February, 24 2021, 11:00pm EDT
NIAC Applauds Reintroduction of the NO BAN Act
Ryan Costello, Policy Director of NIAC Action, issued the following statement after the reintroduction of the NO BAN Act, which would guard against any President issuing discriminatory immigration orders:
"President Biden fulfilled his promise to end the Muslim ban on day one, but Trumpism and xenophobia remain strong forces in American politics. Just as Biden wiped away the ban, a successor administration could reimpose it without further action. That is why Congress needs to pass the NO BAN Act quickly and send it to President Biden for his signature.
WASHINGTON
Ryan Costello, Policy Director of NIAC Action, issued the following statement after the reintroduction of the NO BAN Act, which would guard against any President issuing discriminatory immigration orders:
"President Biden fulfilled his promise to end the Muslim ban on day one, but Trumpism and xenophobia remain strong forces in American politics. Just as Biden wiped away the ban, a successor administration could reimpose it without further action. That is why Congress needs to pass the NO BAN Act quickly and send it to President Biden for his signature.
"The Iranian-American community has been targeted with bigotry for decades. Under Trump, that discrimination was institutionalized like never before. Iranian Americans were separated from their families and loved ones for four cruel years, solely on the basis of their heritage. 30,000 Iranians were denied visas solely as a result of the ban, more than any other nationality, while many more put their dreams on hold. Many citizens were even stopped at the border, deemed security threats because of their heritage and illegally detained by Trump's paranoid border patrol.
"Many Republicans once denounced the ban when Trump proposed it on the campaign trail, only to embrace or turn a blind eye to it when he won the White House. That was a choice, and a moral failure. Now, Trump is gone and Republicans again face a choice. They can work to pass the NO BAN Act and guard against xenophobia and bigotry, or again choose hate and work to undermine the fabric of our democracy.
"The House Judiciary Committee, Chairman Nadler, Rep. Lofgren, and Rep. Judy Chu deserve tremendous credit for re-introducing this vital bill that would guard against discriminatory immigration orders, as do the many allied civil rights and community groups who have fought the ban since day one. The Iranian-American community looks forward to Congress passing the NO BAN Act and sending it to President Biden for his signature."
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 to give voice to the Iranian-American community. From being the trusted voice on U.S.- Iran relations, to pushing forth legislation that protects individuals of Iranian heritage from systematic discrimination, to celebrating our cultural heritage, NIAC creates a lasting impact in the lives of the members of our community.
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Secret Service Director Resigns After Trump Assassination Attempt
Kimberly Cheatle said in an email to colleagues that the agency "fell short" of its mission to protect U.S. leaders.
Jul 23, 2024
United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally and intense bipartisan grilling by members of a congressional committee.
The New York Timesreported that Cheatle—who led the Secret Service since September 2022—said in an internal email that the agency "fell short" of its mission to protect Trump, the Republican presidential nominee who was shot in the ear while speaking at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director," Cheatle wrote.
Calls for Cheatle's resignation mounted following her Monday testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, during which she acknowledged that "we failed" in "the Secret Service's solemn mission... to protect our nation's leaders."
Following the hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member, issued a joint letter accusing Cheatle of failing "to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure" and calling on her to resign "as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people."
In her resignation email, Cheatle told colleagues, "I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission."
Responding to Cheatle's resignation, Raskin said that "yesterday's Oversight Committee hearing identified two urgent priorities in the wake of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and the accompanying mass shooting. The first was the need for Director Cheatle to step down... We accomplished that today."
"The other urgent need was to ban assault weapons to protect the rest of us from mass shootings like the one that took place in Butler," he added. "As I made clear during yesterday's hearing, a weapon that can be used to commit a mass shooting at an event under the full protection of the Secret Service and state and local police is a danger to schoolchildren; Walmart shoppers; and congregants in church, synagogue, and mosque services."
Twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks used a legally purchased AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to shoot Trump before he was killed by a Secret Service sniper. A rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, was fatally shot, and two other men were seriously injured by gunfire.
"As a weapon of war, the AR-15 has no legitimate place in our society," Raskin argued. "Congress must act now."
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US Public Rapidly Sours on Project 2025 as Awareness Grows
The right-wing agenda gets less popular the more voters learn about it, a new poll shows.
Jul 23, 2024
New polling out on Tuesday suggests that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's best hope for Project 2025, the far-right policy agenda that at least 140 of his former administration officials helped craft, was that most Americans would remain unfamiliar with it.
Over the past month, though, a growing number of voters have learned more about the 900-page plan spearheaded by the right-wing Heritage Foundation—and public opinion of the agenda has plummeted as it's become more widely known.
Progressive polling firm Navigator Research found in a survey conducted between July 11-14 that 54% of Americans were familiar with Project 2025, which calls for the weakening and eradication of federal agencies and the consolidation of power with the president, the elimination of job protections of thousands of federal employees, and the withdrawal of mifepristone—a pill used in a majority of abortions in the U.S.—from the market.
That's an increase of 25 percentage points from Navigator's poll on Project 2025 just one month ago, said the firm.
Just 11% of people polled viewed the agenda favorably, while 43% had unfavorable views—a 24-point increase since June.
Project 2025 appears to especially be galvanizing Democratic voters, 71% of whom said they were aware of the document. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats said they had unfavorable views of Project 2025, and 62% said their opinion was "very unfavorable."
