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Rev. Jesse Jackson and PDA Challenge Democratic Party
WASHINGTON
Political legend Rev. Jesse Jackson will be joining Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, which is leading the fight for Medicare for all and the financial transaction tax, and Steve Cobble, from the Institute for Policy Studies, for a conversation on progressive theory turned to action. Reverend Jackson has for decades campaigned for open and inclusive politics--outlined a quarter century ago by his "Rainbow Coalition" campaigns of 1984 and 1988.
In 1988, Jackson showed the possibility of this new politics with his bold decision to campaign in the Iowa caucuses. It was a redefining moment in American politics, and it laid the groundwork for progress that would eventually see Iowans provide Barack Obama with the 2008 caucus win that led to his presidency. Now, Reverend Jackson is returning to Iowa to argue for open caucuses, open politics, and democracy.
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) is sponsoring "Building the Progressive Movement Inside and Outside the Democratic Party," a forum being held on the eve of the Iowa caucuses in Des Moines, Iowa. The event is on Friday, Dec. 30 from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church, 1800 Bell Ave., in Des Moines.
Progressive activists, writers, and speakers from Iowa and beyond are participating in sessions moderated by John Nichols, author and writer for The Nation magazine. Panelists include Iowa activists Ed Fallon, radio host/Former Iowa State legislator; Jeff Cox, from Iowa Healthcare NOT Warfare; and Jay Howe, with Iowa People's Alliance.
PDA National Director Tim Carpenter and Deputy Field Coordinator Andrea Miller contribute their experience as progressive activists inside the halls of Congress and outside, creating "street heat."
A reception for the panelists and audience will follow the forum at 4:30 p.m. This free event is open to the public. Sponsors for the forum are Progressive Democrats of America, National Nurses United, and The Nation, with endorsement from the Progressive Coalition of Central Iowa, The Prairie Progressive, the Iowa Healthcare NOT Warfare Caucus Campaign, and the Fallon Forum. For further information, visit https://tinyurl.com/ProgressiveMovementForum or PDA's Website at pdamerica.org.
Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside and outside of the party by working to elect empowered progressives and by building the progressive movement in solidarity with with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform efforts. For more information about PDA, please see PDAmerica.org.
LATEST NEWS
'Insanity': Observers Blast Reported Trump Administration Plan to Move Palestinians to Libya
"American-led ethnic cleansing should be flatly unacceptable," said one professor.
May 17, 2025
A plan reportedly under consideration by the Trump administration to send up to one million Gazans to the divided country of Libya was met with criticism on Friday and Saturday, with several observers calling it part of a plan to carry out ethnic cleansing.
On Friday, NBC Newsreported that the Trump administration has broached the plan with Libya's leadership, though no final agreement has been reached. NBC News' reporting relied on several unnamed sources "with knowledge of the effort."
"This is absolutely categorically an ethnic cleansing and sending people to Libya of all places is unconscionable," wrote investigative journalist James Stout on Bluesky on Friday, in response to the reporting.
An unnamed spokesperson for the Trump administration told NBC News after publication that "these reports are untrue."
As part of the plan, the Trump administration may unfreeze billions of dollars of funds originally meant for Libya that the U.S. froze over ten years ago, the outlet reported.
"A decade and change after U.S. military intervention in Libya under Obama, a direct appeal from the Trump administration to make it a destination for a 21st century Trail of Tears," remarked Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, the Georgetown University assistant professor and philosopher, referencing the forced displacement of indigenous people in the United States in the 19th Century.
Gregg Carlstrom, a Middle East correspondent for the The Economist, called the NBC News' reporting "insanity."
"Skeptical that there's a serious 'plan' here (rather than just spitballing). But the underlying premise is correct: the Trump administration has spent months approaching various countries to see if it could bribe them into helping out with the ethnic cleansing of Gaza," Carlstrom wrote in a post on X on Saturday.
NBC News also reported that the Trump administration has discussed multiple locations for resettling Palestinians in Gaza, and that the administration is considering Syria as a potential location.
