in the new energy economy of the future, saving money and the environment at the same time."
Omar Leads Nearly 400 Global Lawmakers in Demanding Gaza Cease-Fire
"We can hold two things in our heads at once: that the attacks by Hamas on October 7 were a war crime, and that Israel has responded by committing crimes against humanity," said Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Nearly 400 international lawmakers on Thursday provided the latest proof that the Biden administration is isolating itself by continuing to back Israel's slaughter of civilians in Gaza, as parliamentarians representing U.S. allies including Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and Denmark were among those demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined German lawmaker Sevim DaÄŸdelen in leading 384 policymakers in signing the brief statement.
"We join together as lawmakers from around the world to call for an immediate, multilateral cease-fire in Israel and Palestine, the release of all the remaining Israeli and international hostages, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid entry into Gaza," said the legislators. "We further urge our own respective governments and the international community to uphold international law and seek accountability for grave violations of human rights."
DaÄŸdelen called the international support for the statement "a strong signal for peace."
The letter was publicized as South Africa presented oral arguments to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), officially accusing Israel of genocidal acts and intent in Gaza and detailing its exhaustive evidence, including direct, public calls from top officials for the Israeli military to force Gazans to "migrate" and to treat all inhabitants of the enclave as legitimate targets—both violations of international law.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly said that Israel is only exercising its "right to defend itself" following Hamas' October 7 attack, and have dismissed South Africa's case as "meritless" despite all evidence to the contrary.
"We can hold two things in our heads at once: that the attacks by Hamas on October 7 were a war crime, and that Israel has responded by committing crimes against humanity—crimes that the United States, and much of the West, continue to let happen, despite our professed support for international law," Omar toldThe Guardian.
The signatories of the statement hail from countries including Mexico, Ghana, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Switzerland, and British signers include former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and House of Lords member Shami Chakrabarti.
Omar's progressive American colleagues including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) also signed the letter.
Bush led progressives in introducing House Resolution 768 in October, less than two weeks into the bombardment which has now killed at least 23,469 people—mostly women and children—and left 59,604 wounded, including 1,000 children who have lost one or both of their legs since October 7.
As Omar pointed out to The Guardian, an end to Israel's assault would also be a step toward protecting Israeli "hostages who have now suffered for 133 days."
Despite growing calls for a cease-fire from the United Nations, international human rights and law experts, and the American public, the Biden administration vetoed a cease-fire resolution at the U.N. Security Council last month and was joined by just nine other countries in opposing a similar resolution at the U.N. General Assembly, while 153 countries supported the measure.
"We must refuse to be silent as the majority of the world is calling for an end to the violence and mass human suffering, and the need for accountability," said Bush on Thursday in a joint statement with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). "As one of the countries that has agreed to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. must stop trying to discredit and undermine this case and the international legal system it claims to support."
"Our commitment to protecting the human rights of all people," said the lawmakers, "must be unconditional."
Watch: 22-Minute Speech Details Israeli Officials' Genocidal Statements at ICJ
"The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible."
South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi on Thursday used the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials to make the case to the International Court of Justice—and to the world—that Israel's military is acting with clear genocidal intent in the Gaza Strip.
"Let the prime minister's words speak for themselves," said Ngcukaitobi, pointing to Netanyahu's November remarks urging Israelis to "remember what Amalek has done to you. Netanyahu has repeatedly likened Gazans to the Amalekites, whom the Old Testament God orders King Saul to massacre.
Ngcukaitobi went on to cite the deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, who called on Israel's military to "burn Gaza" to the ground—a statement he reiterated ahead of Thursday's hearing at the United Nations' highest court.
"There is an extraordinary feature in this case: that Israel's political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent," said Ngcukaitobi. "And these statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza."
The South African attorney played video footage of Israeli soldiers dancing and chanting that there are "no uninvolved civilians" in Gaza—a precursor to the war crime of collective punishment.
Watch Ngcukaitobi's full speech:
South Africa's 84-page filing at the ICJ contains nine pages of statements from Israeli officials that, according to the South African legal team, signal "genocidal intent against the Palestinian people."
Intent, as the U.N. has emphasized, is "the most difficult element to determine."
"To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group," the U.N. explains in a summary of the Genocide Convention, which Israel stands accused of violating.
But Ngcukaitobi argued Thursday that Israeli officials' explicit calls for the decimation of Gaza and its population leave no question that the Israeli government's assault on the Palestinian enclave is genocidal.
"Many propagators of grave atrocities have protested that they were misunderstood, that they did not mean what they said, and that their own words were taken out of context," Ngcukaitobi said, preempting a possible Israeli line of defense. "What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of state in Israel."
"We remind the court of the identity and authority of the genocidal inciters: the prime minister, the president the minister of defense, the minister of national security, the minister of energy and infrastructure, members of the Knesset, senior army officials, and foot soldiers," Ngcukaitobi continued. "The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible."
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to Ngcukaitobi's presentation that "decades of the U.S. insulating Israel from any accountability has led to this moment: Israeli leaders have thought they are so untouchable that they have openly declared the genocidal intent of their policies."
"But South Africa is now using Israeli leaders' own words to convict them at the ICJ," Parsi added.