Nearly two-thirds of independent voters said they still didn't know enough about the project to have an opinion, but 28% of independent respondents said they had an unfavorable view of the agenda.
Overall, said Navigator, "the recent upsurge in conversations and news coverage about the plan" since June has resulted in a greater number of Americans having negative views of Project 2025.
Following President Joe Biden's announcement on Sunday that he was ending his campaign for reelection and instead endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, the vice president took direct aim at Project 2025 in her speech officially announcing her intention to seek the Democratic Party's nomination.
"I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda," said Harris.
The vice president linked Trump to Project 2025 despite his attempts to distance himself from the agenda. As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, another poll by Navigator Research showed that 63% of Americans believed Project 2025 described Trump's vision and plans even as he claimed he "knew nothing" about the agenda and didn't know who was behind it.
Former Trump administration officials Russ Vought, who led the Office of Management and Budget, and John McEntee, who served as the White House personnel director, are among the co-authors of Project 2025.
The poll released on Tuesday found that 45% of respondents said Project 2025 describes Trump's agenda, while only 16% said it does not describe his plans for the country.
Along with the focus Biden, Harris, and other Democratic politicians have increasingly placed on Project 2025 in recent weeks, the movement against the plan has gotten a boost from the BET Awards on June 30, when host Taraji P. Henson urged viewers to vote in the election and warned the audience about the Republican agenda.
"Pay attention, it's not a secret, look it up," the actress said. "They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game. Look it up!"
Stephen Colbert also explained the agenda on "The Late Show" earlier this month.
Eric Michael Garcia of The Independent shared on social media Tuesday that Project 2025 has "genuinely permeated the culture," judging from people who have mentioned it to him, unprovoked, during his reporting.
Journalist David Roberts said Democratic politicians "have been discovering somewhat to their surprise that Project 2025 is 'sticky.'"
"Make this election about it. Make it famous," he advised. "One of the biggest and most persistent problems in recent U.S. politics is that the right's agenda is so malign that most disengaged voters just flat don't believe it. Describing it sounds like partisan attack. Well, they wrote it down. All of it. Make it famous!"
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Rights Group Says Netanyahu Visit Puts US Complicity in Spotlight
"U.S. officials are well aware of the mounting evidence that Israeli forces have committed war crimes in Gaza," said Human Rights Watch.
Jul 23, 2024
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C. ahead of his planned speech to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, a leading human rights organization said Tuesday that the visit by Israel's deeply unpopular leader shines a spotlight on the American government's complicity in atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip.
"U.S. officials are well aware of the mounting evidence that Israeli forces have committed war crimes in Gaza, including most likely with U.S. weapons," Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Tirana Hassan said in a statement. "U.S. lawmakers should be seriously concerned about the liability risks of continuing to provide arms and intelligence based on Israel's flimsy assurances that it's abiding by the laws of war."
The U.S. is Israel's leading ally, supplying the country with more weaponry than any other nation and frequently providing diplomatic cover on the world stage despite Israeli forces' frequent human rights violations in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
On Monday, as Netanyahu traveled to the U.S. capital, Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians in a massive attack in southern Gaza.
"It is like doomsday," one Gaza resident toldReuters.
"The invitation lends legitimacy to his deadly siege and bombardment—at a time when his governing coalition continues to bombard Gaza."
A U.S. State Department report published in May said it is "reasonable to assess" that Israeli forces have used American weaponry in ways "inconsistent" with international law, but the Biden administration has continued to approve arms sales to the country—including a previously delayed shipment of 500-pound bombs—despite mounting calls for a weapons embargo.
Legal experts have warned since the start of Israel's nearly 10-month assault on Gaza that U.S. officials risk being deemed complicit in genocide if they continue arming the Israeli government. A number of U.S. officials have resigned in protest of the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza.
HRW said Tuesday that the United States and other nations "should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel" and use their "leverage with Israel to save lives."
"Israeli forces have unlawfully attacked residential buildings, medical facilities, and aid workers, restricted medical evacuations, and used starvation as a weapon of war in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 500,000 people are experiencing a 'catastrophic' lack of food in famine-like conditions," the group said. "A staggering more than 38,600 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry."
The organization's statement came as Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. capital at the invitation of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who have helped approve billions of dollars in military aid for Israel.
A number of lawmakers are expected to boycott the Israeli leader's speech, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris—who is expected to become the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee—will not be in attendance for Netanyahu's address due to a previously scheduled campaign event. U.S. President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the presidential race over the weekend, is expected to meet with Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) announced late Monday that he will boycott Netanyahu's speech, writing in a social media post that the Israeli prime minister's "war strategy killed 12,000+ women and children, inflicted widespread starvation, and prioritized his political survival over the release of hostages."
"He should not have a platform before Congress," Merkley added.
Oxfam America president and CEO Abby Maxman echoed that message, saying in a statement Tuesday that "it is wildly inappropriate for Congress to have extended an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak."
"The invitation lends legitimacy to his deadly siege and bombardment—at a time when his governing coalition continues to bombard Gaza, international condemnation is growing, Israelis are demanding that hostages be brought home, and, under his leadership, the Israeli military is bombing aid workers, schools and hospitals," said Maxman.
"Instead of granting Prime Minister Netanyahu the platform to advance his government's deadly policies before Congress," she added, "U.S. leaders must cut off the supply of bombs that are being used to kill civilians, destroy infrastructure, and undermine any hope for peace."
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