In February, Trump floated a plan to "take over" Gaza and mused about permanently displacing Palestinians in Gaza. International law prohibits the forced deportation and transfer of civilians.
Israel has carried out a brutal military campaign on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Observers pointed out that Libya is itself experiencing instability.
"This would be an expensive nightmare to practically implement, Libya is an active war zone with a current [population] of only 7 million and in no shape to absorb refugees, and American-led ethnic cleansing should be flatly unacceptable," wrote David Burbach, an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College on Bluesky on Friday
In 2011, a U.S.-backed intervention toppled Libya's then leader, Muammar Gaddafi, which was followed by a six-year civil war between rival political factions. Currently, eastern Libya is controlled by Khalifa Hifter and a United Nations-recognized government lead by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah is in control in the west. While the humanitarian situation in the country has eased in recent years, largely due to a cease-fire implemented in 2020, the country still experiences outbreaks of violence.
The spokesperson for the Trump administration also highlighted instability in Libya in their response to NBC News. "The situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense."
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Supreme Court Extends Block on Trump's Alien Enemies Act Deportations
One attorney in the case called the ruling "a powerful rebuke to the government's attempt to hurry people away to a gulag-type prison in El Salvador."
May 16, 2025
For the second time in less than a month, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against the Trump administration's dubious use of an 18th century law to deport immigrants including at least one person with protected status without due process.
In a 7-2 ruling—with far-right Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito dissenting—the high court found that President Donald Trump violated Venezuelan migrants' right to due process as a class by trying to fast-track their deportation to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in El Salvador by invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act during peacetime.
The ruling is not a repudiation of Alien Enemies Act deportations and focuses solely on migrants' due process rights.
"Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster."
"The detainees' interests at stake are accordingly particularly weighty," the court's opinion states. "Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster."
"But it is not optimal for this court, far removed from the circumstances on the ground, to determine in the first instance the precise process necessary to satisfy the Constitution in this case," the court continued and, referring to the federal appellate court that "erred in dismissing the detainees' appeal for lack of jurisdiction," said that "we remand the case to the 5th Circuit for that purpose."
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and lead counsel in the case, said Friday that "the court's decision to stay removals is a powerful rebuke to the government's attempt to hurry people away to a gulag-type prison in El Salvador."
"The use of a wartime authority during peacetime, without even affording due process, raises issues of profound importance," Gelernt added.
The Supreme Court opinion noted the case of Kilmar Abrego García, a Maryland man with protected status who was wrongfully deported to CECOT in March. Last month, the high court unanimously ruled that Trump must facilitate Abrego García's return to the United States. The Trump administration has resisted the order, despite the president proclaiming that "if the Supreme Court said, 'Bring somebody back,' I would do that."
Steve Vadeck, a professor at Georgetown Law Center, toldCNN Friday that "because lower courts have blocked use of the [Alien Enemies Act] in every other district in which the president has sought to invoke it, that means it's effectively pausing all removals under the act until the 5th Circuit—and, presumably, the Supreme Court itself—conclusively resolves whether they're legal and how much process is due if so."
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines—who was appointed by Trump—issued the first court ruling supporting Alien Enemies Act deportations.
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Congress Urged to Act Now as Israel Moves to 'Occupy and Flatten' Gaza and Starvation Worsens
"Please speak up forcefully and demand an end to this madness before there is no one left to save," said one advocacy group.
May 16, 2025
Human rights defenders implored U.S. lawmakers to speak out against the far-right government of fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it ramps up its 588-day assault and siege on the Gaza Strip, where at least 115 Palestinians were killed by Israel Defense Forces strikes on Friday amid worsening mass starvation.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest U.S. Muslim advocacy group, on Friday sent an open letter authored by its director of government affairs, Robert S. McCaw, urging every member of Congress to "please vocally speak out against the start of the Israeli government's plan to 'occupy and flatten' Gaza while herding any surviving Palestinians into camps before eventually expelling them from their land."
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days as Israeli forces pressed ahead with Operation Gideon's Chariots, a plan to conquer and indefinitely occupy all of Gaza and ethnically cleanse much of its population, possibly to make way for Jewish recolonization of the strip as advocated by numerous Israeli government officials.
Local and international media reported that at least 115 Palestinians including children were killed by Israeli attacks since dawn Friday, with air, artillery, and tank strikes concentrated in Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
"Netanyahu has declared that there is 'no way' Israel will stop the war, even if all hostages are released, and he has vowed to completely reoccupy Gaza and force remaining Palestinians off their land," McCaw wrote. "His Cabinet has formally approved a full-scale ground invasion and permanent military occupation of the Gaza Strip. One senior Israeli minister openly stated that Gaza will be 'completely destroyed.'"
"This is it. Now or never. We implore you to condemn Netanyahu's plan, demand a permanent end to this genocidal war, and pledge to oppose further weapons sales to the Israeli government unless its human rights abuses stop," the letter continues. "As long as the Israeli government believes it will continue to receive unlimited American financial, military, and diplomatic support, Netanyahu has no reason to risk his grip on power by changing course."
Israeli and international critics accuse Netanyahu of risking the lives of 23 living hostages still being held by Hamas by prolonging the war in a bid to forestall a reckoning in his
criminal corruption trial.
"Netanyahu has made clear what he plans to do: destroy Gaza and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people, even if it means starving and slaughtering the Israeli hostages along with them," CAIR said. "There is no more time left to sit on the sidelines, make symbolic statements, or hope something better will happen."
"Netanyahu has made clear what he plans to do: destroy Gaza and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people."
"Children are being blown to pieces every single hour with American weapons," the group noted. "Babies are starving to death while food rots at the Gaza border. Mothers and fathers are dying with them, and the Israeli captives held in Gaza are at risk of starving to death or being killed by the Israeli government's indiscriminate bombing campaign."
"Please speak up forcefully and demand an end to this madness before there is no one left to save," the letter implores.
Earlier this week, Ben Cohen, co-founder of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream company, was arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing, shouting, "Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the U.S." as he was hauled off by police.
"Congress and the senators need to ease the siege," Cohen added. "They need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids!"
The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, published Monday, states that 244,000 people in Gaza are now in Phase 5, defined as such "an extreme deprivation of food" that "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition are or will likely be evident."
At least scores of Palestinians—including a minimum of 57 children and 14 elders—have died of severe malnutrition combined with lack of medical care throughout Gaza, United Nations experts and human rights groups said in recent days.
Already suffering under an Israeli blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas took power in the coastal enclave, Gazans have been ravaged by hunger and illness due to the "complete siege" imposed by Israel immediately after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. The siege was tightened on March 2, when Israel stopped all lifesaving supplies—including food, medicine, fuel, and cooking gas—from entering the strip.
Israel's blockade, use of starvation as a weapon of war, killing or wounding of more than 187,000 Palestinians—including thousands missing and feared dead and buried beneath rubble—mass forced displacement of more than 2 million Gazans, and eliminationist statements by Israeli leaders and others are all being reviewed in The Hague as part of the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice.
Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are also wanted by the International Criminal Court, also in The Hague, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and forced starvation.
Also on Friday, CAIR welcomed a resolution signed by 27 Democratic and two Independent U.S. senators calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to "use all available diplomatic tools" to secure an end to Israel's assault on Gaza, the hostages' release, and a lifting of the siege in order to allow "urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians."
While many Israelis and their supporters around the world deny that there is mass starvation in Gaza, both Trump and Mike Huckabee, his ambassador to Israel, have acknowledged that Palestinians are starving. On the final day of his Mideast tour Friday, Trump said in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates that "a lot of people are starving" in Gaza, and "we're going to get that taken care of."
However, Huckabee recently admitted that a U.S.-Israeli plan to deliver limited humanitarian aid to parts of Gaza would initially only feed around 60% of the population. The United Nations and humanitarian groups operating in Gaza have rejected the plan.
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